Book cover for The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal

I wrote recently about the book The Last Days Of The Lacuna Cabal by Sean Dixon, but only touched on the blog-related aspects of it at that time. This is a more complete review.

The book was another offering from Amazon’s Vine programme.  I have been resisting getting too many books from Vine because I find it now takes me too long to read them these days, but something about the description of this one  made me feel it would be something a bit special.

Here is what I said about it:

Everything about this book is a bit skewed, which I always consider to be a compliment.  Nothing is entirely straightforward, including the title.

Apparently when this was originally published in Canada the title was ‘The Girls Who Knew Everything’.  Once you have read the book you realise this is absolutely appropriate, but the new title is more intriguing, and more likely to make somebody think about reading it. Which is the better title depends on whether you think the title of a book should appeal to those who have already read it or those who have not.

Even the beautiful cover has a little controversy associated with it. It was the winning entry in a competition to design a cover. Until two-thirds of the way through the book it is not clear why the cover was chosen, by the end of the book you realise that it is as appropriate as it is eye-catching.

As for the book itself, it is a strange mixture of real fiction and fictional fiction, and that statement itself takes some explaining!  It poses as the work of two people who are themselves members of the Lacuna Cabal Montreal Young Women’s Book Club with the premise that they are writing about themselves and the other members. However one of the members said she did not want to be in the book so was replaced by a fictional character. It takes a bit of getting used to.

The book club of the title is a very unconventional one. I have never belonged to a book club but I understand that they read books and discuss them. The Lacuna Cabal go that bit further and meet in places appropriate to the book they are discussing, and re-enact scenes from the books, or cause unwitting third-parties to re-enact them, making them as much like flash mob organisers as a book club.

My understanding is that the book originated as a stage play, so some of the characterisations are based on the improvisations of whoever had those parts, resulting in some strong portrayals.  The fact that one of the characters has decided to portray the events in the book as a stage play sort of blurs the line between fiction and reality a bit.

Reading between the lines, Montreal looks like a place that deserves a reputation for avante garde art and cultural involvement on a par with San Francisco or New York. Its right up there on my list of places to visit now.

Another way the book breaks down barriers between the fiction and real life is that it has a life beyond its pages in the form of blogs. Some web sites that really exist feature in the plot and another one by the author exists and interacts with other sites that mention the book or author. Its a very 21st-Century phenomenon.

Having finished the book I find that parts of it have stuck with me more than I expected, and I am thinking about aspects of it that I didn’t think of at the time.  Its very powerful in that respect. It is unexpected because while I was reading it I did struggle at times.

The story starts with a very strong opening line – nearly as strong as the opening line of Iain Banks’ ‘The Crow Road’ – that draws you in to find out more. After that found myself losing interest a bit: I couldn’t really see where it was going until about the last third.  At that point I was properly hooked, but even when I was finding it hard going there were always some quirky little details to keep me amused and piqued.

So my own personal experience was a bit mixed. If the book had held my attention as much while I was reading it I would have scored it higher, although I’m wondering whether I shouldn’t do so anyway because of it’s lingering aftertaste.  One thing I do know is that I shall be keeping an eye out for any future books by Sean Dixon

The real challenge here was trying to honestly reflect what I thought, armed with the knowledge that the author takes an active interest in what people are saying and is not shy about responding.  Incidentally, one major advantage of the title change is that “Lacuna Cabal” makes it a lot easier to Google for mentions of your book than “The girls who knew everything”!   As far as I know, those involved in other products I have reviewed are not likely to even notice the scribblings of an obscure blogger on a low-traffic site, but this one is different and I was determined to try not to think about that…

It would have been easy and tempting to just say 5-stars, best book I have ever read, but really I did struggle in the middle of the book.  Despite that, I would not be surprised to see this get the sort of reception that books like The Life of Pi got, and it would not be undeserved.