The Squirrel Cage

by Adrian Vincent

1962 Abelard-Schuman hardcover. BRITISH IMPORT. No ISBN. Adrian Vincent(The Long Road Home). A pair of Fleet Street reporters cynically exploit a Welsh evangelist in order to boost the paper's circulation.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Poke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not quite sure what to think of this novel. There is no information on author Adrian Vincent, and I cannot fully connect the other works listed here to him. This novel is about two Fleet Street Reporters named Gifford and Mr. Drew. Gifford is having problems with his romantic life, and Mr. Drew is disillusioned with the world and is suffering from a mid-life-crisis of sorts, becoming nihilistic with the output of his life. The novel was not too clear to me, but I believe it follows a Welsh Catholic who they are enciting or riled up to commit a terrorist attack. The prose of the book is the highlight of the novel, and the main part of why I kept reading, as Adrian Vincent does a beautiful job describing the scenery, people, clothing, and emotions of the characters through the use of odd imagery that jumps out of the book. The book's main focus is not the terrorist, but rather the two characters and how they deal with their jobs at The Globe; I believe Mr. Drew also deals with suppressed homosexuality, but I was not too clear in understanding it. I wish I had a better time understanding the text a bit better, and it does not help that there is very little information on the novel. The way the novel describes England as well is very beautiful and contrasts the nihilistic tone of both characters who suffer from the scandalous mindset of their jobs, and feel unable to express their lives in any other way. I picked this book up at a used bookstore, and it is the first novel I have read this year after being burnt out by Ulysses by James Joyce for one of my final classes for graduation, but this book was an easy read. Though the text was a bit confusing to understand sometimes due to the absence of a plot, it comes back around towards the end of the novel and barely continues with the storyline of the terrorist but rather focuses on the characters and how they deal with the events of their lives.