Confessing a Murder

Confessing a Murder starts with a question, "It is sweet to name a thing, for is it not by naming that we gain possession?" (p 2).

In the style of nameless narration this is the story of a scientist, exiled from England. He has been stranded on an active volcanic island for three seasons, studying the flora and fauna of his entrapped environment. He knows time is running out and hints by stating things like, the mountain has "other plans." He tells the story of how he got there interspersed with detailed descriptions of his discoveries on the island. Just this alone would make a fascinating story, but Drayson takes it a step further by included the fictionalized character of Charles Darwin as the unknown naturalist's friend and show more companion, implying, and then later announcing, the theory of evolution was imposed upon Darwin by this friend. This is a story of blind love and deaf, dumb, and blind greed.

As an aside, I couldn't get over the fantastical wildlife our nameless protagonist discovers. Birds that hibernate under water, vampire plants which suck the blood of birds. and many, many more.

The one quote I loved, "I do not know why we betray the things we love" (p 32). Hang onto this sentence because it will come back tenfold. show less

Actually one of the best books I've read in around a year. Being an evolutionist I was immediately caught up in the historical intrigue and description of some rather fanciful animals. Good book through and through.

historical fiction? the narrator is fictional but the main characters are not; the island setting is not a real place; some but not all the animal species exist; some of the events really happened but not most .... all results in a suprising novel ... sometimes with too much biological detail of reproductive habits of beetles or other species. Was Charles Darwin really called Bobby by his family?

I gave up on this book. It contains some excellent writing but, unfortunately, I found it slow and boring!