April Fool

A book review.

April Fool

by William Deverell

published: 2005

ISBN: 077102715X

genre: Fiction

reviewed:2006.03.27

👍🏼 recommended

This is an engrossing story set in the Channel Islands of British Columbia. It features an aging lawyer moved to action when his activist wife gets herself confined to a tree-top. It also features an aging thief who stands accused, once more, of a sex crime.

These disparate tales move through different worlds, even as they touch upon the same geography and the same institutions. Deverell (a laywer, activist and journalist, according to the profile in the back) calls upon his own extensive background in the court and among activist folk to depict a fascinating if lunatic world. The author stocks the scenery with plenty of entertaining minor characters who serve, through their lunacy, to keep the story grounded*.

Meanwhile, the two main characters wander through the story with a very realistic sense of self-awareness. The thief sees himself as a fuck-up, while the lawyer bemoans his age and decrepitude. Both are hounded by their mistakes and regrets.

I recommend this book for its readability, its strong character depictions, and the way it combines regret with a sense of hope.

*This is an interesting technique that I've used in my own tale -- show how the main character(s) are bound to their course by the restrictions placed by those around them.