Title: The Extra Large Medium
Author: Helen Slavin.
Page Count/Book Type: 229. Paperback.
Annie Colville can see dead people and for some reason they’re all wearing chocolate brown.
Since she was a child, Annie has been able to see and speak to the dead. But when her husband disappears suddenly he does not come to visit her. So is Evan still alive? During her long wait to discover what happened to Evan Bees, Annie searches through her mother’s vast collection of lovers for the other missing man in her life, and struggles with the questions her gift asks of her. Who is the mysterious girl who sits by the lake? What happened to the lost woman whose sister has never stopped searching for her? And why are so many of the dead voices called Jim?
Quirky, irreverent, moving and a little bit spooky The Extra Large Medium will charm you completely — even as it’s raising the hairs on the back of your neck.
I was not “charmed completely” by this book in the least. I picked it up for 99p and perhaps that should have been an indicator to me of the quality. There were definitely some nice moments in it, some moving moments, and I liked some of the techniques that Annie used as a medium. I certainly felt it was quite well researched in places but in others the narrative seemed flaccid and dull. My main complaint is that the book is too ethereal in the narrative style, it’s like 229 pages of exposition; I never felt like I was present for any of the action, not until right and the end and maybe that was Slavin’s intent. I can see why she would aim for this fragile feeling to the work; Annie as a character is very fragile and I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I actually liked her quite a bit as the protagonist but the insubstantial narrative really undermined a lot of the writing for me. Especially when the so called mystery surrounding her husband is actually revealed. I felt no impact. In the end this isn’t a book I would recommend to other people, I read it because I am fascinated by mediums and spiritualism personally, I’m not necessarily a believer but I think it’s an incredibly intriguing area to explore through writing, but this novel just didn’t live up to its own potential for me.
