Review: ‘The Book of Air’, by Joe Treasure

 

Published By: Clink Street Publishing

Publication Date: 4th April 2017

I.S.B.N.:  978-1911525097

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb

Retreating from an airborne virus with a uniquely unsettling symptom, property developer Jason escapes London for his country estate, where he is forced to negotiate a new way of living with an assortment of fellow survivors.

Far in the future, an isolated community of descendants continue to farm this same estate. Among their most treasured possessions are a few books, including a copy of Jane Eyre, from which they have constructed their hierarchies, rituals and beliefs. When 15-year-old Agnes begins to record the events of her life, she has no idea what consequences will follow. Locked away for her transgressions, she escapes to the urban ruins and a kind of freedom, but must decide where her future lies.

These two stories interweave, illuminating each other in unexpected ways and offering long vistas of loss, regeneration and wonder.

The Book of Air is a story of survival, the shaping of memory and the enduring impulse to find meaning in a turbulent world.

 

Purchase of Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Air-Joe-Treasure/dp/1911525093

About Joe Treasure

Joe Treasure currently lives in South West London with his wife Leni Wildflower. As an English teacher in Wales, he ran an innovative drama programme, before following Leni across the pond to Los Angeles, an experience that inspired his critically acclaimed debut novel The Male Gaze (published by Picador). His second novel Besotted (also published by Picador) also met with rave reviews.

Website – http://www.joetreasure.com/

Twitter: – https://twitter.com/joetreas

Blog: joetreasure.blogspot.co.uk

My Review

I enjoyed the writing, characters and concept, but for some reason I struggled to get through this book. It’s probably due to the things going on in my life at the moment; I’m not up to reading serious literary fiction.

I liked the way the narrative alternates between time periods and characters, giving the reader a look at how the world ended for Jason, and the new, strange, world Agnes has been brought up in, with the different yet similar conflicts of people living together in difficult circumstances. I loved to references to ‘Jane Ayre’ and the reality of Jason’s grief.

This is definitely one I’ll go back to and re-read when I’m in a less anxious frame of mind.