Amazon: A motherless girl grows up in isolated luxury, hidden from the world by her wealthy father. She believes their life together is normal – but as time passes, she has a growing sense that something between them is very wrong.
She cannot escape, so she seeks solace in her books. Her favourite tales are those that conjure ancient worlds – of angry gods and heroic mortals, one of whom will some day come to her rescue.
Soon, she will forget where the page ends and her mind begins.
From Fantastic fiction:
A bravura feat of storytelling, Mark Haddon calls upon narratives ancient and modern to tell the story of Angelica, a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship with her father. When a young man named Darius discovers their secret, he is forced to escape on a boat bound for the Mediterranean. To his surprise he finds himself travelling backwards over two thousand years to a world of pirates and shipwrecks, of plagues and miracles and angry gods. Moving seamlessly between the past and the present, Haddon conjures the worlds of Angelica and her would-be savior in thrilling fashion. As profound as it is entertaining, The Porpoise is a stirring and endlessly inventive novel from one of our finest storytellers.
Peter: I was sickened by the middle of chapter 2 (Page 41 of paperback). Can I, shall I continue? I jumped to page 86 and still was upset, so will jump a little further. It brings back to mind 'The Three Faces of Eve' that I read in my childhood and all the human cruelty to our fellow man in the world today. I can't read more.
After the meeting I did go back and read the last chapter and have to agree his descriptive writing is excellent.
Marks varied: 8/7/4/3 I increased my mark to 3 after revisiting the grading scheme.
