Book: How late it was, how lateAuthor: James KelmanVolume: 384 pages Available at: Rwanda National Library This book is like getting your first stereo. At first you might not know how to hook it up, but once you figure it out it’s sheer heaven. Not since The Butcher Boy have I been carried through a text by the sheer beauty of the words juxtaposed against such intestine-tightening despair. Sure, the dialect can be tricky to grasp. But don’t the greatest pleasures in life take some training? And admittedly there’s a way in which “nothing happens.” But really, who cares (And actually a lot DOES happen). This is one of the most beautifully panic-producing novels I’ve ever touched. For the first half of the book I could only read 10 pages at a time because it made me so nervous. But once I hit around page two hundred I finished it in one sitting. People who don’t get this book are the same ones who think Saving Private Ryan is how a movie should be. There has to be action, action, action and some soppy something or other to hang your heart on. Well, pick up this book and hang your heart on poor old Sammy. He’s a heartbreaker extraordinaire, if I ever met one.
