Helen Dunmore’s ‘Counting the Stars’
In the early part of this century, a couple of friends recommended The Siege by Helen Dunmore to me. Not all word of mouth recommendations satisfy, but on this occasion LBR was pleased. Later in the century LBR had cause to encounter Robert Harris’s excellent ancient Roman novels Pompeii and Imperium.
It would therefore be safe to assume that with Dunmore having produced a Roman novel, it too would receive the LBR thumbs up. Alas no. Dunmore’s book Counting the Stars is a staggeringly dull piece of work. It isn’t badly written, but lacks sufficient interest for the reader to care for the characters. Without this the constant the question that came to mind was; what is this book for? Until a moment ago, LBR had struggled to search for an answer.
LBR has clearly suffered for Dunmore’s art, but does not expect its readers too as well. This had led to a radical editorial decision so that some good can come from having read such a turgid piece of dullness. This column will continue to highlight to its readers any strikingly good piece of art that it comes across. Or even a bad piece from which discussion of interest can be had.
However, dull pieces of trash, or just mediocre, should not have to be revisited by the reviewer. Reading it is bad enough. But having to work on a review is even more time that cannot be got back. This book would have got 1/5.
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I suspect I might be one of the people who recommended you read The Siege back in the day - I liked it a lot. I remember reading it in the height of summer (when we still had heights of summer) in the blazing sun while waiting for a bus and feels really, truly cold because I was so engrossed in the story.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I too have been disappointed by her other novels and on re-reading The Siege with a more critical eye, found that clunky too. I still read it from time to time, because I do love the Leningrad siege as a topic and forgive a lot of clunkiness if it's about a favourite topic, but I'm not surprised by your reaction - I won't be seeking out Counting the Stars.
Louisa - yes indeed you did recommend the Siege to me.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that I enjoyed it, and add this to my rather 'dubious' film choices, I think I am still in your debt.
The Siege is a good book - but it is one of those books I have had to redstribute.