The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

One of my favourite books isThe Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg and The Testament of Gideon Mack is a modern retelling of that story.  The original was published in 1824 and set in the late 17th and early 18th century.  Gideon Mack is set between the 1950s and 2005.  The best way to enjoy these books is to read both.

I read Justified Sinner at school, possibly for SYS English or higher English and I loved it.  A few years back I saw a play in the Tramway theatre that was an adaption of the book (again modernised) and more recently I have been trying to read other novels that borrow from Hogg.  Gideon Mack is one of the best.

I understand that Robertson won prizes for Gideon Mack and made the long list for the Booker prize. The book should have won in my opinion.  It is well written, readable, thought provoking and sad whilst being funny.

Gideon Mack follows the format of Justified Sinner with an introduction from the 'editor', the main text from the Testament written by Mack, and a fact checking post-script commissioned by the editor.  Taken as a whole, like Justified Sinner, Mack proves to be an unreliable narrator.

The story tackles religion, belief, hypocrisy, happiness, sadness and concepts about truth, self reflection and evil.  The characters are well rounded.  The world portrayed is similar to the Scotland I have grown up in.

I encourage everyone to read this book.  I'm sure it will be a feature of Scottish Literature courses until Scottish Literature courses no longer exists.  It will be constantly compared with it's ancestor and there will be discussion about shared characters and sly nods from Gilmartin.

I intend to read more of Robertson's books.