Book Review — Nutshell
Nutshell by Ian McKuan
“Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space – were it not that I have bad dreams.”
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
I am a big fan of Ian McKuan. My love for his writings goes back to the Cement Garden (1978). Since then, I have read nearly every book he’s written, and I eagerly await each new masterpiece. No disappointment, each novel strong and precise.
Nutshell is a story told by a child in the womb. A tale of much humour, wit, cleverness. It’s insightful and suspenseful and often times gripping. But what appeals to me most as a writer is the author’s way with words.
The tale: in order to spend time with her lover Claude, who is her brother-in-law, Trudy asks her husband to give her a little time and space by moving out of their home, his inherited family home, while she is pregnant. John obligingly moves out. Claude, John’s brother, moves in to give Trudy some company and support. Together they plot to kill John so Trudy can inherit the family home and sell it. The lover and she then can enjoy their life together. There are no plans for the baby-to-be.
A tale of few characters …
An unborn child who is confused and worried about his future. He also wants to save his father from being murdered. The foetus would prefer “to get born and act” and not “lie idle and inverted wasting precious days”. He also worries about his mother, who will be an accomplice if they murder his father. The foetus says: “could my mother who never had a job, launch herself as a murderer? No pay, no perks, no pension but remorse.”
Trudy, a beautiful, manipulative mother-to-be, does not love her husband. She is carried away by love for her brother-in-law, and does not worry too much about the unborn child.
John, the father of the unborn child, is naïve and sees little beyond his interest in poetry. “His visits don’t end they fade” sums up much of the father’s character.
Uncle Claude wants the house and his brother’s wife and has hardly a thought for the unborn child. He’s prepared to resort to murder to achieve his goal.
A brilliant story, brilliantly written.
P.S. The author goes into descriptions of wines in too much detail, I thought — they border on too much telling — but the novel’s readability and interesting plot compensates for this slight irritation.
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