Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Pig's Ear

I'm reading a book at the moment, Pig Island by Mo Hayder, that is set in and around my former stomping ground, Mid Argyll.

It's interesting and entertaining to read a thriller set in a part of the world I know so well.

But what is irritating is that there are factual inaccuracies that leave me questioning the author's knowledge of the local area.

She mentions Oban having cobbled streets - but I don't recall any. She mentions that Oban Police Station is a brick building on the main street. But it's a sandstone building away from the town centre.

Inveraray (misspelt Inverary throughout) has a Superdrug and a Holland and Barrett - which will be news to its residents. Not only has it been turned into a major shopping centre, it's now only 15 miles from Crinan - or Crinian as Hayder insists on spelling it throughout the book.

These mistakes are so annoying that I'm almost tempted to give up on the book.

Which is a shame, as it's an otherwise entertaining read.

3 comments:

Walrilla said...

Just look at it as poetic license. A lot of times, authors add things that are somehow necessary for the story, without them actually being there in reality.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing the glaring errors one finds in books. I've lost count of the misspellings of Helensburgh and Dumbarton I've encountered.

BTW Jock my Gary Larson pic is still there. As is this http://bigrab.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/the-far-side-by-gary-larson/ which I posted two years ago and is consistently the post with the highest number of hits on my blog.

Unknown said...

See that would annoy me to no end. I would not only stop reading the book, but likely hunt down its author to question him/her about the inaccuracies...:)

But that's just me.

Hi by the way - haven't been 'round to the blogs in ages. Miss you guys...:)