10 September 2018

Book 73: Midwinter Break, Bernard MacLaverty


I liked this short book, but not unreservedly. On the one hand, I was very curious to see where this portrait of a solid but quite precarious, long-time marriage ended up and found it compelling; on the other hand, I also found it rather difficult to get inside the head of either of the main characters. Not because they were unpleasant, or badly drawn, but just because they were both pretty far outside my personal experience. This is, admittedly, one of the prime reasons I read fiction, but sometimes it's easier to lose oneself than other times. There was one bit very near the end which I thought almost perfectly formed: a mental litany of things his wife knows, when the main character is reflecting on things (I shan't say more for fear of spoilers). 

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