The Pink Jumpsuit

Emma Neale

Quentin Wilson Publishing

Otago Daily Times, September 23rd 2021

In contrast to Cotteral’s of Jack Remiel Coterall’s meticulously honed minimalism, the stories in poet and novelist Emma Neale’s own debut collection are a mix of flash fiction and longer works of a more serious aspect, albeit one shot through with echoes of fabulism and whimsy.

Because this is a compilation of previously published pieces rather than a work composed in toto, it lacks the structural cohesion of Cotteral’s collection, but certain recurrent themes and motifs thread through the stories: fathers who are scientists and/or too engrossed in their work to attend to their families; children transformed by some accident of genetics into something not-quite-human; difficult relationships and our inability to see others in the way they wish to be known. A number of them particularly resonated with me as a parent, from the disquieting opening story, ‘The Fylgja’, in which we accompany a woman through a nightmare/psychotic break/miscarriage/early labour, to the blackly comic ‘Party Games’, in which a child’s birthday spirals out of control. Other stories are more playful, including those of a mother and son sharing a Mahy-esque car ride, a jilted bride’s doctorate-worthy act of performance art revenge, and an epistolic wooing that will change your perception of the semicolon forever. Regardless of their subject matter or tone, Neale’s stories have a depth that invites repeated reading; I finished each one wondering what I had missed, and whether my initial interpretation was accurate or merely superficial. These are tales to be taken individually, each considered and reflected upon carefully before venturing on to the next. As a collection, The Pink Jumpsuit is a rich and rewarding read from one of this country’s most accomplished writers.