The Bright Forever by Lee Martin

 The Bright Forever by Lee Martin

A horrifying and yet extraordinary novel.

The Bright Forever is not bright at all, on the contrary, it is rather gloomy, but for all that it is an excellent work.

I have read it almost without a stop, very interested to know “who dunnit” and what on the earth was the meaning of it.

The meaning of such horrifying acts is to be found in the childhood and the inherited genes of the authors of such crimes.

Then there is the common guilt which is also explained at one stage in the book, when the questions like

-          What if, pop up

I believe in intervention and try and do that, sometimes on a limited scale and at other times with what looks like exaggeration.

There are a few examples at the pool where I go- the Radisson- and I will mention this crazy guy who keeps making the most extravagant assertions- that the EU is funding him to prevent a community from having more children and other outrageous, similar claims.

Quite often I warn people about this lunatic with the possibility of something bad happening- if not a murder and then the news crew asking how was this guy and the feeling of guilt that the answer would be- he was out of his mind but we did not do a thing.

As our mad man is peddling some pills that he claims come from stem cells and cure anything, and so we have the alternative in which the police bust him and whoever is talking to him at that moment would have to do some awkward explaining to do down at the station.

In the book people see strange behavior but they do not act upon it and thus we have a tragedy on our hands.

-          What if this character or the other would have said something interfered or took a stand?

There would not be an incredible book, but then one of the main personages would be safe and sound.

Raymond is in some ways the representative of pure evil, the essence of the anti-hero whose only excuse is that he is addicted to drugs.

The fact that he loves Clare is also pleading somewhat in his favor, for he brought solace to a lonely, wretched widow.

But then his crime is so terrible that there is a feeling that he should get a punishment as severe as possible.

I do not generally support the death penalty, but then there are exceptions to the rule and this guy is the type that deserves execution.

From where I see it, his statements- that he does not care for anybody and that the Mackeys and those like them should suffer just because they are rich and others like these- not just incriminate him, but make one wonder

-          Why do we have people like these- indeed can they be called people?

The situation is complicated by the presence of a teacher, Mr. Dees – who not only acts strange and then outright perverse, but shares in the blame and is ultimately responsible for the horrible crime, to what extent I guess it is left at the latitude of every reader.

Up to the end, I was not sure who has done what, with suspicions and trails, eventually with the thread of the crime becoming more apparent, but then new details came to light, previous statements are retracted.

And then there are lies and deceit, because all involved seem to share in the responsibility, from a very small degree to the ultimate, absolute guilt.

I was talking at the pool about how absorbed I have been in this book which was started only yesterday.

To my embarrassment, after telling my lawyer amigo about the intricate plot and how much I want to finish the last 20 minutes as quick as I can, he asked me what is the name of the book and I could not tell him.

I only finished The Moor’s Account yesterday and that took about 10 hours and stuck in my mind and as I started The Bright Forever I did not expect again such a great novel and yet so different, with the title giving no clue about the Dark Forever that is hidden inside the book.

The Bright Forever is a horrifying and yet extraordinary novel.