Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith

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Dream Angus
by Alexander McCall Smith
(Audio)

Apparently, a whole host of authors took up the challenge of re-writing myths from various cultures. Alexander McCall Smith wrote this one about Angus, Celtic “god of dreams.” I was only slightly aware of Angus (I knew more about Dhagda, his father, because a friend of mine used that as his online screen name) but I really enjoyed hearing so much of his story in this very personal up-close, storytelling way. AMS really gave me a good sense of him here and I liked how I got to know his mother and father as well. We learned of his origin, of significant events in his childhood, of his powers and quirks, and how he found love.

The introduction promised a modern twist on the myth, and so I assumed this meant AMS would bring the story to modern day and let it play out in some clever way in modern day like Baz’s Romeo + Juliet or modern versions of Cinderella. Instead, we got a back and forth between Angus’ story (set back in his own time) and something in our modern day between which parallels could be drawn. Instead of a set of two stories going back and forth, we get a whole handful of different stories. After we learn Angus has a special relationship with people who have been turned into pigs, we get the modern day story of a young man who works in a research lab where they do experiments on pigs, showing how he feels attached to one pig who is meant to be killed, for example. Most of the stories were interesting to me, but I’m not really sure they were interesting enough for me. I kept wanting them to end so I could hear more about Angus (though when a new one started, I admit I was excited to see how AMS would come up with modern day parallels to that part). I think the pig story might be my favorite. But I also really liked the last one, about a woman losing love and searching for closer of some sort.

Did I like this book? Yeah, I guess I did. Typically I either LOVE a book or I hate a book (and there are really only a handful of books I actually HATED). But I’m undecided on this. I think my rating actually does lie in the middle. This was really interesting and clever, but also a bit halting. Just when I was getting into certain stories, they would be over and we’d jump back again. Some of the stories were just so-so. And I liked that Angus appeared to people directly in modern day. But the stories on a whole did not impress me. And once they were over, I didn’t think much about them (unlike Angus’ story, which definitely left me entertained and wanting more).

I did really like the reader and his accents for different characters; those were flawless and entertaining.