It is perhaps unfortunate that I read “Midwinter Break” after “Lincoln in the Bardo”. Having said that, perhaps any ‘conventional’ novel was always going to feel a little dull and uninspired after “Bardo”…
Bernard MacLaverty’s book is a perfectly well-written and competent novel. The pictures he paints of the two protagonists are comprehensive enough, and succeed in generating enough apathy for one – and distaste for the other – to find the ending somewhat unsatisfactory, if not inevitable.
It will be interesting to see how I feel about the next novel I read, and whether or not the “Bardo” hangover continues…
Ian Gouge - Writer 