It's important to mention all of these characters. The Death of Lomond Friel features all these people, and their spouses, their partners, and even the local fishmonger. The characters themselves are interesting individuals each with their own worries and hopes, be it Jacob's annoyance at Rosie's alcoholic tendencies, or April's concerns of how to run her lingerie shop. The book is a patchwork of humans trying to cope and understand their lives. It's genuine, but the patchwork was really..patchy.
Sue Peebles writes the point of view of nearly all of the characters mentioned, and as much as I'm a fan of one or two voices, I found so many to be quite problematic. It was difficult really getting to grips with some of the characters. Not that she didn't manage to do the different voices well, there were just too many. More disruptive was the spacing. The book is in chapters, but each chapter contains little bits sometimes separated by a space, sometimes by a star. Neither seemed to indicate anything in particular, and sometimes the spacing just wasn't necessary. It all became quite bitty, and became a personal annoyance. Personal, because perhaps it's just a stylistic preference, but it really disrupted the flow of the narrative. Kind of like a soap, where they'll show how Mrs A is doing, then cut randomly to Mr B, and back to Mrs A, then you're with Mr C two days later, then back to Mr B with Mrs Z. Call me old-fashioned, but I enjoy a little bit more consistency.
Peebles' examinations of what really goes on in various relationships is quite interesting. Wilson, Rosie's boyfriend, was probably the character I was most sympathetic too - she does treat him quite horribly. And the fishmonger Cameron was far more engaging than a bunch of the others. Most satisfying was Rosie's developed understanding of her mother. Ethel died when Rosie was born and all she knows is a photograph of the beautiful woman. As the book progresses, Rosie's image of the most perfect mother begins to break with stories she hears from others. Of everything, I think this thread of the story was the most compelling.
The Death of Lomond Friel is thoughtful and carefully nuanced, but the patchwork approach of canvassing the whole family got in the way of an otherwise engaging narrative.
There's a great podcast discussion of the book over at the Scottish Book Talk website. You can listen to it if you click here.
P.S This is my 300th post!
