Although I had been attracted to this story when I read the opening chapters on the “First Impression”, Readers First site, I wasn’t prepared for the way in which I would feel so compellingly engrossed in the lives of the characters, and the dilemmas and conflicts each of them faced. Once I had started to read I was reluctant to put the book down until I had finished it – then when I had finished it, I felt bereft of their company! The author’s skill at creating multi-dimensional characters was demonstrated throughout her story-telling, with each one feeling credible, no matter whether they played a major or a minor role.
The story is told mainly through Johnny’s eyes but with enough input from the other characters to add a rich and convincing dimension to the development of the plot. He and Pauline didn’t have children of their marriage, although she feels very close to Corran, and one of the strands followed is her reflections on her childlessness when she is facing the possibility of a future without Johnny. The reader also follows her as she attempts to come to terms with the fact that her wealth and privilege has been derived from her father’s ruthless exploitation of his workers, as well as his violence and racism. Having refused to fully examine or challenge these unacceptable attitudes in the past, she now finds it difficult to resolve them because he has developed dementia.
In Scotland Sharon, a hospice nurse and breast cancer survivor, continues to struggle as she works full time, spends weekends helping Corran (who lives a three-hour drive away) with baby-sitting her granddaughter whilst he works extra shifts on the local ferry. At the same time, she is having to deal with the realisation that Toole, her husband, is in the early stages of dementia. The exploration of the pressures she faced on a daily basis made me feel exhausted on her behalf!
Corran is very realistically portrayed as an addict who is constantly having to struggle to resist the lure of drugs. The destructive effects that his addiction has had on his relationships was well captured; there were moments when the moving descriptions of the difficulties he and his father had in trying to communicate with each other almost had me in tears.
Following the diagnosis of the brain tumour Johnny is told that he mustn’t drive, so he recruits Chemal, the seventeen-year-old son of his neighbours, to drive him around. Although he doesn’t yet have a license, the teenager proves to be an excellent driver and when Johnny decides to go to Scotland, he takes Chemal with him. I came to love Chemal, a very smart but socially-challenged young man, who has parents who appear to show little interest in him. He has been excluded from school because of his struggles with boundaries and authority and his inability to speak quietly leads to some occasionally moving, occasionally hilarious, interactions. I really enjoyed the relationship which developed between Johnny and Chemal, with the “second-chances” it offered each of them.
In addition to the characters I have already mentioned, there isn’t one secondary character who doesn’t leap off the page as a result of the author’s ability to describe simple interchanges using highly evocative word-pictures. The authenticity of her perceptive portrayals of each of her flawed, complex characters is one of the real strengths of this novel, as is the way in which she demonstrates the insights and strengths they gain as they confront their demons. Her descriptions of the steamy heat of Florida with the frigid cold of the ice factory, of frantic urban Glasgow and the comparison with rural Scotland, add another evocative dimension to the story.
Much as I enjoyed this book, there are two factors which influenced my decision to give it a four, rather than a five, star rating. I think that the final section of the story felt a little too rushed and, whilst some of the resolutions felt realistic and credible, others bordered on offering too much of a fairy-tale ending which, given the nature of most of the rather more “gritty” writing, came as a something of a surprise.
The story is told mainly through Johnny’s eyes but with enough input from the other characters to add a rich and convincing dimension to the development of the plot. He and Pauline didn’t have children of their marriage, although she feels very close to Corran, and one of the strands followed is her reflections on her childlessness when she is facing the possibility of a future without Johnny. The reader also follows her as she attempts to come to terms with the fact that her wealth and privilege has been derived from her father’s ruthless exploitation of his workers, as well as his violence and racism. Having refused to fully examine or challenge these unacceptable attitudes in the past, she now finds it difficult to resolve them because he has developed dementia.
In Scotland Sharon, a hospice nurse and breast cancer survivor, continues to struggle as she works full time, spends weekends helping Corran (who lives a three-hour drive away) with baby-sitting her granddaughter whilst he works extra shifts on the local ferry. At the same time, she is having to deal with the realisation that Toole, her husband, is in the early stages of dementia. The exploration of the pressures she faced on a daily basis made me feel exhausted on her behalf!
Corran is very realistically portrayed as an addict who is constantly having to struggle to resist the lure of drugs. The destructive effects that his addiction has had on his relationships was well captured; there were moments when the moving descriptions of the difficulties he and his father had in trying to communicate with each other almost had me in tears.
Following the diagnosis of the brain tumour Johnny is told that he mustn’t drive, so he recruits Chemal, the seventeen-year-old son of his neighbours, to drive him around. Although he doesn’t yet have a license, the teenager proves to be an excellent driver and when Johnny decides to go to Scotland, he takes Chemal with him. I came to love Chemal, a very smart but socially-challenged young man, who has parents who appear to show little interest in him. He has been excluded from school because of his struggles with boundaries and authority and his inability to speak quietly leads to some occasionally moving, occasionally hilarious, interactions. I really enjoyed the relationship which developed between Johnny and Chemal, with the “second-chances” it offered each of them.
In addition to the characters I have already mentioned, there isn’t one secondary character who doesn’t leap off the page as a result of the author’s ability to describe simple interchanges using highly evocative word-pictures. The authenticity of her perceptive portrayals of each of her flawed, complex characters is one of the real strengths of this novel, as is the way in which she demonstrates the insights and strengths they gain as they confront their demons. Her descriptions of the steamy heat of Florida with the frigid cold of the ice factory, of frantic urban Glasgow and the comparison with rural Scotland, add another evocative dimension to the story.
Much as I enjoyed this book, there are two factors which influenced my decision to give it a four, rather than a five, star rating. I think that the final section of the story felt a little too rushed and, whilst some of the resolutions felt realistic and credible, others bordered on offering too much of a fairy-tale ending which, given the nature of most of the rather more “gritty” writing, came as a something of a surprise.