Review: Not a bad book, just very unusual
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2013
THE PAINTING is taking place all in the main character Donny's mind. It is known from early in the plot that Donny has had mental health issues previously. It seems a little odd that someone suffering from delusions would decide to write a novel in an old, run-down, perhaps haunted house where a woman went insane and apparently lost her life. It might seem more realistic if Donny was on meds from his recent breakdown, if the author wanted the reader to accept the story as true and not just the ravings of a mentally disturbed young man. Disregarding the absence of some logical forethought for the initial scenario, the book does have some interesting internal conversations as Donny goes through his experiences. At the end the reader is still left wondering whether it is a feasible plot or a description of someone passing into hysterical delusions. The middle part of the book, where Donny believes himself to be in an alternate reality, has some intriguing scenes as well. The most hard to believe element being the description of a "humanoid dog". I'm not sure a dog could even sit in a chair as described in the book, but this is a relatively minor point, used I guess to prove to Donny there is an alternate reality where no dogs exist and this is the only way Alice knows how to treat a pet. Overall, not a bad book, just an odd book, and I do like unusual and unique plots. Ryan Casey might have taken "unusual and unique" a little too far, without enough supporting material to leave the reader with the concept, "maybe this could have happened." Worth a read if you like the unexplained and ambiguous ending and British cockney prose.