Review: Have this Heart, by Lawrence Patchett
'The stories are bound together by the common thread of male isolation...'
Have This Heart is Ōtautahi writer Lawrence Patchett’s third book. His first, the short story collection Got His Blood on Me: Frontier Tales, won the Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction, and was followed by the novel This Burning River. In Have This Heart Patchett returns to the shorter form with ten new tales.
The stories in Have This Heart are not linked by character, and timeframes span historical settings to post-earthquake Christchurch. Where they are consistent however, is the focus on men, and on work, whether that be a craftsman repairing tools, a man called on in the middle of the night to stop the spread of a fire, or a middle manager in the city who needs a parking spot for his double-cab ute.
Many of the stories are bound together by the common thread of male isolation which shows up in two ways. The first is a sense that the main characters are dealing with difficulty without seeking solace or support; each has their conundrum or hurdle to overcome, and they are figuring it out on their own. The second appears in the supporting casts; an elderly father who is unwell and living alone in 'Lucky', a man who dies alone in the dystopian tale 'My Turn', and a charitable neighbour battling severe heart problems in the title story. Most stark perhaps is the image of a father and adult son who live in the same house in the rural story 'Big Bastard', yet operate in emotional isolation.
Patchett’s fictional men are also shadowed by the spectre of failure. A diligent journalist in 'The Newspaper Fella' is humbled by the shame of ‘getting it wrong’ when he publishes a piece exposing two other working men to reputational damage. In 'The European' a young Kiwi in Europe narrowly avoids a workplace disaster, then watches as a truck driver makes a small mistake which has the potential for catastrophic consequences. And in 'The Last Long Day', a woodworker tries to balance family life with work, while the viability of his business is threatened by both bureaucracy and his volatile state of mind.
This anxiety over success or failure is never more poignant than in the final story 'Big Pigeon' in which Michael is caring for his niece after her parents are injured in a car accident. In this small and tender story, the uncle’s vigilance over his toddler niece’s safety, comfort, and mood during their outing achingly illustrates the desire of ordinary men to do a good job. In fact, this counterbalance to work as simply a way to earn money and respect is evident throughout Have This Heart. With this accomplished collection of stories, Patchett offers a definition of the work of men which swells to include self control, diplomacy, caregiving, fear, friendship, and loyalty, covering the breadth of what it means to take responsibility.
