I enjoyed this novel but it did feel a tiny bit formulaic. We are in a mediocre Scottish cabin park in the holidays and it’s raining. Each cabin holds a different story because, well, everyone has their own back story don’t they? There is a retired couple who are having to re- align their relationship as they age. A couple with young children are finding ways to cope. In the wife’s case it is to get out and run, never mind the weather. If you have ever done self- catering in a rainy summer with small children, then maybe you will agree that it becomes far harder than staying at home. For most women it can have little to do with their idea of a holiday. I remember the columnist Katharine Whitehorn, writing many years ago in the Observer, saying: ‘Why does the food shopping take me one hour a week at home but an hour a day on holiday?!’ In another cabin two teenagers do not wish to be on this holiday with their parents. There is no reception for their phones so they feel marooned and ostracised from their own world. Ill-conceived thoughts and ideas begin to fill their empty minds. Sarah Moss writes with such acuity and insight that the reader feels certain that the author has dealt with both toddlers and teenagers in her time. The quality of the writing is impressive.
I said this narrative feels formulaic to me because I remember being given a similar task when I was a member of a writing group before I retired. It’s neat and quite clever and there are endless variations. Take a line of people at a bus stop. They may all be heading in the same direction but why? What awaits them? What happened just before they left home and how are they feeling as they wait for the bus? You get the general picture I think. Anyway, a formula or not, Sarah Moss employs it beautifully and with skill.
I will not wish to re-read this book but I will look for further novels. The Fell will be next I think.