"Instances of the Number 3"
(Fourth Estate, Paperback, 2nd edition, 2001, read: September 02)
"When Peter Hansome dies in a car crash he leaves behind a wife and a mistress - but as these women confront their loss death becomes not an end but a beginning. Witty, ironical, Instances of the Number 3 explores the frontiers of life and death and the enticing possibilities of forgiveness."
I was rather disappointed by this book. I liked the first novel by Salley Vickers "Miss Garnet's Angel" very much (see above) and it was only natural to look for the second one by the author right after that. The story doesn't sound bad: Wife and mistress meet after the sudden death of their husband/lover and together get over his death. And all this written "witty, ironical" as the cover said. That's what I expected.
To cut it short: The story is boring, the mental leaps hard to follow and the language is very complicated and tiring. One long sentence comes after the other and in the middle of a paragraph the author suddenly jumps to another storyline which should have something to do with the first but you have to figure that out for yourself. Therefore no story is really told completely because it's always interrupted by another subplot. Did I have these difficulties because I've read "Miss Garnet" in German and "Instances" in English? I can't really think so. But if it is so the translator of "Miss Garnet" has done the author a real favor.
Apart from the language and the jumps in the storyline the relationship between the two women wasn't what I had thought it would be. Both were rather cold and one couldn't put oneself in their place. One can't really say that they came over Peters death 'together'. They are characters without souls ... in contrast to Miss Garnet who was just lovable because of her weirdness and originality.
[Dorothée Büttgen, October 02]
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