A Moment In Time

I showed Hunting and Gathering to Wendy when I started reading it and she did not think, from the few glimpses she had, that it would be her sort of book.  As a love story she recommended H E Bates' A Moment in Time.  It would be arrogant of me to try and 'review' a book which must have been the subject of so many comments over the years by people far better qualified than I to pass judgement.  

However there is one very striking comparison between it and Hunting and Gathering: the endings.  I commented on the latter's ending that "What one can say is that the ending is wrapped up without a single thread left unsewn".  Bates's ending is one which leaves you to believe in the ending without telling you what it is.  Many years ago I wrote a piece called Life Is Good Brother which did just that.  I thought (and still think) that it was quite a good piece. However I was slated by the teacher because it did just what Bates has done.  I liked it in my essay.  I don't like it when others do it.  Inconsistent or what?

A Moment in Time is a pleasantly written story which one could not leave half read but it is not a book which I would pick up again nor put on my list of suggested reading for anyone else. Which just goes to show you.

Quotes:

It's always as well to remember that there are occasions when the greatest danger comes not from your enemies but from your friends. [Quote, Unquote]

It sounds like the most ordinary and simple of conversations but because of it I felt my latent affection for Tom Hudson stir very deeply inside myself, turn over and then go completely to sleep again, exactly like a warm kitten.  [Hmmmm.]