I went on a writing course last year and this author was one of the instructors, and I decided that I must read her book, and eventually I did last month.
This story is told in three sections, the first and third from the point of view of Geoffhurst, nineteen year old owner of the lazy eye of the title, whose understanding of devastating events in the family life eight years ago is very different from that of the second narrator, his aunt Harriet, his mother’s twin. They are both sympathetic characters with distinct voices and the story builds up really well, giving you more and more information as well as more and more reasons to trust or distrust the narrators, until finally all the pieces are laid out and we find out, as Geoffhurst does, what really happens.
The writing style is beautiful, there are some lovely turns of phrase in this book that show startling observations or sharp metaphors. Chapters and scenes are split up in a really interesting way – with pictures, word definitions, weather forecasts.
I thought this book was excellent, despite the slow revelation of facts the characterisation was great and interesting enough that I didn’t want to jump ahead and find out what happened too often.
Extracts are available to read here.
