The Testament of Yves Gundron

Emily Barton

Doreen found the first fifty pages of the book simple-minded and stupid. It then started to get quite interesting but tailed off again towards the end. Not a good book but it has its moments. It's about a community living a very basic lifestyle and at first it's not clear whether the book is set in the past or in the future. Gradually it becomes clear that it is a contemporary community living on a remote Scottish island, somehow bypassed by civilization. Scotland may have seemed very remote to the (American) author but Doreen found this aspect of the book unconvincing. An anthropologist arrives on the island and, in spite of her attempt not to alter anything, things start to change. The book loses its way at this point. Not recommended.
Doreen 19/5/02

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