#BlogTour-‘Material Remains’ by Richard Bray

On a hungover Friday morning, archeology student Mike McEwan’s life of tea, pints, late mornings and the occasional essay comes to an abrupt halt. Consumed with guilt, grief and confusion, Mike haunts the ruins of St Andrews, rebuilding them in his mind and obsessing about the loss of someone he barely knew, unsure of his place in her life, or her death.
The discovery of an ancient plague burial site drags Mike back into contact with those around him. But life has changed, both for himself and others, and the burial ground holds more than the bones of those long dead. As university life continues around him, Mike peels back the layers of earth and its dark history, trying desperately to connect the victims of the past to the tumult of his present.

Today, I welcome you to my turn on the Random Things blog tour for  ‘Material Remains’ by Richard W H Bray

Published by Unbound, ‘Material Remains’ is available in paperback from 07/02/19.

As a university student, the details of the life that Mike and his friends lead is very recognisable and notable for its authenticity. They aren’t caricatures of a student, they are totally people that you knew during your time there. My reaction to them was very real in that I found them entitled, annoying and wished they wouldn’t be so flippant in their attitudes, much like the ones I see on a daily basis.

The pains that the author goes to to paint a rich and varied landscape are clear-I have never visited Scotland, or St Andrews in particular, but it feels as though you are walking down the streets , so clearly are the buildings and seascape rendered.

Mike was a hard character to get to know, it is a slowly burning character study of an emerging man who is hit with a tragedy before he really gets time to process it.

His casual attitude towards Charlie, the girl he takes home with him and who is subsequently found , dead, the nex day, and his aggressive language I found alarming-along with Charlie’s willingness to go home with him after he spoke to her that way on the very night they met.

I was unsure if this was a plot device to point out Charlie’s flaws , or to make Mike a suspect in her death but I foudn their entire encounter uncomfortable.

What I found interesting was the study of grief-did Mike actually deserve to be grieving after only knowing Charlie for one night? Was his process authentic? This is a question that only the individual reader can answer. However, I liked the juxtaposition of Mike being involved in an archaeological dig and uncovering the past as he literally buries his feelings in the present.

I did enjoy reading this book and am grateful for the opportunity to read ‘Material Remains’, and would recommend it, however I felt that Charlie was a victim of the story and was sidelined . She is introduced and dispatched very quickly and then a whole situation is created that she is not really a part of. But again, this is authentic as in real life, a death belongs to the people who remember them, rather than the person that it has happened to.

A very intriguing read that you really need to focus on and work at, and gets you thinking, ‘Material Remains’ by Richard W.H Bray is definitely worth investing your time in.

About the Author

Richard W. H. Bray is a writer and winemaker. His first book, Salt and Old Vines , won Best French Wine Book at the 2015 Gourmand Awards. He lives in London.

For more writing and to read Richard’s musings please visit the link below-

https://www.ishouldbewritingsomethingelse.net/about-1/