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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Adventures of Andrew, 14 Jan 2010
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
The writer invites you into the life of one Andrew Whittaker; wanabee writer, failing landlord, and verbose magazine editor. As his life and mental faculties begin to unravel, the story is presented as a series of letters, to his tenants and to the contributors to his magazine - oh and not to mention Andrew's adulterous ex-wife and various newspapers. The letters are occasionally replaced by chapters of Andrew's magnum opus, and the result is sometimes laugh out loud funny; sometimes rather dull - although the latter may be deliberate irony on Andrew's part.
Overall, I would recommend this as a decent read - but especially suited to those with extensive vocabularies, as Andrew's style is extremely grandiose - if not actually manic.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Words From A Cold Dark Place, 17 Jan 2010
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
In Andrew Whittaker, writer Sam Savage has
spawned an extraordinarily ordinary character.
Narrative devices aside, this novel's (if novel it is)
finest achievement is to have realised one of the
most sustained depictions of morbid self-delusion
I have come across in over five decades of reading.
Whittaker's personality emerges slowly from a
series of letters, reflections and memories which
may well be unreliable. Rather like the un-named
voice in Samuel Beckett's 'Company' we are often left
uncertain as to the authenticity of the experiences
unfolding before us. It is not comfortable to linger
too long in the dark with such tawdry ambiguities.
Although difficult to admire, or feel sympathy for, his
creation, Mr Savage's book is, none-the-less, an eminently
readable journey into one man's collapsing cosmos.
That he might continue to survive is one possibility among others
but Whittaker's inner-world is a terribly sparse and lonely place.
To have looked over his shoulder for a while chilled me to the bone.
Recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A snapshot of descent into madness, 9 Dec 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I was looking forward to reading this book, the blurb on the back and review of the author's previous novel making me feel this may be something a bit different and an interesting read. I quickly worked out that this is a series of letters and assorted writings from our protagonist, Andrew Whittaker. I was helped in this realisation by the subtitle on the title page: "The mostly tragic story of Andrew Whittaker being his collected, final and absolutely complete writings"!
This isn't a particularly easy read, it is quite disjointed, but you quickly get into the format and what unfolds is a fundamentally sad tale of Andrew's deterioration. We get the impression this has been happening for a while, but is slowly escallating into his complete isolation from society. There are moments of humour and quiet victory, but these ultimately serve to only exaggerate his decline.
The letters he writes to his ex-wife, former college friends and other literary publications are only one side of the story, I found myself wishing to see any replies he may have received. There are also letters written under psuedonyms and others in reply to these, which is a little odd, but it works. The snippets of his increasingly bizarre life and how he uses this information depending on who he is writting to was also a nice touch.
I did enjoy this book in a fashion and was glad I persevered, but it left me somewhat relieved to reach the end.
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