Louise O'BrienLouise O'Brien

Louise O'Brien lives in Wellington. She works as an editor and reviewer, and is the co-editor of New Zealand Books. Louise was born in Christchurch in 1972.

The Man Booker Prize shortlist, reviewed: ‘Autumn’ and ‘Exit West’

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The year’s biggest literary prize – the Man Booker award – is announced on Wednesday morning, October 18 (NZ time). All week this week we review the six shortlisted titles. Today: Louise O’Brien on Ali Smith’s Autumn, and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. Unsurprisingly, at least two of the books which made it to the Booker … Read more

The Smiths, part one: The new, desperately glum novel by Ali Smith

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Louise O’Brien walks through the gloom of Ali Smith’s latest novel, set in a racist, malicious, post-Brexit England. Ali Smith’s latest novel is a beautifully written and rather glum vision of the state of the world today. The first in a planned seasonal quartet of novels, Autumn was published unusually quickly after the events it … Read more