Saxton Reads! & Reviews

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comments by CarolK

The Ghost Writer / JOhn Harwood
What to make of this book. I really had to think about it.  I really liked the first chapters, the middling’ part found me a bit bored, and then came confusion, and then I got back into the story full swing. It’s difficult to rate The Ghost Writer. I wouldn’t say “you have to read this” but liked it well enough. Perhaps this is a bit vague but something didn’t quite work for me in the end.
 
The Ghost Writer is a moody story, gloomy, dark and a bit gothic in tone.  I don’t think I’m giving anything away in saying it is a ghost story. The things that I loved about the book are that there are actual short stories or pieces of manuscript as part of the story, like reading a book within a book. I felt immediate sympathy for the main character, Gerard Montfort. He first appears as a young boy, living a very sheltered life, in his homeland of Mawson, South Australia. Gerard’s mother won’t let the poor kid do anything. One day Gerard is snooping in his mother’s bedroom, and finds a portrait of a woman in her locked dresser drawers. The portrait is hidden amongst a bundle of papers. It is just at this time that his mother catches him in the act and gives him the beating of his life. “Prying into other people’s things is a terrible sin, she said finally—‘sin’ was word she seldom used—‘like opening their letters or reading their diaries or listening at doors. Promise me you’ll never, never, never do anything like that again.” Of course he does and this begins the quest for the truth of his mother’s past. Having few friends and few outlets for any pursuits out of his own, Gerard, against the wishes of his mother, starts a correspondence with a young English woman, Alice. Alice is a few years his senior and is confined to a wheelchair. Alice has tons of secrets of her own. The two begin a relationship that will span many years. The relationship between Gerard and Alice was one of the best parts of the story for me.
 
I liked Harwood’s descriptive passages, particularly those describing the countryside and things that Gerard encounters in his travels. The plot with its many twist and turns too ambitious is where I had problems. I truly had trouble following the story. I learned a few new words, like “pleached”, always fun.
 
The Ghost Writer is Harwood’s debut. I heard about it while reading a review by Gary Niebuhr of Harwood’s latest, Séance. I will read this at some point but hope I understand it better. My overall feeling of perplexity may have been no fault of the author and perhaps my own distracted reading. I still intend to give Harwood another chance, even given my reservations.