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Friday 19 September 2014

My Temporary Life by Martin Crosbie

AMAZON UK
AMAZON US
When I start a book, there's never any question that I won’t finish it. It’s just my ‘thing’: I finish what I start. This book is in two parts, the first following Malcolm Wilson’s life as an adolescent, while the second follows his adult life. I’ll be honest: the first half didn’t suck me in. But the second half had me glued to the pages. And that’s one of the reasons I always stick with a book. This turned out to be a very rewarding read.

The story starts with Malcolm, just turned into a teenager, who lives with his father in Scotland. His mother lives in Canada with her latest boyfriend. School life is tough, and his time there doesn’t end well. However, he emerges a responsible adult with a good life and strong sense of ‘right’: something that turns his life around quite dramatically when he falls in love with a beautiful woman, Heather, who has a dark secret.

I liked Malcolm instantly: as a youngster he has a protective instinct, which grows with him into adulthood. Some very difficult issues are dealt with in this book, and they’re handled extremely well.

I do, however, just need to mention a few reservations: a few too many Americanisms crept into the 'Scottish' language, so it lost a bit of authenticity; the story is written in the present tense, but for me, it didn’t work across the time frame, and I think the past tense would have suited the first part of the book better; it could have been a tad better edited (some commas in very, very strange places!); but what I missed was more of Heather’s point of view, as she had a very important story to tell—the first person POV ((Malcolm's) in which this book is written) prevents this, of course. I felt it needed that extra dimension.

But that’s just my personal opinion and ultimately, I really enjoyed this book.


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