Reviews

• Neil Jordan is probably best known for his films but I prefer his work as a novelist. His writing is not to everyone's taste, some would say that his interweaved plot lines and symbology are contrivances but I really like them; real life is generally quite amorphous and when I read a novel I want structure. It could be likened to the painting of the pre-Raphaelites, vivid colours, plenty of contrast and considerable detail, often with naturalistic and seasonal embellishments that give the work a sense of time. That said he avoids trite and lazy second-hand symbology that has more place in visual art and focuses on the details that the narrating character notice as significant from their own experiences and expertise. To date I have read Tunisian Nights, Dream of a Beast, Shade and, most recently, Mistaken and each has been a pleasure to read. I would particularly recommend Mistaken and Shade. They are both epics of character development with time threads that shift seamlessly to weave together story lines so as to evoke parallels between different events such that the whole structure reflects the components which hold elements of the entirety in microcosm. Jordan's ability to devise plots and build towards a final denouement through revelation is one of his great talents. Whilst not everyone will agree with me I think that both of these works are like an embodiment of a manifesto of how to write a good novel. Jordan's use of the English (Irish!) language is lyrical but unpretentious, his observations are sharp and varied and he has a superbly sensual and evocative way of writing. His characters are believable but complex mixtures of good and bad in the manner of a modern day Dostoyevsky. For me a great novel is one that leaves me with a pang of regret when I have to surrogate intrigue and artful melancholia of the imagined world with the mundanity of everyday life. Mistaken and Shade especially have these qualities and I can only hope that he attains the audience he deserves as a novelist so that they may also enjoy the man's genius. I cannot recommend his work highly enough.

• Predictable ending but very well written . A good story with real characters.

• Jordan's a pretty good novelist (I own others of his books), but his day job of screenwriting influences this one heavily: there are long passages of dialogue without attribution tags (it can be difficult to tell the players without a scorecard), and the short chapters mimic motion picture scenes. Frequently shifting back and forth between the past and the present can make the delivery uneven. The chapter titles designating places in Ireland will be meaningless to anybody who isn't familiar with the place, but those who are shouldn't expect exact location fidelity: this is, after all, fiction.

• It was a bit disjointed. I'm not sure he got his point across as was intended.

• I did enjoy reading this book but I felt it paced itself wrong. The first half of the story is slow and devoid of much happening then it races to a finish. Not much of the stories content is believable and this took away from the story for me. The Dublin locations we are brought to in this book are very familiar to me and that made an extra character come alive. Overall I felt that Neil Jordan has written a screen play rather than a novel.

Purchase links