So, one month, six books, and a lot of thinking to do. Not knowing anything about any of the books (and, Carey aside, any of the authors), I went in with an open mind, and I enjoyed the process a lot. Five of the six books were very enjoyable, and I'd certainly like to read some of the previous works of the authors involved.
The shortlist was varied, with settings from early America to contemporary London, and very different styles of writing, themes raised and emotions evoked.
The book that had the strongest emotional effect on me was 'Room' - perhaps unsurprisingly. It was a story that quickly captured me and that was difficult to put down without finishing. Clearly it's not a book to gladden the heart, but as a demonstration of the power of literature it was a fine work.
'Parrot and Olivier', 'In A Strange Room' and 'The Long Song' were all very enjoyable, well crafted and telling interesting and relevant stories with universal, uniting themes that were easy to follow and captivating. None of these books were too forceful in their approach, they let the stories flow slowly and were well-written.
I didn't enjoy 'The Finkler Question', but it was certainly well-written; as my review says, I just didn't quite get the point of it, and didn't find the tone quite right.
Which brings us onto 'C'. It's a huge favourite with the bookies, and I can see why; of the six books it is the one that seems to be the most full of information and is a tangled web of strands that are hard to separate. Reading it, though, one has the feeling that it may be a masterpiece, just one that is too complicated on the first reading to appreciate. The tightness of the writing contrasts with the more leisurely style of some of the other entries, while the sheer number of themes involved is impressive.
I think 'C' will win. It's not the book that has had the biggest effect on me, but it's the book that I'm most likely to read again, and the book I most want to read about (I haven't read any other reviews since starting this exercise, so may have missed the point in a few!). 'Room' is the book that stirred my emotions the most, but I think Tom McCarthy will be the man celebrating this evening.
Thanks for reading the reviews, it's been fun.
Toby
Monday, 11 October 2010
C - Tom McCarthy
This dense, wide-ranging novel is packed with different strands that recur, cross over and combine to create something that is highly complex – too complex indeed for a single reading.
The book follows the life of Serge Carrefax, the son of a faintly wacky scientific innovator whose work concentrates on the biggest scientific development of the early 20th century – the first communications revolution. As Simeon, Serge’s father, creates grand plans for sending voices and images over wires, Serge’s deaf mother runs a silk business. Serge and his sister, Sophie, are encouraged to be academically inquisitive, and the whole household is something like an academic Royal Tenenbaums, with various funny incidents and curious relationships.
Serge is socially distant, sharing a rivalry with his precocious sister, but seemingly having few interactions outside the household. As he progresses through life, including time in a German health spa, a descent into hard drug use as a pilot during WWI and finally as a researcher/spy in Egypt, we see him continually finding more fulfilment from his inner voices than from relationships with others. Indeed, Serge seems to see the outside world as somewhere distinct from his own sphere, a place that he is merely observing from afar – spying on reality to report back to his own imagination.
Communication is a key theme, with frequent references to codes hidden within newspapers, to Morse Code, to séances ‘communicating’ with the dead, and of course to the new possibilities that radio and telephonic communication brings. Serge’s father, when he is not experimenting with new technology, runs a school for the deaf that promises to teach its pupils to speak, through understanding that speech is a matter of shaping’s once mouth and expelling vibrations of air – bringing communication to those who were previously mute.
‘Vibrations’ is one of a number of recurring words within the book that cause the reader to tie strands of the story together and which give the impression that the reader is involved in a masterplan that is obvious only to the author. These words, such as ‘soma’, ‘beetle’, ‘tumour’, ‘perspective’ and various references to Greek literature, often passed over my head, suggesting that this is a book that may well reveal more on the second reading.
McCarthy’s writing is jam-packed, with not a word wasted, and seemingly every single sentence carefully planned so as to tie in with the overall game that is played on the reader. It’s not an easy book to read as a result, and requires work and patience. As an overall work it’s impressive – if only I could work out quite what it all means!
The book follows the life of Serge Carrefax, the son of a faintly wacky scientific innovator whose work concentrates on the biggest scientific development of the early 20th century – the first communications revolution. As Simeon, Serge’s father, creates grand plans for sending voices and images over wires, Serge’s deaf mother runs a silk business. Serge and his sister, Sophie, are encouraged to be academically inquisitive, and the whole household is something like an academic Royal Tenenbaums, with various funny incidents and curious relationships.
Serge is socially distant, sharing a rivalry with his precocious sister, but seemingly having few interactions outside the household. As he progresses through life, including time in a German health spa, a descent into hard drug use as a pilot during WWI and finally as a researcher/spy in Egypt, we see him continually finding more fulfilment from his inner voices than from relationships with others. Indeed, Serge seems to see the outside world as somewhere distinct from his own sphere, a place that he is merely observing from afar – spying on reality to report back to his own imagination.
Communication is a key theme, with frequent references to codes hidden within newspapers, to Morse Code, to séances ‘communicating’ with the dead, and of course to the new possibilities that radio and telephonic communication brings. Serge’s father, when he is not experimenting with new technology, runs a school for the deaf that promises to teach its pupils to speak, through understanding that speech is a matter of shaping’s once mouth and expelling vibrations of air – bringing communication to those who were previously mute.
