Matt McAvoy Book Review

Bittersweet and poignant, this bleak tragi-comic drama is all the better for its ambiguity.  It is an intelligent book which credits its audience with comparable intelligence, and allows them to fill the detail gaps (which may be the reason for the title); although Isaac is a pretty unpleasant character, he is also a very complex and somewhat sad one – worse still, we can all relate to him in some way.

Johnston is a wonderful writer, deep and suggestive, and he has done a tremendous job of crafting the multi-layered anti-hero of this piece: an angry and disappointed young university drop-out, with arguably some indication of a personality disorder, who seems to go out of his way to offend and antagonize everyone he meets, never realizing that, despite their collective opinion of his flaws, it is he who is the problem, not them.  By the end, without intending to spoil in any way, you do wonder if the disagreeability in him is that much beyond his control, or by design.  Told as pure slice of life, this book is pretty much a collection of scenes or vignettes of his interactions with people.  And, in the same contrite style as Isaac’s crafting, there is simultaneously condemnation of and a love letter to Edinburgh; you really do get a sense of the appeal of this richly cultured city, whilst also sensing a lack of opportunities and hope for the millennial generation.  There are reasons why Isaac is embittered, but all of his peers share his frustration to some extent; as the reader, we sense this too.  There is a perpetual sense of gloom – pretty much all of them, regardless of whatever various things they’ve got going on in their lives.

I enjoyed this book, and I think you will too.  It is entertaining drama and, despite his faults, you do find yourself hoping that Isaac will manage to get his act together – after all, we all know someone like him.  Andrew Johnston is a smart, good quality author, and he deserves to be treated with the same respect with which he treats his reader.  A fine read.