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Screwtop Thompson (2010)

by Magnus Mills(Favorite Author)

3.27 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

review 1: When I finished this book one of the first things I said to my partner was "I'm not sure whether that was really clever or just felt like it was really clever", and really I'm still not sure (though she hasn't read it yet, she likened what I described to some of Paul Auster).I did enjoy reading it very much, it reads very nicely, has distinctive atmosphere and some well drawn characters but I was occasionally left a little with the feeling of not being in on something - the question being whether that something is a joke on the reader or a profound insight.The highlight for me was the opening story, about a plastic sheet trapped on the side of a railway viaduct opposite the narrator's flat, which does seem to have a clear point. The title story was the weakest, though stil... morel a good nostalgic sketch centred around a childhood toy and Christmas. A sort-of ghost story works quite well though perhaps could have lost the final "twist". A story with the narrator as an awkward teenager who likes prog rock seemed a bit by-the-numbers.It's hard to know how much to recommend it - it's certainly well crafted and distinctive, but I'm unconvinced it's quite as clever as it seems to be.
review 2: This collection of short stories is dedicated to Special K so it gives you a fair idea of what to expect even before you begin.In "They Drive By Night", a lorry driver and his mate pick up a hitchhiker and spend the journey screaming over the noise of their engine at each other, only to lapse into silence once they reach a quiet cafe. In "Hark the Herald", a lonely Christmas-time visitor to a guesthouse manages constantly to miss the festive parties and meals, never seeing another guest during his stay. The titular "Screwtop Thompson" is another Christmas story (there are three in total – a very vague theme to the collection), but it's a more typical account of family bad feeling during the season of goodwill. Similarly, "A Public Performance", about a boy at a 1970s Led Zeppelin gig, skewers teenage pomposity with a kind poke. less

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