The Waste and the Destroyer
About this book
Lawrence O’Strega travels from London to Dublin to collect medals for his father and grandfather. He learns that stories of his father’s wartime heroism may have been invented. Meanwhile, Lawrence is hiding his commission-only job and the extent of his mounting debt from his girlfriend.
Debt, theft and deception bring his relationship to an end. Back in the council house where he grew up, Lawrence tries again. A career and marriage follow, but his sense of failure persists. His self-loathing hardens into a hatred of men, and he begins to contemplate acts of violence against them.
Darkly comic and morally uneasy, this sample explores inheritance, shame, masculinity, self-deception and the choices people make when every life feels like a mistake.
Feedback requested
The author would especially value feedback on:
- Pace
- Character
- Plot
- Writing quality
Both versions of Lawrence O’Strega are anti-heroes, just of different degrees. The disputed family medal initially gives the story something to work around, with questions about his father’s history sitting alongside Lawrence’s lies about his own life.
Some elements feel ‘real’, particularly the work, rent and relationship problems, and the ways Lawrence tries to avoid dealing with them. The closing sequence of the sample is disturbing, partly because the details are so practical and ordinary. There’s narrative tension generated by the mundane casualness of the bad things he’s doing and thinking and where this might lead.
The short opening sections and longer stretches looking back over his life can make it a bit difficult to see where the story is going. I’d guess some of this is intentional, but clearer transitions might help. Molly and Maire also seem to be seen mainly through what they mean to Lawrence. It’d be interesting to get more of a sense of them beyond that, though perhaps the whole book gives other characters more room. On the other hand, not everyone is interesting, so there is always that about characters if you’re trying to write in a ‘real’ way.
There’s enough here to make me curious about how the different strands develop, and whether the anti-heroes develop along predictable lines or not.
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