[books 2012] Beyond Black

[inulro]

37. Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Alison is a medium who makes a nice living doing private readings, and shows at really naff venues in the area of the M25.  Collette is her business partner/assistant, and if you looked up the word bitch in the dictionary, you'd find her picture.  They buy a house on a new-build estate [1] (old houses have too much spirit baggage for Alison) and have truly atrocious neighbours who only care about their property values.

Alison has a spirit guide called Morris, who was a small time failure of a criminal when he was alive, and unpleasant even in uncorporeal form.  He is on a quest to reassemble his criminal gang, and his malevolence comes alive in a deeply creepy and uncomfortable-making way.

I can't dispute Mantel's talents as an author - while I'm still not sure whether I *liked* this book, I sure as hell couldn't put it down.  One of the reviews on the cover says it's "deeply witty" or something like that (I can't check, it's already gone to the charity shop).  I am really not sure about that.  The bits where Alison and Colette wind up their snobby neighbours are hilarious, as are some of the bits with the other mediums and psychic shows, but at the end of the day it turns out that Alison was horifically abused in every way as a child, and Morris was one of her abusers.  So really it's about a person who is so deeply traumatised that she's mentally ill.  Or about her abusers following her around after their deaths.  Either way, it's pretty dark stuff.

[1] For my North American readers, McMansion is probably the word that best fits.

Comments

[silentq.livejournal.com]

I read this book when it was on the list for the Man Booker prize and I had a very similar reaction.

[human-racer.livejournal.com]

The BBC did a radio adaptation last year with Alison Steadman in the lead, which I quite enjoyed, although some of the later scenes where you find out about Alison's childhood are pretty grim.