Early Review: The Swap
The LibraryThingification of A Rapturous Verbatim continues!
Striving fervently to be a good member of LibraryThing and specifically of its Early Reviewers program, I once more offer my review of a book that I received before it was published but has long since appeared on store shelves.
Today's review is of British author Antony Moore's debut novel The Swap, first published in August 2008. For the benefit of those who don't typically look at my LibraryThing profile, I've reprinted the review I've written below, so that it might get a bit more exposure for those who might be interested in the book.
------------------------
Antony Moore's debut novel The Swap is, much to this reviewer's surprise, a better novel than I think it intends to be. With its close-up comic-book cover, a somewhat self-deprecating back cover blurb, and a hero who's greatest aspiration turns out to be little more than screwing up as little as possible, one would probably enter this book with low expectations. And with a few exceptions (including a sadly egregious one), one would be right.
The novel begins with a brief scene between two children, in which one inexplicably exchanges his pristine copy of Superman One for a useless length of pipe. The two go their separate ways and we recover their trails twenty years later: the young thug who gave away the comic has turned out to be Harvey Briscoe, a fat chain-smoking nothing who runs (poorly) a comic shop and endlessly rues the day he gave away his most prized possession. The occasion of his high school reunion heralds the return of the man he swapped with, Charles "Bleeder" Odd, who has become marvelously successful and, Harvey presumes, might be willing to give back the comic and let bygones be bygones.
From this simple setup, the novel spirals quickly out of control. Murder and misappropriation set the wheels into motion, and Moore handles the shift from innocent scheme to diabolical plotting with ease. If there is any complaint to be had about the nature of the mystery, it is that the substance of the murder, and the clues that spring up every now and then, are minimal at best. We spend a great deal of time in Harvey's mind as he works out scenarios, but the actual case is far simpler and more niftily resolved than the suspense would lead us to believe.
On the upside, the reader is treated to an in-depth examination of Harvey, a character who turns out to be much more enthralling and more sympathetic than we expect. Without giving away too much of the plot, it still seems fair to say that Harvey's critical flaw is that he makes way too much of the forces that surround him, always opting for the convoluted way out as opposed to the more simple idea. It turns him into a pleasantly complex character: a man whose whole life is comic books finds himself in a hard-boiled mystery that he feels he alone must solve, almost as if he himself is turning into a character. It's a wonderfully executed parallel.
Fortunately, Moore's supporting cast doesn't let Harvey down. The story is populated with characters that are fairly obviously drawn in black and white, and we know from the get-go who is good and who is bad. Jeff, the truly thuggish bully, provides a number of potential conflicts and shifts to the mystery, and though he is pretty unoriginal, he serves his function to the story well. Maisie too is a refreshing but flat love interest, Harvey's foil in many ways but also attracted to him in an unrealistic (but very comic-like) manner. And though Bleeder Odd appears only at a few select moments in the book, Harvey's obsession and description bring him to life like a fine supporting actor.
If the novel's characterization is its strength, though, the plotting of the climax is its downfall. There is a certain amount of inexorability that Moore plants throughout the novel: even though the ultimate resolution of the murder is only a little bit surprising, we see it coming and anticipate that things will all reveal themselves feasibly in the end. Instead, perhaps taking the "cliffhanger" approach, Moore turns the tables on the reader in the final pages, crafting an ending that is as frustrating as it is unsatisfying. It's hard to describe without spoiling it all, but suffice to say that it doesn't seem terribly consistent with the wonderful characterization that was the novel's hallmark. One suspects Moore wanted to throw in one last twist to stun the reader, but it feels more like a punch in the gut than a playful shove. Until the last 20 pages, the novel was fantastic; the final moments, however, felt a bit like a betrayal.
Despite the last-second machinations of a perhaps overly clever author, The Swap manages to elevate itself beyond its presumptively humble origins. The work rises above the level of mere pulp, delivering characters that we care enough about to want to follow them through a journey of increasing (and increasingly unnecessary) complexity. While the audience for such a novel seems hard to pin down, it is a mostly fine example of a classical mystery, smattered with British slang and plenty of vulgarity, yet possessing a surprising amount of heart. It's most certainly worth the read -- well, at least the first 250 pages are. After that, you be the judge.
