Gordon McLauchlan: A Life's Sentences

Reviewed by JOHN McCRYSTAL

Gordon McLauchlan needs little introduction, least of all to readers of the Herald, to which he has contributed a weekly column continuously since 1990 and for some time before that, too.

As A Life's Sentences records, he began his distinguished career in journalism on the ground floor, as a cadet reporter on the Manawatu Evening Standard in 1950. From there, he worked his way up to become one of New Zealand's leading working writers, and certainly one of the few to make a meaningful living as a free-lancer.

Along the way, he dabbled successfully in what is now known as "corporate communications", and even became a celebrity of sorts when he managed the transition from print journalist to television presenter. The reputation he earned for incisive, forthright commentary helped his 1976 book, The Passionless People, a clear-eyed and droll survey of New Zealand and New Zealanders, to sell 25,000 copies in its first couple of months.

It also ensured that when he fronted the campaign for New Zealanders to take up holdings in the "Kiwi Share" of the to-be-privatised Telecom, he would draw down dismay and disillusion from many of his admirers. McLauchlan doesn't waste time here apologising for his decision to be part of that campaign, although he does reiterate the explanation he gave at the time to anyone prepared to listen.

A Life's Sentences is closer to the kind of commentary you'll find in The Passionless People or McLauchlan's newspaper columns than it is to true memoirs, such as W. H Oliver's Looking For the Phoenix, or Peter Wells' Long Loop Home. There is a high editorial-to-reportage ratio, with his life story told through anecdote and the anecdotes selected for their value in illustrating an opinion or a belief. After all, as he observes, "knowledge and understanding entitle you to opinions on those things you know about, even if they are wrong-headed" - the newspaper columnist's creed.

McLauchlan is frank but brief on his personal life: many of those with whom he has crossed tracks, including friends, colleagues and both his wives, are not named.

What shines through is his sheer devotion to the written word, to writing as a craft and a profession. With over half a century's experience under his belt, McLauchlan is as well qualified as anyone to define what it is that makes good writing - and to comment upon how far contemporary practitioners, particularly in the media, deviate from it.

And it is intriguing to learn that after a lifetime putting his muse out to service, as it were, in the interests of making a living, he is now turning his hand to fiction. Like McLauchlan himself, his readers will await the results with great interest.

Penguin $39.95

* John McCrystal is a Wellington freelance writer