Book Of The Month June, 2007
A Spot of BotherMark Haddon
George Hall doesn’t understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. ‘The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely.’ Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored. At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased – as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has ‘strangler’s hands’. Katie can’t decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband’s former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind. The way these damaged people fall apart – and come together – as a family is the true subject of Mark Haddon’s disturbing yet very funny portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.
What We Think
Claire Morrison, CCV Marketing, on A Spot of Bother:
The book I will be taking to the beach with me this year is A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon, which I think this is even better than the brilliant The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and totally different.
It is tells the story of the Hall family, who at first appear quite normal but are completely dysfunctional. George, the father and head of the house, finds a lesion on his hip and convinces himself that he has cancer. Look out for two of my favourite moments (among many) when George takes things into his own hands with a pair of scissors, it will make you cringe, and when he hides in a ditch, completely logical to him but absurd and funny to the reader. Then there is his wife, Jean, who is bored with her life and is having an affair with David, George’s old colleague; their son Jamie who is gay but can’t bring himself to introduce his boyfriend to his parents; and Katie who is marrying Ray, the man with ‘strangler’s hands’, but she’s not quite sure it’s the right decision, especially when everyone in her family is against it.
The climax of the novel is Katie’s and Ray’s wedding which, of course, doesn’t go quite to plan…
The story is told from the four different character’s perspectives, and the result is entertaining and revealing as you see how each family member views the same event.
It is so readable and I couldn’t put it down. You will like all the characters, identity with many of their feelings and experiences, find yourself laughing out loud and cringing throughout. It is the perfect holiday read. I defy anyone to read this and not wish it had been longer.