The Silver Moon: Reflections on life, death and writing
By: Bryce Courtenay / Narrated By: Humphrey Bower
Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
Lovely snippets of Courtenay’s life journey… but juuuust snippets
Oh good cow, how many Many MANY Bryce Courtenay audiobooks I have in my Library. And considering the author’s typical offerings which are 15+ hours long, this is really just a posthumous homage, a gathering of various quotes, brief snippets of interviews, general thoughts on Life.
And even a little bit on death with a bit about how we all have our own Use By Dates, how much living and appreciation that can be done between our current Nows by the time that particular End happens to each of us.
The man had a genius with his writing, such a fantastic way with words, so I b’lieve aspiring writers will really find The Silver Moon of most value to them. Courtenay writes the usual Show Me, Don’t Tell Me bit, but along with that are dabbling with adverbs, characterizations, and how to write so that the reader really buys in with a glorious suspension of disbelief. Buck yourself up, chum. Sit at that desk and write write write, and when you go to sleep at night, do it, call it: I Am A Writer. One has to belieeeve.
Okay, so there’s all that, so huzzah for writers, right?
Nope, cuz this is also for Courtenay fans, individuals who want some background on his life, his time spent in orphanages, stints done in Rhodesian mines where he could make in a year (Due to the extreme danger of the job) what others made in 3-4 years.
What? you ask yourself, does this have to do with all the talk and all the lessons about writing? Nope, nothing.
What? you ask yourself, does the writing advice have to do with wanting to learn more about Courtenay, the man behind the works of literary wonder? Nope, nothing.
And how about all those one-line zingers, with what interviews they were taken from? Those two-line observations from excerpts from various articles?
Jeez, they all have nothing to do with ANYthing.
This little audiobook, narrated expertly by Humphrey Bower, the voice behind all the Courtenay books, kinda seems like a hodgepodge of things the family just wanted to throw out there to hardcore fans of the man now that he’s passed, a last Huzzah.
And as far as a guide to young writers goes, it’s right up there with works by the likes of Steven Pressfield, only with farrrrr less muscular writing/phrasing. It’s a gentle call to write, which also encompasses how to behave once your work of art, your creation, hits the masses.
And as far as learning about Courtenay the man goes, it’s just a tiiiiiny bit of added info, there simply to add a bit of flavor once you’ve embarked on the journey of each of his books—the story behind the storyteller.
And then it’s done.
A sweet little listen with pithy thoughts and a hardscrabble upbringing, a few heartbeats of Hope to go with enjoying the seed, the planting, the appreciation of what each little endeavor brings forth. And then Courtenay turns it over, and it becomes the oak going back to the acorn, looking at a life lived before the final reaping.
Kinda a bit for everyone here; kinda a bit for nobody in its entirety. Didn’t leave me satisfied.
-BUT-
It sure as heck made me wanna browse my Library, see how the man crafted and created. He had his last Huzzah, yes. But his works will live forever.
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