Disputed Land by Tim Pears

Read as part P of the “Along the Library Shelf” reading journey

Chosen because

I had mentally reserved “Stone’s Fall” by Iain Pears for my “p” book, but at the time of choosing that paperback looked a bit thick and gothic. Adjacent was this slim hardback with a contemporary and seasonal setting, and a prologue that drew me in.

The Review

The narrator, Theo, describes a watershed Christmas spent at his paternal grandparents’ farmhouse. Although the events took place when he was 13, they are contemporary, complete with I-pods and smart phones, but are related from his middle aged future. Cleverly this gives the narrative a mixture of innocence and maturity as Theo’s adolescent perceptions are presented and reviewed with adult hindsight.

The grandparents have brought the family together – their three children along with their partners and offspring - for a purpose that soon becomes apparent. Sibling rivalry, old sores and perceived favouritism quickly re-emerges. Young Theo tries to make sense of it all while at the same time dealing with the changing nature of his own relationship with his attractive young cousin Holly.

The backdrop is the timeless Shropshire countryside – the disputed land between England and Wales of which Theo’s grandfather is writing a history. But the title equally refers to the eventual disposition of the farm to the next generation.

The prose is elegiac and stylish; and the family relationships ring true; together providing a very pleasurable read.

Read another?

Probably – favourable review snippets for his previous book “Landed” are prominent on the back cover of this volume.

 

Saturday – Ian McEwan

Henry Perowne’s Saturday starts early when, waking in the small hours, he sees from his bedroom window an aeroplane on fire heading for an emergency landing at Heathrow. It could be a portent that his day off from his neurological surgeon duties will be eventful, and not just because of the family reunion dinner planned for the evening.

As we follow him through his Saturday morning rituals we also share his thoughts on life, his work, world events (as he muses on the news reports) and on preparations for the arrival of his daughter and father in law. This also fills in some of the family history, which apart from its gently upward trajectory is remarkable only for its relative lack of remarkability to date.

But drama lies in waiting for a man who appears to have everything – loving wife, children on the brink of successful transition to adulthood, a fulfilling well paid career, a fashionable London address and even a top of the range Mercedes.

It is when the Mercedes is bumped by a red BMW with dark tinted windows that the fragility of such a lifestyle begins to get exposed. This won’t be sorted out by exchanging insurance details.

The rest of the day is coloured by the incident and its potential effect. The backdrop of an anti-war demonstration in the neighbouring streets also brings to mind the external threats to his comfortable existence, for which he is appreciative but not complacent.

McEwan’s prose is dense and can look off-putting but reads as smooth as silk. Details of thoughts, emotions and events cram into moments of time; it takes five pages to cover a game of squash or perform a neurological procedure. The technicalities of one of these I can understand fully, of the other I have no idea, but both hold the interest equally firmly.

How the day progresses and concludes is well worth finding out. Does the burning plane land safely or are there casualties?

 

 

The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach

Set in the small unfashionable Westish University on the shores of Lake Michigan, the book follows the interlocking lives of five main characters as they approach some individual watersheds.

Mike Schwartz is the apha-jock leader of the college baseball team, inspirational to others while suffering his own crisis of confidence in his post-graduation future. Henry Skrimshander is the ace baseball fielder in the key short-stop position, discovered, recruited and mentored by Schwartz, and seemingly destined for a career in the majors. Owen Dunne is Henry’s roommate and unconventional fellow member of the baseball team – more aesthete than athlete. Professor Guert Affenlight is the college Principal, an alumnus of the college and the team; and Pella is his prodigal daughter whose return threatens to upset an apple cart or two.

Although the baseball team’s progress provides the narrative backdrop it is the developing relationships between these five that drives the book. These are multi-dimensional – within the family, inside the team and, inevitably, between lovers.

The sporting context is nicely counterbalanced by the academic setting as Westish revers literature in general and Herman Melville in particular. This is due to a connection with the Moby Dick author, discovered by Guert Affenlight in his grad student days, and celebrated by the sports team’s nickname of the “Harpooners”. Poetry, philosophy and art are discussed almost as often as pitching, hitting and fielding (themselves considered an art by aficionados).

Such linkages and cleverly interweaved storylines add depth to the book, as do the complex and likeably flawed characters. Although in need of a good shake every now and then, their intentions are good and their errors, mainly due to their youth, are forgivable.

Knowledge of baseball is probably not essential to the enjoyment of this fine book, but as a keen follower I may not be the best judge. Certainly as a fan of the sport, I loved the book even more for its sporting context and references.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

The journey

Part of the America 1850 reading journey

How it got on the shelf

I first came across this book as a “class reader” in secondary school about 45 years ago. Although I didn’t particularly like it then, and don’t even remember finishing it, it must have made a sufficient impression on me to suggest its inclusion in this journey. Being a little unfashionable now, it was downloaded onto the virtual (Kindle) bookshelf for a modest £2.46 inclusive of “The Open Boat and Other Stories”.

The Review

The main story is set in the American Civil War and relates the early experiences of young Henry Fleming, newly enlisted in the Union army, as he prepares for his first battle. As this approaches he is plagued by doubts over whether he will fight or run when the bullets start to fly. Will he survive unscathed or, like some of the veterans he sees returning from the front, be wounded and sport that ‘red badge of courage’?

It reads longer than its 70 pages, possibly due to its slow deliberate pace, detailed descriptions and use of somewhat flowery and dated prose; although the latter does lend the book a period feel that matches its content.

