Engineering Paradise [Kindle Edition]

I found this novel compelling and absorbing. The characters feel real, their settings feel real and their stories ring true. It seems to me a very visual narrative that would translate well to the big screen. There are heart-stopping moments that pack a shocking punch. The power of those moments is indicative of the quality of the writing - David Gardiner is a fantastic storyteller and I look forward to reading more of his work.

Love this book ad life in 60's Belfast really comes alive as young Danny deals with growing up with an alcoholic mother and a dad wo is the local doctor.

I've not finished reading it yet, but Danny is already getting involved in the IRA through his interest in his pirate radio station that has already been used by IRA man Big Jim Harrison. Danny was able to block the police communications and the Royal Ulster Bank was robbed.

Nicely written by David as Danny's innocence really shows through as he has his first girlfriend, Joyce, a rather promiscuous 15 year old!

I would certainly recommend anyone thinking of buying it to give it a read as you won't be disappointed.

David Gardiner is no newcomer to telling tall and short tales. His The Other End of the Rainbow (2008), and The Rainbow Man and other Stories (2010), are a testament to the power and delight embedded in his imaginative short story telling. Sirat (2000), revealed his strengths in writing science fiction novels. Engineering Paradise is quite different in that is a semi-autobiographical story with free love, commune-living, and Irish life for a lad coming of age and being drawn in to the Troubles along with his friends. The title is derived from a Stafford Beer quotation: `The Holocaust has shown us that the creation of hell on earth is just a matter of engineering. The creation of an earthly paradise is an engineering problem also.' (1926-2002), This hints at the philosophical feel of the novel, but it reflects too the innate nature of Danny, the protagonist, with his engineering aptitude for making radios and solving the problems of bomb making yet with an urge to find happiness and love.
Although much of the content is political and philosophical, including references to 17th Century Gerrald Winstanley and the The Diggers, the style has ironic humour that makes the novel a page-turner. Much of the humour digs at authority and the establishment, while amusement is also derived by irreverent jibes at the Church. For example, in response to people suffering illnesses and untimely deaths, Danny's father (a GP) says: "If there really is a God up there, I don't know how he sleeps at night." These light yet poignant moments are balanced by thoughtful episodes in which Danny's adolescent mind ponders "...everyone's mortality, including his own."
Danny, through his mechanical propensity, eagerness to please and naivety with regard to the wiliness of 1960s IRA recruitment methods, is sucked into the movement. He's no academic and yet is good with words and hands, and not backwards in coming forwards with sweethearts. Churchill's famous quote about Clement Atlee is used to describe him admirably: `modest, but then he has so much to be modest about.'

Luckily, Danny falls in love with a local beauty. Unluckily, she enjoys other lads too. With such turbulence in his emotions and learning on the go how to cope with so many non-normal behaviour for those times, it is no wonder that `His mind flailed around furiously...'.

The story travels from Belfast to the Isle of Man, North Wales to England, beautifully described and expertly crafted. Learn history, philosophy, bomb and love making, radio transmission, and Life. This is a masterstroke book, a masterpiece.