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Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood
Sunday, October 28th:
I have discovered failure and found that it is like goose grass. It clings still and I cannot shake it off.
2012 is a disastrous year for Sebastian Scattergood, who has recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry after thirty-seven happy and uneventful years as a Health and Safety officer. Despite his eternal optimism, however, all the earmarked projects of his newly earned freedom crumble into dust, each one faithfully recorded, warts and all, in his diary. Building firms go bust on him, landscape gardeners do a runner, and his cultural tours company is sabotaged by a couple of naked German students smoking cannabis on a night walk. It is only when he has been driven into hibernation by a savage attack in the press that salvation finally arrives, in the form of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Set in a small village in the Lincolnshire Wolds, ‘Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood’ is a chronicle of a horrendous year, narrated by an earnest and pompous man who lacks any sense of self-irony. Part disaster diary, part social satire, it is a novel of literary fiction which is both humorous and moving in equal measure.
I have discovered failure and found that it is like goose grass. It clings still and I cannot shake it off.
2012 is a disastrous year for Sebastian Scattergood, who has recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry after thirty-seven happy and uneventful years as a Health and Safety officer. Despite his eternal optimism, however, all the earmarked projects of his newly earned freedom crumble into dust, each one faithfully recorded, warts and all, in his diary. Building firms go bust on him, landscape gardeners do a runner, and his cultural tours company is sabotaged by a couple of naked German students smoking cannabis on a night walk. It is only when he has been driven into hibernation by a savage attack in the press that salvation finally arrives, in the form of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Set in a small village in the Lincolnshire Wolds, ‘Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood’ is a chronicle of a horrendous year, narrated by an earnest and pompous man who lacks any sense of self-irony. Part disaster diary, part social satire, it is a novel of literary fiction which is both humorous and moving in equal measure.
401 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 27, 2022
Full review on my Market Garden Reader blog.
To start with, I found Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood to be somewhat… trying. Many characters were introduced in the first section without showing me why I should care about them. The initial slapstick humour of various disasters was also not to my taste. But after about fifty pages, an element of mystery was added with the question of the decorated gate posts and suddenly I was hooked. As Sebastian and Jan tried out their tours on their friends and family, I also became more engaged with the minor characters too. The relationships in the book are touching and especially Sebastian’s worry about his ageing parents. Then, added to all this, his wife has her own midlife crisis, and who could blame her? This is a perfect book for anyone who loves stories of village life, rambling in the English countryside and drama on a cosy level.
It is extremely middle class, with the narrator Sebastian as a rather pompous retiree and his harassed wife Jan, still working as a teaching assistant, doing her best to support a child who is almost certainly autistic and clings to a stuffed balaclava helmet called Mr Feverfew. Jan puts far too much effort into preparing to teach him and being upset by him in equal parts. As the diary begins, they are being plagued by leaks and subsequent problems with builders and landscapers for their blank canvas garden. Shenanigans will ensue.
Sometimes I felt that the diary went into too much detail about cooking and cleaning, walks in the Lincolnshire countryside and wildflowers. Conversely, it does paint a picture of middle class life that sounds like an advert for M&S food, but all cooked from scratch of course by the hyperactive Sebastian. Both Jan and Sebastian are enthusiastic members of various activities such as the pilates class which receives several mentions.
It all starts out rather boring and repetitive, with no jeopardy or intrigue to spice up the account of the lives of well-to-do pensioners. Until their gate posts are decorated with random objects; why are they being targeted? Later, rather than feeling threatened, sebastian looks forward to each new themed instalment. Unfortunately, the culprits are unmasked soon after the middle of the book. Too soon! What will keep readers engaged for the rest of the book?
Firstly there are the first real customers for the Sebastian and Jan’s new business, the Babbling Brook Experience, showing people around Tennyson country. But the year itself naturally provides plenty of entertainment since it was the year of not only the Queen’s diamond jubilee, but also the London Olympics, providing fodder for the diary.