Through Henry’s eyes we see vividly the soldiers, the army, the fractured landscape, and eventually the fighting. We also experience the disorienting confusion of the battlefield and Henry’s emotional turmoil that accompanies it.

This main story justifies its reputation as a defining novella of the American Civil War; not the politics, nor the military strategies, but how it may have felt to be involved as an ordinary foot soldier caught up, terribly, in this time and in that place.

The other stories continue the themes of comradeship and combat – men against the elements in “The Open Boat”, one on one in “The Blue Hotel”, and Yankee against Rebel in several others. The relationships of the combatants, based on fear, hatred, respect and dependency - especially complex in a civil war - are brought out well.

It was definitely worth returning to and finishing off this time.

Fluke – Christopher Moore

With the sub-title “or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings” and a picture of a diving whale’s tail fin (or fluke) on the cover it’s no surprise that the novel concerns the adventures of a small team of whale song researchers.

Scientist Nate and photographer Clay spend their time and other people’s money bobbing around the coastal waters of Hawaii seeking, filming, recording, tagging and generally cooing over the various species of whales. Also aboard are young cute research assistant Amy, who tests Nate’s professional detachment, and white would-be hippy Rasta-boy Kona, who tests his patience.

The banter and flirting aboard and baiting of professional rivals ashore soon become secondary to a run of disturbing incidents that threaten their research efforts. Is this just bad luck or is there a mysterious force at work bent on scuppering their chances of discovering some inconvenient truth?

Things go from bad to worse; and from believable scientific fact to credibility stretching science fiction, as a secret of the ocean deeps is discovered by Nate, and not in a pleasant way.

The writing is easy on the eye but the laid back laconic style, while good for the banter and flirting, takes the edge of the (many) cliff-hanging moments when a character is endangered.

In summary a light, imaginative read with humour, likeable characters and dubious science.

Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama

Read as part O of the “Along the Library Shelf” reading journey

Chosen because

There were few O’s on the fiction shelves but this jumped out of the biographies section. With the US election campaign nearing its climax it seemed topical, was not over long, and had impressive review snippets on the cover.

The Review

Written in 1995, some 13 years ahead of presidential status, this is Barack Obama’s personal memoir of his early life, written as his contribution to the race relations debate.

He was born in Hawaii where his parents met while studying at the University. His father was black from Kenya, to where he soon returned, keeping sporadic touch from afar until his relatively early death. His mother, white from Kansas, moved on to a second marriage in Indonesia giving young Barack a brief taste of Asia before returning him to Hawaii in the care of his maternal grandparents.

Middle class schooling provided a first taste of the casual racism of the 60’s, present even in the cultural melting pot of Hawaii, prompting the first questions of race and identity. Moving on to support social projects in Chicago’s South Side, he saw how segregation had resulted from unemployed blacks coalescing in the poor inner city streets, while those able, mainly white but also the more affluent black, shipped out to the suburbs.

From the perspective given by his unusual family background, he searches open-mindedly to establish where he and his fellow black Americans really belong – to their half of the community, to their country, to their race - or all of these if that’s possible. Refreshingly for a future politician, he does not lay claim to all the answers.

The final section of the book sees him “return” to Kenya where he meets his disparate half siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. This enables him to piece together the full story of his grandfather’s life in colonial Africa and his father’s, no less difficult times, in post-colonial Kenya.

It is very well written; the prose is clear, descriptions are atmospheric whether of the mean streets of Chicago or the dusty African bush, and characters are portrayed with empathy and respect. His range of writing style is impressive – Hawaii is entertaining, Chicago analytical and Kenya moving.

Whether he finds his answers or not it is a fascinating insight into what it is like to be black in what seems to be, still, very much a white man’s world - if no longer fashioned for him then certainly fashioned by him.

The book leaves a very favourable impression of the man and I was very glad to see him back in the White House.

Read another?

His “Audacity of Hope” looks like more of a political treatise so may not be for me, but a volume of how he managed to become President could be interesting.

 

The Falls – Ian Rankin

Rankin and Rebus are their own reading journey and this book, set in 2001, is stop number twelve.

For the uninitiated John Rebus is the maverick Detective Inspector with the Lothian and Borders Police. Unsurprisingly for followers of detective fiction, he has his problems, mainly with authority, relationships and drinking; tolerated due to his deep rooted desire to see justice done and his knack of solving those tricky crimes.

Here it is a missing person’s case, or has the body just not been found yet? What is the significance of the miniature coffin found close to her home? Was she involved in a dangerous internet-based game?

As the case develops Rankin packs the pages with police procedure, office politics and snatches of the personal lives of Rebus and his colleagues. Rebus is no Sherlock Holmes so don’t expect read the clues and beat him to the solution; he is more of a Columbo, working on hunches and poking potential suspects with barbed comments until either they break cover or he stumbles over the answer. In truth the crime is not as important to the book as the motivations, behaviour and interaction of all those involved: the victims, suspects, witnesses, police and press.

It is well written, fiendishly plotted, and best read quickly to maintain a grip on the multifarious threads of the story. If you know Edinburgh the references to its topography, history and notoriously dichotomous nature (displaying elegance & brutality, enlightenment & depravity, and home to high rollers & low lifers) add a further dimension, which having lived in the city I find particularly alluring.

So no doubt I will see Rebus through to his retirement in about five books time; if you want to start from scratch seek out “Knots and Crosses” from your local charity shop and enjoy the journey.