I’m taking time out to repost a review of another Eventispress author’s debut novel.
I asked Ian to describe his novel now, in the light of feedback he has had so far and he said:
“If I am asked about my book now I always tell people it’s a satire on liberalism. I’ve sort of convinced myself that it in part is, and I get a massively more interested response now. It’s a tale of a serious of blunders made by leaders faced with bizarre challenges. That kind of thing.’
Here’s an excellent 5 star review:
“I found this an excellent read, engaging, humorous and interesting and I soon realized I had to be disciplined as it was something that was difficult to put down. It is no good reading as much as you can as you will miss so much, be disciplined, read a chapter or two, think about it and you will enjoy it all the more. The dialogue is speech and Jack’s thoughts, a man with a droll sense of humour who will have you smiling and nodding in agreement at his observations. The beauty of this book is that it has a definite rhythm, the narrative varies in pace and the reader, unconsciously , will be carried along as the story progresses. However, when I was reading about life in ‘Eden,’ this book’s greatest quality ‘hit me,’ it is a satire on liberal society and we even have a quote from the great liberal thinker himself, John Stuart Mill. It is all here, the generalities of liberalism, the subtleties and nuances that guide everyday society and make it work, the moral idealism and vision for a better world, whilst conveniently ignoring the awkward issues and inconsistencies. As I said previously, read too much and you will miss all this. Finally, I will leave you with this thought, in Orwell’s ‘1984’ the definition of power was ‘a boot stamping on a face forever,’ here it is the much less obvious, ‘wearing a watch with a red and green light’ to control, how much more civilized and consensual, a more liberal solution! This novel deserves to be read by a much wider public, it has got so much to offer.”
Here’s my original blog post:
In my opinion this is a book well worth reading. It is fast paces, challenging, a life drama of the possible consequences of not looking after the world and what we are doing to it, but with real characters who you get to know and care about.
You can buy it on Amazon here.
Do let me know what you think.
Diana Jackson 