Gold

Thomas Hollyday
Solar Sipper Publishing (2010)
ISBN 9780974128757
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (12/10) 

 

The first thing that practically jumped out at me after I cracked open “Gold” by Thomas Hollyday was that I have never seen a book typeset in quite such a bizarre fashion. The size of the font, the weird spacing, the separate paragraphs for most every sentence, the blank pages… While there is certainly some latitude in how a book is visually presented to the reader, “Gold” was out of any boundaries that I’ve ever encountered. And this was not simply an esthetic matter, but rather a real deterrent to a pleasant reading experience. The amount of text on each page was simply far smaller than usual, only around ten words per line, which resulted in constant turning of pages; and the average of seven to nine paragraphs per page made the whole book rather choppy.

The story of a young and surprisingly likeable and honest lawyer, John Neale, who is searching for a lost treasure after the sudden death of the beloved parish priest, is definitely imaginative and fun, filled with colorful characters, intriguing legends and enough action to keep the reader plodding along. And I meant plodding, not soaring. While I do not deny the appeal of the story and obvious wealth of the author’s imagination, the execution left a lot to be desired. There were so many issues I stopped keeping count of them. Just a few of them: the incredibly random punctuation (Is there a space between the period and the quotation marks or not? Have you ever seen a book where comma was placed in the next line, not after the word itself? Same for the apostrophe…), clumsy dialogue, weird pacing of the story… Oh, and then the obviously obligatory sex scene. While I am no prude, I truly do not think that every single book needs one, as much as the popular belief seems to be so. And if there is one, it should be enjoyable in some way. This simply is not: “She said nothing and he didn’t either, as he breathed deeply of her and his lips searched and tasted her face and shoulders as she moved on top of him, both of them seeking mutual sensations. They panted like animals with the instinct of each other, the sweat pouring off their flesh mixing with their heat and that of the sunlight coming through the glass. Then they erupted into bliss that they both needed in each other, their breathing cresting then becoming measured, her scent filled with his.” I was not sure whether to laugh or to shudder, and the latter decidedly not in ecstasy.

As evidenced by “Gold,” it is quite obvious that Mr. Hollyday enjoys writing, and I believe he should continue to do so. His rich imagination alone could be a basis for many more books. But I also think he should seek some truly professional collaborators, who could help him achieve a more mainstream and more polished finished product.

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