Irregular reviews of recent reads:

All That I Am

Anna Funder

Anna Funder’s award-winning debut book ‘Stasiland’ is a fascinating read offering a unique insight into the machinations of the Stasi and those who resisted them within the walls of the former East Germany.

Her much anticipated novel ‘All That I Am’ also has a German theme. Set in present day and in pre-war Europe, it traces the stories of a clique of German left-wing dissidents who risk their lives in their attempts to open the eyes of the world, or at least their own country-men, to the insidious brutality of the budding Nazi regime.

Cleverly structured, the stories interweave past and present through Ruth, now elderly and infirm, who looks back on events from her home in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Her memories have been reignited by the autobiographical musings of the long dead revolutionary playwright, Ernest Toller, whose notebooks have now fallen into her hands.

We follow the group of dissident friends as they flee to London, where they still constrained from communicating the horror stories that reach them from their homeland for fear that the British government will revoke their visas and they will come to the attention of the Gestapo operations active within Britain.

Funder’s writing is strong and purposeful, her research both deep and wide. Based on real events and people, her novel illustrates the struggles those courageous ‘revolutionaries’ who predicted all that was to come and were shunned by a society in denial. These people lived in desperate times, fighting a battle without resources or power, facing constant danger and fear of betrayal. It would be years before history proved to them to be heroic standard-bearers of truth.

It’s a complicated structure for a writer to work with (essentially a story within a story) but deceptively easy to read. I saw Anna Funder speak recently at the University of NSW and she made it clear it is not an approach she would recommend as it ‘almost did her head in’ – I believe it. You only need to read her (or hear her speak) to get that she has both high intellect and emotional intelligence in spades. She should be enormously proud of two exceptional books to her credit.

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The Little Stranger

Sarah Waters

When my book group decided to read this novel, the term ‘gothic’ was tossed about and was initially a little off-putting for me. However, I picked it up with an open mind and thereafter could be found in bed an hour earlier than normal – enthralled.

The story is set in the countryside of post-war England and told in the first person by a local GP, Dr Faraday. Faraday grew up in the area and, as a boy, had visited the Hundreds Hall estate with his mother, who had once worked there.

Returning as an adult in his medical capacity to treat one of the servants, he is horrified to find the once magnificent house now crumbling and neglected. The owners, the once privileged Ayres family, have, like many gentry, fallen on hard times that can only be relieved by selling off chunks of land for the encroaching housing developments. Although not of their class, Faraday becomes increasingly involved as a friend when strange happenings in the house begin to take their toll on the family.

Waters’ first person narration by Faraday with his conservative views and old-fashioned turn of phrase is completely authentic – it’s difficult to believe the story was not in fact written by him.

She has cleverly keep her cast small and created beautifully crafted characters. The descriptions of the Hall itself are detailed and evocative and the thread of a compelling plot draws it all together.

****

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Eat Pray Love

Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert’s search for personal fulfilment has sold over 10 million copies and has taken off again with the 2010 release of the movie adaptation and tie-in publication. The right book at the right time, it has evidently tapped into a generation of women who have it all but are more lost than ever.

In ‘Eat Pray Love’ Gilbert shares the tale of her marriage breakdown and doomed rebound love-affair, the end of which propels her into the wider world on a mission to find ‘meaning’. She starts her journey in Rome, connecting with the joys of food, then on to India for spiritual enlightenment and finally to Bali where she hooks up with the (Brazilian) man of her dreams.

It’s a self-absorbed journey by a borderline neurotic but Gilbert’s self-deprecating humour, observant eye and top-notch writing skills make it an involving and entertaining read.

Does the movie do it justice? The visual medium of film allows us to witness the birth of an emotion but Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts) has so many emotions we end up with an overpopulation problem. Roberts does her best to depict the perpetually lovelorn Gilbert but weepy moments and wishy-washy dialogue fail to make it meaningful, let alone funny, in the way Gilbert achieves in her writing.

****

Freedom

Jonathan Franzen

There has been intense discussion around Franzen’s new novel as to whether it measures up to his previous one The Corrections for which he won a swag of awards and consequently set the bar high for himself next time around.

Freedom follows Patty and Walter Berglund from what appears to be the demise of their family life back in time through their meeting, coupling, parenting, betraying, parting, reuniting and redemption. In the process we follow the tributaries of their son, Joey and their friend, the uncompromising rocker, Richard Katz as well as a handful of other characters who are struggling to find their groove in contemporary America.

Franzen delivers ‘literary realism’ at its best. With strong confident writing he portrays characters – mostly unlikeable – who draw you into their messy lives to witness their wrong-headedness and inability to live with their own humanity. His story progresses and meanders at the same time feeling less like a plot than a life.

At 561 pages this is definitely an epic but Franzen’s clever structuring provides different viewpoints and varying levels of intimacy within those perspectives that make for an engrossing read and a story that just keeps on giving – you miss it when you’re done.

