600 Hours of Edward – Craig Lancaster, Lake Union Publishing, 2012
I expect this will be the best book I will read in 2016, although (obviously) I have, as yet, no data on that.
A wonderful, warm, utterly compelling portrait of a man at odds with the world he lives in, and tantalisingly close to understanding what it has to offer. The subtle shift in the narrative style, the gradual uncoupling of the prose from its formula as its central character is estranged from the routines that drive his day-to-day existence, is handled brilliantly, almost the perfect marriage of form and content. The “incidental” characters – none of them are truly incidental, in truth – burst from the page, wreathed in Edward’s descriptions of them and the details we surmise but Edward doesn’t quite see. And Edward himself is unquestionably the most endearing narrator I’ve come across in years.
I’d recommend this book to anyone with eyes and a heart.