I decided to re-read Mark Haddon’s “A Spot of Bother” over the weekend. I first read it back in 2008 and felt that sufficient time had elapsed to enjoy it all over again.
Haddon’s prose is a joy; lean and sparse with a wry sense of the absurd. He seems to possess an innate ability to know what works, with an instinctive sense of timing. He has a wonderful gift for comedy, writing situations which are both poignant whilst also being riotously funny. In George Hall he has created a sympathetic Everyman, in whom we can all recognise our own fears and concerns, sharing George’s growing realisation of his own mortality.
Warm and wise this is a book to be savoured, and I feel certain that I will return to it again, renewing acquaintance with an old friend.
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