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Revision as of 13:05, 17 August 2020
, 13:05, 17 August 2020no edit summary
Through one long cold, dark night I sat up with a sick dog and I read Lynne Truss' ''A Certain Age''. Six men and six women each have their own tales to tell and the stories always say far more than the teller realises. You might have heard the monologues on BBC Radio 4 in 2002 and 2005 but there is a certain joy in having them on paper in front of you - that way you can go back and savour the elegant plot twists and little quirks of character which speak so loud.
When originally broadcast the first series comprised the women's tales and the second belonged to the men, but in the book the stories alternate, giving an excellent balance and making the book one which would appeal equally to both men and women. The people whose stories are told are familiar to us all -'The Brother', 'The Son' or 'The Mother', but each has a strange twist. Take for instance 'The Married Man'. James Dance is a writer and philanderer. He's convinced that no one suspects what he's doing but he's also completely unaware of how he's being deceived. Or there's 'The Daughter'. Judy stays at home to look after her aging ageing father, but then working wasn't really convenient because she has long hair. "Hair this long and fine takes three or four hours every morning to dry naturally. Ergo you can't really go to work." Just how far will her father go to make certain that she has no friends or admirers?
It would have been easy for the monologues to be formulaic, but this hasn't happened. Each one has freshness, as though the idea had never been used before. It must have taken a great deal of effort - and talent - to get completely inside the skin of a character and develop it so fully in the space of about 15 pages. The writing is elegant and the ear for dialogue has been finely tuned. It's a joy to read.
My thanks to the publishers, Profile Books, for sending this wonderful book.
You might also like to have a look at [[Cat out of Hell by Lynne Truss]] but I have to warn you that our reviewer wasn't convinced.
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