| Publisher | Alma Books Ltd |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 28 January 2016 |
| ISBN-10 | 184688389X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1846883897 |
| Format | paperback |
| Pages | 300 |
| Price | £ 7.99 |
The Insect Farm
by
Jonathan Maguire is devoted to Roger, his special brother, and is obsessed with his unusual and charismatic wife. Roger is absorbed in his intense world of insect breeding. Things change when violent death wrecks their status quo.
Review
If you have ever had one of those terrifying, intense and disturbing dreams, which feel all too plausible, and which haunt you after you wake up, then you will empathise with the atmosphere created in this book. You may not like the characters but you’ll almost certainly become embroiled in the machinations which ensue from their actions.
Jonathan Maguire lives in a middle class household which is ostensibly normal, except that his older brother, Roger, has particular learning needs, giving him life-long dependency requirements. Jonathan and Roger have a close and loving relationship, but this does not prevent Jonathan from setting off to university with his beautiful and charismatic girlfriend. However, tragic deaths result in Jonathan returning home and leaving his girlfriend at university, without him.
From this point on Jonathan’s jealous obsessions grow and fester. When catastrophe strikes, Jonathan enters a world which he has fabricated and his lies grow day by day.
Both the plot and atmosphere created by Stuart Prebble are all too believable. The book is a clever study of loyalty and sacrifice, over-ridden with jealousy and possessiveness and ultimately of love. The reader is left uncertain about many of the shifts within the plot and the ending does not disappoint.
The Insect Farm of the title is a clear metaphor for the worlds inhabited by the two brothers and the author uses it to emphasise the unusual, obsessive nature of their behaviours.
This is an interesting and well-crafted book, sensitively portraying the impact that growing up with a brain damaged young man, who can never live as an independent adult, has on the lives of those around him. At the end of the book the reader is left questioning how much of the behaviour resulted from this and how much from character peculiarities of others.
Jonathan Maguire lives in a middle class household which is ostensibly normal, except that his older brother, Roger, has particular learning needs, giving him life-long dependency requirements. Jonathan and Roger have a close and loving relationship, but this does not prevent Jonathan from setting off to university with his beautiful and charismatic girlfriend. However, tragic deaths result in Jonathan returning home and leaving his girlfriend at university, without him.
From this point on Jonathan’s jealous obsessions grow and fester. When catastrophe strikes, Jonathan enters a world which he has fabricated and his lies grow day by day.
Both the plot and atmosphere created by Stuart Prebble are all too believable. The book is a clever study of loyalty and sacrifice, over-ridden with jealousy and possessiveness and ultimately of love. The reader is left uncertain about many of the shifts within the plot and the ending does not disappoint.
The Insect Farm of the title is a clear metaphor for the worlds inhabited by the two brothers and the author uses it to emphasise the unusual, obsessive nature of their behaviours.
This is an interesting and well-crafted book, sensitively portraying the impact that growing up with a brain damaged young man, who can never live as an independent adult, has on the lives of those around him. At the end of the book the reader is left questioning how much of the behaviour resulted from this and how much from character peculiarities of others.
Reviewed 09 July 2016 by John Barnbrook
