It is a Thursday evening. After work Martin Blom drives to the supermarket to buy some groceries. As he walks back to his car, a shot rings out. When he wakes up he is blind. His neurosurgeon, Bruno Visser, tells him that his loss of sight is permanent and that he must expect to experience shock, depression, self-pity, even suicidal thoughts before his rehabilitation is complete. But it doesn't work out quite like that. One spring evening, while Martin is practising in the clinic gardens with his new white cane, something miraculous happens.
The Insult
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'The Insult is one of those rare, perfect, all-consuming books where your life takes on a new colour and texture for the days you are in its thrall' Mail on Sunday 'An astonishing exploration into the blurred hinterland where fiction meets fantasy ... Both crisply precise and extravagantly daring ... The Insult is a remarkable achievement' Sunday Telegraph 'A stunning premise, brilliantly unravelled ... It confirms Thomson in the front rank of English authors' Observer 'The Insult met every requirement I felt I could possibly have of a novel ... Breathtakingly clever' The Times
About the Author
Rupert Thomson is the author of seven novels. His books have been shortlisted for various awards including the Writer's Guild Fiction Prize for Air and Fire and the Guardian Prize for Fiction. He lives in Barcelona.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Obokoboy
Format:Paperback
For a fascinating gaze at (compulsive) character portrayal you will find 'The Insult' by Rupert Thomson superb. I began the book after I had finished writing an onerous business assignment when I was hungry for indulgent rather than obligatory reading. I finished it within a couple of days, unable to stop reading the last couple of hundred pages into the early hours of the final morning. It is a book written in three or four stages, with a quite different approach to sentence length, style and consciousness at each stage. It is particularly easy to zoom through the first stage (which I presume the author intended for the reader), because the sentences are very short and unfussy in both grammar and vocabulary (rather like the early work of Ian McEwan), and half way through this part I was almost tempted to abandon the book, thinking nothing much was coming. Thank Buddha I didn't. Thomson was simply putting down his first layer and drawing me, the unsuspecting first-time reader of any of his works, across it. Then he took me on quite a ride. This man can craft and tell a story - the latter part of the book contains some of the best, flowing prose and human insights I have ever read. As one commentator (on the inside cover) puts it: "When someone can write as well as Thomson, it makes you wonder why other people bother." Because the book changes so noticeably at certain points, you are tempted to react as if watching a badly edited movie, but it's worth hanging in there. I thought the middle stages of the book, where the blind man partly loses grip on reality, rather caused me to lose grip a bit too (hence the dropped star in my rating), but I do not present this as an injurious criticism of Insult. It's a brilliant book. I'm excited to have discovered Thomson and I'm now off to read more of his work.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
if you've read any of his other books you'll know that his style of writting is superb, and as ever he fits a sexual twist into the narrative. an original piece well worth reading.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By R. Gray
Format:Paperback
Faced with a six hour delay in an airport, I picked this at random off the shop shelf and started reading. And the first half certainly filled the time in - an interesting and unusual exploration of sudden blindness and what seems to be, on the surface, a recovery from it.
Can the main character really see again, or is it all in his mind? If the former, is it a conspiracy or a miracle? If it's the latter, then are the colourful people he meets and the unusual events he experiences what happens when our imagination unexpectedly eclipses our senses - we'd rather spend our lives with enigmatic lovers and entertaining circus performers than the reality of, for example, our stifling and emotionally-inert parents?
But then my flight finally came, and I finished the second half of the book at later times. It never really regained my admiration, and by the end I was quite disappointed in it. I presume the second story that takes over at the end is a comparative parallel about hidden secret lives, disabilities and how we shouldn't take people as how we 'see' them. But for me the two never truly gelled, and the promises of the first half weren't followed through or resolved enough. Not that a dramatic or trite conclusion was necessary, just that our interest in Martin Blom had been so engaged, yet by the end he was barely there. Or perhaps that's the point - in society it's not just that we become invisible to a blind person, but that they also become 'invisible' to us.
Intriguing in parts, but overall has flaws.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book
I found this an unusual but fascinating book. The story starts with Martin who has been blinded by a random gun attack and goes in some detail through his emotional and... Read more
Published 7 days ago by S. Heptonstall
3.0 out of 5 stars
Starts well then drifts off
An interesting idea that fails because the author brings in too much detail. About half way through I got bored and started skipping in the hope that the story would tighten up,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Goff
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bullet fired from an unknown gun
In a supermarket car park Martin Blom is shot in a random incident which the police cannot make headway with. It leaves him blind. Or does it? Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2010 by Eileen Shaw
2.0 out of 5 stars
Someone please re-edit this to be the classic it should be
This should be a great book, a great idea to build on and some very interesting ideas, wrapped up in a strong writing style with some distinctive characters. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2009 by R. B. Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
Just recently re-read this book, I hated knowing how it went! I thought it was brilliant, great concept, and I loved the two stories running side by side.
Published on 25 April 2008 by Dr. in to House
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great start - poor finish
Having read the glowing reviews at the head of this section as I had just finished the last page of the novel I wondered whether that person had read the same novel - or had indeed... Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2005 by Mr. Hans Odd
1.0 out of 5 stars
A story wasted
I use the following analogy for this book. Rupert Thomson had a fantastic dream - the story of a blind man that can see (or can he?) and his experiences adapting to his new life. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2005 by R. Lowther
2.0 out of 5 stars
It's alright but...
I've read the other blinding reviews here and I found this book an easy enough read, probably good for a holiday. Read more
Published on 12 July 2005 by "aidan_l"
5.0 out of 5 stars
A violently haunting conspiracy...
The plot loosely follows: Martin Blom is shot in a parking lot and wakes up blind. He is diagnosed with Anton's Syndrome, an actual (! Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2005 by Animagess
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strange and Unusual
I don't think that I have read a more bizarre and weird novel since I first read Ian Banks' "The Wasp Factory" many years ago. Read more
Published on 11 July 2004 by L. Davidson
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