Customer Reviews

Gold

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4 star:		(1)
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Folks, this book is a treat indeed. It was really "unputdownable" (quotation from the back cover), except after the first 160 pages I had to call it a day and finish it off the next day.
It's very funny, it's very human, it's full of little surprises, including the language which Rhodes can play with incredibly well.
Also, it's very Welsh, even though the author is not from Wales. In fact, it reminded me strongly of THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN (the novel and the movie), and WAKING NED (DEVINE).
I wouldn't be surprised if they made this novel into a terrific movie, too ...
In any case, do go out of your way and buy this book!

When his collection of micro-fiction "Antropology" was first published about 10 years ago, Dan Rhodes's wonderfully ascerbic bite-sized nuggets on the funnier side of human nature won him a placing among the shortlist for the Macmillan Silver Pen.

He followed up that successful debut with a sophomore collection "Don't Tell Me the Truth About Love", a wonderfully enlightening and whimsical collection of longer stories.

I've also enjoyed "The Little White Car", written under the female pseudonym Danuta De Rhodes, his irreverently funny novel about the travails of a female driver who may have been involved in the fatal accident killing English royalty.

This delightful and humorous novel, "Gold" is set against a Welsh coastal village, with yearly visitor, half-Japanese girl Miyuki Woodward, who is as displaced as her name sounds.

Other writers may flag at spelling out the seemingly mundane details, but Rhodes excels at fleshing out Miyuki's sojourn in uncomplicated prose, even as he makes rather incisive character studies, without seeming to draw particular attention to them.

What wins the reader over is his obviously sympathetic treatment of his comic characters who rise above mere caricature because he makes the effort to let on some backstory (especially of Septic Barry, a human waste disposal business owner, with a side band called 'The Children from Previous Relationships', which has never played a note throughout their non-existent career) These pieces of backstory are never overwhelming and at times even glossed over, but just enough to let the reader make sense of the characters' motivations.

The action may not be fast-paced and even at times random but true to life, and the setting seemingly repetitive, but the exchanges and inner mindscape of his characters (especially Miyuki's) are given careful attention to engage the reader.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but don't dismiss this light tome, because there's much to be gleaned under the surface. This is best stated when Miyuki projects her feelings on a stuffed pike hanging on her favourite corner at the Anchor, a pub she frequents: "Even after thirty-one years of hanging on the wall it hadn't come close to understanding the currents and undercurrents that rippled around the room."

Philosophical, and even metaphysical, this novel succeeds because it is note afraid to have fun while dealing with these issues.

It's not easy finding Dan Rhodes' books on this side of the pond, but through Amazon, I was able to find them all.