Sam Thompson: Communion Town

[leyla]

Here's my Indy on Sunday review of Sam Thompson's Man Booker longlisted Communion Town. The book is intriguing, very well-written - but too many of the stories cop out in their ending, resorting to the threat of evil or the ubiquitous 'flaneur'.


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...n-8059808.html

[Flint]

"The ending is dissatisfying for its refuge into non-realism"
We could have a nice debate on this.

[leyla]

Yep :-)
I know my low tolerance of magic -realism/fantasy/the supernatural is something with which many would disagree.

[Flint]

On the contrary, I would tend to agree with you there. I like realism (whether hysterical or otherwise ) as much as the next man, but I've grown more and more tolerant in the course of time - Garcia Marquez's fault, possibly.

[leyla]

Yes, some authors manage magic-realism while maintaining my awed interest - Rushdie for one. The thing about Communion Town is all the stories had similar endings. The use of the flaneur, with or without fantastical powers (maybe he was just a very effective serial killer) would have worked well as an ending to one or two stories, but not most of them. However, Thompson does write very well - like another writer whose linked stories I found beautifully written but frustrating ( for a different reason), Keith Ridgway (Hawthorne and Child.)

[Flint]

I've never read anything by Keith Ridgway - oh, yes, I read a story of his that came out in The New Yorker last year.

[leyla]

Flint, I've just reviewed his latest book, Hawthorn and Child. It's in today's Independent. I posted a link to it on a separate thread.