****

The Bookseller of Kabul

Åsne Seierstad

Shortly after 9/11, Åsne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist, spent four months living with the family of a bookseller in Kabul. Her goal was to reveal the Afghan perspective on politics and culture from the microcosm of one family. Considering this book has been translated in 41 languages and become Norway’s best-selling non-fiction book of all time – you’d have to agree she has succeeded.
Simply but beautiful written, Seierstad has managed deliver complex Afghan political history in palatable bite-sized chunks interwoven with the intimate details of the bookseller’s extended family life; which includes his mother, siblings, two wives and children. It probably speaks for itself that the bookseller subsequently sued the author and various members of his family were forced to emigrate as a result of the personal details revealed in the book.
Seierstad paints an unsympathetic portrait of a patriarchal society where men are tyrants, virgin wives are bought and owned by their husbands and women are punished, sometimes by death, for falling in love – and this is post-Taliban. The tedious, restricted lives of these women forced don the burqa in public for their own safety, is a revelation. A fascinating must-read.

****

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi

Geoff Dyer

Dyer is a writer’s writer and I have to declare myself at the outset as someone who thinks he is an absolute genius. He has the capacity to deliver stories, like those in‘Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It’, that have you weeping with laughter, as well as the most poignant, beautifully crafted prose in his stunning book about jazz ‘But Beautiful’.

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is a two-part novel or perhaps two novellas, inspired by Thomas Mann’s famous work. In the first part, we accompany the almost middle-aged and always reluctant journalist, Jeffrey Atman, as he takes his newly dyed hair on a junket to Venice to cover the Biennale. Avoiding the harsh reality of his paid commission, Jeff joins a swarm of wannabes who dash from one party to the next swilling bellini like well-heeled pigs at various troughs. At one of these parties he meets the girl in the yellow dress who quickly becomes the centre of his attentions as they get down and get dirty.

In part two, a different(more Geoff)travel journalist is sent on assignment to Varanasi, a holy city in India. Here, after some initial resistance to the mayhem of that city, he proceeds delve into and embrace some deeper aspect of it and almost goes a little nuts.

Invisible

Paul Auster

Auster’s fifteenth novel is, according to the New York Times, the finest he has ever written. High praise for much-awarded author who has written some fine books, perhaps the best known of which are The Brooklyn Follies and The New York Trilogy.

Invisible has four distinct parts. The first part sets up the story, which revolves around the relationship of the young aspiring poet, Adam Walker with the older, somewhat charismatic Frenchman, Rudolf Born, and his mysterious girlfriend Margot. The frisson between the three is further complicated when Adam has an intense affair with Margot while Born is away in France. Just as this scenario appears to be all but played out the story spins on its axis when Adam witnesses a violent crime that changes his perception of himself and ultimately the course of his life.

In part two, the manuscript of this story arrives in the hands of Jim, a former friend of Adam’s, with a request that he assist in its completion. Jim’s involvement takes on its own momentum as he does some sleuthing to find out the truth behind the story. The last part of the novel offers a completely new perspective from a third narrator who delivers one final twist.

Auster is the confident stylist performing technical acrobatics as he moves seamlessly across tenses, first, second and third person narrative and squeezes the juice out of the time, location, character and plot. Unputdownable.

****

Juliet Naked

Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby seems like one of the few authors you wouldn’t mind being stuck in a lift with – he’s witty, entertaining and spins a good yarn. Hornby’s latest offering takes us into the lives of Annie and her ne’er-do-well boyfriend, Duncan, in the British seaside town of Gooleness.

Duncan’s world revolves around his obsession with the reclusive American musician, Tucker Crowe. A committed ‘Crowologist’ Duncan maintains an active fan site despite Tucker mysteriously not having released anything for twenty years. When, out of the blue, Crowe releases a reworked album, Duncan, in his excitement, loses all objectivity and raves about it. Annie, however is more critical and posts a negative review on Duncan’s site. Surprisingly, she gets an email response from Tucker himself, agreeing with her, and soon finds in him a kindred spirit.

The fact that Duncan a highly annoying chap who cheats on the long-suffering Annie, adds to our snide satisfaction that she is, unbeknown to him, conducting a long distance relationship with his idol. Tucker finally comes to England, lands up in hospital with a heart-attack and eventually finds his way to Gooleness where he meets Annie and, eventually, Duncan.

Hornby’s writing appears deceptively simple but he creates genuine characters and offers hilarious insights into the mindset of a particular breed of ‘loser’ male with fanatical obsessions. The humour springs from their humanity and often misplaced perceptions – plenty of snorts of recognition to be had here.

****

The Road

Cormack McCarthy

The Road with its post-apocalyptic setting and nameless characters is one of those recommended books you resist reading because it sounds so bleak. Set in future America now destroyed beyond all recognition, the story follows a man and his son as they walk south in search of something – anything. The landscape is devoid of plant life, every building has been looted, the few people left on earth are wild and dangerous, ready to kill and eat their fellow survivors.

