Review by Bill Kirton
Mari Biella is a truly gifted writer who pays close
attention to both the choice and the placement of her words. It’s difficult to
be specific about some of the effects achieved in Loving Imogen because, from the earliest pages, there’s a tension
in the narrative as the attitude of the central character, Daniel, to Imogen develops and evolves. It would be
very easy to say something that might prove to be a spoiler, so I’ll stick with
generalities.
First, it’s a compelling read. Its characters are very real
and sketched with great skill and economy. The subtle shifts and changes in
Daniel’s perceptions of himself and other people, especially Imogen, are
tracked to create a tense dynamic that drives the narrative along a path which
could fork at any point to lead to very different destinations. Thanks to Biella ’s sensitivity to
psychological shifts and her understanding of how our fears and desires affect
our actions, we share Daniel’s hopes and apprehensions. He’s portrayed as a
kind, gentle man, sensitive enough to know that, as Biella puts it, ‘reality …
is not the same as the truth’.
His life is relatively simple and ordinary, but he
recognises that we’re all ‘fleeting bundles of flesh and blood and bone, held
together by desire’ and he has intimations of time passing to create ‘the
other, slower death of paid work and isolation and too little time, […]
compromise after compromise, until you woke up one morning and found that you’d
bargained the better part of your life away’.
This is not showy, florid writing but it has real power. Its
evocation of relationships, surfaces and depths is managed with the lightest of
touches and a true feeling for language. The story is a novella but, at its
end, I found myself wanting it to be extended to full novel length to take us
on the next phase of Daniel’s journey and see how he deals with the conflicting
impulses that events have provoked in him.
To complete the collection, there are three short stories
with very different subjects but each is crafted with the same care and skill.
No comments:
Post a Comment