The Lighthouse, Alison Moore

 

I absolutely didn't enjoy this book, it is populated by irritating and mostly pathetic, tepid characters. Futh, the protagonist, is a deeply pathetic and irritating man, he has just split up from his wife and is going on a walking holiday in Germany, in the hope that it will help him 'recover'. He is neurotic and has no ideas or thoughts of his own (his father went on a walking holiday when Futh's mother left him, so that's what Futh decides to do) and is terrifically needy. Moore does give reasons for his personality flaws - his mother left him and his dad is an alcoholic. But the upshot of having such a dislikable charachter is that I couldn't give a monkeys what happens to him, or doesn't happen to him. There is not one likeable character in this book. It is obviously a purposeful decision on the author's part, but the result is a complete disengagement on my part. The novel is also full of repetition, forced symbolism and unartful coincidences. Not for me.

Next I'm reading Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, which has to be better! 

Under the Net, Iris Murdoch

This one was a surprise, for some reason I expected it to be much more serious than it is. It is a very enjoyable, haphazard story, the kind which seemingly has no beginning, middle or end but is a series of connected events.

The whole is glued together by the personality of Jake Donaghue. He is a young, philosophical writer with a wry sense of humour. We meet him as he has been kicked out of his flat and he jumbles his way from one situation and encounter to another, involving a famous actress, the woman he loves, a canine filmstar an old friend (who may be an enemy) and Mrs Tinckham's shop. It is funny and light hearted, but also has an underlying seriousness which stops the story ever becoming too silly. Dry and highly enjoyable I would recommend it.

The Old Ways, Robert Macfarlane

I bought this book when I left Waterstone's over a year ago. I had been looking forward to reading it so much that I have been saving it. 

The thing which struck me most was how generous Macfarlane is, the corner of my copy is swollen with the amount of pages I have turned over, of things I want to read again or look up later. He is incredibly interesting, and the whole book has the feel of the author chatting in your ear. He talks to you as if you are beside him, in the landscape seeing the same things he is.

The Old Ways is about following ancient pathways - paths and routes on land and sea which have been followed for generations. One of the triggers of the book is Edward Thomas, and he features heavily in the book, in terms of poetry and his life story and thought processes. It is interesting, refreshing and brilliant that when trying to explain and investigate these old routes Macfarlane turns, not to historians and archeologists, but artists, writers and poets. It is a book with a lot of integrity and is fascinating. It makes you want to be in the wild and to be more attune to the past and present around you in those wild, old landscapes.