Living With the Truth by Jim Murdoch

Written By: Jim Murdoch
Copyright: 2008
ISBN: 978-0-9550636-1-9

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Picture, for a moment, Jonathan Payne, probably the last person in the world you would expect to be the lead character in anybody's novel, a faded old bookseller nearing the end of a wasted life. We meet him alone in his flat in a seaside town in the north of England just waiting on Death to knock at his front door.

But life has something else in store for poor Jonathan. Instead of Death he gets to spend an infuriating two days with the personification of truth who opens Jonathan's eyes to not only what his life has become but what it might have been. He discovers what he's missed out on, what other people are really thinking and the true nature of the universe which, as you might imagine, is nothing like he would have ever expected it to be.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jim Murdoch, a Scottish writer living just outside Glasgow, is the character Beckett never got around to writing. His poetry appeared regularly in small press magazines during the seventies and eighties. In the nineties he turned to prose-writing and has since completed four novels, two plays and a collection of short stories. In his blog, The Truth About Lies, he discusses the art and science of writing, his own and that of other authors, and muses at length about his lifelong fascination with the perversity of language. Veering from the nostalgic to the acerbic, his blog will amuse anyone with a love of literature.
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MAMA BEAR'S OPINIONATED VIEW:
What would you do if Truth showed up on your doorstep one morning for a visit? Freak out, would be my answer. Amazingly Murdoch's character seems to take it in stride, the way he takes the majority of his life. Jonathan Payne is an unremarkable man, but a truly fascinating character for this book. A man who knows that "coffee without caffeine is like a pencil without lead, there's no point to it," finds himself suddenly entertaining a most curious visitor. He truly had simply been awaiting death, but that is not who came knocking this time, instead Truth drops in.
Truth actually may be the most bizarre character one has stumbled upon in a book, but the quirks Murdoch gives him endears you to him. You also might find yourself wondering if you know Truth for what it is. Always here, but only if we chose to believe.
This is the story of a man, who has lived a simple life, a bibliophile's paradise working in a library and then owning his own bookstore. He is rather frugal and feels no need to be materialistic but he cherishes his memories more than life itself. So, why does truth show up to through a dynamic monkey wrench into his existence? One wonders but is not left wanting as Murdoch weaves a delightful tale.
Truth comes to tell Jonathon that he has read about life rather than lived it. "He got the flavours of love and hate and life and death and stuff without any of the effort going through it would involve." He befriends loneliness, and rejects love after one failed attempt. For a short time Truth teaches Jonathon to live, to define love but to realize it doesn't always last, he even works with his brethren to bring Jonathon's one love back into his life for a moment. He teaches him that "life is like the Tardis -- bigger on the inside than the outside, with a cranky old man in charge."
Truth and Jonathon play off each other through the lyrical writing that Murdoch has for a style. As an American there were a few terms that were a bit difficult to comprehend at first but it took very little to understand the context and simply love a well written book.
I for one will be eager to see the sequel, Stranger Than Fiction, coming soon.
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