Review of That Guy What Kill Topsy
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Joy Nyathi
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- Latest Review: That Guy What Kill Topsy by Peter Wood Cotterill
Review of That Guy What Kill Topsy
[Following is a volunteer review of "That Guy What Kill Topsy" by Peter Wood Cotterill.]
Peter Wood Cotterill’s book That Guy What Killed Topsy is a collection of short stories ranging from angst to bittersweet. The predominant theme is the struggle of the ordinary man to catch a break, mostly succeeding, sometimes not. The stories are an odd mix including neighbourhood confrontations, get-togethers, gossipy tales and some nostalgic seemingly semi-biographic stories of life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (Southern Africa).
The protagonists are ordinary people, seemingly trapped in their rudimentary lives akin to a dark room. Some, like Aunt Bett in ‘Chancet be a Fine Thing’, are pushed to opening a small window and sit in a beam of light for a short while. Then there’s the angst of Don McCluskey in ‘Fresh Start’ who, when his life crumbles in post land invasion Zimbabwe, is finally able to open a door and step into the light albeit the sun is setting on the horizon. Surprisingly simple is ‘Diary of a Down-and-Out’, a story of a mentally depressed homeless man in a sweet but anti-climatic and surreal rainbow reunion with his wife and kids. Cotterill writes from an honest, unapologetic and self-indulgent viewpoint that doesn’t shy away from any subject matter be such as in the novella ‘I love Rhinos’, in which we are plunged into dramatic messiness of politics, religion and sexuality.
Short stories are by their nature full of one-dimensional characters since we only get to experience these characters or their world briefly through one viewpoint. Just like passing by a homeless person or beggar, even though I could in a detached way sympathize, cheer for their small success and smile at some humorous antics, my soul was not shaken or stirred by any character or story. These stories are uplifting at first but in the end, there are one too many stories of the same ilk in this book it became a tad boring.
Some of the stories feature dialogue laden with dialect. The cover title story 'That Guy What Kill Topsy’, had me flummoxed and I had to re-read it twice to understand the dialect. This story brought to mind my high school drama teacher who could mimic not only any English accent but nuances of dialect from all corners of the UK and English accents from across the globe. Although dialect brings out the honest emotions of characters, the predominance of dialect in some stories might not appeal and be difficult for some readers to understand. I kept thinking how great it would be to hear some stories in audio.
The craftsmanship of the book is superb; Cotterill has a good command of the language and a solid grasp of his story matter. The dialogue is authentic and the punctuation is perfect. The book has been well edited. This book is a good read for students and lovers of contemporary English language and literature. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars .
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That Guy What Kill Topsy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Peter Wood Cotterill’s book That Guy What Killed Topsy is a collection of short stories ranging from angst to bittersweet. The predominant theme is the struggle of the ordinary man to catch a break, mostly succeeding, sometimes not. The stories are an odd mix including neighbourhood confrontations, get-togethers, gossipy tales and some nostalgic seemingly semi-biographic stories of life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (Southern Africa).
The protagonists are ordinary people, seemingly trapped in their rudimentary lives akin to a dark room. Some, like Aunt Bett in ‘Chancet be a Fine Thing’, are pushed to opening a small window and sit in a beam of light for a short while. Then there’s the angst of Don McCluskey in ‘Fresh Start’ who, when his life crumbles in post land invasion Zimbabwe, is finally able to open a door and step into the light albeit the sun is setting on the horizon. Surprisingly simple is ‘Diary of a Down-and-Out’, a story of a mentally depressed homeless man in a sweet but anti-climatic and surreal rainbow reunion with his wife and kids. Cotterill writes from an honest, unapologetic and self-indulgent viewpoint that doesn’t shy away from any subject matter be such as in the novella ‘I love Rhinos’, in which we are plunged into dramatic messiness of politics, religion and sexuality.
Short stories are by their nature full of one-dimensional characters since we only get to experience these characters or their world briefly through one viewpoint. Just like passing by a homeless person or beggar, even though I could in a detached way sympathize, cheer for their small success and smile at some humorous antics, my soul was not shaken or stirred by any character or story. These stories are uplifting at first but in the end, there are one too many stories of the same ilk in this book it became a tad boring.
Some of the stories feature dialogue laden with dialect. The cover title story 'That Guy What Kill Topsy’, had me flummoxed and I had to re-read it twice to understand the dialect. This story brought to mind my high school drama teacher who could mimic not only any English accent but nuances of dialect from all corners of the UK and English accents from across the globe. Although dialect brings out the honest emotions of characters, the predominance of dialect in some stories might not appeal and be difficult for some readers to understand. I kept thinking how great it would be to hear some stories in audio.
The craftsmanship of the book is superb; Cotterill has a good command of the language and a solid grasp of his story matter. The dialogue is authentic and the punctuation is perfect. The book has been well edited. This book is a good read for students and lovers of contemporary English language and literature. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars .
******
That Guy What Kill Topsy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: That Guy What Kill Topsy by Peter Wood Cotterill
