stapsreads

A rather transparent attempt at being the Great Anglican Novel of the Twenty-First Century (Trollope, Howatch, Arditti...?) What did I just say about the present tense? Breathy and irritating, that was it - and also there were too many characters, and the good ones were good, and the bad ones were bad, and it was painfully earnest in places - and I still devoured it.

It takes the form of a triptych, the centre being a modern Passion narrative, and either side being a running commentary on the services and other events of a London Holy Week. I rather think that Arditti is trying to be a bit too clever, and that he pushes his symbolism and his Message at the expense of his characters. I did find it interesting, in that it deals with one of my perennial hobby-horses, namely, being LGBT and Christian - but really, Rev. did it better.

I know that I will want to re-read this in time, but it's not one of the real greats.

Re-read prior to bookcrossing. I first came across Larkin in general, and this volume in particular, at A-level, and have been a fan ever since. For all that he's a grumpy old sod, he's a perceptive observer and is very competent at conveying the sights, sounds, and moods of his time. It's as if he's distilled the Britain of the sixties, and here it is. Of its time in the best sense of the phrase.