29 June 2016

Review #472: Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”

----Milan Kundera



Sara Baume, an English author, has penned a life-altering and extremely encouraging story about a man and his pet dog in her debut book, Spill Simmer Falter Wither that unfolds an unusual cord of friendship between a lonely aged man and a badger-baiting trained dog set against the quaint backdrop of an almost secluded island somewhere in the Irish Midlands near the sea. And I will suggest, right at the beginning of my review, to grab a copy of this book which is so much rich in detail and the story that is so much fulfilling. In our everyday daily busy lives, we definitely need a book that will not only be an escape to somewhere exotic or somewhere peaceful but also to be something that can enlighten us with the meaning of life and its importance and as this book fulfills the above criteria, so each and every human soul must READ this book.


Synopsis:

You find me on a Tuesday, on my Tuesday trip to town. A note sellotaped to the inside of the jumble-shop window: COMPASSIONATE & TOLERANT OWNER. A PERSON WITHOUT OTHER PETS & WITHOUT CHILDREN UNDER FOUR.

A misfit man finds a misfit dog. Ray, aged fifty-seven, ‘too old for starting over, too young for giving up’, and One Eye, a vicious little bugger, smaller than expected, a good ratter. Both are accustomed to being alone, unloved, outcast – but they quickly find in each other a strange companionship of sorts. As spring turns to summer, their relationship grows and intensifies, until a savage act forces them to abandon the precarious life they’d established, and take to the road.


Spill Simmer Falter Wither is a wholly different kind of love story: a devastating portrait of loneliness, loss and friendship, and of the scars that are more than skin-deep. Written with tremendous empathy and insight, in lyrical language that surprises and delights, this is an extraordinary and heartbreaking debut by a major new talent.



Ray is a physically as well as slightly mentally disabled fifty-seven year old man who lives in his father's dilapidated house in complete isolation somewhere in a nameless island town off the coast of Tawny Bay in Ireland. Every Tuesday, Ray tales a trip don to the town post office and the grocery store, but one day on his trip, he finds a dog, which is trained in catching and biting badgers an injured eye, and Ray instantly adopts the dog thereby naming it "One Eye". And there begins their strange companionship where Ray treats his pet dog like a friend as he narrates him about his life, both past and current through the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, as they together tread a journey where not only they find each other but also faces a lot of challenges that threaten them to separate from one another, but to learn about the climax, you need to pick a copy of this book now.

In the beginning, I could not believe my own eyes that this is Sara Baume's debut book, as I could not adhere to the style of the author's writing style or the prose or even the story as all those above factors are so well polished or well structured through out the story, and not even once the author falters from her style of unfolding this story. At this point, readers of this review must be wondering what the book's title mean, very well, it means as follows:

Spill defines "Spring", Simmer defines "Summer", Falter defines "Fall" and Wither defines "Winter"

And the author has smartly titled her book that justifies the story within where her protagonist along with the dog spend the four main seasons in the Irish coastal town through ups and downs with loneliness, challenges and troubles.

The author's writing style is exquisite and to be fair, I've never before read such a story where the prose is so melodic or well tuned with recurring words, and the result of which made me lose myself into the beauty of the author's eloquent as well as expressive words. The writing is not only lyrical or poetic but also properly synced with some deep, evocative emotions that at times tortured me with its depth of pain and most of the times, it made my heart to be filled with empathy until the very sorrowful yet empowering climax. The pacing of the story is very swift as I swayed smoothly with the progress of the story line.

The main protagonist is portrayed so well into the story as the author projects this giant man as an outcast in the society who walks with a limp and has a mental illness as he spends his life in his father's house away from the prying eyes from his judgmental neighbors. In contrast to what Ray looks like, he is a very gently man who loves to read and ponder about his dead mother and his childhood days. And when One Eye enters his life, it seems like his life changes for the good, as he looks happy-ish when he goes on long drive to the sea beach where he trains and walks his dog. Eventually, this strong bond of trust turns into something inseparable as the protagonist narrates the whole story like he is talking directly to his pet dog, yet the readers will feel the warmth and can easily sympathize with these two lonely souls trying to hold onto each other through thick and thin.

The friendship between the dog and the main is something really special and unbreakable as the author paints their relationship with passion, trust and lots of emotions. The background of this book is equally vivid that instantly transferred me to the very same spots where the scenes are unfolding. The author has strikingly captured the flora, topography, weather and the idyllic landscape of this Irish coastal town filled with pubs and cobbled roads into her book, as while reading, I could feel that salty breeze and could smell the sea easily. In short, this location evokes PEACE in capital letters which can be easily found in the book if one read it with their heart and mind.

The narrative of the book is not only unique and stands apart in the sea of so many literary novels, but is also very rich with local dialect hence the readers can easily sense that Irish charm and flair through the dialogues of this book. So in a nutshell, this very wintery and very, very Irish tale of a man and his dog is a must read as it will enrich the lives of those who give it a read!

And many, many thanks to the author for adding such a lovely note inside the book. Yes, that's true, this book gave me some sort of solace with its cold and chilled Irish weather as it made me beat the unbearable heat of Kolkata with my mind and heart while reading. And not only that, I was in an utter emotional turmoil after the end of this book, so thanks to the author, for giving me a book hangover with the story of Ray and One Eye.

Verdict: An absolutely stunning, compelling yet poignant tale of true friendship.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Sara Baume, for giving me an opportunity to read and review her book.

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Author Info:
Sara Baume was born in Lancashire and grew up in Co. Cork. She studied fine art and creative writing and her short fiction has been published in journals such as The Stinging Fly magazine and the Dublin Review. She won the 2014 Davy Byrnes Short Story Award and the 2015 Hennessy New Irish Writing Award. She now lives in Cork with her two dogs.
Visit her here


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