FEBRUARY READING ROUND-UP 2022

February has been a month of excellent reads: all of them, even the difficult South African novel by Mark Winkler.

Two stunning novels : The Book of Form and Emptiness (reviewed on 17 February 2022, https://wordpress.com/post/thebooksmithblog.wordpress.com/1386 )  and then:

The Anomaly by Herve le Tellier, translated by Adriana Hunter. Winner of the 2020 Prix Goncourt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prix_Goncourt.  Described, accurately, as  …  an existential thriller …. it was a mind-blowing, one-session read. The wildly original basic premise is that flight Air France 006 enters a huge storm, en route to New York, and the plane and its passengers are duplicated. #1 question is: how did this happen? Why? And now what? In search of answers the novel dives into science, religion and philosophy, plus psychology, human relationships, individual stories of (some) of the pilots and passengers.  What a read!  And the ending was hair-raising – shocking, actually. Not to be missed.

Go to https://youmightaswellread.com/2021/12/28/buckle-your-seat-belts-for-herve-le-telliers-the-anomaly/  for a comprehensive review.

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FICTION   

The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki.  See my review , link above.

The Anomaly by Herve le Tellier, translated by Adriana Hunter. Gallic wit, sophisticated thriller and brilliant translation

Human Croquet – Kate Atkinson. Magical realism reveals dark underbelly of middle-class English surburbia

A Promise of Ankles –  Alexander McCall Smith: Scottish serial novel, #14 in series; charming & gentle

How to Stop Time – Matt Haig: Historical Fantasy; magical and inventive

The Mystics of Mile End – Sigal Samuel. Coming of age in a Jewish neighbourhood of Montreal, exploring the mysteries of Jewish Kabbalah. Esoteric & fascinating.

The Graveyard Shift – D M Guay: Comedy horror; fun, trashy, escapist

Due South of Copenhagen – Mark Winkler. The bad, sad years of South Africa’s Border War in the 1980s. Futile, haunting & disturbing.

A Town Called Solace – Mary Lawson. Small town  drama in 1970’s Canada’s Northern Ontario. Difficult, fractured, child /parent relationships.  Grief, remorse and love play out.

THE BOOK OF FORM AND EMPTINESS

Ruth Ozeki’s  5^th novel, and a book I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.

Synopsis –  amazon.com

One year after the death of his beloved musician father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house – a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn’t understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant, a gentle hum or coo, but others are snide, angry and full of pain. When his mother develops a hoarding problem, the voices grow more clamorous.

At first Benny tries to ignore them, but soon the voices follow him outside the house, onto the street and at school, driving him at last to seek refuge in the silence of a large public library, where objects are well-behaved and know to speak in whispers. There, he falls in love with a mesmerising street artist with a smug pet ferret, who uses the library as her performance space. He meets a homeless philosopher-poet, who encourages him to ask important questions and find his own voice amongst the many.

And he meets his very own Book – a talking thing – who narrates Benny’s life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.

The Book of Form and Emptiness blends unforgettable characters, riveting plot and vibrant engagement with everything from jazz to climate change to our attachment to material possessions. This is classic Ruth Ozeki – bold, humane and heartbreaking.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but on finishing the book, I experienced a lingering  dis-satisfaction.

I enjoy Ruth Ozeki’s novels, and have no quarrel with her writing, or the difficult story line she pursued: grief, mental illness, coming of age (always tricky), homelessness; or the fact that she used a familiar trope, that of the energetic Zen nun who revives a decaying Zen temple and serves a dying master.

If the above sounds grim, be assured the book is not unremitting doom and gloom, there are vivid characters peopling the story, for example, the *Aleph aka Alice, who acts almost as a guardian angel over Benny as he navigates the darker side of the city, and the night-time mysteries of the Public Library

And Benny’s hapless mother Annabelle, who  unconsciously succumbs to hoarding because she’s overwhelmed by grief and circumstance.  I’ve watched, with horror, TV programmes on hoarders, but this is the first time I’ve encountered the illness in fiction. Ruth Ozeki is not afraid to tackle difficult topics of modern life.

A sub-theme of the story is that of the urban homeless, many of whom use the Library as a Daycare Centre – very necessary in the harsh North American winters.  For instance, there’s Slavoj, the drunken philosopher poet, obsessed with Walter Benjamin. He ‘s an influential figure in Benny’s Life, as is the enigmatic Aleph.

The novel is a long, meaty read and I think perhaps it was  the abrupt ending  that did not sit well with me after such a long, and detailed build-up. This said, don’t be put off the book, it’s a great read.

. * Not to forget the intriguing reference to the Aleph of the Borges short story.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aleph_(short_story)

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BLISSFUL BROWSING

What a joy to be able to enter a Public Library, and spend time wandering amongst the shelves, stopping in front of the displays of new books, picking out a book to study the back blurb, or read a few pages!

Who would have thought, pre-Covid, how special this activity would become two years down the line? I missed many things during the hard Lockdowns, and visiting the Library was high on my list.

I had a glorious time at Koeberg Library, just browsing. It took me a while, but that’s the whole point, isn’t it? There’s no substitute for holding a book in your hand, reading the reviews, flicking through the pages, reading the opening paragraph and the indecision : am I in the mood for this type of story? is the print too small or will I manage? have I had enough of this author ? should I give the author another chance? or – drat! I’ve read this one. Decisions, decisions.

Eventually I made my choices and here’s what I chose:

Heyns, Mulgrew and Winkler and South African writers. I’ve enjoyed Michiel Heyns’ books before. He’s an Afrikaans writer, but usually translates his own books. Luckily for me, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to enjoy his novels. And Matt Haig is an old favourite of mine, particularly one of his early – if not the earliest – book Whatever Happened to the Radleys? Its a wildly quirky novel about a family of vampires trying to reform their lifestyle and stop preying on the rest of us. Written, as I recall, in a deadpan style. I regret selling my copy.

Any comments or suggestions?