Striving fervently to be a good member of LibraryThing and specifically of its Early Reviewers program, I once more offer my review of a book that I received before it was published but has long since appeared on store shelves.
Today's review is of British author Antony Moore's debut novel The Swap, first published in August 2008. For the benefit of those who don't typically look at my LibraryThing profile, I've reprinted the review I've written below, so that it might get a bit more exposure for those who might be interested in the book.
------------------------
Antony Moore's debut novel The Swap is, much to this reviewer's surprise, a better novel than I think it intends to be. With its close-up comic-book cover, a somewhat self-deprecating back cover blurb, and a hero who's greatest aspiration turns out to be little more than screwing up as little as possible, one would probably enter this book with low expectations. And with a few exceptions (including a sadly egregious one), one would be right.
The novel begins with a brief scene between two children, in which one inexplicably exchanges his pristine copy of Superman One for a useless length of pipe. The two go their separate ways and we recover their trails twenty years later: the young thug who gave away the comic has turned out to be Harvey Briscoe, a fat chain-smoking nothing who runs (poorly) a comic shop and endlessly rues the day he gave away his most prized possession. The occasion of his high school reunion heralds the return of the man he swapped with, Charles "Bleeder" Odd, who has become marvelously successful and, Harvey presumes, might be willing to give back the comic and let bygones be bygones.
From this simple setup, the novel spirals quickly out of control. Murder and misappropriation set the wheels into motion, and Moore handles the shift from innocent scheme to diabolical plotting with ease. If there is any complaint to be had about the nature of the mystery, it is that the substance of the murder, and the clues that spring up every now and then, are minimal at best. We spend a great deal of time in Harvey's mind as he works out scenarios, but the actual case is far simpler and more niftily resolved than the suspense would lead us to believe.
On the upside, the reader is treated to an in-depth examination of Harvey, a character who turns out to be much more enthralling and more sympathetic than we expect. Without giving away too much of the plot, it still seems fair to say that Harvey's critical flaw is that he makes way too much of the forces that surround him, always opting for the convoluted way out as opposed to the more simple idea. It turns him into a pleasantly complex character: a man whose whole life is comic books finds himself in a hard-boiled mystery that he feels he alone must solve, almost as if he himself is turning into a character. It's a wonderfully executed parallel.
Fortunately, Moore's supporting cast doesn't let Harvey down. The story is populated with characters that are fairly obviously drawn in black and white, and we know from the get-go who is good and who is bad. Jeff, the truly thuggish bully, provides a number of potential conflicts and shifts to the mystery, and though he is pretty unoriginal, he serves his function to the story well. Maisie too is a refreshing but flat love interest, Harvey's foil in many ways but also attracted to him in an unrealistic (but very comic-like) manner. And though Bleeder Odd appears only at a few select moments in the book, Harvey's obsession and description bring him to life like a fine supporting actor.
If the novel's characterization is its strength, though, the plotting of the climax is its downfall. There is a certain amount of inexorability that Moore plants throughout the novel: even though the ultimate resolution of the murder is only a little bit surprising, we see it coming and anticipate that things will all reveal themselves feasibly in the end. Instead, perhaps taking the "cliffhanger" approach, Moore turns the tables on the reader in the final pages, crafting an ending that is as frustrating as it is unsatisfying. It's hard to describe without spoiling it all, but suffice to say that it doesn't seem terribly consistent with the wonderful characterization that was the novel's hallmark. One suspects Moore wanted to throw in one last twist to stun the reader, but it feels more like a punch in the gut than a playful shove. Until the last 20 pages, the novel was fantastic; the final moments, however, felt a bit like a betrayal.
Despite the last-second machinations of a perhaps overly clever author, The Swap manages to elevate itself beyond its presumptively humble origins. The work rises above the level of mere pulp, delivering characters that we care enough about to want to follow them through a journey of increasing (and increasingly unnecessary) complexity. While the audience for such a novel seems hard to pin down, it is a mostly fine example of a classical mystery, smattered with British slang and plenty of vulgarity, yet possessing a surprising amount of heart. It's most certainly worth the read -- well, at least the first 250 pages are. After that, you be the judge.
posted by Dave at 2/26/2009 12:55:00 PM
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