Friday, June 20, 2003
Title: These Demented Lands
Author: Alan Warner
Publisher: Vintage
These Demented Lands is the second novel by Alan Warner, something of a sequel to his debut Morvern Callar. One gets the impression that These Demented Lands follows close on the end of Morvern Callar. Though for the most part the character isn't referenced by name, in fact her name is even blanked out of the text where it should appear, only used at the ending.
These Demented Lands is delivered in alternating sequences, each coming from the two lead characters - referred to as "the girl" and "the air crash investigator" by each other. Like Morvern Callar the girl's sections are delivered in dialect, while the air crash investigator's is closer to standard English. This has a curious effect in terms of how the reader reads each section. The switching between perspectives of the characters also allows for a shifting insight into who the people are, as well as how they see the supporting cast around them. A perception of Morvern was something that I felt lacking in Morvern Callar, so here she is more fleshed out, of course by this stage she has changed considerably from the shelf stacker we first met.
Both the girl and the investigator are living in a hotel on a Scottish island. The rest of the residents are honeymoon couples, setting them up for more active roles in the games that the hotel owner plays with people. Each seeming to clash off each other to some degree, while holding the hotel manager as a common enemy. Around them there are some curious characters - John Brotherhood (the hotel manager), the devil's advocate (camped out in a tent, a judge of whether people are worthy of sainthood), Chef MacBeth (the hotel's incapable cook), the argonaut (the island's premier salvager), a couple of brothers with their father in a coffin, and a team of students trying to guide a herd of cattle across the island. All of whom add a certain surrealness to the proceedings, putting the demented in the title.
These Demented Lands gives the impression of being more compact than Morvern Callar, the events all take place in a more restricted location and seem to have a more compact continuity. The evolution of Morvern leads from a shop girl in the highlands to someone who has been travelling, seen the world and experienced so much in that time. A character who benefits well from this experience so that we witness a more rounded and grown character.
These Demented Lands is a strong follow up to Morvern Caller. Some have described it as being a little surreal, but for me it was entirely readable and thoroughly enjoyable.
RVWR: PTR
June 2003
