Andrew Miller (1) (1960–)
Author of Pure
For other authors named Andrew Miller, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Image credit: Photo by Rul Xavier
Works by Andrew Miller
Alternatives 2001/02 1 copy
Graduation 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Miller, Andrew Brooke
- Birthdate
- 1960-04-29
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- England, UK
- Country (for map)
- UK
- Birthplace
- Bristol, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Witham Friary, Somerset, UK
Spain
Ireland
Japan
France - Education
- Middlesex Polytechnic
University of East Anglia
Lancaster University
Members
Reviews
Fun reading about the previous life of an area of Paris I know well!
I was disappointed in this book as I expected it to be more about the Troubles of Northern Ireland. Instead, the Troubles act as a backstory. Stephen Rose, son of a Quaker, enlisted in the Army and finds himself as a British soldier in Belfast. He has an encounter with a young man and shoots him killing him. Apparently the young man was not holding a gun and was not a threat; however, being a British soldier, he is not charged with any crime. Now, years later, he is a recovered alcoholic working in a nursery. He receives a notice that he is asked to appear at an inquiry in Belfast regarding the killing. Although he is assured this is a truth-finding mission, he will not be charged of any wrong doing. The sister of the young boy is to also make a statement.
At the same time, Stephen is attempting to build a relationship with Maggie, a daughter who has never been a part of his life. The story unfolds as a writing that Stephen is making for Maggie explaining his life. The backstory of his relationship with Evie, Maggie's mother unfolds.
It's not a bad story, just not what I expected. More of a character study thann a plot-driven book.… (more)
At the same time, Stephen is attempting to build a relationship with Maggie, a daughter who has never been a part of his life. The story unfolds as a writing that Stephen is making for Maggie explaining his life. The backstory of his relationship with Evie, Maggie's mother unfolds.
It's not a bad story, just not what I expected. More of a character study thann a plot-driven book.… (more)
The Slowworm's Song shares similar preoccupations with Andrew Miller's previous novel Now We Are Entirely Free. Once again he interrogates the issue of atrocities in warfare, this time from the perspective of a former soldier who made a terrible mistake in the heat of the moment in Northern Ireland and has never recovered from the guilt. Over the course of his life he took a partner and had a child but his alcoholism destroyed that relationship. When the story opens in 2011, Stephen Rose is in middle age, living on his dead father's farm in Somerset, working halfheartedly at a garden centre and alone except for the companionship of the local Quaker group. He is sober because he has a counsellor and medication from the Bristol Liver Institute, but he knows his sobriety is always tentative.
Into this half-life comes a summons to attend an inquiry into that long-ago event. For the benefit of readers not familiar with the exhumation of events from the Troubles era in Northern Ireland, Miller alludes to the controversial Saville Inquiry, set up in 1998 to investigate Bloody Sunday. At vast expense, it reported 12 years later, overturning the findings of a previous inquiry, said to be a whitewash. Stephen is not reassured by the bland tone of the letter.
On the brink of a tentative relationship with his now adult daughter Maggie, Stephen decides not to go, and explains why in what becomes a long confessional letter, written with the promise of truth because part of being sober is being honest.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/02/18/the-slowworms-song-2022-by-andrew-miller/… (more)
Into this half-life comes a summons to attend an inquiry into that long-ago event. For the benefit of readers not familiar with the exhumation of events from the Troubles era in Northern Ireland, Miller alludes to the controversial Saville Inquiry, set up in 1998 to investigate Bloody Sunday. At vast expense, it reported 12 years later, overturning the findings of a previous inquiry, said to be a whitewash. Stephen is not reassured by the bland tone of the letter.
In the last paragraph I am informed, by way of reassurance, that the Commission is not a court of law, that its sessions are private, that it is not their intention anyone's evidence should form the basis of a prosecution. Am I reassured? Not very. The Saville Inquiry reported last year. You must have seen something about it on TV. Perhaps you were curious as to why so much time and money had been spent trying to make sense of fifteen minutes of mayhem in an Irish city forty years ago. (Someone in Parliament, a Tory MP, worked out how many Apache attack helicopters you could buy with the millions spent on the inquiry.) Anyway, the soldiers — those men of the Parachute Regiment involved in the shootings — were offered anonymity and told they could not incriminate themselves, but it already looks like that won't stop prosecutions. It's possible some of those soldiers, men in their sixties and seventies, will go to prison. (p.5-6)
On the brink of a tentative relationship with his now adult daughter Maggie, Stephen decides not to go, and explains why in what becomes a long confessional letter, written with the promise of truth because part of being sober is being honest.
And it's not — I hope — only selfishness, not just what I would lose. I don't believe you've given up on having a father, I think you need me to make the effort. I've failed in so much! I don't intend to fail in this, not for them, not so they can keep raking over the sorry history of that place. How about raking over some of what their own did? That should give them ten years' work. Why poke a stick in the best? I was sent there, Maggie, and younger than you are now. That makes me a criminal? And what if you came to look at me like that? If one day you were to look at me as some of the people in that room in Belfast would look at me? Could I survive it?
At last, an easy question!
I could not. (p.11)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/02/18/the-slowworms-song-2022-by-andrew-miller/… (more)
Lists
Booker Prize (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Also by
- 7
- Members
- 3,367
- Popularity
- #7,576
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 114
- ISBNs
- 194
- Languages
- 14
- Favorited
- 7
Miller conjures a vivid picture of the daily round in this little part of eighteenth century Paris: the smells, whether of sour breath or rotting vegetables or a dusty church; and of a world about to change, in the destruction of the cemetery and church which has for so long been at the heart of the community Baratte finds himself in. Violence and death are ever present.
Unsettled by the narrative, the reader is left with an impression of a world about to change, a world which is already changing in ways its citizens cannot comprehend. Uncertainty is what draws the reader in.
… (more)