‘Vibrations’ is one of a number of recurring words within the book that cause the reader to tie strands of the story together and which give the impression that the reader is involved in a masterplan that is obvious only to the author. These words, such as ‘soma’, ‘beetle’, ‘tumour’, ‘perspective’ and various references to Greek literature, often passed over my head, suggesting that this is a book that may well reveal more on the second reading.
McCarthy’s writing is jam-packed, with not a word wasted, and seemingly every single sentence carefully planned so as to tie in with the overall game that is played on the reader. It’s not an easy book to read as a result, and requires work and patience. As an overall work it’s impressive – if only I could work out quite what it all means!
Thursday, 7 October 2010
The Long Song - Andrea Levy
This is a story about the last days of slavery in Jamaica, containing a general look at the concept of status and its perception.
July is the daughter of a female slave; her father a white farm overseer who never recognises July as his own. Her mother, Kitty, lives a tough and depressing existence harvesting the sugar crop, and July seems destined for the same life. One day, however, July catches the eye of the property owner's sister, and is brought into the house - a promotion in terms of ease of life and status within the slave community - to work as her maid. The book, written autobiographically by a middle-aged July, looks back on these days.
In 1834 slavery was abolished by Queen Victoria, although all slaves were required to work a 4 year 'apprenticeship'. Thereafter any workers retained required payment and were free to move. As the book takes us through this period, we see the attitudes of the characters changing, with the former slaves increasingly content to challenge their former masters, now their legal employers. Meanwhile, attitudes amongst the white population differ as to how far to extend civil rights to the locals. In particular it is shown that the stick remains a more useful tool than the carrot in these early, shifting days of universal freedom.
Earlier in the book we are introduced to a former slave who, having stolen from his master, is able to purchase his freedom (for £200), and smugly struts around the area, satisfied in the knowledge of his perceived higher social class. The white population, however, make little distinction when sharing their contempt for the locals. Meanwhile, the slaves compete through their owners - teasing the slaves of others for being unattractive, or poorer than their own. Post-abolition, class is determined by racial make-up, with characters keen to emphasise their relative lightness of skin and disconsolate to find their mixed-race children darker-skinned than they had hoped.
In this remote enclave of the Empire, the white settlers also compete to be socially superior, with every detail of a dinner party scrutinised for flaws or suggestions of poverty. Ill-disciplined or untalented slaves bring shame to a household in this small community where gossip is ubiquitous.
Levy writes with a light, casual tone, even when describing some of the darker sides of the period, perhaps befitting July's limited writing experience. She frequently writes conversations phonetically, which is generally easy enough to follow, and slips in the occasional moment of farce to lighten the mood. I enjoyed this book more and more as it went on, and found it interesting to see how, after the revolution of abolition, very little changed in essence - rather like in Orwell's Animal Farm. The historical element was interesting, possibly because I knew little of it previously, but it was the study of status and its universal nature that I appreciated most.
July is the daughter of a female slave; her father a white farm overseer who never recognises July as his own. Her mother, Kitty, lives a tough and depressing existence harvesting the sugar crop, and July seems destined for the same life. One day, however, July catches the eye of the property owner's sister, and is brought into the house - a promotion in terms of ease of life and status within the slave community - to work as her maid. The book, written autobiographically by a middle-aged July, looks back on these days.
In 1834 slavery was abolished by Queen Victoria, although all slaves were required to work a 4 year 'apprenticeship'. Thereafter any workers retained required payment and were free to move. As the book takes us through this period, we see the attitudes of the characters changing, with the former slaves increasingly content to challenge their former masters, now their legal employers. Meanwhile, attitudes amongst the white population differ as to how far to extend civil rights to the locals. In particular it is shown that the stick remains a more useful tool than the carrot in these early, shifting days of universal freedom.
Earlier in the book we are introduced to a former slave who, having stolen from his master, is able to purchase his freedom (for £200), and smugly struts around the area, satisfied in the knowledge of his perceived higher social class. The white population, however, make little distinction when sharing their contempt for the locals. Meanwhile, the slaves compete through their owners - teasing the slaves of others for being unattractive, or poorer than their own. Post-abolition, class is determined by racial make-up, with characters keen to emphasise their relative lightness of skin and disconsolate to find their mixed-race children darker-skinned than they had hoped.
In this remote enclave of the Empire, the white settlers also compete to be socially superior, with every detail of a dinner party scrutinised for flaws or suggestions of poverty. Ill-disciplined or untalented slaves bring shame to a household in this small community where gossip is ubiquitous.
Levy writes with a light, casual tone, even when describing some of the darker sides of the period, perhaps befitting July's limited writing experience. She frequently writes conversations phonetically, which is generally easy enough to follow, and slips in the occasional moment of farce to lighten the mood. I enjoyed this book more and more as it went on, and found it interesting to see how, after the revolution of abolition, very little changed in essence - rather like in Orwell's Animal Farm. The historical element was interesting, possibly because I knew little of it previously, but it was the study of status and its universal nature that I appreciated most.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)