STAR GAZERS
Duncan Sarkies
Te Herenga Waka University Press
REVIEWED BY CUSHLA MCKINNEY
It is not often that I am lost for adjectives, but I struggled to find words to describe Duncan Sarkies’ genre-defying, ingenious third novel.
A combination of allegory, farce, satire, political intrigue and (to steal the words of the inimitable Grant Robertson) ‘‘general ratfuckery’’, Star Gazers explores the global zeitgeist with a uniquely New Zealand sensibility - and to great effect.
All is not well in the small and rarified community of New Zealand alpaca enthusiasts.
Animals have developed a fatal fascination with the heavens, and something is rotten in the Alpaca Breeders Organisation of New Zealand (ABONZ).
The degeneration begins with the removal of just enough ballots from the ABONZ elections to ensure the incumbent Breeders Party retain their majority, a covert reinforcement of the status quo that would have gone unremarked if not for local vet and Reformer candidate, Willemijn de Vries, crying foul.
Shut down by the newly reelected ABONZ council, the frustrated Willemijn approaches the Alpaca News with her concerns, prompting a formal investigation.
This is the last thing Shona Tisdall, prize-winning breeder and industry stalwart, wants, jeopardising as it does her position of power behind the throne.
To make matters worse, the outbreak of a mysterious and fatal illness among local alpaca prompts calls for the postponement of inter-district alpaca gatherings.
These warnings threaten the annual Breeders Showcase, which Shona plans to use as a springboard for her latest business venture - the sale of the new and exclusive VitAl Paca Health Biscuits - further escalating the conflict.
It’s a David and Goliath battle, with Willemijn and a small band of like-minded individuals battling to expose the truth only to be stymied at every turn by Shona, whose status, connections and material resources far outweigh their own.
As accusations of political interference, media leaks, censorship, fake news and worse fly between the competing parties, alpaca deaths continue to rise, threatening herds throughout the country and prompting direct and dramatic government intervention.
This dark (and prescient) depiction of democracy crumbling under the weight of corruption is leavened by Sarkies’ characteristic, understated humour. Alpacas are, by their sheer incongruity, inherently funny.
Who can’t help but love animals whose behaviour is described by verbs such as ‘‘pronk’’ and ‘‘orgle’’.
The annual Breeders Showcase, Shona’s piece de resistance and an occasion of significant additional chicanery, rivals Crufts in its attention to the minutiae of form and standard.
And the Tisdalls become targets of an act of vigilante justice as brilliant as it is stomach-turning.
Despite the conflict, there is also an undercurrent of tenderness in the relationships with, if not between, factions, and the devotion and love they elicit from those who own them is genuinely heartwarming.
Sarkies even finds room for digressions into the origins and ethology of alpaca, which are as interesting as any of the human machinations that impel the story.
All in all, Star Gazers is by far the most memorable book I have read (so far) this year.
• Cushla McKinney is a Dunedin scientist
