Dunster

The character development in this book is superb. You may start out liking the Dunster character, but just wait. A story about an accountant? No way! Don't be put off by that. At the heart of the story is an incident in WWII. All the folk in a small Italian town enter a church and are blown to bits. How/why did it happen? The writing is brilliant. The ending is sweet. Why aren't there more reviews of this book? I hope that lack doesn't mean there have been few readers. This is a book practically all readers will enjoy.

John Mortimer is a lawyer, and he writes this story in the persona of an accountant. For newcomers to his work that may sound unpromising; those who know him of old will know to expect better. As always, he is very entertaining and readable. As always, his mind is sharp and his eye for people and situations is ironic. He is not precisely a witty writer in the sense of turning out memorable sayings or sentences, although his style is polished and professional and his touch is light. Mortimer's humour comes from his detached and amused attitude, very sympathetic up to a point but more than a little superior, humane and involved certainly but distinctly above it all too. He is the product of a privileged upbringing and has a very obvious taste for the `better' things in life, but his inclinations are leftish, with the derisive view of conservative thinking that is not uncommon among his particular school of English intellectuals. This is a very English book by a very English writer. It dates from 1992, by which time he already had a major corpus of novels and plays behind him, notably of course the celebrated Rumpole series about the un-stellar humdrum lawyer memorably played in a television series by Leo McKern. His fascination with English legal processes has never left him, and obviously he writes about them with an insider's knowledge. Lawsuits and trials are a very reliable form of drama and entertainment, and I found that my own sense of expectancy and interest rose when we get to that part in the latter stages of the story. It's an easy hit in a way, but when handled by a gifted professional the formula never fails. There is certainly an element of suspense as we wait to hear the verdict, but the real touch of Mortimer is in his portrayal of the bullying and bloody-minded judge with his little-concealed bias towards the great and the good followed by his completely fair and balanced summing-up, fair and balanced not because the judge is either of those things still less because English justice is some shining lawcourt on a hill, but simply because the judge has his eye on the Appeal Court. The dull man's final quiet triumph over the flash man is typical Mortimer as well - it comes about through luck and it could easily have gone the other way. There might be a moral in it, but equally there might not. I'm quite sure the author wants to leave us guessing about that. He is quite clearly on the side of the dull man, but it is very questionable whether the outcome represents any kind of justice. All very readable, and with a convincing feel about it in the way the English behave, especially to each other, and an amusing and realistic depiction of life at Oxford in the early chapters. Mortimer is not a heavyweight in the sense that Waugh is that, but I personally like him a lot better. 5 stars? Why not?

Dunster is John Mortimer's most interesting novel to date and also his most underrated. It is a parable of betrayal and revenge, and describes the relationship between two men, one boring and ordinary (Philip), the other flamboyant and charismatic (Dunster), who have known each other since school. We meet them in middle age, when Dunster has just run off with his friend's wife. Dunster's confidence comes from his belief in his own abilities, especially his judgement of other people. Philip, by chance, gets the opportunity to undermine Dunster's judgement, which destroys Dunster. Ironically, it is Dunster's inability to grasp what Philip (or anybody) is capable of that leads to his undoing. Dunster has the charismatic man's belief that he can treat his friends how he likes because he's doing them a favour just by being there. Mortimer shows that even the most placid of people won't forgive if you treat them badly enough, no matter how charming you are.