It is a rare day that I cannot finish a book. Like a good child told to eat up its vegetables before desert I usually persevere and hope that at the end the book will have been worthwhile. This is not the case with this book. I couldn’t finish it. I was seduced into buying it by the luscious Scottish accent of the author who was interviewed on Radio NZ Nine to Noon programme. I bought the book. It is a first novel written by a Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago. He loves writing you can tell that because he continually describes everything. When his character Gerry Conway arrives in Belfast he doesn’t just drive his car of the ferry we get full detailing.
“I bumped up the ramp onto solid ground. I felt that lightening, that release that always comes on disembarking, as if you’d been detained against your will and have somehow made good your escape.” etc etc etc.
Man oh man this book needed a wiley eyed editor with a red pen. For goodness sake just get the car off the damn boat – the description adds nothing to the impetus of the story. So I am sorry author with the lovely scottish accent this book has not been finished. I couldn’t even believe there would be goodies at the end to entice me on. So I dropped it and picked up the fascinating book by Alex Von Tunzelmann called Indian Summer which has kept me enthralled as she reveals the background to partition in India. Well written sparse description and I now have a greater understanding of India and Pakistan.
