Rachel Reviews: Killing Lizards by William Boyd

Those of you who read my reviews regularly will know that William Boyd is one of my favourite all-time authors. His writing is literary and complex but easy to read, and whenever I pick up his books, I am suffused with a warmth that comes from a total reading immersion, knowing that I am being carried along in the stream of word flow and that this will be a satisfying experience from start to finish.

When I found this little book (and it is little, comprising of short stories and only 84 pages long), I knew that I would read it straightaway, pushing aside my other reading obligations to indulge in Boyd's prose, like comfort food for the intellectual soul.

Four stories make up this Penguin 60s' book, the idea being that you could read it in an hour, I'm guessing. Either way, I was transported immediately into four completely different worlds.

The first story is Killing Lizards, set in Africa. It is a coming-of-age tale but also one which shows how resentment can be formed from perceived betrayal into something damaging and potentially destructive.

The second, Not Yet, Jayette, is a tale with an upbeat narrator who is down on his luck, so it would seem, but as the tale progresses and we get to know more and more about him, his actions, and the opinions of the people around him, a different picture emerges.

Hardly Ever is a story of horny public schoolboys using Gilbert and Sullivan as a means to meet girls. We follow Niles in his search for female fondling and it's a journey into pubescence and the yearnings and uncertainty which it brings. It's also a demonstration in how male pride needs to be conserved for fear of shame and embarrassment arriving instead.

The last story, Gifts, is a funny little tale about a young Englishman in Nice who describes his first uncertain days there but due to the things that happen, he discovers that he is feeling very confident that life in Nice and beyond is going to be good.

And that's your lot. Is it the best William Boyd fiction I've ever read? No. Is it good? Yes. Is it a good place to start your reading of him? Mmm, probably not as although the shortness of the collection makes it accessible, his novels have more depth and development, a slow build through well-crafted plots and tension alongside well-conceived dialogue, that perhaps these stories do not convey to the greatest extent.

But it's still bloody good fiction.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