Mark Mills (2) (1963–)

I came at this predisposed to discard it without mercy. It was an impulse purchase because I used to love a TV series of that same title. At least I think it was the same title; a documentary about what goes on in the backyard when the humans are not around.

Anyway, I tend to view any book which has a "Reader's Guide" at the back as being pretentious and rarely needing a guide to read. So that was a sort of First Strike.

Second Strike: On page 3 there were "breasts straining against the material" of a woman's dress.

It nearly earned Strike 3 because of some weird descriptive terms, a man was "rock-ribbed"? A woman had a "crooked" gleam in her eye? However, I was feeling merciful and also too lazy to pick out a new book to read, plus, the topic fit right in with my recent reads of Dante and Greek mythology. So I kept reading.

I forgave the author his lackluster descriptions, because I am also reading essays by M.F.K. Fisher, and nothing can compare to her prose. I also forgave him the total lack of feeling that the book was set in the 1950s instead of present day. I'm not sure how he could have made it feel like the 1950s, but I know authors do, and he didn't. It wasn't just me, because I read several reviews that mentioned the same displacement. I also forgave him the stupid sex scenes that felt like he was either being pressured by a publisher to "make it racy" or it was the only way he could get across that his protagonist was a young, inexperienced and selfish man. There was not much of a mystery, and the supposed "trauma" the young protagonist experienced that was a "life changing" experience, did not seem like a big deal to me.

That seems like a lot of negatives for me to still give it a three star review, and yet that is what I will give it; only because I enjoyed the story of the garden which brought in Dante and Greek mythology.

I certainly won't be seeking out other works from this author.… (mehr)