I particularly liked that although most of the story is told from Alban’s point of view, he is described at first from the outside, first from his cousin Fielding’s perspective, then from that of Tango, the man he is staying with in Perth. It immediately creates the sense of Alban as a slightly mysterious, unknowable character, and this feeling persists through the rest of the book, even as we are told much more about him and given access to his thoughts. It’s a clever device, and the book is full of similar effects. If the clues to the ending had been a little less heavy-handed, this would have been an excellent book.
I was attracted by the political element of the story, and also the fact that parts of it are written in second person, an interesting idea that I am exploring at the moment in my own writing. Unfortunately I found that the second-person passages are short, and the political element is underplayed – someone is [...]
Recent Comments
- Kommunal ekosocialism | Svensson on “Social Ecology and Communalism” by Murray Bookchin
- Andrew Blackman on “Tail of the Blue Bird” by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
- Kwadwo on “Tail of the Blue Bird” by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
- Kwadwo on On the Holloway Road – free sample
- Andrew Blackman on “The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes
