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Article: If, as his admirers insist, Justin Cartwright is among the finest contemporary British novelists, then that explains a lot about the current vapid state of English fiction. Indeed, while aspiring to highbrow insights, South African-born Cartwright only succeeds in peddling high-flown twaddle.
- Article from:
- Irish Independent (Dublin, Republic of Ireland)
- Article date:
- July 18, 2009
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Lofty aspirations drown in tedium
TO HEAVEN BY WATER Justin Cartwright (Bloomsbury 16.99)
If, as his admirers insist, Justin Cartwright is among the finest contemporary British novelists, then that explains a lot about the current vapid state of English fiction. Indeed, while aspiring to highbrow insights, South African-born Cartwright only succeeds in peddling high-flown twaddle.
The reader's alarm registers from the first page as retired television news anchor David sits in the Kalahari desert listening to his older brother Guy reciting Hopkins's linguistically difficult poem, The Windhover, which is quoted in its entirety. The message is ...