The Blasphemer - Nigel Farndale

The initial impression given by The Blasphemer is that of a novelist trying to tie together rather too many elements that appear to be scarcely connected or peripheral to the main story, but in reality the purpose gradually becomes clear and it's precisely to show that everything is connected, that there is underlying meaning and connections between the past and the present, defining who we are and the actions we take. The essential question however is whether this structure is created by natural design or demonstrates the will of God. For the most part this intriguing question is intelligently presented, although by the time it comes to the conclusion there's the suspicion that there's also a bit of an authorial hand at play.

The story takes in several generations of the Kennedy family, but principally alternates between Daniel Kennedy - a lecturer, zoologist, TV presenter, Darwinist and committed atheist, and the actions of his great-grandfather Andrew who would die while fighting in the trenches of Passchendaele in 1917. What the two men have in common are near-death experiences that completely change their perspective of the world. For Daniel in particular however, as a disbeliever, the notion that there could be a guardian angel looking out for him however is rather unsettling. It's enough of a stretch to try and find some sense of connection and design within these stories, trying to maintain a sense of there being a rational rather than a supernatural explanation for what happens, but Nigel Farndale brings in many other elements, from the composition of an alternative opening for Mahler's Ninth symphony to Islamic terrorism, to say nothing of the personal complications that Daniel's and Andrew's experiences have on their families.

That's an ambitious aim and if The Blasphemer doesn't quite pull it off, it's probably only right that it leaves room for some ambiguity and uncertainty. This applies as much to the characterisation as the storyline. Several characters behave with irrational and inexplicable malice which seems to grate, but it's true that real people have complex personalities and can often behave in irrational ways, and it does seem to be the case here that they are not just figures to illustrate a theory or drive a narrative forward. The questions raised are interesting ones, and the author does well to bring them all together into a unified whole with only a little bit of contrivance and direction towards the end. Dealing with relevant issues in an intelligent manner however, The Blasphemer ultimately succeeds in working this into a thrilling personal drama endured by characters with real lives and diverse personalities, keeping it involving and genuinely moving.

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