Strong and resourceful, the man is desperate but determined they should both survive. Treating his son with tenderness and understanding, he guides and protects the boy, teaching him to act with both caution and calculated risk. At times his love is reverential towards the boy as representative of the next generation saying of him: ‘If he is not the word of God, then God never spoke.’

McCathy’s unique writing style relies on precision and specificity. He doesn’t reach for his dictionary of synonyms, he doesn’t do adjectives – his nouns are simply the correct nouns. In paring every description to the essentials he achieves a miraculous reversal of the Law of Diminishing Return. He quenches thirst with the word ‘water’ and provides a banquet with ‘a can of pears’ simply because we know what such an item will mean to the man and boy.

While The Road is grim, set in a world that is endlessly gray, it’s essentially a story about love and faith and the power of hope that will have you in a thrall to the very last word.

****

Solar

Ian McEwan

McEwan’s name invariably sparks a lively discussion as to which book is whose favourite and perhaps this is because, despite common themes, each of his 11 novels is very different. His style has evolved over time from early sinister novels such as The Cement Garden and The Comfort of Strangers to the increasingly widely admired works of Enduring Love, Atonement, Saturday and On Chesil Beach.

His latest work, Solar, is a masterfully plotted concoction spiced with satire that draws the reader inextricably into the life of its hapless hero Michael Beard; a Nobel prize-winning scientist who has been resting on his laurels for several decades. Beard develops a plan to save the world from climate change disaster but at the same time is incapable of avoiding personal disaster. He manages to make the wrong decision for the wrong reason most of the time – and mostly gets away with it. Beard’s modus operandi involves every one of the seven deadly sins; even his blueprint to save the world and his reasons for doing it are both morally corrupt

McEwan delivers this potentially highly distasteful protagonist to the page with such clarity and insight that we tolerate his trespasses in the hope he will at some point do something admirable that will allow us to forgive him. As the story twists and turns, McEwan pushes up the heat for Beard then, just when all seems lost, he delivers a sliver of redemption in the closing moments.

Stunning writing with a sly sense of humour, Solar may possibly be the novel McEwanophiles all agree on as simply brilliant.

****

Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout

Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this novel is a collection of 13 interwoven stories drawn from the lives of the community of Crosby, a small town in coastal Maine USA.

The stories explore the lives of a number of characters in the town and each is beautifully crafted, resonant with underlying truth. Olive Kitteridge is the strongest character and the single thread drawn through all the stories. Stroud cleverly reveals her characters through the prism of Olive’s unreliable judgements and prejudices but still allows us to draw our own conclusions.

As a former schoolteacher for many years, Olive has been a person of influence in the community – not always making a positive contribution. She’s not well liked and is often domineering, belligerent and dismissive. She’s a difficult woman and unrepentant about her attitude, managing to drive away the son she adores and to alienate her daughters-in-law. Yet she is such a genuine character it’s difficult to not feel compassion for her as someone who intentions are good but whose actions often misunderstood.

The clever interweaving of the stories allows for deep exploration of a variety of characters and a series of compelling tales told from different perspectives. New York Times reviewer Louisa Thomas sums it up succinctly:  “It manages to combine the sustained, messy investigation of the novel with the flashing insight of the short story. By its very structure, sliding in and out of different tales and different perspectives, it illuminates both what people understand about others and what they understand about themselves.”

****

The Legacy

Kirsten Tranter

Set in Sydney and New York the story revolves around the complicated relationship between three friends and the subsequent disappearance of one of them. Ralph, Julia and later Ralph’s cousin, Ingrid, are pulled romantically in opposing directions; Ralph longs for Ingrid, Julia for Ralph. Nevertheless all three are close friends until Ingrid inherits a fortune, goes on a trip and falls for American art dealer Gil Grey.

Grey’s daughter, Fleur, is a former child prodigy revered by the art world. Ingrid develops a close relationship with both Grey and Fleur and, to the dismay of her Sydney friends, soon marries Grey and moves permanently to New York.

During, what turns out to be Ingrid’s final visit to Sydney, it is evident to her friends that Ingrid’s new life is not as happy as she would have them believe. When she goes missing in Manhattan on 9/11 her friends are forced to accept the inevitable truth that she has died in the tragedy but are haunted by many unanswered questions.

At Ralph’s request Julia goes to New York to find out something more of Ingrid’s life in the weeks and days leading up to her disappearance. Julia soon discovers that nothing is quite as it seems. Suspense gradually builds, layer upon filmy layer, as the thoughtful and observant Julia notes the fleeting expression or a significant look exchanged between two people.

A literary mystery with an excellent premise which Kristen Tranter has skilfully developed into a plot is both seductively simple and endlessly complex. It is perfectly paced so that it draws the reader ever deeper into the mystery surrounding Ingrid’s disappearance.