A Review By Keith Smith

I thought I ought, as a bookshop owner, to have read the Booker winner. So, a little belatedly, I have. I had previously really enjoyed ‘Arthur and George’ by Barnes, so that was promising……

I have to report it is short, literary, precise, needs careful reading , but certainly repays the effort. Narrated by the male protagonist it is almost ’stream-of-consciousness’ stuff, but it certainly gripped me, and made me want to read to the end in one sitting. But what an end! I was worried….was I yet again the only person who didn’t understand it?! I rushed to the internet to read the reviews and I am glad to say that people disagree about the ending, and some say it is only understandable if you re-read the whole book. Having spent quite some time thinking about it, I am quite happy with my interpretation! But not many books make you think in that way. Indeed, not many books create so much sympathy between you and the protagonist that you really care about what happened. This is such a book. If you want a thinking book I heartily recommend it.