Dead Ernest

Any book that starts off with the words “No one had expected Ernest to die, least of all Ernest.” has to be delved into further. Which is exactly what I did. In fact I started it on my journey back to Scotland from New Zealand. Unfortunately I didn’t manage it in one go and the second tranche had to wait until I’d been home for a few weeks.

I thought that Dead Ernest was a curious book. It’s a combination of a good story and a rather disturbing look at a number of particular aspects of life and of personalities and people’s ways of dealing with life. At times I felt distinctly uneasy, at times annoyed, at times hopeful for the characters and then despairing.  In other words it caused, in me, a large range of emotions.

Although I have never had any experience of one of the principal themes running through the book I found it utterly believable and I have probably increased my knowledge and understanding of what people experience and how they deal or cope with such experiences. 

Other parts of it hit home with a very uncomfortable reminder of my some of my own experiences and weaknesses.

For a rather more full and enlightening review I suggest reading Librarian's post here.

I agree with Librarian that this is a book well worth reading.  It would be interesting to know what others think about it too. 

There are quite a few quotable quotes but two which I thought many people I know could identify with were: 

“No, thought Andrew. We are beyond arguing. We neither of us care enough any more to argue.”

 “After Ophelia had driven off, Andrew considered the strange, elusive emotion we call happiness. It can arrive out of the blue and unaccompanied by reason or rationality, entirely regardless of the price it may exact or the problems which may accompany it. Happiness such as he felt today was beyond any sort of examination or explanation.” 

Dead Ernest by Frances Garrood (whose witty, readable and entertaining blog is pithily entitled Frances Garrood) is available from bookstores and  Amazon as a paperback or for the Kindle.