Griffin & Sabine - An Extraordinary Correspondance

Here's how this works: I finish reading something, and I tell you about it, and I try not to bore you to death.



Marie lent me this breezy little read and I enjoyed it tremendously. Like 84 Charing Cross Road, it's a story told via correspondance, but this presents the "actual" postcards and letters sent between a bored designer in London and a strange woman on a South Pacific island who can see through his eyes. Removing letters from beautifully designed envelopes makes you feel like you're eavesdropping in something intimate and occasionally frightening. I felt it was hampered by the format - it ends far too soon, and I think the author agreed. Bantock has apparently revisited the scenario in several (five) sequel volumes, perhaps adding new "primary sources" to the story. Recommended, but putting all the false documents from the later editions under one cover and telling one story from end to end could be unmissable.

(Originally posted January 23, 2008 at hipsterdad's LJ.)