I am taking part in the Blog Blitz for The Plastic Seed by Maisie Porter. It questions the validity and hypocrisy of the wellness philosophy. In a way it also questions the people behind the system.
About the Author
Maisie Porter works as a professional photographer in Australia, with wide experience covering weddings, though she has neither abducted nor been abducted by any competitors. No Reception is Maisie's first novel.
Follow Maisie on Twitter - @eyeointment @crookedcatbooks,
Buy The Plastic Seed
About the book
Two schemes uncoil—and, very quickly, begin to unravel—on the same day in the Australian town of West Glassport…
Jean Hima isn’t happy with the way her life has been going. First, her husband leaves her. Then, she loses her job as a midwife at the local hospital, over the easily-fixed misplacement of a baby or two…
Now, Jean is sure a snooty real estate agent is blocking her efforts to find a rental in a nice part of town. Given possession of a batch of incriminating photographs, who wouldn’t begin thinking about a little life-restorative blackmail?
Written in three acts and covering a quarter of a century, The Plastic Seed is an environmental thriller that explores the hypocrisy of some aspects of the philosophy of wellness. This novella is part satire of the human potential movement, and sincere testimony to the ability of humans to face facts when given no choice.
Review
The opening pages are brief, but also a spectacular draw in for a potential reader.
The focus is on three characters across the timeline of five, ten and twenty years. Jean is an alcoholic who takes no responsibility for her actions and doesn't seem to think her need to drink to get through each day is a problem. She has a collection of beer and alcoholic beverages that travel with her wherever she goes. Alcohol to get to sleep at night, a wee drink to get through the day and a drink here and there just for the heck of it. A midwife in charge of delivering babies and in charge of the health of mothers and babies, who has been known to give the wrong child to the wrong mother.What could possibly go wrong?
Of course none of that is her fault. It's everyone else's fault. Maybe it's Amy or Carlana's fault. The daughter on a road straight to jail or the neighbour who is a complete hypocrite. Professionally she suggests a certain lifestyle, actions and attitudes but in her real life Carlana applies nothing she actually recommends.
I'm going to go back to the fact that the opening act promises a gritty crime, and yet lyrical pose in equal measures. The plot veers off in an entirely different direction into an environmental thriller. It questions the validity and hypocrisy of the wellness philosophy. In a way it also questions the people behind the system.
It's a novella (123 pages). A short read that introduces readers to this author and her particular style of storytelling. I found the beginning atmospheric and memorable. I would buy a book based on those first few pages. I thought the rest was a wee bit disjointed and lacked direction. The middle and end are worlds apart from the promising lure at the start.
I think Porter could potentially have a wicked little crime or psychological thriller inside her waiting to be written.
Buy The Plastic Seed at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Ecopy pub by Publisher: Crooked Cat Books December 19, 2018. Crooked Cat Books. Hardcover pub independently Dec 2018. Buy at Amazon com.
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