TURBINE | KAPOHAU

On Kohine by Colleen Maria Lenihan. Huia Publishers. 2022.

Not short stories. But not a novel. It’s almost a more realistic way of storytelling – showing the interconnectedness of people’s lives – the messiness. It shows the underbelly of exploitation and pain – sadness – identity – all happening in what should be a vibrant city. It’s like the truth underneath the surface of something, all bound together by one character and the death of her daughter.

I think the brilliance is the way each story could be read on its own – they all have their own lingering commentary and sadness to them – but when you read them as a collection, it tells a much bigger story. Beautiful. But sad.

I don’t know that this is what I am doing in my own writing, but something that I think is important to take note of is the way these stories are told. Which is simply. Lenihan doesn’t use melodrama or fancy explanations. She just simple states and describes which allows the reader to feel the writing instead of being told the emotion itself. And feeling, to me, is half the story. It is the piece that makes a work resonate with a reader further than just a complex plot. It speaks to being human. What it means to exist. How people exist. How they don’t.

The complexity of having all of these characters shedding light on different aspects of life is so much deeper than if it was told through the lens of one character. It also shows the impact they have on each other’s lives, even if miniscule. That interests me. The interconnected, woven nature of human existence – you can’t exist without impacting someone in some way shape or form. Also people’s perceptions of each other.

I only have two perspectives in my work. But I’m hoping to show this in some way. I think what I’ve learned is, subtlety is key. There doesn’t have to be an explicit this is how this event/person/situation impacted a set of people. It can be implied. A reader can pick up on the connections and associations. Reading between the lines actually gives a way to show the way lives intertwine while still allowing the characters to be completely separate. This is also important to me. I want my characters arcs and lives to be separate – but with the undertone of connection. I don’t want them to provide commentary on each other. Their sadness is their own. As is everyone’s. Interesting. It also has me thinking of which pieces of the story are told through which perspective. The lens is important, because everyone’s reality is different – even the way someone interprets someone else’s reality is different. The reader can recognise these gaps, which I think makes for a much more realistic story.