Kathleen's Reviews > Beyond Black

“'I’m sure it will be clearer,’ Al said, ‘when it actually happens.’”

What a peculiar reading experience. A kind of buddy novel, where the buddies are ill-matched and don’t get along at all. Alison, Al, is a psychic. She’s sensitive, caring, soft, overweight and tolerant. Colette, all-business, is jaded, thin and critical, and convinces Al to take her on as partner.

What ensues is a romp through the intersection between this world and the next--the space Al operates in, not of her own choosing, and a place where those who have died hover all around, annoying her like bullies, talking endlessly of food and the money people owe them, and taunting her mercilessly about her horrific childhood.

“Al’s mum forgot to send her to school. ‘Good grief,’ she said, when the man came around to prosecute her, ‘you mean to say she’s that age already?’”

Colette, who sees Al as merely a money-making proposition, doesn’t see the spirits, doesn’t understand them, and has no patience for any of it. Their relationship never works, but the two serve as foils for each other, pushing them along in their respective journeys to find themselves.

“A woman of my age shouldn’t be wanting tea, she thought. I should be wanting--I don’t know, cocaine?”

There was so much I loved here: the humor, the quirkiness, the many distinct and unusual characters. This could have been a five star read for me if it had been half as long. Unfortunately, I felt much of it was a slog through repetitive scenes.

But Mantel can write up one side and down the other, so I couldn’t help but enjoy myself. The most fun for me was when the pair moved to a gated-community-like new development. The way they treat their small-minded neighbors--people who struggle with one threat after another no matter what lengths they go to control their little world-- is hilarious.

I can already tell I’ll be enjoying the after-reading experience much more than I expected. I believe Alison is going to, dare I say, haunt me.