Tag: All Along the Echo

Danny Denton, 2022

Read: April–June

Edition read: Atlantic Books 2022, 309 pages.

Modern/Experimental fiction

*Spoilers*

DJ Tony and Producer Lou take a road trip across Ireland running a call-in competition for the Mazda 2 they are driving. In an inversion of the Troubles, London is under a swathe of terrorist attacks and Irish expats are returning home; the Mazda is to be given to whichever recently returned emigrant wins the competition.

All Along the Echo takes an experimental form, with pages of radio static and graffiti, and there is a plenitude of voices, both over the radio and in person as it moves between perspectives. Despite the thought-provoking premise of the transposition of The Troubles, it all feels a bit low stakes: DJ Tony’s marriage is struggling (but it seems OK in the end?); Lou feels guilty about a time she cheated on her girlfriend (but this doesn’t come to anything?) and is worried about her missing cat (who her girlfriend eventually finds in – improbably – a sewer); there is teenage angst from a vulnerably housed graffiti artist (which feels a bit more real, but just ends when she makes some friends?); and there is a completely disconnected murder scene (everyone else is a recurring character – why not the ones in this?)

I was sold on the blurb’s declaration that ‘All Along the Echo asks us whether our lives ever add up to more than the stories we tell ourselves’. I was left unconvinced of this; whilst it is skilfully written, for the most part the character arcs were flat and ultimately it all felt a bit scattered, leaving me unsure of what it was building towards.   

Reading this review back, it feels a bit severe – the characters come across as real and the dialogue is convincing, and I was interested in seeing how the themes of a road trip, returning home and telling stories came together. It’s just that the story doesn’t add up to what it seems like it could have been. Whilst on a meta level that seems like it could be very clever – the narrative standing in for our lives – the execution has to match the ideas.  Given the interesting form, I am interested in seeing what else Denton has written.  

Worth reading? No.

Worth re-reading? No, but I am interested in Denton’s other books to see if the execution matches the ideas.