When Will There Be Good News?

When Will There Be Good News?  by Kate Atkinson

Several years ago when I worked in the entertainment industry, I learned never to trust one of those tag lines that you see on the cover of a book.  I’m referring to something like:

“An awesome read!  I couldn’t put it down!” - John Grisham

Usually you see this on books by authors who aren’t household names.  I discovered that 99% of these were fake.  I had authors tell me themselves that they never read these books that were hyped with their name splattered over the front cover.  It was all a publishing ploy to sell more books.

Well, this book was a bit different.  This author (who has only been widely known in some circles for only the last couple of years) was highly touted by none other than Stephen King.  King has even gone out of his way in several interviews to praise this author and much of her work.  After reading this, my first book by her, I’m not surprised that Stephen King holds her in such high regard.  She is amazing.  Her prose is very similar to King’s.  She has a way of hooking the reader in - regardless of the topic, and proceeds to be very clever and witty, and manages to emulate an occasional guffaw from the reader even the overall atmosphere of the book might be a bit gloomy.

In this case, it’s a lot more than a “bit” gloomy.  This book is very gloomy (hence the title).  Yet most of the ugliness has happened in these characters’ past as opposed to the present situation as we’re reading about them.  This book focuses on four key individuals living somewhere in Scotland.  Their lives may have crossed each others’ path in a small way, but as a reader, you’re unaware of this until well into the book.  At first, it seems as though you’re reading four different stories rolled into one novel.

These people in these different stories have had pretty rough experiences during their lives.  I couldn’t keep up with all of the bad stuff that happened to these pour souls - from kidnapping to cancer, deadbeat dads to delinquent kids.  It’s all here.  Yet Atkinson somehow keeps the mood lighter than one would expect and, more importantly, interesting enough to where you really can’t wait to find out what happens yet.

It’s a bit unnecessary to describe the actual plot of this book.  Yes, we do eventually find out there is actually a plot, but it’s not the story in and of itself that’s done so well, but rather the dialog and the intricacies of the characters and how they all interact with one another (think of a Robert Altman movie such as “Nashville” or “Gosford Park”).   I wouldn’t mind reading another book that features many of these same people featured in this book(I think one of them actually does appear in several pieces by the author), but she simply does a magnificent job at telling a tale, that I’m betting I would easily enjoy more, if not all of her works.

Although, as I mentioned, her style is very similar to Stephen Kings’, keep in mind that I’m referring to style of her actual prose.  There are some things that King does that many (including me) find hard to stomach some time.  Things such as his “disgusting” factor, and his belief that every person on the entire planet uses about 200 four-letter words in every five minute conversation.   So, fortunately, things such as that are not present within these pages.

Happiness is discovering an awesome new author.  Thank you, Ms. Atkinson, for your brilliant book.