Friday 5 October 2012

A is for Angelica by Iain Broome

This is a very sad novel about loneliness. It is told through the eyes of Gordon Kingdom who is in his 50s and who clearly has some sort of autism. Everything he does is very methodical and he takes everything literally.


One day Angelica moves in across the road from him and he opens a file "A is for Angelica" because he keeps written files on what his neighbours across the road get up to. It is some sort of therapy for him to help with his coming to terms with the state his wife is in - she's had a stroke and can do hardly anything. Gordon is sure that he can help her get better all on his own but things get worse. At the same time his dog dies and his best friend dies. So very sad, but at least there is Angelica across the road, who he sort of gets obsessed with.

And within the main narratice the back-story is filled in, the Gordon Kingdom memories of the good times when his wife was well - the times that can never be again.

The book reminded me a little of The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder in the way that the lead character takes meticulous notes, although this book was more melancholy.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

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