2 out of 4 stars
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‘The Key-Stone of the Bridge’ is about four old friends who reunite at a remote mountain shelter in the Scottish Highlands, due to the dying wishes of another friend. There is a ghostly theme that runs throughout the story.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s what I thought, but when I finally finished this book, I felt nothing but relief that it was over. It was like wading through syrup.
A lot of the story is filled with tales of the characters’ past escapades, which were perhaps supposed to be amusing, but I just found myself zoning out and skipping over them. They weren’t funny, and mostly centered on drinking, women, soccer teams and fooling about.
This book is definitely written for men. It is full of crude jokes, drunkenness, swearing, farting and the scratching of balls and armpits. As a female, I found it hard to relate to the characters, and they actually repulsed me a lot of the time.
I enjoyed the setting of the book, with all its authentic Scottishness: I would guess that the author knows it well. There are a lot of Scottish dialect words and many words are spelled as a Scottish person would pronounce them. I enjoyed this aspect, but I am half Scottish and therefore was able to follow it (for the most part). I think those not so familiar could find this a challenge, and it could affect their reading enjoyment.
This book is not an easy read. It takes concentration, not just because of the dialect vocabulary but because chapters and chapters of the book are pretty much all dialogue. It makes it slow going. The majority of it doesn’t actually lead anywhere either. It doesn’t add to the story or shape the characters in any way. It is just endless jokes, crude jibes, more reminiscing, and then maybe some talking about their wives, before more jokes. It takes seven chapters before something happens and we meet another character outside of the group. There is only a very loose plot, which quickly became extremely tedious.
The story does have some exciting elements, such as when the weather gets serious out on the mountain, and when they are trying to make it back to their van.
The ghostly side of the story is also one of the better aspects, though it is a shame more is not made of it. I would’ve liked more spookiness throughout. The twist is a good one, but perhaps more could have been done with this. The characters don’t seem to be affected by the information they receive right at the end. I was disappointed by their lack of growth over all. Did they learn anything from their weekend together on the mountain?
At one point, one of the characters tells a modern version of the Robert Burns poem ‘Tam O Shanter’, though as I was not familiar with it, it took a little Internet research to discover what the original is really about. The idea of the ‘Key-Stone of the Bridge’ is from this poem, I discovered, as I had been wondering about the book's title. I was still unable to fit the significance of the key-stone into the story told in this book, however. Perhaps the link could have been more obviously hinted at for those of us unfamiliar with this Scottish poem.
I give this book two out of four stars as it was slow, with very little plot, and I just couldn't relate to or enjoy the characters. The Scottish setting and the ghostly elements give it some nice magic, and there are a few exciting moments, but it just isn't enough to make it an enjoyable read.
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The Key-Stone of the Bridge
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