Scrawling

Adventures of Neville Lansdowne

by Jonathan Gould

Neville Lansdowne drowned in a sea of words.

Of course, he didn't really drown. You can't actually drown in a sea of words. But you can sink a long way down into its depths, and that's exactly what happened to Neville.

Deep down in an undersea world constructed entirely out of words, Neville meets some peculiar new companion and soon finds himself in the middle of another strange and wholly unexpected adventure.

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 31, 2014

About the author

Jonathan Gould has lived in Melbourne, Australia all his life, except when he hasn’t. He has written comedy sketches for both the theatre and radio, as well as several published children’s books for the educational market.

He likes to refer to his stories as dag-lit because they don’t easily fit into recognisable genres (dag is Australian slang for a person who is unfashionable and doesn’t follow the crowd – but in an amusing and fun way). You might think of them as comic fantasies, or modern fairytales for the young and the young-at-heart.

Over the years, his writing has been compared to Douglas Adams, Monty Python, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, the Goons and even Enid Blyton (in a good way).

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book I’ve read by Jonathan. I follow his blog so I keep track of his projects and usually have a good idea how long it’s taken him to develop a work. You might think that he rattled this wee book off over a long weekend but the fact is he spent months on it. Don’t let its apparent simplicity fool you. That’s the thing about simplicity; it’s quite hard to get right. Jonathan has written books for children in the past and on the surface this reads like a kid’s book but really it’s one of those oddities—like Patrick Süskind’s The Story of Mr. Sommer —that is really only masquerading as a kid’s book and there’s actually more going on under the surface.

There are three Neville Lansdowne adventures: Doodling, Scribbling and now Scrawling. I’m not especially crazy about the titles for any of them but at least he’s consistent. I’ve only read the first one and this third outing follows a similar pattern: Neville ends up in an alien environment—the first one was outer space, this one is ‘underwater’—where he has to cope with the queer folk and creatures he encounters there and avert some kind of disaster. Normal laws of physics do not apply.

I like how this particular adventure begins:

Neville Lansdowne drowned in a sea of words.

Of course, he didn’t really drown. You can’t actually drown in a sea of words. But you can sink a long way down into its depths, and that’s exactly what happened to Neville.

[…]

The words were everywhere. They bombarded him from radios and televisions and computer screens. They assaulted him from posters and billboards, and the sides of buses and trains. No matter how hard he tried, Neville was unable to escape them.

The words begin to pool about his feet. They become puddles. And then the level begins to rise and in no time he’s gasping for air and about to get sucked under which is exactly what happens and he finds himself in a deep “wordy abyss”. The strange thing—apart from the fact he’s not drowning—is that it’s also quiet and peaceful: “the words no longer needed to batter into each other with such force.”

A stream of verbs brushed lightly against his cheek. Several shimmery, shiny adjectives spun around in tiny little vortices. A collective of nous bubbled up beside him. Neville watched, transfixed. He had never seen words behaving like that before. It was as if he had entered a whole new world.

You see where this is going. Jonathan has taken the metaphorical language we use and turned it into a literal world. Everything is made up of words including the fish but instead of a shark he encounters a snark who is, well, snarky and the same goes for all the others which I won’t list so as not to spoil the book but each creature he encounters can only treat words in one way. The snark, for example, finds it very difficult to say anything nice about anyone or anything. How could being snarky be of any use? Well he turns out to be invaluable by the end of the book because the crisis that has to be averted is a serious one: everything in Neville’s world (including Neville himself) is being turned into words and without the real word those words are beginning to lose their meanings. At the rate words are pouring into this underwater realm it’s only a matter of time before everything is swallowed up in meaninglessness.

It’s a modern fairy tale but its underlying message is a serious one. Do we really appreciate the power and diversity of words like we used to? I know when Neville first lands on the seabed I thought how it might have been nice if Jonathan had maybe had a creature who talked only poetry, in words you had to take time over but he didn’t and that’s fine. I’m sure he spent some time deciding exactly what aspects of words he wanted to highlight and which ones could work together towards his story’s end.

So, a charming little book. You’ll read it in an hour or maybe less if you’re a fast reader. But try not to rush it because a lot of care’s gone into this. It’s quirky and different and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a traditional publisher snap the series up as has happened with his novel Magnus Opum .

[Awesome Indies Book Awards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include SCRAWLING (Adventures of Neville Lansdowne) (Book 3) by JONATHAN GOULD in the library of Awesome Indies' Badge of Approval recipients.

Original Awesome Indies' Assessment (4.5 stars):

I've always liked Jonathan Gould's books. He has a unique quirky kind of style that is both humorous and insightful. This is the best of the Neville books so far. It's magical realism in that the whole thing is an extended metaphor. Neville is drowning in a sea of words. He is buffeted by words, swamped by words and hit by torrents of words.

He meets word fish, snarks and carps and groupers, amongst others. Their words have an effect on him and on their surroundings. Why is the carp so dingy compared to the other word fish? Because he's made out of words that belittle and carp on the negative. Colourful words create coral in this language metaphor. Wispy words wave like fern fronds and so on.
But as time goes on, Neville discovers that he too is turning into words. He meets a wermaid who tells him that the word world is taking over the real world. She doesn't see that as a problem until Neville points out that words only have meaning because they relate to something real in the real world, and the word world us getting very fuzzy. Then she decides to help him save the word world in order to save both worlds.

This is a short work, easily read in one sitting and enjoyable for all ages. It's a simple story, but sleek and well paced, and it builds to a dramatic conclusion. I heartily recommend it.

[Ciclochick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish, I wish, I wish Jonathan Gould would write a book a week. Well, that’s a tall order…perhaps a month. His writing is like an addictive drug.

Scrawling is the third time we catch up with Neville Lansdowne, who has already found himself falling off the world (Doodling) and pushing it out of shape (Scribbling). Only now, he’s drowning. In a sea of words. Neville bumps into a variety of undersea-of-words characters, and once again, he is called upon to save the day.

Jonathan never fails to delight, enthrall and captivate with his incredible and clever imagination and creativity.

This story is witty and sharp, but also satirical; satire is something Jonathan does particularly well. I guarantee this third outing with Neville will amuse, entertain and charm you, and like me, you’ll be fidgeting in anticipation of his next book.