Genre: Literary Fiction
Published: HarperVia, January 2025
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“Delight in the small things, they say. I don’t know that it’ll be enough though. If this were one of those big Victorian novels, I wonder what sort of a character I would be. The one without prospects, the idiot son, the drinker of teas who barely gets a mention. I’ve got no plotline.”
Notes of coming of age, friendship, chronic illness, and making music combine into a resonant chord in this debut novel by Stuart Murdoch.
In the early 1990’s, Stephen (Murdoch’s clear fictional counterpart) has been recently diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME. Feeling daunted and isolated by his condition and the uncertainty it brings for his future, he develops a friendship and unofficial support group with Richard and Carrie; also in their twenties and struggling with ME, in different ways. We follow their friendship, their joined love for music that drives them to compose together, and their hesitant search for a way of life to suit their body’s tempo. That search eventually leads them from the Scottish cold to the Californian sunshine that changes their lives.
What I loved:
It’s very evident that Murdoch took a lot of autobiographical cues from his own life- and career. For that reason alone, this is an easy recommendation for fans of his music, who want to know more about “the man behind the voice”. I personally read this book mostly out of interest for the disability-rep and the descriptions of the early 90’s music-scene. Both delivered well. From the descriptions, it’s clear that the author has lived this experience. I especially loved the way he put into words how ME shaped his life and the way he navigated the world, and how naturally woven that was into the friendships he built. Richard, Carry and Stephen have a beautiful friendship and way of living together on their travels. They naturally integrate a lot of “crip-time” (in their case: moments of rest and recovery throughout the day) into their lifestyle, in a way that feels so gentle and “fitting”. They accommodate each other without judgement and travel towards their destinations (literally and metaphorically) at their own pace and with their own adjustments. That makes it so this book never becomes “a book about ME”. it’s about music, band-culture, friendship, love, adolescence and so many other things, experiences by people who happen to have a disability. It’s thát distinction that makes it feel so real and authentic.
I also loved Murdoch’s writing on a sentence-by-sentence and paragraph-by-paragraph- basis. Hardly a surprise considering his background as a lyricist. There are so many striking and quotable passages, including on disability, that I’m sure will resonate with a lot of readers. Although I don’t have ME, I do have an illness that limits my energy, and I personally found myself underlining a lot of relatable lines.
What I didn’t love:
On a sentence/paragraph-level, this was wonderful. When it comes to being a fully formed novel, the writing needed some work. I opened this review with a quote that beautifully puts an insecurity the protagonists feel about their life, but also illustrates my largest problem with the novel. I don’t mind plotless novels, but this one simply doesn’t have enough substance to carry it for almost 400 pages. This story, but minus 100 pages, cutting the repetition and the dragging parts, would’ve put it closer to a 5-star for me.
Find this book here on Goodreads.
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