CLOCK
Nick Hemsley
Lulu Press
2006
ISBN: 1-4116-9624-2
Fiction, Social, Psychological
Through various experiences, two people's lives are changed forever.
Clock is indeed, to my mind, a strange book. But, in many ways, the body of the book subtly reflects the title and cover illustration; for, as there are many cogs and wheels in a clock, so, too, are there many continuing segments in the novel, each a separate element, and yet interconnected with the rest.
Although it takes awhile to get used to the style, once the reader gets into the story, it's an interesting and intriguing read.
The novel delves into the thoughts and lives of several characters—good, bad, and eccentric; normal and abnormal—and the constant movement back and forth from past to present tense—which, again, can add somewhat to the confusion—nevertheless continues the clock-like theme.
What I liked: The diversity of characters presented, the variety of truly plausible storylines, and the interweaving of them all.
What I disliked: The format of the book. Internet users will recognize the block-styled paragraph format used on web pages, with a single space between paragraphs. This leads to some confusion at times in Clock because the reader doesn't automatically know whether or not the point of view has changed. In regular book format, two spaces between paragraphs can indicate either a change of place or a change of character viewpoint, and this isn't always immediately noticeable here.
(Book Review by Michael Woodhead, 2007)
