Rebecca K Reilly’s novel Greta and Valdin has dominated the bestseller lists, won over the judges at the Ockham NZ Book Awards and captured a new generation of readers with its smart, fresh and funny take on modern life and relationships.
Among the young audience is Eoin McGlynn, a Year 12 student at Wakatipu High School. Eoin loves reading and writing short fiction and poetry and is excited to be volunteering this weekend alongside his mum Kendall: “From the moment I heard about the Queenstown Writers Festival, I was filled with anticipation. An event with the sole purpose of creating a forum for local creatives to share their work and learn from others in the field is such a wonderful idea.”
Here’s Eoin’s take on Greta and Valdin. He says he isn’t planning a career in creative writing, but it seems to us he could be a book reviewer as a sideline!
Most stories open with a clear beginning and close with a distinct ending which usually ties together as many narrative threads and plot points as the author chooses. Any events that took place before the events of the novel are related through varying states of exposition.
Rebecca K Reilly’s début novel, Greta and Valdin, is an exception to this rule in the best way. Rather than read like a self-contained narrative, the story feels almost like a segment of two lives. Events that took place before the novel begins are relayed through the two main characters and subtly interwoven into their mutual concern for each other.
From the first sentence, Greta and Valdin feels not like a beginning but a continuation, as life truly is. The first chapter isn’t a beginning; it’s just a day in two lives. Likewise, the last chapter isn’t the end; it’s just when the narrators cease to relay the story.
Greta and Valdin follows the titular siblings, Greta and Valdin Vladisavljevic (yes I did misspell that many times even with the book open beside me) as they navigate social and personal issues which are all too relatable for the audience in a world deeply familiar to New Zealand readers.
In addition to the New Zealand setting (and a brief stint in Argentina and Colombia), the narrative exists in the even more focused setting of the intriguing family dynamics of the Vladisavljevic clan, whose blend of Māori, Russian and Catalonian culture and all that comes with it is the distillation of New Zealand’s multicultural melting pot into its purest form.
It is no exaggeration to say that Greta and Valdin is, at its core, a story about one of the most realistically depicted families many will find in literature. That isn’t to say every real family is like the Vladisavljevics, but the dynamics and relationships are written in a natural flowing manner that immediately welcomes the reader with open arms.
With its beautiful prose and authentic frankness about the issues faced by today’s youth, Greta and Valdin is a must-read, and I’m sure Rebecca K Reilly’s future releases are awaited with bated breath.
– Rebecca K Reilly will be interviewed by Noelle McCarthy on Saturday 12 November 2022.
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