Mouth to Mouth - Antoine Wilson

 

This is one of those books where I had no real preconceptions and I found it an absolute delight to read. I suppose the premise was not an wholly original one. Two people who haven’t met for a long time, thrown together in a certain circumstance, in this case it’s a flight delay,  and the protracted revelation of one person to the other. In a way it is one story embedded in another but the backstory of how the two men became acquaintances is of lesser consequence when it comes to the main fiction, other than to highlight the difference between the two men and demand us to consider how the one became as privileged as he appears to be.

What makes the book so readable and so absorbing is the concise and well paced narrative with fairly short chapters. It doesn’t let up for a moment. I suppose it’s more a novella than a novel at under 200 pages but that’s another strong point of the book. To have spun it out to a longer book would possibly have rendered it tedious.

Whilst the main story begins with a near drowning incident, It’s mainly set in the art world, galleries and shows, hinting at the more nefarious side of dealing. There’s a curious sense of foreboding and what I like to call the “Patricia Highsmith“ effect, where you can see things take a wrong turn that could so easily be avoided were a different path taken.. The main protagonist, Jeff, pursues a vaguely Ripleyesque compulsion to find out all he can about the man who nearly drowned, Francis Arsenault, after saving him by giving, you guessed it, mouth to mouth. And sets Jeff off on a journey that seems doomed almost. I’ll say no more about the plot for I don’t want to offer any spoilers.

The recipient of the tale frequently questions why Jeff is telling him all this. But since he is a writer it’s strongly hinted that Jeff would like him to write it as a novel, perhaps. There’s a twist at the end that is possibly predictable but it emphasises considerations of morality within the book.

I think there is little doubt that the skill of the author, his intelligent prose and narrative construction elevates the story. The characters aren’t particularly likeable. They seem self interested, obsessed even. So as a reader you don’t necessarily engage with them. But as a work of fiction it has a surprising compulsion. Books are so frequently described as ‘unputdownable’ as some kind of publicity or sales spiel. But, genuinely, I couldn’t put this book down!

My thanks to Readers First for a copy.