Everybody Miserable
1OT since my last reading of an American war novel have I met so many frustrated and maladjusted people as in Joseph Schulls The Shadow of the Tree (NZBS). A blind pianist who is "a crazy, mixed-up kind of guy," a woman seeking to abort an unwanted baby, a predatory rich woman, men mixed up in crooked hospital deals, and other charming citizens made up the cast. The "tree" of the title I had rather ingenuously imagined to be the gallowstree, where most of the characters belonged; but, no, it was the "tree" formed by the blast of the atom-bomb. In some way I never really got round to understanding. all the miseries of these miserable types were connected with bomb-fear; but, with the help of a few platitudes from a fatherly doctor, most of them "adjusted" themselves somehow. The play deserves credit for trying to make a point; but surely the plot need not have been so meagre, nor everybody so darned unhappy about everything. A rather dull affair all round, I thought, partially redeemed by the usual excellent performance from
William Austin as te] chip-on-shoulder pianist, | and May Harrison, as ’ another of those inevitable servant-counsellors.
J.C.
R.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540903.2.19.4
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 789, 3 September 1954, Page 11
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201Everybody Miserable New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 789, 3 September 1954, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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