Clock

Nick Hemsley
Lulu (2006)
ISBN 1411696247
Reviewed by Kelley Anderson for Reader Views (01/07)

Nick and Elizabeth, a married couple, are having a few problems. Elizabeth has insomnia, is a workaholic and is sleeping with a client. Nick is a school teacher who runs down a little girl with his car and becomes haunted by that night until he no longer has a solid hold on reality. After some soul searching and sharing of secrets, Nick and Elizabeth realize they don't love each other any more.

Elizabeth buys a painting from Korinne, who is an assistant to "Mad Jim," a painter who has figured out that a reputation for being insane sells a lot of paintings. Korrine paints a haunting picture of a little girl's terrified face in the rain, which strikes Elizabeth, because this is the girl who has been haunting her husband.

Mad Jim's mother, Emily, takes up friendship with Henry, a closet cross dresser. With Emily, Henry feels accepted and appreciated. He hides his fetish from his wife Ivy, a nurse that is having an affair with Norman, a patient under her care. Norman has a fascination with fixing clocks, caring for one until it is perfect condition and then restoring another and another.

When I was finished with the book, I felt very sad for all of these characters. Nick and Elizabeth seemed to find out the hard way that love will not stay alive unless you continue to nurture it. They had been living together, day after day, and never really thought about one another. When a crisis came along to challenge their existence, instead of holding strong together or leaning on each other, they crumbled and fell apart.

There are so many characters and so many subplots, it left my head spinning. Nick and Elizabeth were the only characters I really felt a strong pull toward. The other characters seemed to insert themselves at random times, and while I was thinking "That's a coincidence," I didn't enjoy their presence, nor did I especially want to know what happened to them.

Also, the style of writing the author used made this a very hard book to read. Each paragraph is a thought fragment of one of the characters without transitions between. You are never really sure who is speaking to you until toward the end of the paragraph, or in far too many cases, ever. There is some very good writing in the book. For example, "Weather forecasters are all thin; they have to be, to fit in between the west coast of Ireland and the edge of the screen," really stuck out to me as clever. Jim's fear of airplanes described as "Jim's fear came from the fact that he didn't believe it and if everybody ceased to believe it then maybe the thing would come crashing to the ground like a stone." is another one of those gems stuck in the middle of random thought bubbles. I enjoyed the writing immensely, I just wish there had been a better flow to the entire book. I can see the direction the author was trying to go with the book. The random thoughts lent an air of mystery and you felt as if you had been knocked sideways at each new revelation. Some of the jumps from one character to the next really needed some transition as there are still some paragraphs that I am not sure who is speaking.

I think this book would be most appropriate for college-aged people. It requires time and attention to fully digest and there are many parts that really make you take a look back at your life experiences and challenge your preconceived notions about the people around you. College students are critical thinkers and could make the most of this story. Seeing the pain and despair the characters suffered through takes a great deal of digestion and questioning and students are young enough to not have their beliefs set firmly in stone.

“Clock” smashes eccentric characters and troubling circumstances together and lets fate take its course. “Clock” is neither ordinary nor conventional and challenges you to reexamine yourself and people you think you know well. The characters can teach us a lesson in kindness to others and not judging others by what we see. It takes us deep into the minds of the characters; looses the very thoughts that should never be spoken, but still cross all of our minds.

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