I recently read Ali Shaw's fantastic Costa Prize shortlisted novel The Girl with Glass Feet and I absolutely loved it, it was atmospheric and incredibly original. So, when I saw that Ali Shaw had a new book out, I couldn't resist and Kindle had it on offer, so even though the hardback cover was heavenly, I couldn't resist. To be honest, the first few pages were a little hard going, probably because I was tired and the train was bustling, but it does begin with a journey. Elsa Beletti leaves New York in search of something different, a change of pace after the death of her beloved father and takes a plane ride out to a place she only saw once in her life from out of a plane window, Thunderstown. It is a place that is riddled with superstition, a backward little place that Elsa finds it hard to understand, especially the taciturn Daniel Fossiter, the towns official animal-culler. But when Elsa is exploring the four mountains that surround this mystical place she discovers Finn, a man who is not a man, he is a giant-hairless-recluse who she watches turn into a cloud. It is only her own mournful plea for him to stay that brings Finn back to earth and gives Elsa and Finn the chance to grow and learn from one another.
As with The Girl with Glass Feet this novel is shrouded in mystery, but Shaw's message is clear: it is more about accepting yourself than how other people view you. The host of characters Shaw has collected are all brilliantly drawn and feel quite real, which makes the whole set up almost creepily possible. I think, living in the UK does give you a certain affection for the weather, sometimes I quite enjoy it's unpredictable howling or rain, or incredible heat that arrives in March after a frost. But I could see how you could view the weather as an enemy, how you could want to control it and how this could take over a towns mentality. Chocolat never seemed that far-fetched, religion was always something that could turn fanatical and now the next step could be the weather - who wouldn't give anything to control the weather?
I have to say, overall while I enjoyed this novel and loved some of Shaw's excellent phrases and beautiful - almost loving - descriptions of tornadoes, storms and clouds, I found it lacking. The Man who Rained was somehow missing the energy and off-beat realism that came out of The Girl with Glass Feet. By the end, I was already pretty sure I knew what was coming and I felt that Shaw had to pull a bit of a miracle off to create the ending, which made it all the more unbelievable and shattered the spell I had been under. For anyone who enjoys reading magical realism do give this a go, but to be completely honest I still prefer The Girl with Glass Feet - so go borrow it from the library or buy it from a bookshop you will not be sorry!
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