The Little Man from Archangel – Georges Simenon

“She’s gone to Bourges” is the little white lie Jonas Milk tells when someone comments on his wife’s absence one morning. It’s more comfortable than the truth, which is that he has no idea where she is, having departed the previous evening, ostensibly to babysit for a friend, and not returned by morning; he suspects she’s with another man (again!).

It’s a small community in rural France and as word gets round and questions arise he has to furnish the lie with more and more detail, none of which can be corroborated, and as the weakly explained absence grows into days Jonas finds himself increasingly the subject of suspicious minds.

Eventually the police come knocking, and then even the truth is disbelieved. Worse, he finds out truths he’d rather not believe about his marriage and his standing in the community.

It is a good story of the “if only I hadn’t” variety where one false step begins a doom-destined path so hard to get off. As the plot moves forward, Milk’s background, from child refugee from Russia to unlikely marriage to a girl 16 years his junior is revealed, giving a fuller picture of the little man from Archangel, who is discovering how fragile his apparent acceptance into his adopted home actually is.

Simenon is a great writer, better known for his Maigret stories, but I think his other novels, such as this, give him greater freedom to express his range. Here, as ever, the story is unfolded with skill, the setting is atmospheric, the (translated) prose is succinct and the psychology of the protagonist is convincing and insightful.

White Noise – Don DeLillo

Jack Gladney is an American academic who has carved out his own personal niche at Blacksmith’s College-on-the-Hill as head of the unique Department of Hitler Studies, a set-up that rather sets the tone for the novel.

Blacksmith is a bit of a backwater and Jack bobs along comfortably with his blended family (fourth wife Babette and four children, of various mothers) discussing the issues of the day with them and with his colleague, Murray Jay Siskind. He’s a visiting lecturer in ‘living icons’ and has an opinion, a theory or an answer for everything.

The first part of the book treats the reader to some wry observations on (what was in the mid 1980’s) present day American life, with the recurrent themes of information overload and a low level but persistent fear of death. Then an ‘airborne toxic event’ occurs, requiring the temporary evacuation of Blacksmith and jacking up Jack’s anxiety over his mortality. In the final section a stronger narrative develops as Jack takes action to face his fears and resolve some issues, leading to an unexpected and eventful climax.

The book grew on me as it moved through its phases. Initially it provided an interesting, but academic, insight into the mid 80’s psyche, well written with a mixture of grim humour and plausible philosophy. Then as the characters’ uncertainties brought out their humanity I began to care more for their welfare, and by the end of the book I realised I had thoroughly enjoyed it.

Black Water Rising – Attica Locke

Jay Porter, black civil rights activist of the 1970's, has become ten years on, a qualified attorney and family man with a wife expecting their first child any day soon. After the deaths of King, Malcolm X, and a couple of Kennedy's, and the rise and fall of the Black Power movement, there are now equal rights, but in Houston Texas that does not mean there is equality.

But Jay keeps his head down and works hard at his one-man practice, eking out a meagre living from clients often without the means to pay, from whom he accepts goods and services in lieu. And it is one of these – a birthday boat trip for his wife – that sets off a train of events that will dredge up past feelings and test his current, head below the parapet, resolve.

Rescuing a woman from the river that night involves him unwittingly in a murder case that he can’t or won’t extricate himself from. At the same time he’s dragged back into the fringes of politics; pressed to open up an old connection with the current City Mayor to get her to intervene in a labour dispute, over equal opportunities for black dock workers, which threatens to spill over into the all-important oil industry.

The latter opens up old wounds and re-kindles some of his latent anger at injustice; the former makes him a target for mysterious forces that are trying to suppress the case. And somewhere behind it all is a bigger picture he can’t quite fathom.

The narrative follows Jay throughout with the tense current action interspersed with more reflective episodes from his past. The multiple layers and themes are well handled, interweaving seamlessly, and the prose is stylish and atmospheric, carrying the book easily through its 400+ pages.

By the end I had a quibble or two with elements of the plot and its resolution, but these were minor and did not detract from a good thriller set against an unusual and interesting backdrop of race, oil and power in 1980’s Texas.

Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe

Part of the ‘Into and out of Africa’ reading journey.

Set in what is now part of Nigeria in the back half of the nineteenth century; this short novel tells the story of Okwonko, a man of substance in his village and in the wider Umuofia clan.

Life is not easy in sub-Saharan Africa, what with rains and droughts, but from a difficult start in life Okwonko has made good. But change is on the way as the first white missionaries establish themselves close by and cultural conflict looms. The old ways, revered by Okwonko, are already weakening, and the white man’s challenge to the ancestral gods could threaten the unity and solidarity of the clan.

The life in the village before white intervention is well described, as from an insider rather than an external observer – the reader is left to intuit much of this alien world. Indeed this could be a science fiction or fantasy land so strange does it seem with its taboos, hierarchies and accepted violence.

The intrusion of the missionaries is related even-handedly; they are not portrayed as evil or grasping, just different and rather persuasive with their acceptance of those persecuted or rejected by the clan, for example twin babies abandoned (as abominations) in the forest by the natives or those harshly punished for other transgressions.

Through it all, Okwonko battles with his own demons, a fear that he has inherited his father’s weakness and failure, and a temper that is backed up with his strong physical prowess. These undermine his good intentions and hard work so it is not only the clan that is in danger of falling apart.

It is a short and fascinating read deserving of its reputation as ‘one of the first African novels written in English to receive global critical acclaim’. Sometimes that kind of praise can be off-putting, but don’t be - this is just a good book.