ANGLO-GERMAN NOVEL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21906, 15 September 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

ANGLO-GERMAN NOVEL

"TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND" Mr. Edward Shanks, who has produced sonic notably beautiful poems, has, in " Tom Tiddler's Ground," presented us with quite an indifferent novel. The real fault of the book lies in the fact that Mr. Shanks has chosen for hero a young man who is not worth writing about even as a secondary character; but to make him the hero of a long novel entails much waste of time both on the writer's and on the reader's part. Tom Florey's life is traced from his boyhood in the ancient town of Polth through his adolescence in Germany to his attainment of a position in London, where he seems to achieve nothing but the habit of drinking often and immoderately. Doubtless, the life mirrored in these pages is true to the point of realism; all is told in excellent English, but the subject matter is so little worthy of note that the reader closes the book with a feeling of boredom—if indeed he can endure to pursue it to its melancholy end. The best part of the story is that wherein the scene is laid in Germany, where the atmosphere is unusual and well sketched, the character of Undine Nagel standing out as refreshingly crystalline in a modern and somewhat decadent world. Tom's failure to marry the right girl, and his consequent unhappiness and final death, leaves a picture of melancholy futility in the reader's mind; and one wonders how the author of such lovely things as " Memories " and " The Rock Pool " can be satisfied with his latest, but unsatisfactory effort.

" Tom Tiddler's Ground," by Edward Shanks. (Macmillan.)