Thursday 13 December 2007

Review: "The Stornoway Way" by Kevin MacDonald

On the trip across the Atlantic, I picked up a copy of the "The Stornoway Way", written by a Stornowegian author about Stornoway and Lewis. Through the character of R. Stornoway, we are treated to a choice selection of hard-drinking, devilish characters, all tinged with recognizable bits of the town in which (and island on which) Elaine and I live.

Like the main character in "Filth" by Irvine Welsh, R. Stornoway is at times hard to take, cruel to those around him, self-destructive. However, R. Stornoway has his genuinely romantic moments, and is thus much easier to sympathise with. The work as a whole is less an exercise in masochism for the reader than "Filth", which is a bit of a relief.

All in all, I'd say someone with a dark enough sense of humor and sympathy for somewhat unlikeable characters will hopefully get something out of it.

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