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A Perfectly Good Man (2012)

by Patrick Gale(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0007442424 (ISBN13: 9780007442423)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Fourth Estate

review 1: This has been lurking on one or other of the bookshelves for sometime and finally, thankfully, it's been read. An absolutely stunning piece of writing that deals with the life of Barnaby Johnson, a Cornish priest struggling with a familiarly dysfunctional situation . Gale's chronology is somewhat scatter-gun and it works, offering us snapshots of the key characters caught at various moments. These range from Barney himself, his 'sturdy' wife Dot, daughter Carrie, adopted son Jim/Phuc, and Nuala Barnes, mother of Lenny who Barney may or may not have helped to die as well as the sinister Modest Carlsson. Gale's writing is lyrical and sensuously constructed, creating both place and character so vividly, the story and eventual realisation Barney experiences will live in the mi... morend long after the book is finished.
review 2: This is really 3.5 stars for me. Not quite as good as Notes From an Exhibition but still a wonderful intelligent read. Gale has great skill with the mulitple pov narrative but in places some of the storytelling is a wee bit sluggish with perhaps too much 'telling'. Even so it's a engrossing read and I was moved to tears several times. He has a talent for characterisation and for tackling big themes in a quiet unpretentious way. less

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