Title: A Mania of Love
Author: J N Pratley
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 9781514420218
Pages: 156
Genre: Fiction / Classics
Reviewer: Gillian Pemberton
Buy on AmazonPacific Book Review
A uniquely presented story, A Mania of Love takes readers on a journey to the Greek islands in three separate but intertwined tales. Author J N Pratley excellently blends history and culture with a modern story that explores love, human nature, philosophy, humor, and darkness.
Our narrator, Clarence, is temporarily moving to the island of Hydra. Being an author, he intends to rent a house there, and spend his time completing his novel. He is alone, as his beloved wife Nora has chosen to stay behind. Clarence quickly finds a place and settles in to write the story of Archie. Archie is a modern character based on Archilochus of Paros, a seventh-century lyric, erotic poet best known for inventing iambic pentameter and driving his love, Neobule, to take her own life. In short, the story is about an author writing a novel about a man whose character is inspired by a poet. This premise has the potential to become quite complicated, though the author weaves all three stories together easily.
To reduce the complexity, the book is essentially divided into chapters for Clarence and Archie. Odd numbered chapters feature Clarence’s ‘Journal’ entries that take place in Hydra and even numbered chapters chronicle Archie’s story in Paros. Archilochus is not a primary character, though his history defines Archie’s story and shapes Clarence’s Greek experience in surprising ways. The islands and their history provide the initial inspiration for Archie’s tale but as it evolves, it begins to mirror both Clarence’s and the famous poet’s lives. The author shows a love for Greek history and the islands in particular. The striking and well-imagined setting left me feeling as if I had been on my own Greek adventure.
As Clarence settles in, he begins to explore the island of Hydra. A dinner in a French restaurant introduces him to Lena, the waitress. He’s immediately infatuated with the petite woman who will also provide some inspiration for Liatrice, Archie’s love interest. She also provides a certain amount of intrigue and conflict. Archie’s life is meant to mirror that of Archilochus’, but at times Clarence’s own life does more to color Archie’s life and character. The connections between the author, Archie, and the poet are not linear, and as the stories unfold, they are delightfully unpredictable.
Pratley takes a lyrical and almost musical approach to writing. It’s a lovely style to read, but at times, the style borders on too wordy. Looking at the story as whole, I loved the plot, the surprising twists, the presentation of the characters, and even the philosophical explorations. However, in the process of actually reading the book, parts became overly verbose and tangential, which produced a disjointed experience. I feel as if I would benefit from a second read where I could avoid becoming bogged down by certain parts. That being said, A Mania of Love is an intelligent, creatively crafted story that will appeal to wide variety of fiction readers.
