Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead

This is an utterly bizarre and tremendously enjoyable read. This novel follows a summer in the lives of professional idler Ebin Willoweed and his family: the perennially unhappy and tyrannical Grandmother Willoweed, the family servants, and Ebin's three children, including the daughter who is clearly the product of her mother's affair, as she is half black, and Ebin Willoweed is not. One might think that this forms the storyline, but it does not. Hattie Willoweed is completely accepted by family and community. Her mother's infidelity adds a layer to the already dysfunctional antics of the Willoweeds. The real story is miserable plague, which follows close on the heels of a flood. As villagers become horribly ill then committ suicide in fits of fury, it becomes clear that something strange is afflicting the town. Comyns recounts for us what happens to the undeniably bizarre Willoweeds in a bizarre set of circumstances. The consequences are bittersweet and surprising. I stayed up late reading this book- it really kept my attention, and I read it all in one sitting.

In a small village a flood causes some death for animals and humans. The bizarre nature of a small English village flames out as the first deaths are followed by more and more of an increasingly disturbed and shocking nature. The realistic depictions of death and violence make the few acts of love and humor stand out in the novel. The novel challenges our respect for death, showing us how the thrust for life and a person's deep immersion in their own living enables us to resist horror and death. Is this hypocritical, practical, heartbreaking, or admirable? We are challenged, amused, shocked, and disgusted in this short but transforming read.