Anne Donovan, Buddha Da
You may be forgiven for thinking Donovan’s novel could potentially be a load of philosophical crap riding on the back of The Alchemist-wave with a title like Buddha Da. However, this book is firmly rooted in grey Glaswegian reality. It tells the story of Jimmy, whose growing interest in Buddhism is slowly tearing his family apart. A pretty simple and unassuming plotline this may seem, but Donovan’s ingenious multilayered narrative lifts the story right out of the page and demands your attention.
The use of multiple perspectives, with chapters alternating between Jimmy, his long-suffering (and Catholic) wife Liz and their hormonal daughter Anne Marie, neither confuses nor threatens to merge into one big blur and Donovan gives subtle nuances to the narratives to add real depth to each. This is normal life, with normal people and normal emotions, and the characters are just rying to find the best way to live their lives. What makes Buddha Da so refreshing is the absence of the pretensions, epiphanies and spectacular explosions that are increasingly being added to novels to make them ‘blockbusters’, and instead Donovan allows the gentle humour and sharp observations to sparkle through. This enchanting gem of a story probably won’t change your life, but it will make you feel a little bit better about it.
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