Pam's Book 11: The Pig Did It

"Aaron McCloud had come to Ireland...so he could, in solitary majesty, feel sorry for himself."

"Aaron had been unlucky in love. And now his body and his soul, trapped in perpetual tantrum, had come to parade their grievances within sight of the sea."

"At thirty-two Aaron had given himself permission to fall in love--or so he thought--with a woman inordinately plain..."

Aaron has been obsessed with the idea that Phila Rambeaux would fall in love with him. He had decided that he would love her, and why shouldn't she love him (the fact that her name is Greek for "love" is never acknowledged)? She is plain, he is handsome; he is a published author, she is an aspirant. He doesn't actually love her, but just doesn't realize that, at least not at first. Throughout the increasingly farcical story, Aaron finds himself less and less able to devote the time and energy to wallowing as he feels he should.

When he first arrives in Ireland, Aaron acquires a pig who adheres steadfastly to him, and this pig, as the title suggests, begins the whole ridiculous chain of events. The pig leads Aaron to meet the lovely swineherd Lolly, as well as Sweeney, a man who more than once saves his life. The pig discovers a dead body, but this story isn't exactly a murder mystery, because we never find out "whodunit." Aaron's (two years older) aunt Kitty thinks Lolly killed him; Sweeney thinks Kitty killed him; Lolly thinks Sweeney killed him. Yet who killed the man has very little to do with the stories, which is mostly about ridiculing Aaron and Kitty's pretensions. Aaron is pretentious about everything, and Kitty is pretentious about her work. Kitty "fixes" classic (and some contemporary) literature, changing names and story lines with abandon.

The Pig Did It was an enjoyable, fun-to-read satire. It is the first of a projected trilogy, but I can't see myself reading the other two books. I'm not really sure where the author is going to go from here. Maybe further into the lives of Aaron, Lolly, Kitty and Sweeney, but because of the satirical nature of the book, it's not exactly possible to connect with any of the characters in any deep way. I don't regret the time I spent reading this book, but I'm glad it was just under 200 pages.