This
novel takes a very long time to get going. Paul Golding, it seems, is a
novelist who prefers to use twenty words when one would do. At the risk
of sounding like an ignoramus or a buffoon, there are just too many
notes. Near the end of the novel, the narrator addresses the reader, and
suggests that the reader may well have forgotten the beginning of the
book. This is one instance where Golding's view of his novel is very well
judged. Just as the narrator goes to quite absurd lengths to collect
enough petals to create effective confetti, so he could have pruned his own
work a little more.
The confetti
could well fall as an apt metaphor for this book. Very colourful, and
very much appreciated by the bride, but detested by his choir master and
sometime consort, Dr Fox. There are passages here which do really stand
out. However, their colour could very well be blinded out by the
multitude of other, less memorable passages. 'The Abomination' starts off
in the modern day, and then heads back to tell the story of Santiago Moore
Zamora's life up to maturity. This begins with a dwelling in the young
Iago's consciousness, which goes on far too long to be effective or
stimulating. Another personal irritation for me is the wealth of the
protagonist's family, and the hint that as he writes his story, our narrator
remains a trustafarian. This wealth does seem to hold back the drama
somewhat, and prolongs the agony we have to wait for anything significant to
happen. Anglicised as 'James' Moore, Iago goes to an English Catholic
public school, his father's Alma Mater. This is where the novel really
takes off, where Golding deigns to surprise us with a narrative that
reeks of honesty and truth. Iago tells his story, and doesn't care what
you think - he tells us not to be shocked. For him, public school is
discovered to be far more sordid than that attended by any erstwhile Harry
Potter, but no less dangerous for that. Even though Iago's narrative
is hugely condensed compared with Rowling's sprawling prose of late, it
still seems too much, even if Iago's Summer holidays are much more condensed
than that of the boy wizard's.
Perhaps
this novel would not be as long if Golding did not have so much time upon his
hands. Maybe certain passages would not have been written if Golding had
had tighter deadlines, and an editor who was a wee bit more forceful.
There's one very memorable moment when our narrator is accused of thinking too
much, and I can wholeheartedly agree with that condemnation. However, I
felt a wee bit cheated for the amount of money I had to pay for Golding's
cogitation, since the quality of the prose did not seem to match the length of
time devoted to its composition. Golding's narrator isn't all that good
at math either. Unfortunately, it seems as though Iago's memory is almost
too good at times. Golding's literary yearnings seem to force him to
excise all names from popular culture, in case, perhaps, that they go out
of date. Yet there are some pop icons here, no matter what their
individual merits, which will not be forgotten for a long time. I wanted
Golding to be more direct, to write 'Abba', 'Jesus Christ Superstar', 'Bob
Dylan', and 'Death in Venice'. Okay, so it's pretty clear from the
descriptions what he's writing about, and subtlety is usually something which I
admire, but here it seems maddening. There's always the sense that
Golding is somehow out of focus. Just as his narrator bows his head in
the annual school photo, so Golding deigns to move in his author photograph, no
doubt in collusion with the jacket designers. This is just so much
artifice that it is hard to take. The seriousness with which the blurred
photograph is exposed is quite preposterous, and suggests a personality
with a quite individual approach to life, simultaneously seeking and ducking
out of the limelight.
What's really frustrating
is that there is a powerful narrative in this novel, which does succeed in
being revelatory and shocking. However, surrounded as it is with so much
turquoise prose, it could quite well be lost to less determined readers than
I. This may indeed be the real tragedy of this novel.
AuthorTrek
Rating: 6/10.
Kevin
Patrick Mahoney
