Review: An endearing, delightful tale with flawed, quirky characters..
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 5, 2012
The team of eight for the George and Dragon pub is quite a motley group of characters. Each chooses to join the team with a sense of hope that either loneliness will be eased or an accomplishment can add fulfillment to their life. Flick Merauld is a master weaver of tales. Although the script takes the reader into each character's personal storyline, the story moves smoothly from character to character in a balanced, harmonious flow.There is no person in this novel named Aunt Sally. Instead, Aunt Sally is the `doll,' a small white skittle dressed in a bonnet with an old woman's face. A traditional Oxfordshire pub game, teams of 8 from various pubs play against each other. Using an underarm throw of variously weighted sticks, the goal is to knock the doll off a swivel-top iron. It takes great patience and skill.The most compelling aspect for me in reading THE AUNT SALLY TEAM is the psychological themes, the flaws of character that are masterfully tackled by Flick Merauld. She writes of these flaws with profound understanding tossed with a seasoning of wit. The inner thoughts and urges of each young character relative to friendship and dating are sensitively written. The relationship issues amongst the adult characters relative to marriage, separation, sexual intimacy and trust are insightfully presented. Even the older-age characters concerns are treated with dignity.Having worked in the field of Substance Abuse, I was most captivated by Flick's writing of the relationship between Dante and Diana who meet as team members. Flick scripts so insightfully not only the signs of Dante's spiraling alcoholism but also his stages of denial and the difficulty he had in recognizing his condition. I found myself talking out loud to Diana as she struggled with her attraction towards Dante and the recognition that she could not help him. The intensity of several scenes was profound.Some novels weave a great story yet leave a reader `hanging' as to the outcome of the lives of the characters. Flick treats her readers respectfully, bringing relationships amongst her characters to a sense of closure.