Darke by Rick Gekoski is an excellent example of how a first person narrative can be funny, moving, annoying and intelligent all at the same time.
Dr James Darke is our protagonist. A teacher of English Literature and Dickens’ expert, he lives in London on his own, although we learn that he had a wife called Suzy, now deceased. He is cantankerous and isolated, both really by his own choice, and the book begins with Darke taking pains to reinforce his home as a prison of solitude by blocking up his letterbox, putting in a spyhole and shunning correspondence of any sort, whether by post or email. The only person who enters is a cleaner and this, we learn, is because he has very high standards of hygiene, being something of a ‘neat freak’.
Gradually, his story unfolds and we find that he has not always been this way. Actually, that’s not totally true as he has always been fastidious about tidiness and his appearance but the shunning of others from his life is a recent occurrence and is an extreme manifestation of his darker feelings. We follow him as he describes his life as it is now and this is filled with dark(e) humour, but then, he moves onto the reason for his extreme behaviour and we learn about his loss and his listlessness after losing his wife.
His withdrawal is a response to his grief but also guilt and this is explored through Darke’s journal entries, which are the text of the novel.
He is not a man alone. He has a daughter, Lucy, a son-in-law, Sam and a grandson, Rudy who do not understand why Darke has chosen to shut himself away from them but for a large part of the book he remains unreachable.
There is much to enjoy about this book but most specifically, Gekoski’s ability to fully produce a character with a distinctive voice and personality, who is easy to visualise makes this a great read. Good writers do that with ease. Darke is a curmudgeon but he is so honest in it, probably because he is writing in his journal, that his introspection is funny and dry and observant, making for an entertaining read.
Funny but with moving moments, I would recommend it, and for those of you looking to expand your vocabulary, this book will do that for you too.
Scuffed Granny 