Cigarettes Book

INTRICATE. That's the best way to describe the storytelling style of Mathews. This book surpassed my expectations. I normally don't like stories about rich people in a foreign city like for example, the unreachable New York in say The Bonfire of the Vanities (1 star) because I personally have difficulty in relating to the characters. However, Mathews chose not focus his story on the characters' wealth or its consequences and in the process alienate a poor man like me. Rather, Mathews focused on the relationships of the characters that I think all readers will be able to see themselves in one or some of them.

The story starts with Allan who is married with Maud yet having an illicit affair with her friend, Elizabeth. Amidst the fraud in the world of art, horse racing and sexual intrigues, Mathews took the time to humanize each of them by showing their relationships to the people around them. Mathews particularly focused on showing who they are: life histories, strengths, weakness, eccentricities and what have you.

Each chapter of the book is entitled with the names of two of the novel's characters. So, each chapter can be taken as standalone story until the whole thing takes the form towards the end of the book as more and more connections are established. I have never seen anything as clear as how Mathews structured his plot. It is like a statue that started as a mass of clay and slowly, step by step, takes a form of a beautiful work of art. It is just enthralling for me.

The last chapter is mind-blowing. I read it twice but still could not figure out who is talking. I tried checking the existing Goodreads reviews but none of them are by my friends and none has mentioned about this last chapter.

Lastly, the thing that made me flip through the pages day after day? It's Mathews' prose. It's Hemingway like in shortness and crispness. It's playful like Jane Austen. It's creepy and intriguing like Aldous Huxley. Yet, it's different. Mathews is a league of his own.