The story takes a darker turn with the subplot of Sebastian’s ageing parents who live a short distance away. . I felt this was dealt with very sympathetically and, as a son, Sebastian seemed to deal with his mother’s lapses in the perfect way, trying never to upset her. Meanwhile, Sebastian and Jan’s lives are thrown into turmoil by misunderstandings which lead a national tabloid newspaper to describe them as Satanic cult leaders, leading Sebastian to withdraw into himself and Jan to escape to a retreat to rethink her life. Will they ever be able to show their faces in the village again and will their marriage survive the public shaming they are (undeservedly) subjected to?
In the end, I really enjoyed reading about Sebastian Scattergood and his trying times. There are an awful lot of themes packed into just one book. I warmed to Sebastian, who initially seemed rather an irritating man and it eventually became clear why he had such good relationships with family and friends and why the villagers rallied around when times were difficult.
Disclaimer: I read a free e-book ARC through NetGalley, but my review is my honest opinion of the book.
To start with, I found Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood to be somewhat… trying. Many characters were introduced in the first section without showing me why I should care about them. The initial slapstick humour of various disasters was also not to my taste. But after about fifty pages, an element of mystery was added with the question of the decorated gate posts and suddenly I was hooked. As Sebastian and Jan tried out their tours on their friends and family, I also became more engaged with the minor characters too. The relationships in the book are touching and especially Sebastian’s worry about his ageing parents. Then, added to all this, his wife has her own midlife crisis, and who could blame her? This is a perfect book for anyone who loves stories of village life, rambling in the English countryside and drama on a cosy level.
It is extremely middle class, with the narrator Sebastian as a rather pompous retiree and his harassed wife Jan, still working as a teaching assistant, doing her best to support a child who is almost certainly autistic and clings to a stuffed balaclava helmet called Mr Feverfew. Jan puts far too much effort into preparing to teach him and being upset by him in equal parts. As the diary begins, they are being plagued by leaks and subsequent problems with builders and landscapers for their blank canvas garden. Shenanigans will ensue.
Sometimes I felt that the diary went into too much detail about cooking and cleaning, walks in the Lincolnshire countryside and wildflowers. Conversely, it does paint a picture of middle class life that sounds like an advert for M&S food, but all cooked from scratch of course by the hyperactive Sebastian. Both Jan and Sebastian are enthusiastic members of various activities such as the pilates class which receives several mentions.
It all starts out rather boring and repetitive, with no jeopardy or intrigue to spice up the account of the lives of well-to-do pensioners. Until their gate posts are decorated with random objects; why are they being targeted? Later, rather than feeling threatened, sebastian looks forward to each new themed instalment. Unfortunately, the culprits are unmasked soon after the middle of the book. Too soon! What will keep readers engaged for the rest of the book?
Firstly there are the first real customers for the Sebastian and Jan’s new business, the Babbling Brook Experience, showing people around Tennyson country. But the year itself naturally provides plenty of entertainment since it was the year of not only the Queen’s diamond jubilee, but also the London Olympics, providing fodder for the diary.
The story takes a darker turn with the subplot of Sebastian’s ageing parents who live a short distance away. . I felt this was dealt with very sympathetically and, as a son, Sebastian seemed to deal with his mother’s lapses in the perfect way, trying never to upset her. Meanwhile, Sebastian and Jan’s lives are thrown into turmoil by misunderstandings which lead a national tabloid newspaper to describe them as Satanic cult leaders, leading Sebastian to withdraw into himself and Jan to escape to a retreat to rethink her life. Will they ever be able to show their faces in the village again and will their marriage survive the public shaming they are (undeservedly) subjected to?
In the end, I really enjoyed reading about Sebastian Scattergood and his trying times. There are an awful lot of themes packed into just one book. I warmed to Sebastian, who initially seemed rather an irritating man and it eventually became clear why he had such good relationships with family and friends and why the villagers rallied around when times were difficult.
Disclaimer: I read a free e-book ARC through NetGalley, but my review is my honest opinion of the book.
January 4, 2023
2.5*, raised to 3 for the 'almost' moments where I stopped shrugging and actually felt something.
The main issue that I had with this book was that I couldn't quite tell what I was supposed to think of the narrator. Any book in diary format does require a fair amount of interest in the diary writer in order to retain the reader's attention, however he was mostly the pub bore that you try to edge further and further away from.
