Stephanie Jane recenzis Killing Them With Kindness de Andy Paulcroft
Ambiguous morality!
4 steloj
One aspect of book blogging that I particularly love is unexpectedly discovering books that, while they seem to bear no relation to each other, actually explore similar topics but through very different narratives. Killing Them With Kindness and my previous read, Mile Marker 139, are a perfect example of this. Loneliness and social isolation were major themes of Mile Marker 139 and alleviating end-of-life isolation is the central theme of Killing Them With Kindness. I loved how Any Paulcroft manages to tackle such an emotionally fraught subject in a humorous way, yet without ever appearing disrespectful to the outlandish characters he created. His humour is very British with lots of silliness thrown in, the style reminding me of Charlie Laidlaw's Love Potions so fans of Laidlaw's work may well enjoy Paulcroft and vice versa.
Our heroine, Deidre, is simply wonderful! A large, vividly clothed woman with a heart of gold, …
One aspect of book blogging that I particularly love is unexpectedly discovering books that, while they seem to bear no relation to each other, actually explore similar topics but through very different narratives. Killing Them With Kindness and my previous read, Mile Marker 139, are a perfect example of this. Loneliness and social isolation were major themes of Mile Marker 139 and alleviating end-of-life isolation is the central theme of Killing Them With Kindness. I loved how Any Paulcroft manages to tackle such an emotionally fraught subject in a humorous way, yet without ever appearing disrespectful to the outlandish characters he created. His humour is very British with lots of silliness thrown in, the style reminding me of Charlie Laidlaw's Love Potions so fans of Laidlaw's work may well enjoy Paulcroft and vice versa.
Our heroine, Deidre, is simply wonderful! A large, vividly clothed woman with a heart of gold, she is the hub around which the rest of the novel unfolds and, with so many larger-than-life characters clamouring for our attention, she needed her distinctive voice in order to fulful this central role. Her friends and lame-duck projects - often the very same people - interlink through various events, often with observant Deirdre giving them a good shove in the 'right' direction, and I can't begin to imagine how tricky it must have been for Paulcroft to map out all the individual timelines. Imagine a kitten with a ball of wool to give you an idea of the complexity! Sometimes I did lose track of whose irate relatives were whose. I did like the periodic time jumps to focus on each character's back story. By the time Deirdre appears in their lives, Margery, Stan, Marina and Deirdre herself seem resolutely settled into their self-destructive behaviours, so seeing the life events which led each of them to that point allowed me to really understand and empathise with their choices. The humorous caricatures regain their poignant humanity.
Behind the entertainingly implausible antics that lead this story, there is a serious social commentary about how elderly people often find themselves isolated. Families move away, personal mobility is limited, and friends or partners die. In Killing Them With Kindness, Deirdre takes the view that a long life has little value if it has no enjoyment so gives her ailing pensioners the treats they crave - even when the calories, for example, or the alcohol will end their lives more quickly. Her ambiguous morality is an interesting question to ponder - and means, I think, that Killing Them With Kindness would lead to energetic book club discussions!