Thoughts at the half way point of A Preparation for Death

There are some things that really chime with me with this book. Firstly the author is stuck on a trade magazine dreaming of better things. Secondly he wants to turn his dreams and energies into becoming a writer.

But the results so far are a bit up and down. This reads like a collection of short stories that are occasionally echoes of things that have gone before because of the characters popping up again. But the result of the short story collection nature of it is that of course some chapters stand out more than others.

Where Baxter is strong is in describing his attempts to emerge as a writer back in Texas before he moved to Dublin. The action set in Dublin is where some of those dreams have hit the buffers so the tone is darker.

But as he explains in his preamble this book in a way saved his life, showed him just what was possible and how he could make it as a writer, so possibly the second half will have a rather more upbeat tone.

Review to follow soonish...