Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
Peter Finch
Seren 2009
As in the previous two volumes in the series, here Peter Finch gives an idiosyncratic and original picture of the city where he has lived all his life. As someone who likes to think he knows Cardiff well, I like the way he explores the byways of the city rather than simply rehashing what has been said a million times before. I’ve learnt a lot about the city from him, and his enthusiasm, tempered by a realism refreshing in a book of this sort, is certainly infectious. To me, a latecomer to the city, it’s also interesting to hear his memories of the Cardiff of the sixties and seventies, so much of which has now been lost. Finch calls this type of writing psycho-geography; it is fresh and original and I’m pleased that Cardiff has been given the treatment three times. However, I must admit I did sometimes yearn for a bit more concrete detail rather than the impressionistic approach he sometimes adopts. When I occasionally realised that certain details are actually wrong, it became additionally frustrating. (For example, he talks of a footbridge crossing Wedal Road which to my certain knowledge has not been there for at least 15 years, just as in one of the earlier volumes he identified a putting pitch in Llandaff Fields defunct for a similar length of time). This rather slapdash approach to editing / checking is also shown in the book’s ubiquitous spelling errors: distance measured in meters, and the height of buildings in stories, for example. I could sometimes do without the two extremes of Finch’s writing styles too: very long lists and very short sentences and minor sentences. Both are quite striking to start off with but can become wearing after a while. However, overall this is a book which will appeal equally to visitors to the city and those who have been here for a while, and that's quite an achievement.
19 April 2010
http://www.peterfinch.co.uk/
See also: The Big Book of Cardiff
|
|
