Review of The Pregnant Mule by Sola Odemuyiwa
Dr Sola Odemuyiwa trained in cardiology at Newcastle, London and Southampton before taking up his position as consultant cardiologist at Epsom General Hospital in 1994. Until recently he was lead cardiologist for the merged trust which was created when Epsom merged with St Helier’s hospital. He also teaches medical students and lectures on postgraduate courses. The Pregnant Mule follows DEADLY CONCEPTION and is his second novel.
I was intrigued when I first received a copy of this novel in the post. The blurb instantly hooked me and the book cover is incredibly imaginative and inviting. I also like the fact that I received a physical copy rather than an electronic version as it meant I was able to take it out and about with me. It is not often that you find yourself sitting reading a book in the very place that a book is actually set. In fact, I can in all honesty say that I have never done it before in my life – except of course with my own novel! However as many of you will know my mam has been very ill of late and so it was with a sense of trepidation that I found myself in the WH Smith cafe cafe in the Freeman Hospital (Part of the Newcastle group of hospitals) and the very place where the main character, Mensah, lost out on a job.
Set in a dystopian Britain the book skips seamlessly between the Freeman and the Royal Victoria Infirmary (R.V.I). It is extremely descriptive and well written and the author paints a very grim picture of life, particularly for those living up North whereby during a deep recession, a previous nationalist coalition government adopted a policy of vaccinating all non-British men against ADHD in an attempt to control street crime. The story unfolds several years in the future where the full effects and consequences of this policy are now being felt. Odemuyiwa also adeptly uses his inside knowledge of working within the NHS to paint an almost apocalyptic picture of the dysfunctional and politically motivated decision making within the hierarchy of the hospitals so much so that you are repeatedly left wondering how much is “fact” and how much is “fiction” as he contrasts and compares the state of the art Freeman with the shabby and decaying R.V.I. which the author describes as being “decades behind” I thought his description of the grubby, shambolic cardiac laboratory with it’s antiquated procedures was particularly compelling and in the wake of recent hospital scandals and with at that time my mam an in patient in these very same hospitals I did initially wonder whether maybe this was all going to be a bit too close to home for me and whether I should pass the book to Lenora for review. However my macabre streak won through and after repeatedly reminding myself that I was reading a work of fiction and not fact I found myself reading with a renewed, almost voyeuristic interest!
I should also point out at this point particularly for those of you who are unfamiliar with the area that whilst I have no way of knowing what really goes on behind the scenes, all of my real life dealings at the Freeman have been great and the R.V.I has recently enjoyed a multi million pound makeover.
I loved the code words that doctors in the novel used in surgery to warn when things were going wrong without alarming patients as I thought this definitely had a ring of truth to it and I could imagine this happening daily all over the world. Mensah’s height and sheer physical presence is also beautifully summed up with the size of his shoes and I felt early on that whilst the book was most definitely going to force me into some difficult mental places, I was probably going to enjoy the ride. On a downside there are a lot of medical terms in the book which are clearly totally normal day to day words for the author that the casual reader may not instantly understand and might be off putting. For example referring to Mensah “…cannulated the target vessel and decided to complete the procedure himself…” I ONLY know what a cannula is because of the sheer amount of time I have spent recently in hospital with my mam.
The flashbacks in time in the novel are well sign posted and nicely executed and I was interested to discover how the author would handle and portray the fictional British Government as I do something similar in my Granny Irene series. The fact that the book is clearly dystopian gives the author free reign to fully utilise his creative license and he does this remarkably well.
The Pregnant Mule is strange because of it’s unconventional view point and I can hand on heart say that it is unique, different and bold and that I have never read anything remotely like it in my entire life, which is where potentially I think the author may have a problem. He has already proven in his previous work DEADLY CONCEPTION in which he tackled issues such as extremism that he is prepared to step outside of the box and as someone who writes from an alternative and unconventional viewpoint herself I fully respect the fact that the author is willing to put his head above the parapet and write about a series of events and from a view point which some readers might not identify with and may struggle to resonate with. However I do wonder if maybe he has taken it just a step too far in this novel as there were times when in spite of willing myself on I struggled to read more than a page or two at a time due to the intensity and heaviness of the subject matter. There were also times when I simply couldn’t relate at all to the world that the author had created.
I have no doubt at all that there is a market place for this book. That there are people out there, incredibly intelligent people, who will love this book and will pick apart all of it’s many layers however I also think that there are vast swathes of people who will find the book daunting and because of that will hastily put it to one side and whilst I am glad I have read the book and whilst I fully take on board the message the author was attempting to convey, I am not sure if I actually enjoyed it and can’t help but wonder if maybe it was just a little too “intelligent” for me…
IF anyone would like to read and review this book to see if you agree with me, then please let me know and I will run a full spotlight on you as well as your review as I do feel that THE PREGNANT MULE is a book that warrants discussion…
The Pregnant Mule is available from http://www.troubador.co.uk
