Thursday 8 June 2017

The Night Book

By Richard Madeley

I didn't expect to enjoy this at all but I was pleasantly surprised!  Despite having read a review with spoilers by accident on Amazon (thank you to whoever posted that!!!) I did still manage to enjoy this.

Almost everyone who was alive in 1976 will remember the summer being the hottest on record.  In the Lake District, there are warnings not to swim, due to the high number of drownings caused by the hot weather.  Where better for Meriel Kidd to take revenge on her abusive husband?

First of all, the blurb for this book is very misleading.  It describes Meriel as "biding her time", when in fact she has never seriously considered killing her husband.  Fantasised about it yes, but she never planned to go through with it. When she does cause his death, it's done on a whim and she surprises even herself.  

Although I did enjoy this, Meriel's relationship with the other main character, Seb, is totally unbelievable.  It springs up out of nowhere and I suppose could be described as "love at first sight".  They fall in love immediately and the things they call each other and the way they speak to one another are totally cringeworthy.  I don't know if this is what every couple were like back then but I couldn't help but roll my eyes whenever they spoke to each other.  Having said that, I did root for them and I wanted them to get their happy ending, I could've just done with the soppiness.  I did like both of them individually.  Meriel had that likeability that made you want to get away with killing her husband despite knowing yourself that it is wrong.  Because of what she'd been through at the hands of him you wanted her to get her happy ending.  However, there are a countless number of other characters present in the book that I found difficult to keep track of and so I had to keep looking back to see who was who.

I also loved the setting.  I've never visited the Lake District but after reading this I definitely would like to go (although I don't think I'll ever set foot in one of the lakes!).  The descriptions were done very well and I managed to picture everything clearly.  The only thing that I wasn't that keen on was the time setting - I couldn't grasp that it was set in the 1970s.  I often forgot and would imagine them in modern cars and clothes and I often wondered why they wouldn't text or email each other for example.  This was minor, however.

I did love Madeley's writing style but I don't think I'll pick up any of his existing books - they don't really seem my thing.  If he does release a book that is similar to this I'll definitely pick it up though.

Rating: 7.5/10
Date read: June 2017.


No comments:

Post a Comment

The Night Book

By Richard Madeley I didn't expect to enjoy this at all but I was pleasantly surprised!  Despite having read a review with spoilers ...