I was so impressed by the first of the eleven stories (or were they chapters?) of Moral Disorder and I wondered if we were in for something special. However, those that switch to childhood and young adulthood were quite ordinary. Later on, the four stories when Nell lives on a farm were incredibly boring. I think that the stitching together of some old and new pieces did not give any coherence to the life of the central character. To me, it ended up a jumble.
The least successful of the Hogarth Shakespeare series so far. Dunbar began so well, especially the relationship between mega businessman Henry Dunbar and his comedian assistant Peter Walker. The plot was nicely constructed, a lot of witty writing. However, by half way we were subjected to too much of this stuff: "Dunbar was the man who placed the wafer on their outstretched tongues, transubstantiating the corrosive passivity of fear and envy into the dynamic single mindedness of hatred". And so on. The ending, although we know what happens in the play, is a disappointment.
This is a book to really test your memory. As the author describes it, a time-travelling, body-hopping murder mystery novel. More like "Groundhog Day" meets "Changing Places" meets Agatha Christie. Give the writer credit, he does give us quite few reminders of important clues along the way. Or are they clues or red herrings? I was able to keep up for most of the book, it was only the ending that I couldn't follow. Is that so often the case?
There is clever use of the first person narrator throughout, we inhabit the strangeness of his (their) fate. As he puts it "Are things always like this, explanations before the questions?". As things get worse "If this isn't hell, the devil is surely taking notes". This is no great literary enterprise, but mostly an enjoyable twisted thriller.
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