A review by mackle13
Dream London by Tony Ballantyne
2.0
I've been sitting on this review for awhile because I'm not really sure what to say about it...
This is a Weird London book which puts much emphasis on the 'weird' part, and a bit less on character development and coherent storytelling. I suppose some of this fits with the whole "dream" aspect of the story - but I've read stories which read like dreams, and this didn't really fit the bill. The writing itself is pretty standard fare, to be honest - it's the events themselves which create the weirdness, and some of them are sort of so outre it's like "da fuq?". I mean Really?
But this story also tries to be a kind character growth story, and James Wedderburn does go through some changes throughout the story. (The ending vaguely made me think of 'Fight Club' (the movie, as I've never read the book), and I did think the fact that he wasn't
The sad thing is that the character was actually much more interesting to read about before he grew a conscience. Go fig.
That said, I was a bit annoyed, in the beginning, with the very sexist tones of the book. Dream London, you see - for reasons I'm not sure where ever entirely explained - reverts to a Victorian sort of system where women could only ever seem to be mothers or whores. Luckily this is commented on and somewhat dismissed as the story progresses, which I was thankful for.
But, then, aside from being a morality play, it also dabbles into social commentary and, frankly, gets strangely preachy by the end. I mean, it's not that I particularly disagreed with any of the points being raised, but it's always annoying to not glean a moral lesson from the story, but to have a character pretty much give a sermon is just off-putting - even if one agree with what's being said.
All in all, I think it tried to be too many things, a story of parts more than a whole, and none of them ever really came together into something better than "ok".
This is a Weird London book which puts much emphasis on the 'weird' part, and a bit less on character development and coherent storytelling. I suppose some of this fits with the whole "dream" aspect of the story - but I've read stories which read like dreams, and this didn't really fit the bill. The writing itself is pretty standard fare, to be honest - it's the events themselves which create the weirdness, and some of them are sort of so outre it's like "da fuq?". I mean
Spoiler
ants?But this story also tries to be a kind character growth story, and James Wedderburn does go through some changes throughout the story. (The ending vaguely made me think of 'Fight Club' (the movie, as I've never read the book), and I did think the fact that he wasn't
Spoiler
all that involved with the actual ending of the story was interesting. A study in the way people might think they're the hero of a particular story, but aren't, really.The sad thing is that the character was actually much more interesting to read about before he grew a conscience. Go fig.
That said, I was a bit annoyed, in the beginning, with the very sexist tones of the book. Dream London, you see - for reasons I'm not sure where ever entirely explained - reverts to a Victorian sort of system where women could only ever seem to be mothers or whores. Luckily this is commented on and somewhat dismissed as the story progresses, which I was thankful for.
But, then, aside from being a morality play, it also dabbles into social commentary and, frankly, gets strangely preachy by the end. I mean, it's not that I particularly disagreed with any of the points being raised, but it's always annoying to not glean a moral lesson from the story, but to have a character pretty much give a sermon is just off-putting - even if one agree with what's being said.
All in all, I think it tried to be too many things, a story of parts more than a whole, and none of them ever really came together into something better than "ok".