Customer Reviews

His Lordship's Arsenal

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

 

 

Some joker reserved this for me at the library, I know not why. Thinking I had done so because of a good review, I slogged through it. To say that the plot was contrived is to say that the sun is a little warm--an understatement's understatement. Usually in a novel, there's at least one character I care about, or like, but I'd be hard-pressed to name one here. Don't waste any time reading any of this.

All I can say about this book is that I only read to page 15. It is writen by a local writer about the city where I live so I read about ten pages more than it deserved. You have to support local writers.

I found the writing tedious and the dialogue and characters cliched. There was no sign of a plot.

I bought Waiting for the Lady after having heard Mr. Moore speak about his novel on CBC radio. I thought he had a special knowledge of Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, and looked forward to reading a novel set in this time and place, and featuring this lady. I hoped that it would capture some of the magic that this country holds for me, and that it would provide new insights into what Suu Kyi's release might mean.

Instead I got a novel about a trip to Burma taken by an ageing ex-pat American living in Thailand, Sloan Walcott. He has an adolescent mentality, interested in only his own wants, which seem to be drinking Tiger beer, smoking `a fat one' (how many times did he mention his indulgence in these activities?), and fulfilling his sexual desires either in reality -- he has a girlfriend as well as a wife, or in fantasy -- he never misses an opportunity to use a sexual metaphor or simile, while some of his characters seem to be introduced just so he can recount some aspect of their sexual behaviour. He tosses beer cans into the street, ostensibly as his protest against the government's repressive rule. He bullies the weak, and in Burma, many of the people he interacts with are without power. His dialogue vocabulary relies heavily on the `f' word.

It was difficult to establish anything but dislike for this man, and since it's told in the first person, reading the book through was rather like being held captive by a insufferable bore, who continues to fatigue his audience with stories of his own boorish behaviour. Many of the incidents seem to have been included to pad out the book to its 342 pages; they are essentially unrelated to plot or character development and not very interesting. The other major characters, a friend Sloan takes to Burma with him and a woman they meet there, are barely more than one dimensional.

Moore's depiction of Burma is that of a sordid, dirty country with little attractiveness. The people he presents are dull witted and untrustworthy. I have visited Burma several times. It is a fascinating country still mostly unspoiled by Western cultural invasion; there is great beauty there and the people are gracious and generous.

Just didn't like it. Never was interested and couldn't see where the story was headed for the longest time. Chapter 17 seemed to be a better starting point for the book. One through sixteen was just longwinded stage-setting. All those baseline details of plot could've been shoved into one chapter. Disappointed, disappointed, dissappointed. I thought publishing companies had someone read the story first to see if it was worth publishing. I would be extremely surprized if this was a profitable venture.