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Some recent posts from my Substack site: "Writing until the light goes out" "Writing until the light goes out"
Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood is a strange amalgam of a book. For the first two thirds it meanders slowly along without seeming to be getting anywhere particularly significant - and then, as if it has been injected with some illicit substance, suddenly speeds up and turns into 'a thriller' with an ending that has more … Continue reading “Birnam Wood”
There is a theme of regret and missed opportunity running through John McGahern's short story collection, Getting Through. Mainly these involve broken relationships, between man and woman, father and son: 'Sierra Leone', 'Along the Edges'. As with High Ground and other stories, McGahern's prose has a depth which belies the narrative somehow. They are incidents … Continue reading “Getting Through”
Amit Chaudhuri's Sojourn is an odd little book. A curio. It's like a series of Polaroid photographs strung together to make an album - though obviously made up of words. Those snapshot images represent a journey through Berlin; less so a physical journey than a metaphysical one. The protagonist learns and forgets things along the … Continue reading “Sojourn”
Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is a difficult book to read. Firstly this is because of the style in which it is written: fragmented, jerky, linguistically inaccurate, often illiterate. It seems like stream of consciousness with about a quarter of the words removed. And with stuttering where there are words. Impossible for … Continue reading “A Girl is a Half-formed Thing”
Is it impossible not to think of James Joyce and "Dubliners" when reading the first story in John McGahern's "High Ground and other stories"? I was instantly transported - and instantly enthralled. Wonderful stuff. And if I worried that the effect would be temporary and I might find everything was downhill after that, then I … Continue reading “High Ground and other stories”
Ian Gouge has written a delightful novel that reminded me of the writing style of Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway. I’m my opinion this novel deserves to be up there with these literary greats. - Persephone Sometimes a house is even more than a home. Have you ever visited a house that shines so brightly it … Continue reading More reviews from the “17 Alma Road” ‘book tour’
“Books talk to the inner person, the secret person; they can make direct contact with all those subterranean feelings and desires you speak of.” Vincent edits books. It is a modest and quiet occupation - yet one which is about to be thrown into turmoil thanks to the arrival of woman, her gift to him, … Continue reading “The Red Tie” – published tomorrow!
William Golding's The Paper Men made me feel uncomfortable; no so much from the subject matter, but because it didn't 'feel' like Golding (who I generally think is superb). The main character's drunkenness didn't seem uniformly portrayed and in some places was unconvincing - though in others, brilliant. In too many places the book felt … Continue reading “The Paper Men”
Ian Gouge - Writer 