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A review by tommooney
The Mission House by Carys Davies
2.0
Carys Davies has a brilliant book in her. You can feel it. But this, her second novel, is another disappointment.
The writing is beautiful, just as it was in West. But the story doesn't hold the attention at all. In fact, I've just finished and still can't really say what it was about or what the point of it was.
It opens with intrigue, as an Englishman arrives in the Indian Hill town of Ooty, a heavenly place steeped in British colonial history. He stays at the Christian mission house on the hill, with the old padre and his crippled adopted daughter. He mills about town, guided by an old rickshaw driver.
But the novel just meanders along, much like our protagonist, never achieving anything, never stepping out of its comfort zone.
This was a disappointing read but I will stick with Davies because she's going to produce something great one day.
The writing is beautiful, just as it was in West. But the story doesn't hold the attention at all. In fact, I've just finished and still can't really say what it was about or what the point of it was.
It opens with intrigue, as an Englishman arrives in the Indian Hill town of Ooty, a heavenly place steeped in British colonial history. He stays at the Christian mission house on the hill, with the old padre and his crippled adopted daughter. He mills about town, guided by an old rickshaw driver.
But the novel just meanders along, much like our protagonist, never achieving anything, never stepping out of its comfort zone.
This was a disappointing read but I will stick with Davies because she's going to produce something great one day.