Steven Carter: I was Howard Hughes

This is prefaced with an advisory that Steven Carter's debut novel is indeed a work of fiction, and, be warned, that includes the acknowledgements and introduction that immediately follow the preface. Both are apparently written by Hughes' official biographer Alton Reece and could create confusion if the reader is not aware of Carter's literary in-joke.

Reece opens by castigating his former publishers Knopf for allegedly mishandling the promotion of his first novel, Melville and the Whale, before bragging about the huge sum he demanded for the Hughes biography — "Let's just say seven figures".

Reece also pays tribute to the various acquaintances and colleagues of Hughes, whom he interviewed, before outlining how the book is broken down into "extracts, quotations about Howard Hughes, quotations by Howard Hughes, and about the nature of the hero", and sections on the women in Hughes' life and Odyssey, which chronicles the pioneer film-maker and aviator's thrilling adventures.

Carter shows a deft sleight of hand in the introduction and acknowledgements, but unfortunately does not lay all his cards on the table in an orderly fashion. Beginning the book proper with a series of seemingly unrelated quotes on everything from Ava Gardner reminiscing about sending a couple of Hughes' aides to buy pistachio icecream, to various ironic quotes from Homer's The Odyssey creates a disjointed feel from which the book never recovers.

I Was Howard Hughes is a similarly-styled cinematic hoax to Peter Jackson's brilliant Forgotten Silver but Carter is nowhere near the New Zealand director's league. He is not helped by the fact that many of the events he depicts are either actually true or well established in legend after the recent Hughes biopic, The Aviator, although I Was Howard Hughes was out in America several months before the film was released. Nevertheless, Carter's thunder has undoubtedly been stolen and I would instead recommend watching The Aviator DVD's extensive extras if you really want to learn more about Hughes.

* Stephen Jewell is an Auckland writer.
* Bloomsbury/A&U, $25.95