Latest news with #Hoey
Newsroom
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsroom
Book of the Week: On the crisis of masculinity
The world and much of its art at the moment is consumed with the crisis masculinity finds itself in. The loudest voices want to frame the problem in terms of binaries – good and bad, masculine and feminine, guilt and innocence, us and them. Social media is to blame for the changing roles men and women play in society or the rise of feminism or evolving gender norms or often just 'woke'. Dominic Hoey's new novel 1985 offers a far more nuanced exploration of masculinity and in doing so gets amongst the roots of behaviours we section off into the box of male toxicity. While 1985 is an incredibly well-crafted portrayal of a range of expressions of masculinity, the real success of the book is its ability to offer a visceral representation of being cold and hungry in Aotearoa in 1985. Through this evocative portrayal of poverty Hoey guides us through literary acts of compassion back to the base of the hierarchy of needs reminding us that generations of cold and hungry boys need to go to desperate lengths to get warm and fed, setting in motion events that escalate into violence. Although set in 1985, this book waves an urgent warning beacon as we turn once again toward the bad old days. I think it's impossible to read 1985 without hearing our wealthy and sorted Prime Minister tell every school kid in Aotearoa that if they don't like school lunches with plastic in them they should make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag, like his parents used to. The plot of 1985 is flanked by two dead bodies. The first appears on the berm outside 58 Crummer Road in Grey Lynn, a property that sold for $2.5 million last year, but in 1985 is the home of one of the few white families in Grey Lynn. Obi, the eleven-going-on twelve-year-old narrator of 1985, lives at 58 Crummer Road with his sister Summer, his mum who is really sick, their dog Ham and his dad who is a poet, a drinker and the chaos the rest of the family orbit; in turns attracted and repulsed. Obi's dad won't get a regular job and the risk of the family losing the house sits heavy in the novel and inspires many of the bad decisions made by the men in this book. To say money is tight is grossly understating the circumstances Obi and his family live in. Food is hard to come by and the house is bitterly cold. In the hands of a lesser writer Obi's dad might have been simply 'deadbeat'. Instead, in contrast to the risks he places the family in the way of, he defines himself by the love he has for his wife and as a provider for his family. He steals food, he bakes cakes, he is trying to fix the car. He is undyingly loyal to his family, his community and his friends. He writes poetry that is stunningly astute and demonstrates a deep understanding of himself and the systems he lives under. Obi's dad believes crime is a far better option to save the family home than working at the local bacon factory and instead of asking us to read against this, Hoey offers us the insight to see that he's probably right. Obi's family is in big financial trouble and Obi's dad needs big financial returns to get out of the trouble. Not the tiny wage afforded him in return for long shifts and physically draining work. Money is the problem, not any innate violence or dereliction of responsibilities. Instead, the low investment and high return of crime offers one of the few possibilities for Obi's dad to meet his responsibilities. He needs to be at home to care for his sick wife and to take up many of the household tasks that might have been seen as hers. For a fighter and a criminal Obi's dad seems not at all emasculated by shifting between gender norms. Obi's family would be okay with the label counter-culture – they protest, they hate the government, they like drugs. However I still think, despite what people might want you to believe about this era as one when men simply were men, this more fluid expression of masculinity seems far more inline with my experience of 1985. I think this way of being a man was far more prevalent in the 1980s than is remembered now. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a golden age of freedom and equality and the book doesn't shy away from the awful things that happen to women, but I think what the book also captures is expressions of masculinity that have been lost under the myth of the singular New Zealand man that we often find when we look back at dominant culture from this time. A myth that is often elevated when it's suggested that men are confused now about gender roles. A simpler time when men could be men and not feel bad about it that was abandoned in favour of 'woke' ideas that have left all men in crisis. I really like the way 1985 and probably all of Hoey's work complicates this simplistic idea of where violence comes from and how we can stop it. Early in the novel Obi, reflecting on the love his parents have for each other, says, 'For as long as I can remember I was trying to get Dad to share a bit of that love. But it seemed like he only had enough for Mum.' Obi's feelings toward his dad are complicated and in many ways the narrative of the book is Obi coming to terms with his need for his father's love. This isn't a gentle transition and the realisation that his dad can't give Obi what he needs or wants is beautifully rendered in all its pain, power and confusion. Here as in so many other aspects of the book Hoey complicates the reasons a reader might believe people do crime and violence. These are not 'good and bad' people. The book does have one 'big bad' but by the time he enters the story even he is complicated by the lives Hoey has so expertly created. This is a community who feeds whoever is in the house at dinner time with whatever they have to offer. This is a community that picks each other up from hospital, the police cells, the psychiatric hospital and the prison. One of the really amazing parts of the book is the way money becomes everyone's in Obi's house. At several stages in the plot he finds money in people's wallets, takes it and it isn't mentioned again. There is a new type of economy being modelled in 1985 that reflects the real-world fact that those who have the least give the most. Hoey creates a world where bad people do good things and good people do bad things in a way that complicates so much of what the current Government would like us to believe about crime and poverty. But this isn't a story about the 'noble poor'. People in 1985 make terrible decisions and these decisions have a range of consequences – some destructive. Hoey has created a book that states and operates under its own internal morals. I'm in awe of how he has done this while maintaining an immersive reading experience. The prose just flows and it is a satisfying read while at the same time challenging much of the status quo of the world we are reading it in. Like any set of agreed terms, the moral rules of the book sometimes cause incredible harm but I don't think I was once stopped with the thought, 'Why are they doing that?' Sure, sometimes I was almost screaming at the page for someone not to do that, but the world the characters live in is complete and well-rendered and I was quickly schooled in the logic and emotional physics of this world. Love is a massive part of the emotional landscape of this book. Familial love, coercive love, romantic love and standing as an exemplar to all of us the platonic love between Obi and his best friend Al. Al is Samoan and lives with his family a couple of houses over from Obi. Al's aunty is good friends with Obi's mum. Al's mum left. Obi and Al's relationship offers the most hopeful experience of masculinity in the book and offers an alternative to the dominant expressions of masculinity that Obi is surrounded by. Obi's struggle with his father echoes and leaks into his relationship with Al. Obi often makes decisions motivated by his desire to please his father that leave Al in the lurch and it is often in the moments when Obi realises he has let Al down that he sees his father in new ways. The friendship also gives Obi access to a love that is different from what his father can offer. One that is patient and attentive. I think this is also part of the excellence of Hoey's craft. Obi's character develops through both these relationships and they are in perfect balance with each other in the narrative of the book. 1985 begins with an epigraph about nostalgia and I think it is really aware as a work of how it operates as a machine fuelled by the past. The first body of the book appears on the morning after the Rainbow Warrior bombing and although this event unfolds in the background of the work, Hoey uses far more modulated details to render the 1985 of his book. Obi is good at spacies and in the scenes that take place in the video game parlours and takeaways anyone my age will experience an almost haptic response to Hoey's vivid descriptions of sounds and visuals. 1985 also captures Grey Lynn before gentrification. There is one house of 'rich cunts' who are out of step with everyone else but are grudgingly included in street parties and other events. Anyone who walked these streets in the 1980s will recognise so much of it which is gone. Hoey describes the path of a dropped card as it blows through the Grey Lynn shops. 'It flew through the music of the street, a chorus of Tongan, Māori, Niuean, Chinese, Samoan, English, Fijian, Hindi'. Hoey captures the old Grey Lynn without appropriation through his central narrator, born and bred in the suburb – acutely aware that he is the 'diverse' one. 'I was in the cultural group at school,' Obi says. 'In the photos I'm the fat white kid looking confused. Al said I had to join. 