The Axeman’s Carnival | Catherine Chidgey

_{A long long time ago, when I was a little chick, not even a chick but a pink and naked thing, a scar a scrap a scrape fallen on roots and wriggling, when I was catching my death and all I knew of sky was the feel of feathers above me, the belly of black as warm as a cloud above me, when I was blind, my eyes unspouted seeds, my eyes dots of gravel stuck under skin, when I was a beak opening for nothing nothing nothing, she lifted me into her pillowed palm.}

My relationship with The Axeman’s Carnival was complicated. I was blown away by Catherine Chidgey’s writing; her poetic turn of phrase, her ability to get inside the head of a bird, Tama the talking magpie. However domestic violence and coercive control are at the heart of this story and I struggled to stay the course as the dramatic tension built. I’m glad I did though. The denouement was and wasn’t what I was expecting.

In the same vein as a child protoganist, an animal narrator can bear witness to the adult lives around it with a sense of wide-eyed innocence. But as anyone who has spent time with a magpie knows, they have some very serious attitude going on as well as the potential to be cheeky and cunning.

We’ve had a magpie that follows Mr Books around whenever he starts to whippersnip the nature block at the back of our house, taking advantage of the newly exposed areas to catch dinner. One year he turned up with a mate. And the year after that, two chicks tagged along. Now Mr Books has four magpies who follow him around everytime he ventures down the back of the block. He talks to them and they sing for us. We have never been swooped by them. We wish we could understand what they were saying to us.

That desire is where the charm of this story lies.

Chidgey gives us an insight, a believable and knowledgeable insight, into what a magpie might be thinking and saying. Her research included the books by Gisela Kaplan on the Australian Magpie and Bird Minds. As Richard Adams does with rabbits in Watership Down, Chidgey does with magpies in The Axeman’s Carnival. Tama has two voices if you like. His internal voice which is intelligent and observant and his ‘human’ voice which relies on mimicry. His inappropriate use of this is where Chidgey injects some humour into the story.

Tama is discovered on the ground underneath a pine tree as a chick by Marnie. She has recently had a miscarriage and cannot resist taking the chick home to nurture it. She names it after the Japanese Tamagotchi toy she had as a child, but shortens it to Tama. Before long Tama has learnt how to mimic some of her words. A brief excursion back to the wild, where he reconnects with his father and sister proves to Tama that he prefers life in the yolk-yellow house with Marnie…and the titular axeman Rob. He has won nine consecutive golden axes at the annual regional wood chop event. He plans to make it ten at this year’s carnival.

Tama does not trust Rob and we learn not to as well. Marnie on the otherhand continually makes excuses for him and learns to live with the unlivable. Rob is a smoker, a heavy drinker, and he loves to watch crime shows in the evenings. Everyday, casual violence is all around them – on the farm, in children’s games, on the tv and in the wild. The threat of serious domestic violence though, hangs over the yolk-yellow house like a black cloud.

I haven’t read a novel about domestic violence for quite some time – I find them too distressing and upsetting. I know it is the experience of one in four women, but it is not my experience. During my teaching years I worked with families who were on the wrong side of this statistic – it was distressing and upsetting. And all too often there was very little I or anyone else could do. Which is why I no longer read novels with this content. My only quibble with The Axeman’s Carnival is that it doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the age-old story of domestic violence. The solution provided at the end of the story is not one available to other women in this situation.

The endearing, page-turning nature of this story rests entirely on Tama – and he is very endearing indeed! The fact that Rob does not agree says all you need to know about Rob. Both Marnie & Chidgey try to show us how Rob is a victim of circumstance too, with an abusive father, self-esteem issues, and the constant struggle of working a Te Waipounamu/Central Otago high-country sheep farm with its ensuing financial difficulties and battles against nature. Many other men can also face these obstacles in life, but they do not resort to violence. I guess that’s what I’m looking for these days in DV novels – that x factor thing that explains why some men do become violent. Rob ticks all the usual boxes including the charming public persona, the jealousy, controlling behaviours and lack of empathy behind closed doors and of course, the excessive drinking.

Despite the heavy subject matter, I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed The Axeman’s Carnival. I will certainly be on the look out for more books by Catherine Chidgey.

Epigraph: James K. Baxter ‘High Country Weather’

Surrender to the sky
Your heart of anger.

‘High Country Weather’ (1945) is a well-known poem in New Zealand and Baxter was an influential poet during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Chidgey’s epigraph features the final two lines in the poem.

Alone we are born
And die alone;
Yet see the red-gold cirrus
Over snow mountain shine.

Along the upland road
Ride easy, stranger:
Surrender to the sky
Your heart of anger.

Facts:

• Magpies are an introduced species into New Zealand.
• As well as domestic violence, The Axeman’s Carnival also explores animal welfare issues.
• Winner 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
• Longlisted 2024 Dublin Literary Award.
• Review by Lisa @ANZ LitLovers
• Book one for Theresa Smith Writes and Lisa @ANZ LitLovers #AYearofNZLit project.
• Thank you to Europa Editions and NetGallery for a review copy of this book.

ISBN: 9781787704619
Imprint: Europa Editions
Cover Design: Ginevra Rapisardi
Published: 16 May 2024 (originally published by Te Herenga Waka University Press 13th October 2022 )
Format: ePub via NetGalley 
Pages: 242
Dates Read: 7th - 9th May 2024

_{This post was written in the area we now call the Blue Mountains within the Ngurra [country] of the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples. This Reading Life recognises the continuous connection to Country, community and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They are the traditional custodians of the lands, seas, and skies on which we live and they are this nations first storytellers.}