Lead Review
- Book: A Man of Understanding
- Location: Mallorca
- Author: Diana Janney
3.5*
I picked up this novel, lured by the promise of a Mallorca setting. Who doesn’t need some sunshine at the moment?
This is a sweet and poignant story of 12 year old Rufus, who has just lost his parents in a car accident. They were actually returning home from a shopping trip, having bought him a drum kit for his birthday. He is sent off to stay with his grandfather, Horatio Hennessy, who lives in the northern part of Mallorca. They have never met, he is a man of few words, he generally speaks his mind.
Upon arrival Horatio insists that Rufus gives up his name, and he bestows on him the new name of Blue, evocative of the upbeat, artsy colour of the Mallorcan sky. He believes the mourning child needs to reacquaint himself with the positive side of life after his traumatic experience. Giving him a name change right from the off seems a rather dubious imposition, I would have thought, because the child has already lost his parents and sustaining the loss of his name would probably be deleterious to his psyche (given that name and identity are psychologically so closely linked); but Rufus seems happy enough with the change and he settles in to his new life.
Horatio is a poet and together the two share moments of closeness through finding verbal and poetic expression – after all Horatio, too, is in mourning, as he has lost his daughter, although there apparently hadn’t been much contact of late. Horatio’s sensitive side belies his rather curmudgeonly, military exterior. The two are soon on a jaunt to Morocco and the South of France.
Blue’s friend, John Thompson, turns up unexpectedly and Horatio immediately welcomes him, offering him a choice of bedrooms. Rufus notes that he was never offered a choice upon arrival and just swallows the hurt. There are quite a few slights with which Rufus has to contend, never mind aunt Lulu’s critical input.
This is a nicely imagined story but I think it falls between genres. Much of the storyline feels like it would appeal to a YA audience, but then sometimes Rufus has a more mature understanding than his years would suggest, and his verbal responses and thoughts are often imbued with quite an overly adult voice – some sentiments feel odd coming from the mouth of a 12 year old.
Things happen which warrant an emotional response, but often nothing materialises and the story moves on.
It is indeed a “novel of ideas”, as it states in the accompanying literature. It also states that the novel demonstrates “a beautiful evocation of Mallorca..” and it does “…for Mallorca what My Family and Other Animals does for Corfu…”. Given that this is TripFiction’s particular area of interest, I would suggest this is not the case. Palma is mentioned, the surrounding area of Horatio’s finca is described but simple descriptions don’t really convey the essence and feel of the island. It could, to be honest, be almost anywhere that has blue skies, beaches, sea and scrubby landscape – if setting is to be a credible component in a narrative, then much more is needed. Maria, the housekeeper, adds local colour with her donkey and cooking, but no Spaniard worth their salt would be seen cooking paella for a 6pm dinner (it’s a late lunchtime-only meal) 😉.
There are some lovely ideas here and with a little tightening this novel has the potential to really fly as an engrossing story.
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