Jacob Little is in trouble - existential trouble. Ten years ago, in pursuit of a philosophical theory, he ditched his girlfriend Solace and took to the road, adopting a series of personae and obsessions: he's been Keith, the archaeologist, Otto, the purple-bearded pagan, Isaac, the gardener, and many more. Now, with no sense of who he is at all, he's decided to find the one person who knows the real Jacob - Solace.
Jacob's quest leads him to Solace's Scottish hometown and into the lives of four people with their own issues: his self-deluding landlady; a teenager looking for a grand romance; an old watchmaker longing for a son; and a young girl who would rather be a boy. Each sees Jacob in a different light. For each, he is a catalyst. But where does that leave Jacob? And will he ever find Solace?
As deadly serious as it is funny, this is a novel about identity, love, religion, memory, self-perception, modern Britain and time. A novel to make you question yourself; a novel to obsess about.
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[There it is] ***(Sceptre, 14 August 2014, 352 pages, hardback, borrowed from my library)
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In Search of Solace really disappointed me.
I thought the book was going to be great.
The blurb made me want to read it. The front cover made me want to read it. The book has an unusual narrative style, with a narrator directly addressing the reader. This was weird at first but I started to enjoy it.
So, what's the problem.
In the In Search of Solace is really confusing. I found it hard to follow what was going on. The book is just so vague and obtuse I couldn't make much sense of it. After a few chapters, the narrative style started to become irritating and pretentious.
Unfortunately, the whole book is pretentious. I found Jacob annoying. He's full of c***. To search for the meaning of life he changes his identity like a million times, in some cases living on the streets. Yeah, whatever, mate.
This is a book where nothing much happens. I was bored after just a few chapters but I slogged through to the end and there was no improvement.
