Metronome set on a Scottish Island – Tom Watson
TomWatson’s Metronome
Tom Watson is an author who really fascinates me after reading this book. I want to climb inside his head and have a nosy around. Who know what I might find? It would be one heck of an adventure though. The novel creeped me out and disturbed me and I had some very vivid dreams because of it. Eerie and uncomfortable but very intriguing and I have not stopped thinking about it.
BookTrail the locations in Metronome
Boarding Pass Information : Metronome
Destination : A small Scottish island
Author guide: Tom Watson
Genre: fiction
Food and drink to accompany: Just a pill….
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BookTrail the locations in Metronome
A very unique novel this. Sparse and raw , remote and bleak but there is something that pulls you to it and draws you in.
A couple have been banished to a (fictional) island in Scotland which has been their prison for twelve years. They are due for parole but the warden never arrives. With time passing, they start to wonder if they will ever be able to leave, to escape. They are tethered to the island by the need to take a pill every 8 hours and if they don’t take it, they die. There seems to be little to no sign of life here apart from them. Shipwrecks start to appear off the coast and this is spooky and unusual, However it does provide them with food and a few pickings if they are lucky.
BookTrail the locations in Metronome
It was interesting to find out that their crime was to go against the governments rules over having a baby. We are told that they went against strict laws and Aina fell pregnant. It’s all very The Handmaid’s tale although we never find out what the rules are exactly and why they are in place. Government control would be the obvious conclusion.
Then one day, a sheep arrives on the island having swum from somewhere. But can sheep swim? Where and how did it get here? That strange event starts off a chain of thoughts which spirals out of control. Metronome takes you on the journey down that chain and what a journey it is. The setting feels very closed off and limited as we only see the immediate area through their eyes. We see what they do which is ot much at all. I played a game as a child once where you could only see two cms around you at any one time and you had to navigate blindly really through a maze. This feels like that and I recalled the feeling of frustration, fear, the unknown and everything the characters must be feeling.
BookTrail the locations in Metronome
Metronome is a good name for this novel as it measures time, the unrelenting passing of time as on this island. There is a clock/timer which dispenses the pills they must take each day and again, there is the image of time ticking, counting down. I loved the mention of Yan, tan, tethera, methera, pip and googled it as it sounded like an old song of sorts and it interested me. Turns out it’s an old system for counting sheep that was popular in the north of England. With the mysterious sheep arriving on the island, this gave me the chills!
I have fully crafted a 3d Revolving island in my head where I can see characters arriving and living on the island. I can also see onto the island from a boat and so have the view of an outsider as well as having lived on the island for sometime.
Ironically as I was reading this, I kept popping M and Ms into my mouth without thinking. Like those pills eh? Is Tom Watson carrying out some kind of mind control? If we ever meet at a book event I will have to avert my eyes. Until his next book comes out. I’m definitely reading that.
BookTrail the locations in Metronome
Postcard details: Access The BookTrail’s Map of Locations and travel guide here
More books set on Scottish lslands
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Metronome
Twitter: @t_m_watson
