Star-shot by Mary-Ann Constantine is a book that has been on my to-be-read piles for a very long time. I haven’t been enthusiastic enough to read it before this challenge but it has survived the occasional culls I undertake to keep things under control, or at least to give me the illusion that they are under control. It’s a sort of fantasy novel set in the present day, with the story located in and around Cardiff – the Welsh language makes a few appearances in the narrative. It’s not a young adult novel, I think, but it does have some black and white illustrations of flowers and foliage denoting the beginning and end of sections – these were pretty enough but not really important to me.
The story centres on a park near to the castle and museum in the city. It connects us with a few people who are regular users of the park, all of whom seem to be isolated or lonely because of loss or abuse. Eventually the characters meet one another and become involved, developing a sense of community. What unites them is the gathering sense of silence and absence which grows like a cloud in the park and begins to affect the characters in different ways.
Myra is an unwell, single woman who sits in the part during her lunch break. Theo is part of a group of academics studying networks between people especially those who use the benches in the park. Luke is studying the biodiversity of ponds and water in the area. Dan is a widower who is struggling with being the single father to his son and who uses the park to entertain his child. There is also an immigrant woman working as a cleaner but who was a microbiologist in her home country, a professor who is trying to ensure funding for projects and a homeless man who communicates through cutting out pictures in magazines. As the book progresses these characters begin to depend on each other and then to develop a strategy to get rid of the silence.
I have to say that I didn’t really understand how the silence was banished but I didn’t really care. I admired the way that the author linked all the stories together and showed how each person could be useful to the others and thought that this was the strength of the book. It’s a very hopeful story but it doesn’t have a clear plot and it is all written in a vague manner, and in the present tense. I am glad that I read this book but I wouldn’t like my reading diet to contain many books of this type, as I prefer a more defied story and greater explanation of events.
This book came to me, I think, via my monthly book subscription and I note that it is signed by the author. It’s a paperback copy in good condition and so I will pass it to Oxfam to find a new home.
