Customer Reviews

Children of Darkness and Light (British Literature)

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I was let down by this. Aware of Mosley's determinedly indeterminate narrative p-o-v that he places into his novels, I expected the open-ended nature of the protagonist's marriage, his investigation in Cumbria of the possible Marian apparition and his inability to decide what to believe in. Mosley conveys this intriguingly in a hesitant, many-dashed, staccato way on the page. It's as if you're reading what the author's working out on the page, rather than the usual version, in which you think about what the author's already polished. It reminds me of the style of the Irish writer Francis Stuart. But after fifty pages like this, the novel never really gains any momentum. Held down by the Schroedinger's Cat type of analogies, the narrative stagnates.

The problem is I did not come to care for any of the characters. The nuclear testing and DNA experimentation subplots seemed promising ideas, but their potential was not sufficiently developed. Similarly, the protagonist's previous Bosnian stint and his witnessing of the visionaries of Medjugorge is a great idea that needed more in-depth development. (See Randall Sullivan's "The Miracle Detective" and Sandra Zimdars-Swartz' "Encountering Mary" for two other perspectives on these claims from Bosnia. Both books reviewed by me.)

The tension that should result between supernatural and inexplicable, science and faith, reason and mystery's portrayed too languidly here, and you never really "feel" the presence of the Balkan conflict and the controversial claims of Mary's apparitions. The scenes there should have but never do come alive. It's a pity, for there's lots of raw material here that needed more refinement if this novel was to have really shimmered.