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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane (view source)
Revision as of 09:37, 26 August 2020
, 09:37, 26 August 2020no edit summary
The mysteries of the novel are less to do with the personnel - it's fairly clear from the outset who the reader trusts and who they don't - but more in terms of the tricks the mind plays on the elderly. It would be easy for this to become somewhat sentimental too, but McFarlane's touch, while sensitive, is never sentimental.
The tiger image is particularly disturbing. I don't think it's a spoiler to disclose that it's not a real tiger - we are in New South Wales after all and while there are a lot of things that can kill you in Australia, tigers are not amongst them. It serves not only to represent the fear of the unknown for the elderly Ruth, but also perhaps to represent her past. Certainly, while Fiji , where Ruth spent man many of her teen years , is similarly tiger-free, it is the smells of the jungle that seem to make Ruth reminisce about the past and to renew her contact with Richard.
Frida though seems to take relatively good care of Ruth at first, although some of her techniques are suspect to say the least. But as the scale of Ruth's mental confusion grows more evident, Frida's actions become more and more worrying. The introduction of former beau Richard offers the prospect of resolving the situation but is he to be trusted?
Our grateful thanks to the kind folk at Sceptre Books for sending us this book.
Tigers are surprisingly prevalent in fiction. For more tiger featuring novels, check out [[Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch]] and [[The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht]]. Both ended up on the literary award lists so it seems a good idea to include a tiger in your fiction. As another well -known member of that breed might say about all three books ''they're Grrrrrreat''. You might also appreciate [[Every Promise by Andrea Bajani]].
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