by Kathy Keegan
Review by: Slantedlight
Review
The second of two Keegan stories in the Nut Hatch zine "Full Circle", I found this far more readable than In the Mood. I can't help but enjoy the lads hungover and wondering what went on the night before, and so it started well for me. Unfortunately there is still the odd lecture-type moment -we are told within the first page, for example, that "Alcohol loved to puddle in body fat - the fatter the drinker, the worse his hangover would be" (which is why Bodie suffers far worse hangovers than Doyle, according to Keegan). True or not, I find the tone used to explain such "facts" reads unbearably smugly to me. I don't want to know how clever an author is, and I especially don't want her to tell me, I just want to see the lads in their world!
The dialogue reads more truly to me than in her previous story ( shorter sentences, less "explain-y") although there are still many things that I personally can't imagine either character saying or thinking - not least the way they choose to resolve their dilemma. Both too dramatic and too simplistic, imnsho!
For me: readable, but not re-readable!
(Slantedlight, October 2007)