Nick
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley May 21, 2021
Author Michael Farris Smith
Distributor: New South Books
ISBN: 9780857304544
Publisher: No Exit Press
Release Date: March 2021
Website: https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au
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Nick Caraway came to fame as the narrator of what is considered as a literary masterpiece written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. Michael Farris Smith has taken this fictional character one step further, bringing him out of the shadows of a work of passion and disillusionment, to made him a fully fledge character, probably reminiscent of many who returned from the horrors of the trenches in the First World War, changed men, hardened by the horrors of war, trying hopelessly to fit into a world also eternally changed.
Young, naive and desperately struggling to survive in the trenches of France, Nick gets sent on furlough to Paris where he meet Elle, a French Parisienne struggling to survive in a world of tragedy. He falls in love, his first love, marvelling that so much wonderment can be found inside a tragedy. They spend their halcyon days in love and together.
Returning to America Nick finds himself, lost, depressed and foundering in the debauchery of New Orleans, a place that is full of violence, tragedy and despair. Once again a chance meeting has him confronting bitter memories of war, Paris, his family and the absolute degradation of the people surrounding him; involved in the love hate tragedy of the relationship of Judah and brothel owner Colette: stuck, unable to move on.
A pivotal moment sees him catching a train to Chicago, firmly shutting the door on the dissonance that was New Orleans, seeking his family, trying to put his life back together again. It was the day after Christmas.
In the small hours of the morning when night has not given away to the light of a new day Nick began to write; to write what Judah had asked him to write, page after page. He wrote of Paris, he wrote about Judah and Collette, about life, about everything other than War.
Who was Nick Carraway before he became the voice of F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1928!
Deep, tragic and gripping Nick is the story of many who went to war to return changed men. Michael Farris Smith has captured the element of hopelessness, bordering on eternal despair that many would have experienced. Given a change to change, to leave the past behind, Nick chooses hope but in doing so becomes involved with Jay Gatsby, a man damaged beyond repair, hopelessly in love with Daisy: the wife of another man and the hedonistic days of the Roaring Twenties.
Surprisingly charismatic Nick is a portrait of man carved in emotion that is unconventional, seductive, almost poetic in its narrative and beautifully crafted.