When Gregory joins his local camera club, he decides to keep a diary to record his photographic achievements. Then he finds an old picture, which he is convinced is of an angel, and he is soon in the grip of an obsession. Could a newspaper cutting from 1959 be a clue to the angel's true identity?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unsavory protagonist & a psychological mystery -- kink-eeeee!,
By
This review is from: Diary of an Amateur Photographer (Hardcover)
I found this book utterly fascinating for the pull of the unusual collage/diary format against the mystery plot. The collage diary part has an immediacy and primitive art appeal, while the "mystery" turns out to be both an historical murder and the psychological unraveling of the protagonist. Most fans of visual journals would find this novel too seedy, the anti-hero too unsavory, but I found it an energetic way to tell the story of an unlikable man with sympathy and more revelation than the protagonist can comprehend.Michael Whittingham is a 43-year-old unemployed bachelor in England who has decided to take up amateur photography. The instructor has suggested that each student "keep a record of exposure times, shutter speeds and aperture settings. In this way we can learn from our mistakes." But as Michael reveals himself through typed entries in his diary over a 2-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we see an unsavory, egotistical, socially clueless man who mentally justifies his own creepy behavior -- lewdness, peeping in windows, petty thefts, scams for lost-and-found items in classified ads. (Who doesn't know and wonder about people like this, what their internal processes are like?) An ongoing theme is the fantasy he indulges while riding the bus, that he is forced to have sex with every tenth woman, and he tries to "get" a particular shop girl but is usually forced to pleasure some dowdy housewife. Michael reminds me of the Sting character from the movie "Brimstone & Treacle," though not evil, just tortured and basically dishonest about himself and his motives. The book is more layered and interesting than the overt mystery, which can be figured out (more or less) by the clues in the diary, plus there is a solution in an envelope at the end. I found that a quick rereading of the diary text -- it wasn't necessary to reread all the ads taped into the diary -- confirmed my deductions and made the denouement at the end all the more pleasurable.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wildly fun insanity,
By A Customer
This review is from: Diary of an Amateur Photographer (Hardcover)
This book was so creative. Graham Rawles did an excellent job of "pasting" together an interesting tale using pictures, text, clippings. Sometimes I found myself laughing outloud at his outrageous creativity. The actual story probably could have been told in a 5 page essay, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss the fun of the journey through Michaels mind and paranoia.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unsavory & revealing art journal / mystery -- Kink-eeeee!,
By
This review is from: Diary of An Amateur Photographer (Hardcover)
I found this book utterly fascinating for the pull of the unusual collage/diary format against the mystery plot. The collage diary part has an immediacy and primitive art appeal, while the "mystery" turns out to be both an historical murder and the psychological unraveling of the protagonist. Most fans of visual journals would find this novel too seedy, the anti-hero too unsavory, but I found it an energetic way to tell the story of an unlikable man with sympathy and more revelation than the protagonist can comprehend.Michael Whittingham is a 43-year-old unemployed bachelor in England who has decided to take up amateur photography. The instructor has suggested that each student "keep a record of exposure times, shutter speeds and aperture settings. In this way we can learn from our mistakes." But as Michael reveals himself through typed entries in his diary over a 2-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we see an unsavory, egotistical, socially clueless man who mentally justifies his own creepy behavior-lewdness, peeping in windows, petty thefts, scams for lost-and-found items in classified ads. (Who doesn't know and wonder about people like this, what their internal processes are like?) An ongoing theme is the fantasy he indulges while riding the bus, that he is forced to have sex with every tenth woman, and he tries to "get" a particular shop girl but is usually forced to pleasure some dowdy housewife. Michael reminds me of the Sting character from the movie "Brimstone & Treacle," though not evil, just tortured and basically dishonest about himself and his motives. The book is more layered and interesting than the overt mystery, which can be figured out (more or less) by the clues in the diary (plus there is a solution in an envelope at the end). I found that a quick rereading of the diary text (it wasn't necessary to reread all the ads taped into the diary!) confirmed my deductions and made the denouement at the end all the more pleasurable.
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