Michael O'Leary tells the story of factory worker Patrick Mika Fitzgerald, who after several years of working at the same job and looking after his ailing mother, is freed from these ties by death and redundancy. He embarks on an existential train journey in pursuit of a woman he has dreamed of meeting. When reality and dreams colide his world is turned into a previously unknown state of moral real dilema.
Responses to Michael O'Leary's novel Unlevel Crossings
'Unlevel Crossings is a Joycean language experience and partly it's a literary and political satire, but I think it's also a down-to-earth book about recent changes in New Zealand society.'
Iain Sharp, Sunday Star Times feature article 16/06/02
'A wonderful pageant...'
'The book is rich with Māori poetry, Māori vocabulary, and not ostentatious...'
'The book is totally natural ... and astonishing textured language ...'
'... a very rewarding book indeed ...'
'... Michael O'Leary is a very distinctive and very singular writer and person in New Zealand ...'
'... it's a lovely magic exploration on all sorts of levels ...'
David Hill, reviewer, Radio New Zealand 31/07/02
'Michael O'Leary ... has a poet's love of the sounds of words ...'
Gavin McLean, reviewer, Otago Daily Times 17/08/02
'This gets my vote as the most original New Zealand novel of the year.'
Iain Sharp, Reviewer, Sunday Star Times 18/08/02
'O'Leary can pull out the most heartfelt prose, particularly when describing the natural beauty of this land.'
Michael Larson, reviewer, New Zealand Herald 20/08/02
'It is a splendidly droll novel, memorably comic in its unlevel absurdities, its crossover jesting.'
David Eggleton, in JAAM 19, 2003.
O'Leary, Michael: -
Michael O'Leary is a poet, novelist, publisher, performer and bookshop proprietor who has been a magnetic figure for many other contemporary New Zealand writers. He writes in both English and Māori; and his diverse and prolific work in poetry, fiction and non-fiction explores his dual heritage: Māori on his maternal side and Irish Catholic on his father's as well as his mother's. Born in Auckland in the year of the Tiger 1950, he was educated at the universities of Auckland, Otago (Dunedin), and Victoria University (Wellington). His Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop imprint (inspired by Andy Warhol's 'Factory', the Beatles' Apple label, and John and Yoko's 'Plastic Ono Band'), which he founded in 1984, has published some of his own prolific output, as well as many other New Zealand writers. This press has also featured books by writers from other countries, including the first versions of Richard Berengarten's series, Manual, in four mini-books (2005-2009). The 240-page A-Z compilation, 25 Years of the Earl of Seacliff (ed. Mark Pirie, 2009), documents Michael O'Leary's versatile and influential oeuvre. Michael O'Leary is a trustee for the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa (PANZA), a charitable trust dedicated to archiving, collecting and promoting New Zealand poetry. He now lives in Paekakariki, north of Wellington.
