The Impartial Recorder

by Ian Sansom

Big Davey Jones is coming home. He's been gone almost 20 years now, but nobody's forgotten him. Davey's a local hero, his miracle birth as the seventh son of a seventh son brought fame to this little town and they've been grateful ever since. But Davey's home town has changed much in the intervening years. The traditional family business like Billy Finlay's Auto-Supplies and Calton's Bakery and Tea Rooms have been replaced with 'Exciting New Housing Developments!' and even a nightclub called 'Paradise Lost'.The locals haven't changed much though. Bob Savory who always had it in him, has made a million with his company Sandwich Classics, and he's branching out now, with an Irish themed restaurant on the ring road. Francie McGinn, the divorced minister at The People's Fellowship, is still trying to convert the town through his Fish-and-Chip Biblical Quiz Nights and his Good Friday Carvery & Gospel Night. And Sammy, the town's best plumber, is depressed as ever and looking for solace at the bottom of the whisky bottle.Reminiscent of Garrison Keiller's ‘Lake Wobegon Days’ Ian Sansom's ‘Ring Road’ is a warm, humane, and sharply observed tale of small town life.

Genres: Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Heidi Marleau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I just had too much of Ian Samson books but I couldn't stay with this one. I wanted to like it but I gave up on it after a while. Just too much of a good thing, I guess.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book would have been more fun to read with someone else, chuckling together over the footnotes and trying to keep the cast of characters straight. It's like Lake Wobegone in northern Ireland, told by a townsman who appears to be an impartial observer, much like Garrison Keillor. The title comes from the name of the local newspaper, and the editor of that paper and the narrator agree that many of the changes that have taken place over the last 20 years have not been for the better: replacing of historic buildings with a ring road and roundabouts, a shopping mall, and chain stores. But a number of changes are happening now that could at least indicate a willingness on the parts of some people to broaden their thinking. Amusing.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, life in small town, Anywhere, UK... where one guy has made it rich ripping up the quaint downtown and selling land at high profit to a brand-new mall on the outskirts. Where people drown their sorrows in the pub or the whirlpool at the new New Age spa. Where the idealistic newspaper editor settles for less muckraking, more gossip. Funny, somewhat acerbic, but never actually depressing or overly cynical. Like Sansom's first mobile library mystery (which he published after this book and in which he uses the same newspaper name, The Impartial Recorder), the characters are by turns sympathetic losers and heroes in their own minds. Many chuckles, some outright guffaws.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely witty and laugh-out-loud funny...but very dry. I had to drag myself through it.

It is very like Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days in style. Except Irish and drier.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dry, subtle but hilarious sense of humour throughout -- I just loved this book. Reminds me of Stephen Leacock's small-town humour. I kept reading bit aloud to John so we could both laugh. Brilliant.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loved this book. Couldn't read more than a page or two before I'd be chortling and reading passages aloud, much to the disgruntlement of my husband. So fun to become acquainted with the town's inhabitants, and follow their lives as they earnestly followed their dreams. This was a GREAT read.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most apt way to describe this book is if you imagine the British version of Lake Wobegon. It consists of interconnected stores (with meandering footnotes). And it's quite funny, with some of life's pathos thrown in for good measure. Just like in Lake Wobegon!

[Laura Rodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this wonderful Irish writer and Sansom lays bare his soul again. He laughs at himself as his characters break apart with longing and angst.