So Much Life Left Over

This novel is not what I expected as I had assumed it was set in Ceylon in the 1920s but it soon transpired that most of the action takes place in England and Europe.

Also – and not stated in the blurb - it turns out it is a sequel to an earlier book. This became increasingly obvious (and a tad annoying) as the story progressed with the appearance of lesser individuals whose back stories were unknown but who’d had considerable influence on the development of the leading protagonists, including Daniel and his wife Rose, his brother Archie, and their various neighbours, relatives and associates.

Primarily it is Daniel’s story: he is a flying ace who survived World War I when so many didn’t and thus suffers from survivor guilt. Family and children are all that really matter to him but when Rose spurns him, stopping him from forming a strong bond with his son and daughter, Daniel finds comfort and solace elsewhere.

It is hard to like Rose who treats Daniel so appallingly. His brother Archie is a whimsical sad case, Rose’s Lesbian sister and her partner weren’t sufficiently fleshed out, but the girls’ poor batty and snobbish mother provided some light relief. And I did not know what to make of the character called Oily Wragge who slept in a wheelbarrow and obviously suffered from a kind of PTSD from the war. It is assumed he features more strongly in the first book.

The prose is pacey and extravagant, with much that is both said, and unsaid, about the meaning of life as it touches on all the big philosophical questions – religion, sexuality, racism, honour, loyalty.

The author knows how to write about the fading era of the British Empire and its infamous “stiff upper lip” attitudes, but his flourishes with phrases and sentences in French, German, and even Sinhalese or Tamil (the languages of Ceylon/Sri Lanka) not to mention the use of obscure English words, had me distracted with sorties to translation sites and the online dictionary which was disruptive. Some readers enjoy such writing as a form of authenticity but it can border on scholarly superiority at times.

The tragic and ambivalent ending bodes another sequel. Not sure that I’ll bother, however.

Three stars. (Maybe more if I’d read the first book.)




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