'Don't be racist.'' Throughout the book white people are described as white – 'A white guy with a thick moustache', 'One of the only white faces in there.' In this way Hoey manages to produce a work that pushes against the idea of equating whiteness with neutrality. Instead, whiteness is charged in the work in a way that feels useful both creatively and politically. This concentration on the past and especially a past before gentrification also makes it possible for Hoey to explore the different relationships rich and poor people have with the past. In one of the scenes where Obi talks with his mum in the bedroom where she spends increasingly more of her time he asks about the past. Obi can't understand why his father retells it with such a positive glow. His mother replies, 'Those without much future tend to fall in love with the past.' Often the only thing that is abundant in the world of 1985, is art. Obi's dad is a poet, his mum studied literature at university until she was too sick to carry on. Obi's sister is a visual artist. Al wants to make films. There are several models of how to be an artist in the book. The portrayal of Obi's poet dad made me cringe at some of my own behaviour that makes me, as a writer, really hard to live with. It's an astute description of the possible necessity of living in two worlds as a writer – one not very grounded in reality, of the isolation I often need to 'get my head right', of my vagueness when I look like my family has my full attention. The overwhelming story of the art in this book, however, is the barriers that stand between some people and some art. Al sneaks into theatres to see film festival movies and dreams of having a camera he can't afford. The resources needed for filmmaking stand in contrast to those needed for writing. Obi's dad writes his poetry on the back of receipts and other scraps of paper he finds as part of his day. He is always able to participate in his art. The poems are often abandoned after he reads them. He's had one poem published but publishing doesn't pay so speaking these poems at parties and pubs is his preferred way of sharing his work. Despite the lack of access to the resources of filmmaking though, Al is still a filmmaker. He speaks his film treatments out as he and Obi wander the streets of Grey Lynn, the central city and West Auckland. No one ever tells Al he can't be a filmmaker. He is learning his craft stealing films in the cinemas on Queen Street and watching videos recorded off television or pirated from the video store copies. At the same time we are questioning why men feel so lost, there is a toughening happening. As if we need to meet the crisis of masculinity with out-dated and binary ideas of masculinity. An odd reaction to violence with violence. On Mata recently, Shane Jones described 'woke' as 'excessive bouts of political correctness'. I've lived through the rise of political correctness, the backlash against it, the backlash against the backlash, the rise of woke and the current backlash against that. The fight always seems one over whether or not we should give people the benefit of the doubt. Whether we should try to care for people or punish them. It's no secret which side I come down on and this is why I'm so grateful for a book like 1985 at this moment. It's tough to be hungry, it's tough to be cold, it's awful to be frightened. But it's also really hard to imagine these things if you've never experienced them. This is what I think is powerful about Hoey's book. While it's hard to care about hunger in the abstract, I challenge anyone not to care about Obi and Al. 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, $38) is available in bookstores nationwide.
The Spinoff
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
What we thought about 1985 by Dominic Hoey
Claire Mabey and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith discuss Dominic Hoey's latest novel, a vivid evocation of 1980s Grey Lynn. Claire Mabey: Lyric, I ate this book whole. I couldn't put it down once I started. The voice of Obi – the narrator – is so clear and lively. What was your reading experience like? Lyric Waiwiri-Smith: Reading it was just like being back in Auckland, growing up on the streets of Grey Lynn and hoping you might be able to scab some money off your mates and hit up the 562 Takeaway (made famous by appearing on the cover of Hoey's poetry collection 'I Thought We'd Be Famous'). OK, yeah, Hoey and I grew up in Auckland a few decades apart, but reading this felt like looking back on a childhood diary that myself or any one of my friends could have written. CM: The looking back is so vivid: Hoey brings such detail to the writing which takes the reader right to Crummer Street, 80s, Grey Lynn. I was interested in the epigraph that says: 'Nostalgia is a gentle madness / the past was like this too / you just don't remember' which I think must be Hoey's own poetry. But this book is both nostalgic in that it harks back to pre-gentrified Auckland, but also anti-nostalgic in that the driving idea of the book is to keep moving on, don't get stuck in the past, don't let nostalgia keep you from getting more than what you think you deserve. LWS: Such a delicious little epigraph – I got my book signed by Hoey at Unity Books on Tuesday so now that poem is sitting nicely between 'To Lyric' and '❤️ Dominic', which made me shed a little tear for some reason. I guess the past me was like this too. I really like your read of it, Claire, because I feel like everyone in this book is holding onto something – buried treasure, crushed up poetry, grudges – and no one knows how to let it go. That's a theme I really love in Hoey's writing: that really painful hanging onto something that serves you nothing. CM: That is very insightful, Lyric! And despite this whirlwind of nostalgia present in the adults, the engine of the book is Obi (not his real name but a Star Wars nickname that stuck) who is looking back on his life as a