As in his other novels, Macrae Burnet writes with an admirable lucidity, at the same time being able to probe and shed light on the dark places of the mind. There are fine comic passages… But it is the appalling and yet ultimately rather pathetic Braithwaite who gives the book its momentum, and is through him that the tone and temper of the times are captured. For the most part, though Macrae Burnet finds different voices for the writer of the notebooks and the unnamed author of the biographical Braithwaite chapters, his style is plain, lucid, very readable and rich in irony. Indeed, he is done so well and seems so authentic in his inauthenticity that you might be surprised to find no mention of him in the index of John Clay’s admirable biography of Ronnie Laing. Certainly in his depiction of him, Macrae Burnet catches the self-satisfied idiocy of one strand of 1960s culture. Indeed, depending on the angle of the view, Braithwaite is a comic character, if also a disturbing one. ‘Graeme Macrae Burnet is a master of the false but apparently authentic document… This is a novel, which like Macrae burnet’s previous ones, holds the attention, develops an insidious narrative interest, and poses questions about the nature of the self and the authenticity of identity. ‘Graeme Macrae Burnet’s CASE STUDY is a novel about a 1960s psychologist where the blurring between fact and fiction constantly wrong-foots its readers while still keeping us lavishly entertained.’ – James Walton, The Spectator, ‘Books of the Year’ ‘Beautifully balanced between harrowing and humorous, CASE STUDY follows a woman who seeks out a captivating psychotherapist whom she believes to be responsible for her sister’s suicide.’ – Waterstones, ‘The Best Books of 2021’ One of Nicola Sturgeon’s Favourite Books of 2021 The result is a remarkable modern collection of 13 short stories about love.’ – Carole V. Then, with an evocative and vivid style, she brought new life to old tales and wrote three original stories of her own. ‘This multifaceted, multitalented Nigerian-British writer – humorist, television creator and now bestselling author – searched the globe to find a radically diverse group of stories about love, from magical folk tales of West Africa to iconic Greek myths and ancient legends from the Middle East. One of Waterstones’ Paperbacks of the Year A dystopian, feminist masterpiece that everyone should read.’ – Waterstones Brighton, ‘Book of the Year’ This book spread through the store like contraband on the playground, pressed into the hands of one bookseller after another. ‘The overall winner, our undisputed Book of the Year, goes to THE HIERARCHIES.
0 kommentar(er)
