'The Somnambulist' tells the story of 17 year old Phoebe Turner, who lives with her hard line Christian mother Maud and her glamorous singer aunt Cissy in London's East End in the late 1800s. When Cissy dies unexpectedly, the web of deceit in which Phoebe has been unknowingly trapped begins to unravel. Phoebe begins a journey of personal discovery which takes her from the rowdy London music halls and bustling London docks to beautiful town houses and quiet rural Herefordshire. But it's a difficult time for Phoebe as half truths and lies are brought into the open and she has to deal with her terrible grief at the loss of Cissy alone.
On the whole, I was really disappointed by this novel. I will emphasise that it is a Ms Fox's first book and I really do believe that her work will improve with time and practice, but I personally felt that there were so many faults with 'The Somnambulist' that I hardly know where to begin.
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| 'The Somnambulist' by Essie Fox (Orion, 2012) |
For a start, the book would have benefited from a different narrative structure. For example, the first fifty pages could've been removed entirely and the whole section told in flashback while Phoebe was at the Dinwood Court, the house of her mysterious benefactor's wife. She spends so much of the novel repetitively going back to the early scenes at Wilton's Music Hall, it bogs the story down and relieves it of any tension generated, so to use her reflections to drip feed new information to the reader would have been more likely to make me want to keep reading. As it is, the book feels like a train of thought, which is a shame when there are so many more interesting ways to plan and structure a story.
'The Somnambulist' is heavily influenced by Victorian literature, but there are times when I felt like the style had been given precedence over substance. The sentences are often wordy and convoluted and it just makes the book very heavy going, especially when the information is repetitive.
The story itself is OK, but very predictable and seems a Frankenstein's Monster of 19th century literary clichés. Within a few pages, I knew exactly what the 'big twist' was going to be and only kept going to the end because I hoped that the writer has come up with something better than I predicted. I would've been more than happy to have a fast one pulled on me! On top of that, it got to a stage where I started to think Ms Fox was just being cruel to Phoebe, throwing one disappointment at her after another, torturing her like a cat with a mouse. No wonder the girl had a breakdown!
I have mixed feelings about the characters. They neither ring true nor act as metaphors and it annoyed me to find another story with another negative portrayal of a religious person.
Also, I'm sure that the tone changes part way into the novel. To begin with, it has a lovely voice to it that sounds exactly as though Phoebe is recounting her tale in later life. It's chatty and cheerful and completely unlike the rest of the book!
One thing I can't fault is Ms Fox's enthusiasm for the era. I rather like a bit of neo-gothic, pre-Raphaelite Victoriana myself and so enjoyed identifying the real-life sources of some of the things included in the story (look out for a thinly veiled PT Barnum!).
Also, despite the long-winded sentences which meant I had to read some pages two or three times, it's not actually that hard a read, particularly towards the end. It's more the constant wailing and gnashing of teeth that makes it hard work!
New Books Magazine is for reading groups and was of great inspiration to me when I ran one myself. The main plus of 'The Somnambulist' is that, going by other reviews I've read, it's a bit of a 'love it or hate it' book. As such it will give people plenty to talk about at book group meetings.
This book is a holiday read at best, but I hope that future books by Ms Fox will be classics worthy of the rest of the year too.
