Rough Music by Simon Kurt Unsworth

Rough music: (- n) a loud cacophony created with tin pans, drums, etc,; the cacophonous ringing of bells, hooting, blowing bull’s horns, the banging of frying pans, saucepans, kettles, or other kitchen or barn implements with the intention of creating long-lasting embarrassment. Sometimes, the sounds we hear in the dark have resonances that we cannot foresee… This story has a wonderfully simple premise and can check this content experience that beautiful premise. A man, called Cornish, is woken every night by a noise that only he can hear. Over a series of successive nights, the noise gets louder and louder and when he discovers the source he is forced to confront the truth behind the lies in his life. I liked the sense of ambiguity and uncertainty that flows through the narrative of this story. Is Cornish merely projecting his internal turmoil, are all the events he witnesses occurring just in his head or is something more sinister going on? As the plot unfolds the reader is given the opportunity to interpret the events that occur and draw their own conclusions from Cornish’s reactions. I read Rough Music a couple of times over the course of a few days and…