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luxxybee97 's review for:
Elmet
by Fiona Mozley
The action in Fiona Mozley's debut novel, 'Elmet', is often restrained and reticent, even fully hesitant. It is a book about remembering specific moments and all the intricacies that compose them, a book about experiences and emotions set against a natural Yorkshire landscape that is depicted in florid, near-poetic language. It focuses more on reactions rather than action, narrated from the perspective of a young boy, Daniel, who has very close yet also distant relationships with his Daddy and sister Cathy. The result is a sombre book that teases out its plot for the reader, leaving them to work out much of what is left unsaid before it arrives at its rather shocking conclusion.
"Elmet", rather impressively for a debut novel, was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, and it is not hard to see why it was nominated. Mozley's prose is able to evoke the wild countryside of the north of England with a sharp, magnetic clarity and such vividness that, like Egdon Heath Thomas Hardy's novel 'The Return of the Native', the landscape seems to come alive and become its own character. Likewise, Daniel's narration is gripping and well-constructed, and creates much of the tension and mystery of the novel because it infers and speculates and comments without ever openly declaring things. The novel takes on gothic and noir tones which combine to create a work that is memorable, like its characters backstories and intentions, for just how sinister it can be, despite its calm, apparently benign surface.
However, the novel is perhaps somewhat held back its focus on maintaining too much mystery. For example, the events behind its rather unexpected conclusion - one which forever shatters the seemingly-idyllic existence of Daniel and his family - are hinted at throughout the novel, yet not in a way that sufficiently sets up the climax, which as a result seems somewhat illogical, even implausible. The reader sees the actions of other characters through Daniel's eyes, but though he sees a lot, he cannot see everything, and the book suffers for it. For some readers, the ambiguity may work well, but for me personally, it often feels like Daniel is not even a character in the book, that he has no real influence on the events and is just there to report on more interesting characters like Daddy and especially Cathy. The result is that, while the book is undeniably written well, it is hard to connect with it on an emotional level and grow to really care about the characters because so much of their personalities, bar Daniel's, remain hidden.
'Elmet' is thus a book that, despite its flaws, succeeds in creating a suitably moody atmosphere in which to examine its themes of home and belonging. For a debut novel, it is certainly impressive, and hints that Mozley's talents as a writer are sure to develop well in the years to come.
"Elmet", rather impressively for a debut novel, was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, and it is not hard to see why it was nominated. Mozley's prose is able to evoke the wild countryside of the north of England with a sharp, magnetic clarity and such vividness that, like Egdon Heath Thomas Hardy's novel 'The Return of the Native', the landscape seems to come alive and become its own character. Likewise, Daniel's narration is gripping and well-constructed, and creates much of the tension and mystery of the novel because it infers and speculates and comments without ever openly declaring things. The novel takes on gothic and noir tones which combine to create a work that is memorable, like its characters backstories and intentions, for just how sinister it can be, despite its calm, apparently benign surface.
However, the novel is perhaps somewhat held back its focus on maintaining too much mystery. For example, the events behind its rather unexpected conclusion - one which forever shatters the seemingly-idyllic existence of Daniel and his family - are hinted at throughout the novel, yet not in a way that sufficiently sets up the climax, which as a result seems somewhat illogical, even implausible. The reader sees the actions of other characters through Daniel's eyes, but though he sees a lot, he cannot see everything, and the book suffers for it. For some readers, the ambiguity may work well, but for me personally, it often feels like Daniel is not even a character in the book, that he has no real influence on the events and is just there to report on more interesting characters like Daddy and especially Cathy. The result is that, while the book is undeniably written well, it is hard to connect with it on an emotional level and grow to really care about the characters because so much of their personalities, bar Daniel's, remain hidden.
'Elmet' is thus a book that, despite its flaws, succeeds in creating a suitably moody atmosphere in which to examine its themes of home and belonging. For a debut novel, it is certainly impressive, and hints that Mozley's talents as a writer are sure to develop well in the years to come.