Joan's Picks: The Act of Disappearing and Serviceman J

The Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower. Julia White is struggling - her mother died recently, she’s had a one night stand with an ex and now he’s ghosted her, her first published book is a failure and she’s working in a Brooklyn café. One day, an older guy comes in and shows her a photo taken in the 1960s of a woman falling off a bridge, clutching her baby. Turns out he’s a very famous photographer who actually took that picture behind which he says there’s a mystery and a story which he wants Julia to go to Kentucky and research, then write a book about it. She’s persuaded to do it, and what she uncovers is something shocking, and deeply personal. This is a richly layered story which reveals itself in the most satisfying of ways.

Serviceman J by Jamie Pennell. The author joined the New Zealand SAS and describes the recruitment process and training regime, which is pretty extraordinary (as you’d imagine – but reading about it was exhausting!) – and then was deployed to Afghanistan several times, serving in the SAS for 18 years. He was a friend and colleague of Willie Apiata, and was himself awarded New Zealand's second highest military honour by showing outstanding gallantry in the face of danger. The book is an eye opening look at what these men put themselves through to be able to serve at this level, and what it’s really like in combat.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talk SEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Joona's with me now to talk books. Good morning, Hello.
The Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
I picked this up some time ago from someone that
I'd never heard of before, but it was quite enchanting. Actually.
It's the story of a woman called Julia who's really
struggling with things. She had a one night stand with
an ex boyfriend recently and now he's ghosted her, and
her mother died recently, and she wrote a book which
failed pretty spectacularly. So she's working in a cafe in Brooklyn,

(00:42):
just trying to mate ends meet and one day an
older guy comes in and says that he's read the
book that she wrote and he really liked it, and
he is a photographer. Turns out he's a world famous photographer,
and he shows her a photo which was taken in
Kentucky in the nineteen sixties of a woman who's falling
or jumping off a bridge clutching a baby in her arms,

(01:03):
and obviously they're heading down to the water. And he's
is that there's a real story behind this photo, and
because he liked her writing. He wants Julia to go
to Kentucky and visit the site and talk to people
and investigate exactly what happened, and try and delve into
the mystery of it, and then write a book about
what she finds. And she's got nothing better to do,
so she agrees that she will do it. He will

(01:25):
pay her quite a bit of money, and off she
heads to Kentucky and starts getting involved in this thing,
which turns out, actually as the mystery unfolds, to have
some quite personal relevance to her. It's very nicely done.
I sometimes say that when you read a book like this,
it's like peeling the layers off an onion.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I want to ask a whole lot of questions about
the plot, but I'm not going to because it's I.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Don't want to tell you any more. But I really really.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Loved it, I can tell. I like the title Active Disappearing.
How important is a good title?

Speaker 3 (01:57):
I think titles are really important. Sometimes I see books
and I say, if someone doesn't know how to pronounce that,
you're probably not going to buy it. Books like that.
I think titles are as important as covers are.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Interesting Jamie Panell is a former New Zealand SAS officer
and he has written a book.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yes he is. He was a colleague and friend of
Willi A. Piata, so he was engaged in the military
at that level. He left school, got a job, but
eventually ended up going into the army and from there
he applied for the SAS and he went through their
rigorous recruitment selection program and decided at that time it
wasn't for him, gave it up and came back a

(02:40):
year later and got through, and he talks about that
selection process and it's just unbelievable what these guys have
to do. There was a bit in there that really
got me where they divide them up into groups of five.
This is after they've done several days of unbelievable physical
activity to prove themselves. Divide them up into groups of five.
They give them six jerry cans which are each full

(03:00):
of twenty liters of liquid, and there's only five of them,
so at all times, one of that group is going
to have to carry forty kilograms worth of this stuff.
And they're pointed in one direction and told to walk
for ten hours. And when they've done that, turnaround and
walk back, and the whole time they have to carry
this extra can. It's just extraordinary stuff. It's real sort

(03:23):
of boys, own daring do a lot of this book.
He's eventually he gets sent off to East tem Or,
but then eventually he's deployed to Afghanistan several times. And
for me, the most extraordinary part of the book was
his story about something which happened at the Intercontinental Hotel
in Kabul, where he and his colleagues were engaged in

(03:46):
this extraordinary activity against the terrorists. And as he tells it,
you know, walking along the corridors, peeking around the corners,
trying to figure out where these guys are and what
you're going to do about them. You could see that
all of his years of training culminates in this person
who is rational and calm and knows exactly what to
do and how to do it. And it's really it's
quite taking because for most of us it will be unimaginable.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
And this is probably the first time we've heard about
a lot of this information.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And because of that particular siege, he
was awarded the New Zealand Gallantry Star sometime afterwards. He
also writes about what it's like to perform at that
level and then come home, come back to Papakura, live
in a world which is so vastly different, and not
be able to get rid of the paranoia and the

(04:32):
anxiety and settle back into a normal life. So he
is clearly extraordinary, but it's by no means easy.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, it sounds like a great yarn and we are
going to have a chat to Jamie Panell on the
show on the Sunday Session next weekend to make sure
you join us for that. Thank you so much, Joe
in the two books with the Active Disappearing by Nathan
Gower and Serviceman Jay by Jamie Panell, we'll took next week.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
See you then.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio