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A review by shimmery
OK, Mr Field by Katharine Kilalea
4.0
After Mr Field damages his wrist in a train accident, he has to give up his career as a concert pianist. Using his compensation payout he buys a home on the coast of South Africa, a villa modelled after Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye. Some time afterwards, his wife leaves him. His days are spent in the house alone, his nights spying on Hannah Kallenbach, the house's previous owner, with whom he has become infatuated.
This is a short, strange, dreamlike novel; a study of desperate loneliness and slow deterioration. You can tell it has been written by a poet as the story reveals itself in a collection of images that show the protagonist's state of mind. It's a sad book and the ubiquity of the sea throughout makes it somehow numbing, and yet there are still flashes of humour in it.
It's a mesmerising read; finishing it felt like coming out of a trance.
This is a short, strange, dreamlike novel; a study of desperate loneliness and slow deterioration. You can tell it has been written by a poet as the story reveals itself in a collection of images that show the protagonist's state of mind. It's a sad book and the ubiquity of the sea throughout makes it somehow numbing, and yet there are still flashes of humour in it.
It's a mesmerising read; finishing it felt like coming out of a trance.