I had to read this book for my Grade 12 University English class. My first impressions were the same as everyone else who I had talked to who had either read the book, or also began reading it: it sucked. It sucked so much that I had only ready about thirty pages, hit up the Google read a synopsis with a spoiler so I could understand what the hell the book was about. It also inspired a lot of thought, and essentially this post.
The book starts off with a man named Dunstan Ramsay at a young age. Davies does a good job at creating an event that will forever change the way one person acts for the rest of their life. Dunstan's mother is an abusive prude. Her rules and ethics are quite too conservative for my taste. Dunstan is sledding with some douche-bag kid and beats him at a sledding race, even though the douche-bag kid's new sled is new and presumably faster. The kid gets upset and throws a snowball at Dunstan. Dunstan, being a smart kid, ducked out of the way. The ball hit a lady named Mary Dempster. This led to her pre-mature birth of Paul Dempster, and essentially making her suffer from post-partum depression and bat-shit craziness. Dunstan's mom then makes Dunstan take care of her for most of his childhood. This causes a sick and twisted fetish for Mary Dempster, even though she was only ten years older than him.
Dunstan works at a library and begins doing magic. He performs for a young Paul Dempster. Paul's dad is all like "Yo mother fucker, my son can't be learning the devil's way." This seems irrelevent now, but it comes back into play later.
I skipped a few parts because I was bored as shit. I got to stories about the war. I was stoked, I love stories from the war, they are so fascinating. But Davies did an incredible job on making me hate war stories. Dunstan, now Dunny, goes to World War One. Some how he gets his leg blown the fuck off, and become a hero, all by mistake. In the hospital he meets a hot lady, and decides to invest his time and lust into her. This is the beginning of a lot of failed relationships and shit with Dunny, he's a dick.
Apparently he looses his parents around this time too? I'm not sure.
I skipped the rest of that part, figured out he became a teacher, met a dude named Boyd, who became Boy, saw Paul Dempster for the first time in ages and he's all into magic and shit. Boy is smart shit, tells Dunny where to put his money. Paul is cool too, I guess.
A lot of other shit happened, but I find it irrelevent.
By the end of the book, Leisl, some butch lesbian with a beard (I think?) tells Dunny he's a fifth business. A fifth business is some one who doesn't do shit on stage, and just watches and reacts to other people's actions. Dunny then feels like shit. Or at least I would have liked him too. Every one dies, and it's a boo-hoo ending.
So there's my 30 page synopsis. Here's my review: Davies is possibly one of the smartest people to ever write a book. Sure, the story sucked hard, but did it really? It was written in first person to the views of Dunny, so everything seemed boring as fuck. But if any one else told this story, it would have been so exciting. But there's a purpose; Davies believed, and ran with the idea that one single event can change some one's life, indefinitely. Because Dunny had blamed himself for the pre-mature birth of Paul and the death of Mary.
The book is suppose to be a boring piece of shit that keeps you unentertained. I found the less I read it, and the more I thought about it, it turned into a good book. It's more or less a thesis statement about how everything you do effects everything else, you can't just live your life observing, and you can't blame yourself for stupid shit. Davies, you sly fox, you fooled us all into thinking you were a shitty author. Good show.
Now would I suggest the book to anyone else? God no.
