I am still not quite sure why I didn’t care much for Solar Bones by Mike McCormack. It’s the kind of book I should really like — lyrical, character drive, meditative, stylistically interesting. But it just came across as flat to me. The style, without a single full-stop or quotation mark for conversation and only commas and line/paragraph breaks so that it reads as one long run-on, began as being interesting then got tiring and became pointless only to finally in the end make sense as to why — a kind of life passing before your eyes thing — wasn’t enough to make up for all the work.
The story is a first person narrative of Marcus Conway, civil engineer, husband, father of two grown children. The narrative is not quite linear though there is a kind of chronology to it, an associational pattern of present to past and back to the present as thoughts trigger memories that trigger other memories. Conway’s is a regular kind of life. He isn’t a superstar, there are no disasters, there was a brief, early affair when his wife was pregnant but they were able to work it out.
His children are a puzzle to him. His son, Darragh, is smart but refuses to lead a regular kind of responsible life instead choosing to take his savings and go to Australia to do community work, farm work, temporary jobs that generally require physical labor. His daughter, Agnes, is an artist whose first big show greatly upsets him. Instead of the oils she usually works in, her first exhibit is work painted with her own blood. And in spite of it being a great success for a number of reasons, all Marcus can worry about is what kind of father people think he must be for his daughter to use her own blood in her art.
He seems rather clueless when it comes to his wife too. She is smart, beautiful, self-assured, a woman he thought out of his league. He constantly marvels that Mairead ever chose to marry him. And I found myself wondering the same thing. Because it seems like Mairead is the one who does all the emotional work in the family. She is like the glue holding them all together. I was really annoyed by this because more often than not, women are the ones responsible for this work in addition to running the household and holding down paid work. What did she ever see in him?
Towards the end of the book Mairead falls seriously ill as she becomes one of many ill people in a public health crisis having to do with contaminated drinking water. Marcus takes time off work in spite of being in the midst of some big projects, to care for his wife. His success at caring for her through the illness becomes a point of pride, proof that he isn’t so incapable after all. He even prods his wife into telling him what a good job he did. I could be okay with that if it was the beginning of a change, a turning over a new leaf sort of thing. But then, right after, he goes out to get Mairead some medicine and has a heart attack and dies! What the heck?
So what is the point of it all? That Marcus is just a regular guy doing regular guy things with a regular guy life? A kind of modern day Every Man? I couldn’t help but think Mairead and the kids would grieve for a while but would be just fine without him. I had difficulty engaging with the story. I didn’t care about Marcus. I didn’t want to spend time with him and his memories but wanted to know more about Mairead and his kids because they seemed much more interesting.
Solar Bones has gotten quite a bit of praise. It was on the long list for the Booker. It won several prizes in Ireland. I was excited to read it but it turned out to just not be the book for me. If you have been planning on reading it yourself, please don’t let my dislike of it stop you. Every book its reader after all; everything might click perfectly for you. If it does, let me know. I am curious to hear what you liked about it.
This sounds like exactly the kind of book I most loathe. It’s not terrible enough to make me stop reading, but when I’m done I feel the time was wasted with someone whose thoughts I don’t value and haven’t enjoyed.
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Jeanne, oh my gosh yes! That’s exactly how it was, not terrible enough to make me stop but in the end I felt like I wasted my time. So frustrating!
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This was one of the few books listed for the Man Booker that I really liked. The tension held me; I knew something dreadful was going to happen, or had happened, and I thought it was his wife who would die rather than him. But, I liked how be sat at the kitchen table and pondered his life, his marriage and children and career and politics. It all seemed universally applicable to me. And, I thought the writing was remarkably clever without being forced or fake. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you, though.
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Bellezza, I am glad you liked the book. I made the mistake of looking at the blurb on the back cover and it said right out that Marcus was dead so then I was preoccupied for a long time trying to figure out when he died only to realize gradually what was going on. So the tension was lost on me! Thanks for sharing all the reasons you liked it!
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There are just so many books to read, so I’ll give this one a miss thanks. It sounds like the kind that – when I get to the end I turn to the front cover again and give it a hard stare, not a happy bunny.
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piningforthewest, that’s the truth!
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Even though you did not care for the book, this is a super review. I tend to like experimental and unusual prose styles. Thus the nature of the prose in this book sounds interesting to me.
Too bad it was disappointing in a lot of ways.
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Brian Joseph, thanks! I tend to like interesting prose styles too and was really excited by it at the beginning of the book but then it didn’t seem to have any greater purpose so it started to feel like a gimmick. It got redeemed in the end but it was a long time to wait!
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Excellent review Stefanie! Unfortunately the book seems to lack in plot, characters and narrative. Only USP is its writing style from what I can make out and considering how flat the novel comes out to be, I cannot but help think that the style of writing is gimicky simply because there is nothing else to sell the story!
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I don’t think that I will give it a try. I am rather suspicious about books whose main characters are perhaps meant to be some kind of Everyman/person…I can feel rather got at and that Everyman always tends to be a representative of a small, usually privileged section of humanity. Of course that gripe would probably stop us reading so many novels!
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Ian, I kept waiting for something to happen, for some reason why I should be interested in this man and his life but I never found anything to latch onto.
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cirtnecce, thanks! This one just wasn’t a winner for me. Those happen sometimes!
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This does not sound like a book I would like. Your reference to Marcus being “just a regular guy” combined with the events you shared does not seem to present an entertaining or interesting narrative. You mentioned the lyrical style of the book and sometimes that is enough to keep one reading. Perhaps not in this case.
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Jim, the style was interesting but it was not enough to make the whole book one I was glad to read. The life of a civil servant has potential, I mean look what Kafka could do with it! But here I just found nothing to keep my attention.
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I wasn’t all that enthused about reading this and so you’ve now confirmed that my gut instinct was right. I get frustrated with authors who go for a stylistic device like minimal/no punctuation because it often turns out that they are having more fun writing that way than I am in reading the result of their effort.
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BookerTalk, well I am glad if you were on the fence I helped you decide! One book you no longer have to worry about 🙂
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Won’t be adding this to my TBR – thanks for that! 🙂
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Laila, glad to be of assistance 🙂
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It sounds like I would be disappointed too, ,Stefanie. Some books are so quote-worthy, but they just don’t stay with us right? 😦
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Deepika, some books just aren’t a good fit and this was one of them for me. Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often!
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I don’t think this would be a book for me either. Bummer this was a disappointment but hopefully next book will be better!
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Iliana, the book that came after was awesome!
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I’ve got this sat on my shelf waiting to be read. I can’t wait now to see which side I’ll fall on. Seems to be a real love or hate book.
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beexactly, I hope you fall on the like it a lot side!
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It will probably stop me, because I hadn’t heard of it before. I did glance at the Booker longlist, but didn’t take it in. Too much else to take in I suppose. Anyhow, all this is to say, I look to bloggers I respect to guide me where I’m uninformed, so unless something else happens to inspire me to read this book, I expect to leave it alone!
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whisperinggums, so many prize lists, so much to read, it all gets overwhelming! Glad to have provided a service 🙂
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I saw the good reviews for it and thought of perhaps giving it a try, but I wonder if I would not have the patience for it in the end. And with so many books piled on my night table and bedside….but you are right there is always another reader out there waiting for just such a story! Isn’t it comforting to know there is something for everyone!
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