I bought this book because it was Number One in the Goodreads reader's choice. I guess the book was okay.
The book toggles between points of view and chronological sequence like a teenager surfing the web on his laptop with some fifteen tabs open. While I could understand the points of view, they are not actually points of view, but more like description of experiences narrated by different characters, the mixing of chronological future, past and present in dizzying frequency, left me dizzy.
This is touted as a mystery, but as far as mysteries go, this left me wanting. I mean, for a long time there is no mystery, while the menacing cloud of something terrible about to happen is present through out the book. I start every chapter hoping that some crime is going to be committed only to discover some character going through the pangs of personal experiences.
The book doesn't 'grip' you from start to finish, if you see what I mean.
The author expertly 'hides' clues out in the open, much like Agatha Christie. When I read the relevance of the clues later, I am like 'How did I miss it?'.
I am a visual reader, but could not really visualize the ambience in which the story evolves. I mean, I understood that it was an island, ok, but I could not visualize where the land ended and the bog started, for example. Or where the land ended and beaches started. One of the reasons may be that most of the movements happen in the evening and night accompanied by the howl of winds, so one cannot 'see' the landscape.
The author expertly describes the personal crosses that each character bears in the story, you could easily identify with the challenges faced by each character.
One of the reasons I could not really identify with the story was that it is set in Ireland, which is an unfamiliar country to me literature wise. The only Irish book that I read and remember was 'How Green Was My Valley'. That ignorance might have impacted my ability to visualize or identify with some of the aspects in the story.
Anyway, I am happy that I have finished reading it.
No comments:
Post a Comment