Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Old Filth by Jane Gardam

Old Filth is the story of Sir Edward Feathers, a lawyer, who as a young child was sent from Malaya to England to be raised properly. His father fading into the background, his school friend killed in the war and the death of his wife, have left Edward alone. After a certain number of losses Edward stops creating new connections.

What struck me about this novel is that everything in his life was designed to train him for the moment when he is alone and must carry on. Although on the surface this is a quiet novel where "not much happens", watching endless repetitions of loss resulted in this being one of the saddest books that I have read this year.

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