The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman – Bruce Robinson
Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman is the author’s fascination with every form of bodily excretion. Feces, sputum, semen, earwax–the list is endless. We discover early on that Thomas, from the age of four … navigated all lavatories and shat himself everywhere else.
e England of the 1950s. His home is classically dysfunctional; his parents are too wrapped up in their own interpersonal marriage struggles to really pay attention to what’s happening in his life. The one oddly bright spot in his home life is the relationship he shares with his dying grandfather, a figure who understands him and remembers what its like to be young. He offers Thomas poignant moments of insight at just the right time.
Thomas is smitten with the beautiful Gwendolyn, prettiest girl in the class. Fortunately, she’s smitten with him too, but maybe not for the reasons that Thomas thinks. Suffering through an early teenage romance may seem like wince-inducing piffle, but author Bruce Robinson manages a nearly impossible feat: making you remember what that time of life was like and just how you probably felt. It’s not treacle; it’s just really good drama.
Running in parallel with these threads is the Big Secret hiding just around the corner. The grandfather knows what it is, the parents know what it is and so does local fortune teller Olanda. Thomas has to fit the pieces together for himself.
It’s a good read!!
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