There are certain things which are guaranteed to put me off a book: an over-intrusive authorial voice, unnecessary digressions, the use of an obvious literary device and a deliberate lack of punctuation dominate the top of the list. Wild Oats has all of these and yet I didn't dislike the book. In fact, I was charmed, admiring of the way in which it was done and rather sorry when the book ended.
| Wild Oats by Michael Edwards | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A comedy of sexual politics where the plot and the characters seem to be developing a will of their own. It's an unusual approach but one that works well and is strangely enjoyable. Definitely recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 304 | Date: December 2008 |
| Publisher: Macmillan New Writing | |
| ISBN: 978-0230712522 | |
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We join Michael Edwards as he starts to write. There's one slight problem and that's that he doesn't have a story in mind. This is against all the advice given to writers, but he does have a couple of ideas for some characters. There's family A with their three children, family B with their two children and a dog and a farmer, who, for convenience is called Broadfield. Don't groan – as Edwards says, it could have been Giles – and Broadfield is definitely not what the author was expecting. He's not prepared to drive past on a tractor waving cheerily. He wants us to know right away that he would have preferred to have a golf course on his land or a few fields of caravans. Instead he's settled for letting out a couple of holiday cottages and perpetuating a few little tricks on the visitors to make the experience feel a little more authentic.
Broadfield's wife isn't your standard farmer's wife, either, much as Edwards might have wished it otherwise. She's got her own plans for the future and they might, or might not include her husband. They certainly don't include the farm. The author is getting quite worried at this stage as the first two characters (and a couple of teenage children) seem to be getting away from him and the two visiting families haven't arrived yet.
It's the Oxfords who arrive first – Pansy and Martin and their three children, the youngest endearingly known as PS for obvious reasons and not just because she's called Penny Samantha. Not far behind are the Waterfords – well, if you've got one town, you might as well have two. They've got just the two children but there's a dog, Brewster, to make up the numbers. Josh Waterford and Martin Oxford work together and although their wives know each other quite well this is the first time that they've tried going on holiday together. Is it going to work out?
The idea of reading along with the author as he watches his characters and their stories develop, occasionally in some rather strange ways, was surprisingly enjoyable. I didn't get too annoyed at the digressions as Edwards thought back over certain views held by his first wife or his current situation and by and large the device worked very well. Sometimes it was laugh-out-loud funny, but I was always conscious of the device rather than just being drawn into the story. It's a small point though as most of the time I was also conscious of how well something difficult was being done. It might look slap-dash and casual but you don't get that sort of effect without a lot of hard work.
The characters helped. You've met them all. Good, wholesome Pansy and solid, reliable-if-a-little-unexciting Martin and Josh the flashy womaniser. Even the dog and the farmer's cat have distinct personalities and at one point seemed to be the only ones forging any sort of reasonable relationship. The story had surprising depth and some rather shocking twists – a game of sexual politics played out against the background of the changing face of the countryside. Read it – I think you'll enjoy it.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Wild Oats by Michael Edwards at Amazon.com.
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