The author appeared initially to present him as a pompous but harmless bore, yet for the finale to have a decent pay-off, it is necessary to have sympathy for him, and care about him. And quite honestly I did not. There was a brief period where I did think that a kind of pathos could be reached, a painfulness where I could find sadness for the missed paths (and the moments with their grandchild were actually really well done, and some of the best parts). But it retreated instead to an ending where no-one seemed to have learnt much, no character arc developed, and my oerk of interest extinguished.
The set-up was good though, I probably would have stopped reading if I hadn't been enjoying playing 'guess the disaster that will prevail' and following potential hints to imagine (unfortunately more exciting and dramatic) denouements!
*I received a free ARC from NetGalley and I have chosen to leave a review*
The main issue that I had with this book was that I couldn't quite tell what I was supposed to think of the narrator. Any book in diary format does require a fair amount of interest in the diary writer in order to retain the reader's attention, however he was mostly the pub bore that you try to edge further and further away from.
The author appeared initially to present him as a pompous but harmless bore, yet for the finale to have a decent pay-off, it is necessary to have sympathy for him, and care about him. And quite honestly I did not. There was a brief period where I did think that a kind of pathos could be reached, a painfulness where I could find sadness for the missed paths (and the moments with their grandchild were actually really well done, and some of the best parts). But it retreated instead to an ending where no-one seemed to have learnt much, no character arc developed, and my oerk of interest extinguished.
The set-up was good though, I probably would have stopped reading if I hadn't been enjoying playing 'guess the disaster that will prevail' and following potential hints to imagine (unfortunately more exciting and dramatic) denouements!
*I received a free ARC from NetGalley and I have chosen to leave a review*
April 11, 2023
* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *
This novel takes the form of a diary written over a period of about a year by the recently retired Sebastian Scattergood. Sebastian is initially trying to deal with house renovations that are giving him grief, as well as the challenges of setting up a new business with his wife Jan. The business is to combine his twin fascinations of rambling and the poetry of Tennyson, by escorting tourists around local sites related to the great poet.
As the year wears on, matters keep taking a turn for the worse here and there, to the point where the trying times of the title arrive with a vengeance.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of this book. If starts out gently mocking Sebastian with some wry humour about his dealings with tradesmen, sort of like the protagonist of A Man Called Ove. Then, for long periods, the book sinks into being excessively bucolic, with endless descriptions of flowers, birds, picturesque walks, etc. The author follow up this rather sunny writing with a sharp turn into bleakness, and then an unconvincing and rather twee finale. There is a lot that this novel could have been - comedy, tragedy, a romance, satire, a social critique - yet it doesn't really succeed at being anything of note.
This novel takes the form of a diary written over a period of about a year by the recently retired Sebastian Scattergood. Sebastian is initially trying to deal with house renovations that are giving him grief, as well as the challenges of setting up a new business with his wife Jan. The business is to combine his twin fascinations of rambling and the poetry of Tennyson, by escorting tourists around local sites related to the great poet.
As the year wears on, matters keep taking a turn for the worse here and there, to the point where the trying times of the title arrive with a vengeance.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of this book. If starts out gently mocking Sebastian with some wry humour about his dealings with tradesmen, sort of like the protagonist of A Man Called Ove. Then, for long periods, the book sinks into being excessively bucolic, with endless descriptions of flowers, birds, picturesque walks, etc. The author follow up this rather sunny writing with a sharp turn into bleakness, and then an unconvincing and rather twee finale. There is a lot that this novel could have been - comedy, tragedy, a romance, satire, a social critique - yet it doesn't really succeed at being anything of note.
February 6, 2023
Humour, heritage, hubris and heart-wrenching hair-splitting combine in this touching and very funny novel. Love the countryside? Find joy in the everyday detail of life? Bemused and amused by the vagaries of the modern world? Read this book!
December 1, 2024
This was a fantastic read for me! I was absolutely captivated in the lives of Sebastian and Jan. It really didn’t disappoint and I loved the references and tribute to Lincolnshire. I really want another instalment!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews