Customer Reviews

Notes from an Exhibition

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

 

 

Britain's "most successful openly gay author" (this from OutUK.com) has written a book that has little to say about gayness, much to say about the impact of mental illness on a family, something to say about religion and its consolations, and much to say about sibling relationships. The book is artfully constructed, told through several voices. Gale portrays Rachel Kelly, an artist with four children, in great and caring detail. He does the same for Rachel's paintings.

This book was simply lovely. It captured in many ways the experiences of having a bipolar parent, and did so with compassion and flair. I plan to read more by this writer as soon as I can. It's a pity his work isn't more widely distributed in the U.S. Oh, and this book has a QUAKER family subtheme that is also really cool.

I loved the way this story was told: from different viewpoints and different places and times. I was not familiar with the author before I got this book, but have ordered another book of his because I liked this one so much.

Excellent writing and characterisation. I read this book in a couple of days. Would have given it 5 stars, except I was confused by the last section - the author has been very careful with dates, and you can consistently work out the relative ages of the characters and how old any of them are at any time, and suddenly Morwenna seems to be simultaneously everywhere between a teenager and mid-50s. Perhaps that's intentional: I wouldn't have noticed were the rest of the book not so consistent and proud of it.

I've been reading Gale's books since his debut 20 years ago, and this is one of his best. I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk and it was well worth it, even though the shipping is more than the cost of the book. Told in a non-linear fashion, with each chapter headed by a descriptive label from the main character's posthumous exhibition, it weaves back and forth through time, slowly painting a picture of a family made up of six very independent people, all defined by their relationship to "Rachel Kelly," the manic-depressive artist whose life seems to have begun at age 20. Once more Gale evokes the beauty of the far West of England's Cornwall, and once again he creates a cast of fully-rounded individuals, some of whom I suspect will be with me for a long time. Not to be missed are two wonderful short sections where Gale re-imagines Dame Barbara Hepworth as a character of almost mythic presence. If you're a fan of Gale's, this is a must; if you're looking for an introduction to his work, this is as good a place to start as any.