Rating: 
Summary: Turn the Telescope on yourself
Review: While never leaving the field, the snow and the ever growing hole, we the reader are taken on a journey through time and minds. Using the words of the Teacher and the Baker, we are transported to different times and different settings. Not just narratives of days gone by, but 'scenes' generated by a combination of facts from history and imaginative deliveries. From acted out documentaries, to plays, to a trial where the the the judge, plaintiff, witnesses and defendant are all wonderfully portrayed by the baker and the Teacher. Different ways of presenting the philosophies and events that have lead to the discussion of why the history of civilization is inseparable from the history of mass violence. The novel is spoken through the eyes of the Baker. We see the tensions and philosophical differences between himself and the Teacher. We experience each others struggles to enlighten the other on the ways of life as they see it. The stylization of Donovan's writing is simply beautiful. While reading this book I wanted to post numerous excerpts for all to see. I refrained from doing so simply because I would have recreated the novel and by breaking up the passages, would have done a great injustice to the prose that is found within these pages. Ok, so I will post one passage here:
Hardly a day for momentous events, and anything written in the book of history about today would be erased by fat grey clouds that shed cold crystals everywhere and anywhere, on the pine trees, on the lights and spires of the town visible a mile away in the dim morning light. This was a day to hide things in. The gusty wind found every footprint and filled it in, along with its direction, and our presence in the field would leave little impression and even less evidence. In fact, that November 25th offered nothing to the senses to distinguish it from any other winter day in earth's rotation and the rotation of air through every pair of lungs or under every pair of wings. But it's well known that all events have to occur in a day of some kind. I dare not give any hints on the ending of such a novel for it would ruin the excitement of turning each page while in your hands. Because of this I will stop my discussion here.
| 
