RAPID REVIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19406, 14 August 1926, Page 7 (Supplement)

RAPID REVIEWS.

" Thunder on. tha Left," by Christopher Morley (Cornstalk Company). " The Brains of the Family/' by E. J. Rath (Sampson Low). J " The Dark Places," by . Perceval Gibbon (Methuen). 5 " Among the notionahle dictes of antique Rome was the fancy that when men yj heard thunder on the left the gods had somewhat of speciall advertisement to , impart. Then did the prudent pause and <§•'-' lay down their affaire to study what omen Jove intended." A group of children at a birthday pai'ty • discuss the mysterious state of grown-upness, whether f 5 grown-ups have a good time and how to fnrl out before it is too late. So they I deride, that Martin shall spy in the enemy's country, watch them, seo exactly how they behave and bring in a report. And ,' -J when the candies- on'the birthday cake a?<* blown out Martin wishes. Then follows the strange stuff of the story. The children are children no longer, all except Martin. And the secret world of grown-ups is a secret no longer, but laid bare, terribly bare, to the gaze of the qnestins child. But when the sadness o? this half-real, half dreams-.world becomes intolerable—hey presto, and,we are back at the party once more " Wait, cries Martin., breathlessly. " Don't let s plav that game. It's too terrible." As p|. fantastic as " Dear Brutus," and more elusive, funny and tragic, tender and cynical, " Thunder on the Left" is a very distinguished and distinctive achievement. E., J. Rath has the high spirits of a P. G. Wodehouse, if he is not so continuously amusing, and " The Brains of the Family" is a joyous " rag" upon the modern system of intensive mind culture v: by means of "little books." So he de- ; pics an American family spending holiday in the pine-woods, each of them studying a different kind of little book. Mr. Warren's hobby is. dietetic. He suffers from dyspepsia, not indigestion. "Indigestion is for beginners. Dyspepsia is what you get after you know the ropes." The daughter is practising the art of " compelling conversation," the son takes up . a memory-system. Even the servants get the craze; the chauffeur is studying character-types, and the housemaid a variety of the " glad game." |j-,- Into this merry party enters Jerry Lane. " 71» whole island is nothing but a riot of will-power and compelling conversation and memory stunts and character §£.-• analysis. . . . Everybody" is' studying something out of a little bock and nobody is having a good time." So Jefry takes a hand and wins the day and the daughter. ®£ "The Dark Places" is a set of. six

short stories dealing mostly with the horrors of the Bolshevik regime. The author, who is apparently writing from first-hand experience, feels too deeply to achieve that attitude of coo! detachment which so effectivelv contrasts with and emphasises the points made. " Proxy" is perhaps the best of the collection, a grim story of a coward who stole his < friend's cfiance of freedom, only to find p. it led him to a horrible death. '