My Thoughts on The Autodidacts by Thomas Kendall
by M Cody McPhail
A seaside town in England is the setting for this strange reality mangling story. Two families intertwine. A strange and creative human squats in a lighthouse writing his thoughts on time and space into a notebook. A love triangle transcends reality. A man with utensils for fingers proclaims portents of doom. Esoteric disappearances occur. Children come of age. People succumb to shifts in reality. Philosophical teenagers ponder. A marriage binds it all.
We live our lives day to day, sometimes unaware of any matters that occur around us. Sometimes we're drowning in thought and obsessing about possible outcomes. If and when we are in a dark mood, all is tinged with a murky and misty quality. It surrounds us. Permeates everything around us. To describe it is difficult. To pinpoint its nature could be impossible. We remember the feeling though. A smell can bring it back. Any reminder in time can flood our minds with memories.
To write exact situations that mimic reality and recreate certain occurrences with beauty and precision is a gift. Within the Autodidacts lie passages that feel alive. The love feels real. Empathy that gives you goosebumps. Another world in your mind.
This book is a gift to behold. Here is what great artists can do. They can communicate with the reader, onlooker, or listener. Books that draw you in like a vortex and hold you there, even when you are away from the text, are a rare present.
The world of the Autodidacts is dark, mysterious, filled with real people, filled with people loving one another. It is a world that is real yet surreal at times. All of it is relatable, no matter how strange the story gets. The philosophy within, as discussed between two of the younger male characters, can be difficult at times to grasp. With a bit of study, further depths are revealed. It gives the story a weight unique to most contemporary writing. The book doesn't feed you its contents with ease. It takes a bit of effort on your part.