‘Tell’ by Jonathan Buckley – The Life of an Inexcusably Rich Man as Told by his Gardener

 

‘Tell’ by Jonathan Buckley (2024) – 169 pages

 

I much liked and am impressed by the style of ‘Tell’. If ‘Tell’ had been written in the usual third person narrative style, there would probably have been a lot of dry exposition in order to tell the life of this rich man Curtis Doyle. By having his gardener relate it all in a conversational style, ‘Tell’ is a fun read.

“Different rules apply. And Harry’s right, of course. You see it all the time. The rich don’t pay – that’s what Harry was always saying. They get away with things.”

Harry is also on Curtis’s home staff at the “palace” and is a supposed friend of Curtis, but Harry is always making snide cynical comments about Curtis behind Curtis’s back. I particularly enjoyed Harry’s comments.

‘Tell’ begins with our gardener relating the details of billionaire Curtis’s severe car accident in Cambodia where he was almost killed. The psychic damage to Curtis was so severe that our gardener divides Curtis’s life into Curtis the First before the accident and Curtis the Second after the accident.

There have been women in Curtis’s life, both before and after the accident. His wife Lily died earlier, and later there are Lara and Karolina. He has two sons, Conrad and Karl.

“The women, before the accident. With them, I was usually wondering: “And what exactly attracted you to fifty-something squillionaire widower Curtis Doyle? It’s a cliche, I know, but maybe it is lonely at the top.”

At one point Curtis meets his real mother, the mother who gave him up as a baby.

“He didn’t dislike her. Disliking her would have made no sense. She seemed to be missing some bit of brain wiring that comes fitted as standard with most people. An empathy slip. That’s how Curtis put it. Feelings we take for granted were simply unavailable to her. She was an amazingly cold woman, but it was impossible to take it personally. She was what she was. He couldn’t resent her for it.”

His real father “had been a sperm provider with a bad personality, and that’s all.”

These descriptions of other characters are much more fun coming from the casual conversation of the gardener than they would be as dry exposition.

I can understand that ‘Tell’ may have been difficult to market to the general public, but it is a remarkably enjoyable book to read.

 

Grade :    A