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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Murphy presents the reader with a deeply felt, emotional novel in a peculiar format; the veterinarian's daily log is what carries the story of the Appleton family through its regular routine and tragedy once it strikes. Vivid beauty, exacting heartbreak, and a quiet mystery are all present. The vet contemplates everything from spaceships and time travel to the intricacies of birthing livestock. The family dynamics are at once humorous and strained, feeling very real. A superb little book replete with big issues.
I'm always drawn to books that are unique in their narrative style, so when my librarian friend showed me the Call/Action/Result etc blocks of narrative in this book I was immediately intrigued. I didn't even care to read the description on the back cover, I just knew I wanted to read this book. (Incidentally, I did read the description on the back after I finished the novel, and it's obviously written by a publisher, not the author, because it too neatly says what the book is "about." The book is more nuanced than the blurb allows.)
If I had read only the blurb and not known about the unique style, I probably would not have the read the book, because I have little direct interest in farms and vets and horses or hunting, which are all included in the narrative. However, I did enjoy the book, because I do like stories about families, honest relationships, struggles, a touch of whimsy (the mother "receiving" signals from the spaceship), some unexpected developments, and a lack of sap.
It's the "lack of sap(piness) that I most appreciated about the book. There's a tragedy and doctors and hospitals, but the book does not dwell on the drama of any of these events, it just goes through the actions with some objectivity and resolve. That is not to say that emotion and struggle are removed. The turmoil is implied and seen through the character's "What I Thought While Driving" moments and the conversations with wife and daughters. Human struggle is felt in a very refreshing way.
The same is true of the characterization of the other family members. Through the few actions and discussions of the wife and daughters and son, they are round characters even if they seem like background characters.
This book is well crafted and original. That alone is recommendation for reading.
If I had read only the blurb and not known about the unique style, I probably would not have the read the book, because I have little direct interest in farms and vets and horses or hunting, which are all included in the narrative. However, I did enjoy the book, because I do like stories about families, honest relationships, struggles, a touch of whimsy (the mother "receiving" signals from the spaceship), some unexpected developments, and a lack of sap.
It's the "lack of sap(piness) that I most appreciated about the book. There's a tragedy and doctors and hospitals, but the book does not dwell on the drama of any of these events, it just goes through the actions with some objectivity and resolve. That is not to say that emotion and struggle are removed. The turmoil is implied and seen through the character's "What I Thought While Driving" moments and the conversations with wife and daughters. Human struggle is felt in a very refreshing way.
The same is true of the characterization of the other family members. Through the few actions and discussions of the wife and daughters and son, they are round characters even if they seem like background characters.
This book is well crafted and original. That alone is recommendation for reading.
This is a kind of epistolary novel - a country vets daily notes on what he does. The animals he treats, the impressions he has of the countryside, of his house, and what he has for dinner.
Then he takes his son hunting and there's an accident (or is it?) that leaves his son in a coma in the hospital. He becomes obsessed with figuring out who fired the shot. His daily notes become desperate, disjointed and perhaps a bit crazy.
The form works, I think. Kind of old school and post-modern at the same time.
Then he takes his son hunting and there's an accident (or is it?) that leaves his son in a coma in the hospital. He becomes obsessed with figuring out who fired the shot. His daily notes become desperate, disjointed and perhaps a bit crazy.
The form works, I think. Kind of old school and post-modern at the same time.