Something Beginning With is a book with a unique concept: it's a novel, told in encyclopaedia format. Alphabetised entries tell the story of Verity Bell, a young woman dealing with a tricky boss, a troubled love life, and life alone after the death of her parents a few years earlier. It's a great idea, and very well-written, but would the concept turn out to be too gimmicky to really tell a good story?
Well, yes and no. Sarah Salway's use of the alphabet is a gimmick, but it's not just used for that reason- it does actually enhance the story: at the end of most entries is a short list of other entries that illustrate the same point- which can be used to cement a point the narrator is making, or to undercut it in order to make the reader laugh. It allows for a lot more fluidity than a traditional approach and the fact that each entry can be taken as a work in itself means that the quality of writing is excellent. Sarah Salway usually writes poetry and the succinctness of her language is probably a reflection of this. However, although it is possible to flick backwards and forwards throughout the book, I'd still recommend reading it from front to back, or you'll spoil the story for yourself (and probably get very confused!) If you truly could move back and forwards through the book like a real encyclopaedia, I don't think it would make a good novel, as there would be no story at all.
In fact, that was what disappointed me about this novel: it's very short, and I felt the story was a bit flimsy. It's also rather depressing- a young woman is very isolated, for no particular reason. Yes, she had rather unsupportive parents, who are now dead, but nothing much seems to be happening in her life, and I wasn't sure why. She didn't seem sad enough to be clinically depressed, and yet she had no confidence or 'get up and go'. The type of modern women's writing that I (and I think most of you) enjoy best is when women overcome obstacles, or grow in confidence, or achieve something. This story was instead very downbeat and pedestrian, and there was just something missing- it had no heart or vibrancy and reading it was a bit of a hollow experience.
Sarah Salway is an extremely skilled stylist, but her next book really needs more substance.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Like this? Try Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer.
