“Gabriel’s Moon ” by William Boyd
“Gabriel’s Moon ” by William Boyd
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd was met with mixed reception by the group being thoroughly enjoyed by some but others felt that it was a disappointing read and wouldn’t recommend it.
The main character was a travel writer who somehow became embroiled in espionage and managed to gain entry to several different countries becoming involved with historic events such as the assassination of Lumumba in the Congo. As such there was a mixture of fact and fiction in the book.
There were themes in the book of the main character’s relationships with women – among others his psychoanalyst, the woman who became his ‘handler’ – his brother and contacts made in the field, while at the same time he was dealing with the childhood trauma of losing his mother in a fire. There were a lot of different threads within the book that many felt quite confusing.
Some felt the book was well written with good description of places visited but others found it ‘bitty’ and confusing with no real theme to the story.
The ending was ambiguous but this is the first in a trilogy so any loose ends may become clearer in future books.
One of the group has read a number of books by William Boyd and felt that the story followed previous themes.
Overall, the book was given a score of 5.