From Publishers Weekly
Readers who remember Warner's debut, Morvern Callar, may recognize the mysterious heroine in his second novel as she wanders about an isolated island populated by lunatics, losers and the lost. Fellow eccentrics include a hippy salvager known as the Argonaut; the existential Aircrash Investigator, who searches for the remains of a long-forgotten plane wreck; and John Brotherhood, sinister proprietor of the Drome, a seamy resort hotel for honeymooning couples. The landscape that these characters inhabit is also eccentric but familiar, invoking Homer, Shakespeare and Warner's fellow Scots R.L. Stevenson and James Kelman. After Warner's jaded but willful heroine clashes with Brotherhood, she winds up indentured as a housemaid to pay her hotel bill. Her escape from the Drome, like her hidden motive for going there originally, is less absorbing than the heavy brogue, deadpan dialogue and surreal imagery of Warner's prose. Even if plot matters less to Warner than trippy atmospherics, he earns praise for finding poetry in a parade of whelk-pickers, a sinking ferry, a psychedelic beach-rave and even a propeller blade. (Mar.) FYI: Morvern Callar, winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize, has been filmed by the BBC.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Booklist
In this sequel to Scottish author Warner's first novel, Morvern Callar , the witty, independent Morvern travels from the Mainland to the island looking for the Drome Hotel, a forbidding establishment for honeymooners run by a Svengali-like proprietor known as the Brotherhood. Along the way, she meets some odd characters, such as the Devil's Advocate, a Bible-quoting survivalist-cum-prophet. Once at the hotel, Morvern establishes an immediate bond with the Aircrash Investigator, who claims to work for the Department of Transport and spends his days piecing together the debris of a 10-year-old accident involving light planes. The two team up in an effort to thwart the Brotherhood's cynical mind games, eventually driving him off the island. Warner's novel, with its powerfully realized setting, evokes The Road Warrior with an alternative-rock soundtrack. Although those unfamiliar with the first novel might feel a bit lost, Warner's inventive prose and intriguing characters (especially the unpredictable Morvern) are the hooks here and ample evidence of the author's large talent. Joanne Wilkinson
