GatesyRead

 I first came across Brian Castro’s fiction in the 1990s, with the intriguing Double Wolf (1991). A long time passed and I rediscovered his writing, reading The Garden Book (2005), The Bath Fugues (2009) and Street to Street (2012) within a few years. Finally, I met Brian in person in 2018 at an artist retreat run by the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice. His presentation was entirely about Coetzee -- he struck me as a modest and friendly man -- but there was a moment around a campfire where writers shared their work, and Brian was a sympathetic and encouraging listener.  Chinese Postman opens with short paragraphs that move between third person and first-person narrative, as the narrator calls attention to a ‘bitter and twisted man’ who ‘sees nothing but fragments’ (p. 1).  He is a lonely, enduring the killing zone as his friends pass away, with a neighbour and dogs for company. Soon we are told that ‘He talks mainly to himself. Clears his throat often’ (an ...