Written by Linden MacIntyre
I should have probably given a little more thought to my choice of follow-up book to Catcher in the Rye. The Bishop’s Man won this year’s Giller Prize, beating out the exquisite Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon. It was about time I turned to it and judged for myself what the judges may have seen in the novel.
What I found was a bleak, depressing story that managed to convey an ocean’s worth of sadness, and package it into a small village.
I found a small-scale follow up to an nightmare epic that rocked churches, police forces, and public perceptions. No novel could ever convey THAT unless it was attempted on a biblical scale (and not many novels aspire successfully to be either Gone With The Wind or The Pillars of the Earth). But The Bishop’s Man is an epilogue, a sequel, and a come-uppance all rolled into one. It deals with consequences too terrible to contemplate…but so very human to understand.
I found a central character that was damaged, broken, cynical, exhausted, weary…evocative in every respect.
I also found a book that irritated me with its flashback structure (which seemed too short and very intrusive at times), its supporting characters (too many of them seemed to be sketched in with overt brevity, and they were difficult to keep track of…), its overt reliance on secrecy and implication, and it’s rather abrupt conclusion.
I found a book that was two-thirds captivating, and one-third “get on with it” - bravery and conviction, tempered by surprising bouts of tentativeness. A solid piece of fiction that showcases a terrible beauty in its command of emotional distress…but I still prefer The Golden Mean by leaps and bounds. The Giller panel and I will simply have to agree to disagree on their 2009 choice.
