The Common Years

Rating:
Summary: Life in microcosm
Review: I had never heard of this book, originally published in 1984, and didn't know what to expect. It begins, straightforwardly enough, as diary of dogwalks and notes on local flora. But somewhere along the line, the story spins out into drama, as unpredictable as only a diary can be. Apart from the soap opera of local lives, the clash between the beauty of the common and the dark society that inhabits it is a theme that all city park-goers have to face. A caveat to dog-lovers: dogs get hurt and die in the course of this book, and some of it is hard to read. In the end, though, I was left with a story that will be turning over in my mind for many years.