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From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle

by Kate De Goldi

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281837,453 (4)1
Barney Kettle knew he would be a very famous film director one day, he just didn't know when that day would arrive. He was already an actual director - he'd made four fifteen-minute films - but so far only his schoolmates and the residents of the High Street had viewed them. Global fame was a little way off. It would come, though. Barney was certain about that ...So begins the manuscript written from the hospital bed of an unnamed man.He has written it over many months as he recovers from serious injuries sustained in a city-wide catastrophe. He has written so he can remember the street where he lived, home to a cavalcade of interesting people, singular shops, and curious stories.He has written so he can remember the summer before he was injured, the last days of a vanished world.Above all, he has written so he can remember the inimitable Barney Kettle, filmmaker, part-time dictator, questing brain, theatrical friend; a boy who loved to invent stories but found a real one under his nose; a boy who explored his neighbourhood with camera in hand and stumbled on a mystery that changed everything ...From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle is a beautiful story: big-hearted, richly entertaining, powerful.… (more)
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What a stunning, incredible book. I love kids with elaborate projects, close-knit urban communities, child-adult friendships, clever writing, and unexpected plot rhythms. Oh, and New Zealand. This book hit an abundance of my story-kinks, brilliantly. I gave it to a student I was pretty sure would love it and she said "meh," so I'm not sure who the audience is besides me. I'm glad it exists for me, though. This will be a keep-forever-and-reread.

Some of my tags hint at this, but it's entirely possible to read the whole book without knowing that it ends with the devastating Christchurch earthquake of 2010. The author lists a website in the back, an elegy for the real High Street: http://www.highstreetstories.co.nz/splash. I got kind of obsessed with looking through it, especially this story about the rebuilding of a cafe: http://www.highstreetstories.co.nz/stories/c1-the-best-cafe-in-the-world, thinking about the ways a disaster can be the inspiration to rebuild more sustainably and beautifully. We're going to have a lot more disasters. I hope stories like this can provide road maps for how to think about the aftermath. ( )
  SamMusher | Sep 7, 2019 |
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For Rowan, who has always known thethrillingalchemy. And in memory of Virginia, and the long-ago lost Christchurch days.
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Barney Kettle knew he would be a very famous film director one day, he just didn't know when that day would arrive. He was already an actual director - he'd made four fifteen-minute films - but so far only his schoolmates and the residents of the High Street had viewed them. Global fame was a little way off. It would come, though. Barney was certain about that ...So begins the manuscript written from the hospital bed of an unnamed man.He has written it over many months as he recovers from serious injuries sustained in a city-wide catastrophe. He has written so he can remember the street where he lived, home to a cavalcade of interesting people, singular shops, and curious stories.He has written so he can remember the summer before he was injured, the last days of a vanished world.Above all, he has written so he can remember the inimitable Barney Kettle, filmmaker, part-time dictator, questing brain, theatrical friend; a boy who loved to invent stories but found a real one under his nose; a boy who explored his neighbourhood with camera in hand and stumbled on a mystery that changed everything ...From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle is a beautiful story: big-hearted, richly entertaining, powerful.

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Meet filmmaker Barney Kettle, who liked to invent stories but found a real one under his nose. 

Barney Kettle knew he would be a very famous film director one day, he just didn't know when that day would arrive. He was already an actual director – he'd made four fifteen-minute films – but so far only his schoolmates and the residents of the High Street had viewed them. Global fame was a little way off. It would come, though. Barney was certain about that ...

So begins the manuscript written from the hospital bed of an unnamed man.

He has written it over many months as he recovers from serious injuries sustained in a city-wide catastrophe. 

He has written so he can remember the street where he lived, home to a cavalcade of interesting people, singular shops, and curious stories.

He has written so he can remember the summer before he was injured, the last days of a vanished world.

Above all, he has written so he can remember the inimitable Barney Kettle, filmmaker, part-time dictator, questing brain, theatrical friend; a boy who loved to invent stories but found a real one under his nose; a boy who explored his neighbourhood with camera in hand and stumbled on a mystery that changed everything ...

A beautiful story: big-hearted, richly entertaining, powerful.
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