pre-teen in the middle of this chaos. Early in the book he says this, which for me framed the book and explained its fast pace (really short, compelling chapters): 'The line separating the world of kids and adults was so thin, it hardly seemed to exist. It reminded me of video games. You had to keep your eyes on the screen, your hands on the controls, be ready for anything. Because when you're not paying attention, that's when things fall apart real quick.' What did you make of this gaming thread through the novel? LWS: As a child of the 2000s I very much missed the Spacies craze, but I did feel like I was right there with Obi and his best friend Al (very funny little kid) in the arcade, trying to game the system by poking wires in the coin slot and desperately hoping for another go at winning big, because your 11-year-old life depends on it. I think he probably picked up that view of the world because a lot of the adults around him – his dad, Gus and Mad Sam – are also trying to game a system (see: adulthood) and failing, so someone else better be the real adult around here and try to create some way to survive, too. CM: The adults in this novel are so flawed, but I really loved Obi's mum and dad, despite the problems with drugs and booze, and the heart-ache around Obi's mum illness (this novel draws on the sick mum / hopeless dad trope but not at all in a stereotypical way). I found myself feeling so anxious about Obi the whole time: it's a novel about obstacles and having to jump and swerve and strategise your way out of trouble that's not even of your own making – so much external chaos thrust on these little kids. 1985 is a working class novel about working class people and struggle – that's a rare thing in this world, unfortunately. These stories are so relatable and Hoey makes sure his characters are fully fleshed – we can really see them. Did you feel like this novel was ultimately hopeful, despite the serious nature of the obstacles that Obi and his mates face? LWS: I think rather than being hopeful or pessimistic, this book just feels like it wants to shed a light on the chaos of life when you're living in a rotting old Grey Lynn villa and there's no food in the fridge. The characters don't pretend to be anything other than what they are, and in their own ways they make excuses for it, but that's just … life, especially when you're working class and philosophically opposed to things like calling the police or liking your 'rich cunt' neighbours. I really enjoyed Obi's reflection at the end (spoilers incoming): 'The neighbourhood was changing … A meanness had got into the water supply. They cut the benefits. Felt like everyone was out for themselves'. How do you actually win when the odds are stacked against you? Sometimes I think you just accept the way the tide has gone and try to swim through it, even when it's pushing you back. CM: You're so right. There's a moment in the book that stood out for me where Obi says something like: it sucks when you realise everyone has excuses for their shitty behaviour. And you realise that Obi, too, does shitty things but it's all part of this vast game of life and there's no judgement inherent in this story. It's pure happenings, and environment, and relationships both deep and fleeting. There's a lot of love in this book – it really takes you by the throat and takes you with it, all the way. LWS: I love the love for Grey Lynn that runs through the book as well. He writes about that suburb with so much care, like you know Obi has haunted every street corner and still wholeheartedly believes this is the only place on Earth that feels like home. I can smell the vinegar factory and mildew on the pages. I kind of wonder whether these characters and their shameless habits might be a bit garish for a reader who wants to read some kind of underdog story, where Obi does find the treasure and suddenly everything is fixed, or dad gets his shit together and publishes his poems. But, like Grey Lynn, some things mostly just stay the same forever. CM: Interesting point – the novel stays real and doesn't go down the Goonies road (though it did remind me of 80s adventure movies that I loved so much as a kid). For me the language was so textured and so clean that I could slip through the story without pinning any expectations on the plot. I had dreams I guess, but Obi is so believable that I just wanted to keep up with him, whatever happened. So, we'd recommend? Maybe with some some strong language warnings for the squeamish? LWS: I would undoubtedly recommend this book and everything Hoey has ever written. Maybe a scene-setter for a first-time Hoey reader, from my first time hearing his work: I had stumbled down some dimly lit stairs, found myself in Karangahape Road's grimiest little shithole (the Wine Cellar, but the back part that doesn't exist anymore, RIP), walked past a door and heard someone waxing lyrical on shitty landlords and being too poor to quit working hospo even though it's killing you. So I bought a ticket and spent the next five years hearing him out. Hoey's voice is so representative of Auckland city, and the malaise that comes with the hustle of living there. I really adore his work – if not him, who's going to write about the Obis of Aotearoa?
