|
|
Title:
|
Loop Tracks |
|
Authors:
|
Orr, Sue |
|
Genre:
|
Fiction: New Zealand |
|
Pages:
|
328 |
|
Year:
|
2021 |
|
Publisher:
|
Victoria University Press |
|
Language:
|
English |
|
Description:
|
Charlie Lowry has a story to tell, a particularly New Zealand story: from her 1978 teenage pregnancy with its abortion or adoption dilemma, leapfrogging ahead to the arrival of the Covid pandemic.
It's all here with her parenting of her grandson Tommy (now off to university), the constraints of a Level 4 lockdown, and even the 2020 General Election with its euthanasia and cannabis referenda.
Poignant and appealing, this thoughtful story of family, choices and consequences, integrates real-life events of New Zealand past and present, perfectly capturing the zeitgeist of an evolving society. [Larger font]
|
|
Categories:
|
Fiction NZ, Feminism, Medical/Health, Political, Relationships, Social commentary/perspectives, Larger font, 2024 Titles |
|
|
By: OHOPE 002
|
2025-05-14 10:38:07 |
|
|
|
Our group found the book interesting, descriptive, relatable but some parts not quite credible e.g. Charlie's romance with David. Differences in opinion over this one. |
|
|
By: WAIHI 001
|
2025-03-17 10:09:54 |
|
|
Some people really enjoyed the book, while others couldn't get into it at all. |
|
|
By: AUCK 285
|
2025-03-13 13:10:14 |
|
|
A very well received book - liked by all. Loved by many. Against true historic events in N.Z, the relationship between Tommy and Charlie is unveiled while covering a huge range of issues. Impressed that it could be so easily readable given the dark topics covered - (abortion, adoption, neuro-diverse people coping in an unsympathetic world, euthanasia, and Covid). teachers amongst us thought it would be a great English text. |
|
|
By: MOSG 004
|
2025-01-15 10:33:35 |
|
|
|
Well researched and well-written. Very sad. |
|
|
By: HURUN 001
|
2024-10-23 14:56:52 |
|
|
|
Varied thoughts on this book! Boring, disjointed, didn't finish it, a good read etc. Most enjoyed the style but felt some of the content, or lack of, frustrating. The discussion was lively and sometimes forceful. |
|
|
By: NAP 005
|
2024-09-25 11:53:00 |
|
|
|
Many of us could relate to the issues raised but some felt that too many issues were included in the book. We felt that the book accurately portrayed the attitudes at the time in N.Z. We especially enjoyed the descriptions of Wellington and felt that the variation in writing styles contributed to the book. |
|
|
By: LEVIN 001
|
2024-09-25 10:38:24 |
|
|
|
Mostly enjoyed the book. Good development of the characters and descriptions of Wellington. A couple of people weren't very positive. Found the inclusion of Covid lockdowns etc. really interesting. |
|
|
By: WINT 001
|
2024-08-29 10:26:06 |
|
|
Everyone enjoyed the book and felt it really captured the issues around abortion in the late 70's New Zealand. The Covid lockdown and associated views on that were well described and the author presented a realistic snapshot into raising a neurodivergent grandchild. The strength of the novel was in the writing which had a real eloquence to it. An all female group meant everyone could talk about people they knew or within their own whanau who were directly impacted by an unwanted pregnancy and how times have changed. |
|
|
By: WHAKA 009
|
2024-08-07 10:02:06 |
|
|
|
A bit depressing. Jumped around a bit. Main consensus was that it was a good read and brought back lots of memories of how things were in the 70s. |
|
|
By: RICH 005
|
2024-07-08 10:05:47 |
|
|
|
This book was very well received by all but one of our group and caused a great discussion. Set in New Zealand, and as our group are all 60 and over it was in our time period so we could relate to the decisions around abortion etc right up to the Covid/election/euthanasia year of 2020. A great book! |
|
|
By: TAUR 053
|
2023-11-23 12:21:49 |
|
|
|
This book generated a lot of discussion - several people had friends who they could recall dealing with similar issues in the seventies. We recalled the societal pressures and the shame. A couple of our readers did not find they could relate to the protagonist and her negativity. But on the whole, a provocative read and an extremely well-written novel. |
|
|
By: WANAK 021
|
2023-11-02 13:48:53 |
|
|
|
Was rated by our group really well because of the thought provoking issues - especially abortion, but also euthanasia, adoption, consent, drugs and autism. Set in Wellington around Covid pandemic time made it all very relatable. |
|
|
By: CHCH 449
|
2023-10-09 14:35:45 |
|
|
|
Our review stars ranged from 2 to 4.5. Some loved the story, one didn't bother to read it as she didn't think it would interest her. Obviously, with this diversity in opinions we had an interesting discussion on most of the topics covered in the book. We did agree that it was well-written but there were a few gaps in the narrative which also provoked some questions. |
|
|
By: AUCK 335
|
2023-09-15 14:53:09 |
|
|
|
We agreed this is a good book and well worth reading, though it raises a number of difficult issues, particularly teenage pregnancy, adoption and abortion. We found the characters credible and often complex and thought the challenges of neurodiversity in a young man for him and for those close to him were very well-described. The Wellington context rang true. The book is unusual in that it deals with such recent events as Covid with its lockdowns and daily 1pm news, Jacinda and the 2020 general election and End of Life referendum, and (briefly)conspiracy theories. A truly NZ novel. Recommended. |
|
|
By: PALMN 031
|
2023-08-17 14:35:05 |
|
|
|
An enjoyable and thought provoking book. |
|
| |
