John Burnside
I really wanted to like The Glister by John Burnside.
I had never read anything by him before and the premise sounded promising: five boys have disappeared from Innertown, an isolated town whose most dominating feature is the closed and dilapidated chemical plant that has left illness, death, poison, poverty, and violence in its wake. The book appeared to me as though it would mix elements of the horror, mystery, and thriller genres.
Unfortunately, it didn't really do anything. The entire point of the portion of the book that I read (I got about 75% of the way through) seems to be to describe the devastation wrought by the closure of the plant and the greedy interests behind it. I get it, but that just isn't enough to build a book around.
This is really unfortunate because Mr. Burnside's prose is amazingly good. Perhaps I'll try one of his other books one day...
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Couldn't Finish
3 comments:
Wow Ben you got 75% of the way through then stopped, I have to say I have a 100 page rule if it hasn't got me by then I doubt it ever will. Congratulations on your tenacity!
Move on to The Angels Game, I am sure you will finish that one:-)
In a perfect world, I would've finishsed the book but I've got a stack of others waiting to be read so I didn't have qualms about moving on.
Regarding "The Angel's Game," as I've said previously, I'm saving it for when I go on vacation or have some similarly relaxing spell. That one's a special treat!
Sorry you didn't finish Glister. I would say it is one of the best Britihs novels in the last decade. On a practical note, what is your email for this site? I'd like to send you some new books for review from Eibonvale Press UK. douglasthompson@eibonvalepress.co.uk
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