Customer Reviews

The Good Mayor: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Good Mayor is Scottish author Andrew Nicoll's debut novel. Nicoll is a former lumberjack turned newspaper journalist who wrote The Good Mayor on his commute back and forth to work.

It's an absolutely quirky, offbeat, enchanting, magical love story.

This tale is narrated by St. Walpurnia, a bearded nun, who has watched over the small town of Dot, in a forgotten corner of the Baltic, for many, many years. Tibo Krovic is the mayor of Dot. He is known as Good Mayor Krovic as he always says and does the right thing. The good mayor has harboured a secret for many years. He is in love with his lonely, married secretary - Mrs. Agathe Stopak. But he worships from afar, or at least peeking under the crack in his office door, afraid to let her know of his feelings. One day fate, or St. Walpurnia, steps in and it seems like the good mayor and Mrs. Stopak may have a chance at true love. But the path of love is almost always crooked....

Now it sounds like a mushy love story but it's anything but. We have Strega Mamma Cesare (an Italian witch) who sees and knows much more about Dot and its' inhabitants than anyone realizes.

" Small and brown, Mamma Cesare waddled in front of them like a magic toadstool leading two lost children through a fairy story."

And that is the feel of The Good Mayor - a fairy tale for adults. Anyone who loved the film The Princess Bride will be enchanted by this story.

There is a circus troupe that only some can hear and see, but they seem to appear at the most opportune moments. And an enigmatic, very overweight lawyer who seems to also know a bit more than he should.

"...nothing in Dot is ever just quite what it seems. Nothing."

The story itself is charming but it is Nicoll's language and telling of the story that make it so wonderful. The thoughts, the feelings, the descriptions -all of it captured and held me until I reluctantly turned the last page.

As St. Walpurnia says "Anyway, this story is much more about the telling than the things that happen in it..."

Tender, funny, charming and beguiling - this one will stay with you and make you wish for a little bit of magic in your life...

I'm an English literature teacher, and having said that . . . I read a lot. And up until I read this book, I would have said that hands down, the greatest novel that I'd ever read was Their Eyes Were Watching God -- but I must say I have a new favorite. I am amazed that no one has told me about this book -- I can't believe that the world isn't abuzz with the wonder of this read. I'm a cheapskate . . . I get books at the library because I inhale them and then take them back. This one I bought so that I could read it again and again and again. I promise you will want to do the same . .. to not want to is impossible; this book is that charming, that engrossing and that special.

For two decades Tibo Krovic has served as THE GOOD MAYOR of Dot on the Baltic Sea. He has been in love with his secretary Agathe Stopak for years, but does his best to hide his feelings from her and everyone. Besides being his employee, she is married to a drunk.

Agathe is sad as her marriage lacks love. She visits the Italian psychic Strega Mamma Cesare and soon afterward takes a closer look at her boss. Tibo knows something has changed in the office, but is not sure what. For the next few weeks, the pair keeps their distance as much as possible until one day he asks her to go to lunch. She accepts and they enjoy their meal together but being ethical he refuses to cross the line so she looks elsewhere.

THE GOOD MAYOR is a super whimsical romance with pathos and humor enhancing a profound look at Tibo and Agathe. Whimsy is the prime element throughout even describing the country at the onset. The fully developed lead couple affirms that love is so capricious and quirky it is the ultimate proof of chaos theory. Fans will relish this wonderful charming love story while wondering whether a happy ever after is in store for protagonists.

Harriet Klausner

I sampled this book in an online book club, and enjoyed the first chapter, so I requested it from my library. I was horrified when I picked up the book to see that it had a "romance" sticker on the book, but I continued reading. I was delighted to find a rather literary, very sweet, and all-too-true story of love and loss. I very much enjoyed the story until the last few chapters, during which things got, well ... weird. I don't want to give anything away, but the book takes a rather dark and fantastical twist, changing the story entirely -- and not for the better. I don't know that I would dissuade anyone from reading this book, but I don't know that I would recommend it, either. As a positive, there is some very pretty figurative language.

I concur with all the reviews above that describe it as light-heart, magical, delicious. I would even defend it from those who would describe it as slow-moving: I found it had depths and layers that I was looking forward to revisiting. I was going to buy this book in hard copy and keep it with my other favorite books....until I got past the first 250 pages.
At that stage, things started taking a bizarre turn. Several bizarre turns, in fact; and I went from taking pleasure in the story and trust in the author, all the way own to being annoyed that I'd wasted time finishing it. I feel the loss all the more keenly because I LOVED the first 2/3. So much sublety, beauty and dreams; so much that we recognize in ourselves; such delicious prose and clever turns of phrase!! And then such bizarre, unrealistic and quite frankly unrewarding plot twists.
I haven't been so disappointed since finishing The Vintners Luck by our very own Elizabeth Knox: beautiful prose, gorgeous setting, great plot idea...which doesn't know to stop when it has created a masterpiece, and to leave well enough alone.
It's as though the author had himself surrounded by sycophantic fools that kept reassuring him that whatever drivel he added was great.

Tibo Krovic is the mayor of a small town called Dot, and has been for twenty years. Everyone likes Tibo, he always says and does the right thing. But Tibo has a secret that no one else knows. Every morning when he gets to work, he closes the door to his office, gets on his knees, and peeks under the door through the crack at her. He is hopelessly in love with her, but she doesn't have a clue.

Agathe Stopak is a married woman who works for Tibo. Her marriage is an unhappy one. One, he is a drunk and two, they recently lost a child. She is still young and craves happiness and love, so she visits a psychic and soon is taking a closer look at her boss. But Agathe will need to get rid of her loser husband before beginning a new relationship with Tibo.

Eventually, Tibo garners up the willpower to ask Agathe out to lunch, but what you expect to lead to a fairy tale will leave you empty handed. The lives and characters of the small town of Dot are quirky, eccentric, and lead you to a wonderful and charming love story but with an added element of moral and magic. A stunning debut that I highly recommend!

"The Good Mayor" was an out-loud joy ... the kind of book where you're bubbling over to tell whoever's nearby "what a delightful read this is, they should read it, and oh, listen to this...!" Original, lovable, charming and sprinkled throughout with a dash of magic, I completely enjoyed every bit of Nicoll's story-line and story-telling. (I also want to visit the land of "Dot"!)