Observatory Mansions Book

Edward Carey's debut novel Observatory Mansions has a touch of Gormenghast about it. A "small and peculiar group of people" live together in a decaying four storey cube in neo-classical design. It was once magnificent, set in beautiful grounds, but has now been transformed into flats, an island within a surge of traffic. The people themselves are anchored in disassociation, set apart from the rest of the busy city by their histories, their memories, their relationships with the other seven inhabitants of the flats. 37-year-old Francis Orme is telling the story of Observatory Mansions. He earns his living by becoming "a statue of whiteness" in the park. He wears white gloves to ensure that he never touches anything with his skin; this includes the items he picks for his museum of significant objects (there is an intriguing list of all 996 of them at the end of the novel), a collection that he guards zealously from the other house dwellers. The other occupants include his father, sweaty Peter Bugg, and bedridden mother, Claire Higg, who has "created for herself an alternative time frame called fiction". She lives through her television: "such beautiful lives, such beautiful lives."The house and its people are self-contained. Order and a vague harmony are maintained by a careful routine. But then along comes Anna Tap, half-blind and vulnerable. She is sympathetic, resourceful and slowly the residents begin to open up their long-closed hearts. The delicate balance of Observatory Mansion begins to shift and Francis finds himself having to protect the secrets of his past and the sanctity of his collection, while growing emotionally closer to Anna. The novel is a haunting comedy of mental and physical dislocation. Carey's writing is poised and oddly precise: the characters are eccentric but compelling. Observatory Mansions is strangely hopeful, a tale about how love and lists can transform your life. --Eithne FarryRead More