I hate to say I have given up reading a book half way through, but I nearly did with this one more than once. I persevered but wish I had the courage of my convictions and just put it down. It was not a book I enjoyed.
Mr Golightly's Holiday is set in Devon, where a writer of only one successful book goes for a break to see if he can reinvent the book and himself. Whilst in the village of Great Calne, he makes friends and acquaintances with the locals.
Johnny Spence the local boy who hardly goes to school, whose mother, Rosie seems to have disappeared and his step-father is neither nice or gentle with him, seeks solace with Mr Golightly who helps educate him on many matters including Classical music. Ellen Thomas the next door neighbour, who is overwhelmed with the grief from the death of her husband and is merely waiting until she is called forward to be with him. Paula who seems to be trying to control a number of members of the village so she can seek her own agenda with Jackson, her eventual live in boyfriend. These are to name but a few, the book is littered with them and it does take some concentration to remember them all and who is who and who does what.
On the face of it, the book seems a rather quirky village tale, but there is a lot more to it than that. There are so many questions raised that I actually became lost in the storyline, it was like having someone firing one after the other without time to catch your breath and actually understand the questions and the meanings of everything including it seems in the author's intention the meaning of life.
I did make it to the end, and I completely understood who Mr Golightly was and what the book was that was published a long time ago, there are clues in the book, if you want to think deeply and you can see them. What I thought was going to being a pleasant sojourn about village life and how an outsider fits in, was lost; it all goes a bit deeper than that.
Would I recommend this book? I really do not know..... if you want a light read then no, if you have the time and the interest in all things religious, philosophical then yes.