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Auckland Writers Festival special: Dominic Hoey 1985 extract
To celebrate the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival, we've teamed up with New Zealand publishers to showcase some of the authors who will be on stage over the festival weekend. This extract is from '1985″ by Dominic Hoey, described as 'an electric coming-of-age adventure set in pre-gentrification Auckland'. Hoey will appear
USA Today
14-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Richard Hoey Tee Times, Live Stream, TV Coverage
Richard Hoey Tee Times, Live Stream, TV Coverage | PGA Championship, May 15-18, 2025 Richard Hoey heads into the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club at +35000 to win after a seventh-place performance in the Myrtle Beach Classic at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club on May 8-11 in his most recent outing. Below, we'll analyze his recent form to help you make your best bets on Hoey before he takes to the course in Charlotte, NC. How to watch Richard Hoey at the PGA Championship Date: May 15-18, 2025 May 15-18, 2025 TV: ESPN ESPN Location: Charlotte, NC Charlotte, NC Course: Quail Hollow Club Quail Hollow Club Live Stream: Watch LIVE with Fubo! What time does Richard Hoey tee off? Round 1 Tee Time: 8:28 AM ET ESPN+ is the new home of PGA TOUR LIVE. Sign up now to access 4,300+ hours of live coverage from 35 PGA TOUR tournaments this year. Richard Hoey's last five tournaments Recent stats for Hoey Hoey has finshed better than par 11 times, completed his day without a bogey once and finished 11 rounds with a better-than-average score over his last 14 rounds played. He has recorded the best score of the day in one of his last 14 rounds, while scoring among the top five in two rounds and the top 10 three times. Over his last 14 rounds, Hoey has placed within three strokes of the best score of the round twice, and within five shots on eight occasions. Richard Hoey odds to win Golf odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Tuesday at 3:14 PM ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Quail Hollow Diary: Familiar fairways fit the eye for Seamus Power
Seamus Power isn't about to renounce his Déise citizenship any time soon but you could call the PGA Championship a home-away-from-homecoming. The Waterford pro was a late addition to the field just last week when others' failures did him a favour and an unlikely invite to the year's second Major was extended. It was gladly accepted because Quail Hollow is a familiar and friendly haunt for the 38-year-old world No.126. When he moved permanently to the US in 2010, Charlotte was his first base. He'd stay for a decade. 'I do [feel comfortable] here. I lived here,' said Power, who now calls Las Vegas home. 'The course just fits my eye and like it. It's a tough test but I always enjoy playing here. So hopefully some good things this week.' In seven visits, Power has made the cut here six times. The PGA also counts as his best Major performance to date, a tie for 7th in 2022. After six missed cuts out of 12 this year, a strong showing here would be welcome. 'It's been frustrating and up and down, but it feels like it's heading in the right direction overall, which is a nice feeling,' Power said. 'Back to a place where I've played well before, so hopefully good things happen.' 'Gimme shelter' is the soundtrack amid more storms After Monday was entirely washed out, Tuesday began much brighter and bubblier as crowds poured in to watch practice. Both Power and Tom McKibbin got a feel for the back nine early while Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy got in some range work. Around 1pm things took another wild turn however when a violent electrical storm swept in and forced play to be suspended with greens and fairways inundated. 'Seek safe shelter or exit!' the punters were warned. The bad news? The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday is equally erratic. Hoey hoping for more fortune than his namesake The world's press are hosted in a giant tented dome near the clubhouse here. It is, mercifully, air-conditioned and features a huge 25-foot video board with updates on where any player is at any moment. Ludvig Aberg: Putting Green; Tommy Fleetwood: Hole 6; Sepp Straka: Range. On Tuesday morning it flashed up a blast from the past which briefly scrambled the mind. Tucked directly underneath McIlroy's name was 'Hoey: Putting Green'. Had Michael Hoey come out of retirement for a tilt at a maiden Stateside win? No. It was Rico Hoey of the Philippines. The surname, a genealogy website informed us, has both Irish and Chinese origins. Michael, who became a referee in 2022, only had one taste of a PGA Championship. It was bitter. In 2012 at Kiawah Island, he was disqualified for a scorecard error. His namesake will hope for more luck. Thunder and lightning call for remote work How bad did the weather get? Afternoon press conferences for defending champion Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau were swiftly moved to Zoom-only rather than risk having the media walk 250m and the players 20m to the dedicated Player Interview Area (yes, another tent). Irish duo in formidable featured groups True to form, the PGA have stacked the stars in their featured groups with Rory McIlroy paired with Scottie Scheffler and defending champ Xander Schauffele for the opening two days. The World No.1, 2 and 3 will tee off at 1.22pm Thursday and 6.47pm Friday, Irish time. Shane Lowry is paired with Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler for a 12.38pm start Thursday and 6.03pm Friday.
