What is true? What is truth?An adult, speculative, spiritual and philosophical coming of age story.An old and now sceptical Thomas looks back on the events of his last term at school when his class returned to a new beautiful class teacher, a donation of stuffed animals and birds by an eccentric benefactor and the increasingly strange events which followed. Zoological specimens appeared to be not … appeared to be not quite as dead as they looked. A bell-jar which had contained a stuffed bat shattered during an exorcism, after which what had been strange events turned to being sinister and frightening.
As a then young and naive Thomas searched for the truth, he found himself, questioning ‘good and evil’, realising that his task is not as simple and straightforward as he would have wished and in so doing loosing his innocence and having to accept that belief may have as much to do with truth as do facts.
A tale for those who like to think on what they are reading.
(Warning to sensitive readers; the story is an adult one and so does contain references to sex)
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***I received this eBook as a free review copy from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review***
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” St Thomas Aquinas, 13th Century.
This quote summarizes the central theme of this book very well and is often referred back to throughout the novel.
The novella itself is part of a series of stories told by a group of friends, who meet on a weekly basis in the Red Grouse Inn. On one such night, a certain series of curious circumstances led the narrator, Thomas, of this particular tale to recount his story from his schoolboy days. The reader gradually finds out along the way about a generous, albeit mysterious, donation of decrepit stuffed zoological specimens to the old school. Ever since then, seemingly supernatural cases crop up throughout the village. All seeming to lead back to the dead stuffed animals housed within the school building.
To be honest, I haven’t read many books like this before. What made this book stand apart from others, is that while it does have a storyline, it is accompanied by many theological and philosophical debates. I was more used to novels in which it is purely focused on the plot, but it is clear that in the case of this novel, the ensuing discussions spawned from the story were as important to the book as the actual tale itself.
Unexpectedly, I found that this combination worked out much better than I had anticipated at the start. The plot was interesting to follow. I felt a bit like a detective, trying to piece the story and the mysterious happenings together into a picture that might make sense and is something I can personally believe to be the correct course of events. Over the course of the novella, the reader realizes that there are in fact two stories, if not multiple, contained within one, which I actually enjoyed and fully appreciated at the end once I realized what was going on.
The core theme of the book is truth – or more accurately, our perception of the truth. The discussions and the back of forth between the different sides of the same coin were really intriguing and written in such a way that every argument had a valid point. The purpose was clear: to provoke thought and consideration in the minds of the readers. To not take all the facts of life at face-value. To perhaps look beyond the obvious and find a truth that’s right for you. To question yourself: what is the truth? What is my truth? I personally really like deep discussions that might go against normal social conventions or thoughts, so I sincerely appreciated the thoughts the author put behind this novella because while it may be a quick read, there are many memorable quotes that stick in the reader’s mind and thus might even impact how they perceive the world at large.
However, halfway through the book, these debates started becoming excessive to the point where I felt that many of the same arguments about belief, faith, truth and religion have been rehashed over and over again, just worded differently. Even though this is a book clearly grounded in philosophical thinking, gently prompting the reader to think about these things while continuing on with the tale instead of having entire sections of theological discussion revisited again might have been more enjoyable and captivating.
The writing style itself was pleasant to read with a lot of very elaborate imagery that conveyed the desolate atmosphere that seemed to permeate through the village after the first haunting incident occurred. It was a very sophisticated tone, but in certain parts of the story, I was unsure if it was entirely suitable for a young schoolboy and his group of friends, who I thought might not necessarily always express themselves in that way.
Due to this being a retelling of a tale, there are some transitions between the present time and the past. This has been executed very well, as I was able to distinguish, most of the time, between the present Thomas thinking about his story and interacting with his listeners and the actual Thomas uncovering the happenings in his village.
All in all, this is a short read but definitely worth the time as debates about truth are especially relevant in our current society, where news and media can document events differently and deliver their own versions of the truth, distorting our perceptions. In that way, this story, despite its supernatural and mystical elements, draws parallels to our own lives: just like in this book, we have to decide for ourselves what’s true.
Final Thoughts: A well-written and thought-provoking read with strong relevance in our own culture.
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This made me think of the early Stephen King books I loved reading years ago. The writing is very well done and the wistful narration adds so much to the already well thought out plot. The Thomas character is well-developed and multi-layered so you really feel for him and feel draw into the story and subsequently his experiences. I’d never read anything by Graney previously and this was a pleasant surprise for me how much I enjoyed The Bat. As this is the second book in the Red grouse Tales I’ll be going back to read the first, and future additions as well.
British author Leslie WP Garland has served successful as a civil engineer in the UK, the Far East and Africa, and as a photographer, and now he turns to writing stories he groups into various books as The Red Grouse Tales. THE BAT is one of these stories. Leslie lives in Northumberland, England.
Reading the Foreword we discover the background and meaning of the name for this fine series – The Red Grouse Tales: ‘Quite how we’d got into this story telling thing is something that eludes me now, but somehow we had; the “we” being a group of us who had met usually, though not exclusively, at “The Red Grouse Inn” on the first Thursday evening of each month. “The Red Grouse” was an old coaching inn run by a charming landlady called Jenny. She had been married once upon a time, but things hadn’t worked out and after her divorce she’d ended up buying the inn. It had a warm, cosy, homely feel to it – red carpets, dark oak wood panelling, benches with cushions and heavily varnished tables – and if you liked sitting round one of these tables and having a few pints of Jenny’s excellent real ale and a chat on an evening, then this was the place for you! Then, on one such evening, one of our company told a story. It came completely out of the blue, with no prior discussion or anything to suggest it would happen. What I do recall is that that first story, whichever one it was, had us all entranced, so much so that at the following meeting a story was almost expected and thereafter we started to look forward to those Thursday evenings not just for the social chit-chat, but for the story that we would hear that evening. Due to the spontaneous and informal nature of the story telling it never occurred to me, or anyone else for that matter, to take notes or write anything down and it was only afterwards that it struck me that those tales might be worth saving for posterity, if that doesn’t sound too pompous! Hence, because this was done very much “after the event”, the result is that what follows is from my memory of what was said, and I fully realise that this may have failed me on some of the details and so offer my apologies to both the original tellers of these tales and you the reader, if this is the case.’ A fine taste of the author’s prose, this.
And who could resist an invitation such as this – the opening door to explore the marvelous stories Leslie shares. THE BAT relates the adventures of Thomas and his friends, the joys of youth and the fractures of coming of age. The focal point of the story surrounds a classroom with a new teacher and a collection of stuffed animals donated to the school by a benefactor Perhaps an odd gift this, but a portal to explore the unknown: the ‘stuffed’ animals are not inert – and a bat in a bell jar emerges full of mysterious presence, The manner in which Tom and friends respond is the essence of the coming of age ordeal, and Leslie relates it in a manner that is at all times thoroughly smart and entertaining. Exceptionally fine writing and a fine invitation to follow these Red Grouse Tales!