An Instance of the Fingerpost

Just finished a few days ago, I finally have a new review for you.

This is by far in my top five books ever read, and I think I finally found a book that lit another spark to keep reading. It was indeed a long read, but, being me, once I got through the first part the remainder became addicting.

Split into four parts with four different narrators, they all describe a specific point in time in England where Cromwell’s, I guess you can say ruling[??] ends and the monarchy resumes. All four narrators know each other, are mentioned in one another’s point of view of the tangled events that lead to a girl named Sarah Blundy to be put to death for a crime she may/may not have committed. I will not give the spoilers for it, because my hope is that should you also read An Instance of the Fingerpost, you too will become invested and mystified by how varying points of view on certain situations can become so different.

It seems that books that I consider top tier are ones that I take a lot away from, and it always seems to be a time when apparently it needs to be read. In light of all the bullshit that is happening in our world: high racial and religious tension, sexism, discovery, and the struggle of finding credible sources of information, this book hit those notes. Greatly written, I clearly did not catch on right from the get-go that you have to pay attention to all the details. Only in the second part did I start to catch on. This whole thing of the second narrator blowing off the first’s story completely because they have their own story to tell, the third dissecting and ripping apart the two previous to claim that theirs is the correct narration, and last narrator, at least to me, being a more mature individual by acknowledging that the others may be right, for he was not there with them in every moment so how could he know what a specific thing was said, but he also has little things to add that would shed light on what we as the reader perceive as the truth behind what happened. It reminds me of those “test” packets that we would get in grade school where it more or less was teaching you to read the whole thing through before you start answering questions. You could tell who read it through and who did not. It is more or less the same thing as An Instance of the Fingerpost and life. The moral of my TED talk: be thorough in learning information and be open to the fact that you may be wrong in some things. New ideas and concepts, people you have never met, etc do not need to cause fear and immediate rejection.

I appreciate that each narrator was given their own “voice”; they have their own tone and language. Besides the common thing that they insist that their story is correct, the four have this common characteristic that they are also innocent of any wrongdoing, that their actions are all completely justified, especially by God. Doctor Wallis might have some regret later on in life, but being taken in by duty to the government justifies his mentality. Marco da Cola is just an innocent temporary immigrant with a thirst for knowledge and saving lives, Jack Prescott is just on a hellbent mission to prove innocence, and Anthony Wood wants to find meaning that does not link to his overly devoted work.

On this rare occasion, I am actually keeping this book on the shelf. So if interested, get your own copy here.

10/10