false 1658265 0007254660 9780007254668 290 62 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1658265.Notes_from_an_Exhibition 168167 Patrick Gale 659 121 2 1 false Thu Apr 24 01:22:29 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 03:04:08 -0700 2008
Gale seems to be allergic to punctuation which doesn't help his sloppy sentence composition, words appearing in the wrong place or lazing around the edges like a bunch of delinquents who don't care whether the reader can extract meaning or enjoyment from any given phrase. Here he is talking about the tide:

"Sometimes it carved a stealthy path feet beneath the beach surface and was undetectable until the point where it spilled out into the surf."

Deep breath, people. And... out. Now - anyone got any clear picture of what the heck he meant there? Here's another example:

"She slid her side of the duvet up and off her taking care no shock of cold should wake him"

The real problem with sloppy writing of this sort is that it encourages sloppy reading. I realised I might as well skim-read my way through the story. Not only would there be no joy in taking my time, lingering over the language etc, but I might be biting my tongue and thinking evil thoughts about the writer if I paid proper attention to his 'talent'.

This book - this author - seems to have won the hearts of all and sundry. All the broadsheets laud him, and the cover has a quote from Stephen Fry which makes me wonder if Fry is a friend of Gale's. I'd have thought the wordsmith in Fry would object to the lazy nature of the composition, apart from anything else.

I will persevere only because I want to find out if the story, independent from the style, is a good one. But it's hard to separate the two.

Final verdict:

Well, I stuck with it and there was a good story here, albeit it a little lost in the muddle of shifting povs and time-lines. I found it hard to distinguish between the different voices, with the exception of Morwenna and Hedley, who were very clearly drawn. The description of the final paintings was terrific, and the ending was moving and memorable.]]>