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petermcdade 's review for:
High Dive
by Jonathan Lee
A completely entertaining mixture of fiction and history. The setting itself couldn't be more dramatic--a 1984 assassination attempt of Iron Lady Thatcher, a literal blowing-up of the Irish/British tensions--but I especially enjoyed the quiet moments that dominate the novel. Most of the book's energy is studying the ways different pairs--fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, employee and employer, governors and the governed--all misunderstand each other. At the center of it all is Moose, an abandoned husband doing his best to raise his teenage daughter, Freya, and the greatest tragedy of all may be that we understand how much she loves her Dad, even if he is never quite sure.
I enjoyed the shifting point of view, which bounces from Moose to Freya to Dan, a (probably) fictional accomplice to the convicted bomber. I do wonder if the book would have been even stronger if Dan had been more of a true believer, and less of a conflicted foot soldier, though I do see how making him feel that way emphasized the sense we had that all of these people were trapped by the world around them.
And, to keep you from thinking the whole read is a bummer, I should mention that it's often quite funny.
I enjoyed the shifting point of view, which bounces from Moose to Freya to Dan, a (probably) fictional accomplice to the convicted bomber. I do wonder if the book would have been even stronger if Dan had been more of a true believer, and less of a conflicted foot soldier, though I do see how making him feel that way emphasized the sense we had that all of these people were trapped by the world around them.
And, to keep you from thinking the whole read is a bummer, I should mention that it's often quite funny.