New Beginnings and Evolutions

My last recommendation on the blog would have to have to be a big one and it is non other than Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I read this book last year September and this short novel is just without exaggeration one of the best books I have had the pleasure to read. Ishiguro cements his place as one of the foremost British literature laureate's with his emotionally charged distopian tour de force. His disciplined style of writing results in a sparing use of words where each one is charged with meaning but that doesn't mean the reader gets the same treatment as no feeling or emotion of ours is spared by writer. In what at first seems like a story about three childhood friends set around the background of a conventional British boarding school only ever subtly reveals itself as their relationships develops and the story progresses and we learn the extraordinary and unusual fates into which these three characters were born and destined to fulfil. The beauty of this novel lies in the humanity with which Ishiguro handles what can only be described as an inhumane situation. The morning I finished the book I felt ravaged by the story and incapable of going to work and face my reality and, pardon the pun, found it hard to let go of the characters and their inevitability. It has been a while since an author's talents for syntax had such an effect on me. The movie adaptation is due for release today and I am pleased that Ishiguro was involved so closely in the making. This is a very unusual reaction for me but I can hardly wait to see how this character driven story plays out on screen.




In May 2009 we started with the idea of The Paperhouse Review with the prospect of perhaps giving us a platform to express our literary views. We wanted to give the online insight we thought were lacking from our local publishing and literary industry. The information that was out there was more often, than not, aimed at a publishing audience rather than those of us who live with a passion for the literary and written word. Naively we took on the task with this blog ,never even considering the personal journeys that we both were commencing on that might prohibit us from completely committing and executing it to the full and creative capacity we both know exist within us. I am not the same person that started this blog in 2009 but my aspirations are still intact as the dream has not diminished but like me has evolved. I do not wish The Paperhouse Review to be a static literary personal blog that is stumbled on sporadically but rather to become an interactive website for South Africa aspiring writers, like ourselves, where new talent and voices can submit piece work, be it only one or many, to be viewed and discovered and ultimately published. There are to many brilliant works out there that are not being read or seen because the author is unknown or has ultimately not written enough to be considered to be published in a volume. So from here on work will rather commence on the structuring and completion of an interactive website rather than on blog posts. If anyone wants to become actively involved in this project please contact us by sending a personal message to us.

I look forward to this challenge as I am forever committed to be involved in the literary industry, be it as a published author or poet, a publisher or bookshop owner and for now the capacity which I will occupy remains unknown to me as well as where this journey is ultimately leading to. Two years ago I was fixated with the destination and distraught by the fact that I haven't reached any of these aspiring goals of mine. This mind set had caused me to ultimately miss out on the journey that was and is still shaping me. Now I know better as life has swung in another direction and we are yet again preparing to move, this time back to Johannesburg, showing that nothing in life is a permanent fixture. I am syched about the move and the prospects it hold. The forthcoming months promises so much; turning 30, the birth of our first child, Paris with my mom, baby and Andrew the new websites and as always my studies in literature, not to mention all the great personal discoveries and as always the literary ones. Thus it would be hard to commit myself with all these endeavours to the time that is needed for this blog to shape it into what it deserves, hence the more pro-active work will start now for the website.

So for the 2150 souls who read our blog we thank you and ask you to join us on our new direction by keeping a look out for the new website which once up and running will be posted here as well as on my facebook info page.