The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy
Jonathan Cape Ltd (hardback) 2011
373 pages
BLURB FROM THE COVER
Elizabeth Barber is crossing the Atlantic by liner with her perfectly adequate boyfriend, Derek, who might be planning to propose. In fleeing the UK – temporarily – Elizabeth may also be in flight from her past and the charismatic Arthur, once her partner in what she came to see as a series of crimes. Together they acted as fake mediums, perfecting the arcane skills practised by effective frauds.
Elizabeth finally rejected what once seemed an intoxicating game. Arthur continued his search for the right way to do wrong. He now subsidises free closure for the traumatised and dispossessed by preying on the super-rich. The pair still meet occasionally, for weekends of sexual oblivion, but their affection lacerates as much as it consoles.
She hadn’t, though, expected the other man on the boat. As her voyage progresses, Elizabeth’s past is revealed, codes slowly form and break as communication deepens. It’s time for her to discover who are the true deceivers and who are the truly deceived.
What’s more, is the book itself – a fiction which may not always be lying – deceiving the reader? Offering illusions and false trails, magical numbers and redemptive humour, this is a novel about what happens when we are misled and when we are true: an extraordinarily intricate and intimate journey into our minds and hearts undertaken by a writer of great gifts – a maker of wonders.
EXTRACT
But here this is, the book you’re reading.
Obviously.
Your book – it’s started now, it’s touched and opened, held. You could, if you wanted, heft it, wonder if it weighs more than a pigeon, or a plimsoll, or quite probably rather less than a wholemeal loaf. It offers you these possibilities.
REVIEW
I enjoyed The Blue Book. I thought Kennedy’s novel, Everything You Need was superior. In contrast, The Blue Book was just okay. I enjoyed the premise Kennedy offered with Beth meeting her old flame and fellow con artist on board a cruise ship when she is with her new lover. Kennedy’s creates great atmosphere in The Blue Book with the storm providing an unstable, interesting back-drop for the dysfunctional life. I liked the fact Beth and Arthur made a living as con artist. This provided an interesting context for events in The Blue Book. I found the structure confusing at time as Kennedy moves back and forth in time and in and out of first, second and third person. This complex structure doesn’t work as well as it could have. The ending shocked me. I wanted to like The Blue Book a lot more but it’s too much of a mishmash of things that work and things that didn’t work.
RATING
