Dream Angus comes to you at night and bestows dreams - you may spot him skipping across the hills, his bag of dreams by his side. Just the sight of him may be enough to make you lose your heart, for he is also the god of love, youth and beauty. Divine Angus is adored by all, but fated to love only the beautiful Caer, swan maiden of his own dreams.Five exquisite fables of modern dreamers unfold alongside Angus's search for Caer. Mesmerically weaving together the tales of the Celtic Eros and his contemporary alter egos, Alexander McCall Smith unites dream and reality, leaving us to wonder: what is life, but the pursuit of our dreams?
...... Inner front cover.
FIRST SENTENCE (Chapter 1): This happened in Ireland, but the memory of it is in Scotland too.
MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 95): He felt awkward with signs, and words of affection, but he knew that she understood him and would know how he felt.
MY THOUGHTS: The re-telling of an old Celtic myth, I'm still unsure what exactly I thought of this.
Combining (literally chapter by chapter) the story that is Angus (God of dreams and love) with a set of short contemporary stories each of which somehow connects with the previous, I'm just not too sure how well, if at all, this worked.
A short read (only 173 pages) my first problem with the book being that the author didn't quite seem to know at which age to aim the book, the mythical elements seemingly aimed at a much younger audience than the dreaming elements of the story.
Typed less than 24 hours after having finished the book, my second issue being that, though peopled with relatively few characters, apart from Angus and his birth parents I'm at a complete loss as to naming a single one of them - never a good sign I feel.
Not what you could call a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith, I've only ever enjoyed one of his books, The 2½ Pillars Of Wisdom (Click HERE for my review), I still expected more from this.
KEEP IT OR NOT?: Ex library stock, this will be donated to a charity shop.
Typed less than 24 hours after having finished the book, my second issue being that, though peopled with relatively few characters, apart from Angus and his birth parents I'm at a complete loss as to naming a single one of them - never a good sign I feel.
Not what you could call a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith, I've only ever enjoyed one of his books, The 2½ Pillars Of Wisdom (Click HERE for my review), I still expected more from this.
KEEP IT OR NOT?: Ex library stock, this will be donated to a charity shop.
8 comments:
Not sure this one would be for me. I hate the way you can't work out what age it is for. Sounds like it might have needed further editing.
I love the sound of Dream Angus. It sounds so much fun..but I'm confused too about for who he has written it. :)
Thank you for your honest review, Petty. I love The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Both the books and the movies are delightful.
Aw... too bad. I like myth retellings. I would have picked it up, but it doesn't sound like one I would have liked.
It had such a cute premise.
I still haven't read any of this author's books. Sorry this one didn't work out for you.
I can understand where the uncertainly would come from, as I'm still confused by the synopsis! *-* Don't believe this one is for me but thanks for the look.
I loved the blurb. It's a shame the story doesn't work so well.
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