By Jenny Diski
My only reason for purchasing this book was because I’d heard Jenny Diski described as “old eccentric woman who didn’t give a rat’s arse about a thing” by a friend of mine who had been to a talk by this author. Quite frankly, the only redeeming feature about getting old is that one day it will be my turn to choose to be an “old eccentric woman who didn’t give a rat’s arse about a thing”!
Anyway, so as I said, it was for this reason that I wanted to read a book of Ms.Diski’s. ‘After These Things’ may have been the only book avalable in the store I went to as I cant think of any reason why I would’ve picked this book over any other of her books.
This is based on the story from the book of Genesis. Were I knowledgeable enough about the Bible and its stories to draw comparisons and parallels and comment on the choice, I would. But, seeing as I’m not, I’m going to judge this book solely on its narrative and characters.
Abraham and Sarah have Isaac and Ismael. A lot of inbreeding, treachery and deaths later the book ends with Abraham and Sarah’s grandson, Jacob’s generation. The charatcers are weak and at no point do you feel anything for any of them. The narrative is ok- if it weren’t for my need to finish every book that I start, I would’ve given up. The end is abrupt and I was thankful for it!
Hi there,
Amazing! Not clear for me, how often you updating your muthamma.com.
Have a nice day
SuperSonic