The Fire Hills – Henry Normal

This slim volume is a collection of poems by Henry Normal, better known for his scriptwriting for comedy shows such as The Royle Family and Mrs Merton. And while there is some comedy here (particularly the brilliant ‘Premier League Football – The Rules’), it is not so much laugh out loud as clever wordplay or thoughtful satire.

Another, possibly the main, theme is the natural landscape and built environment of East Sussex, to where the author recently moved. Added in are a few personal reflections on an aging body and on the country’s dysfunctional politics.

The poems are plentiful but mainly short with over a hundred in the 120 pages, so a quick dip in and out is easy and generally rewarding. Although for those who think poems should rhyme, this may not be for you.

A Chip Shop in Poznan – Ben Aitken

The book-packing journey continues in Eastern Europe with the eponymous food outlet just one element of Ben Aitken’s ‘unlikely year in Poland’.

In March 2016 the campaigning for the Brexit referendum is in full swing. Among the many and spurious issues being banded about is the allegation that migrant Poles are taking ‘our’ jobs. Ben Aitken’s response is to up sticks and head the other way, his mission to get to know the country, its people, and the reason why so many move to the UK for work.

He heads not to Warsaw or Kraków, but the workaday city of Poznan, to live and work for twelve months while he still freely can as an EU citizen. He finds a flat to share with some locals, and finds work, first in a school, then in the chip shop, which is more of a bar. The pay is meagre but the cost of living low.

The natives are friendly and as keen to talk about the UK as he is to talk about their country. He learns some Polish, but finds he is never far from and English-speaker. In addition to the language he immerses himself in Polish culture and learns some of its, largely unfortunate, history.

He sticks it out for the year, during which the UK serves notice on leaving the EU. His jobs, travels, conversations, and observations are reported in (mainly) whimsical style, often amusing but sometimes touching.

Not your standard travelogue, it makes for an interesting and entertaining read.

The Young Accomplice – Benjamin Wood

For the first half of this novel the focus is on the Mayhoods, a young couple, Arthur and Florence, both architects. It is England in 1952 but they are keen disciples of ‘organic architecture’ as set out by American legend of the profession, Frank Lloyd Wright. To that end they combine their nascent practice with developing and running a small farm.

We get some back story, and it is Arthur’s that is relevant. He is an ex-Borstal boy made good, and he wants to give others the same chance. He recruits a couple of apprentices from a correctional institute, who happen to be siblings, Charlie and Joyce Savigear. As they settle in, the focus changes to the Savigears. Again there is a back story, but it is Joyce’s continuing connections to the criminal fraternity that takes the plot forward.

The 1950’s setting has an authentic period feel to it and the prose is easy on the eye. The insight provided into the Borstal system is interesting to a point, less so the architectural practice backdrop. The characters of Arthur, Florence, Charlie, and Joyce are well drawn, but it is only Joyce’s criminal escapades that lift the plot above the mundane. Not even a late cameo appearance by Frank Lloyd Wright himself saves the, to me, rather limp ending.

 

Case Histories – Kate Atkinson

Another re-read, though only after a dozen years (and four sequels), back to where the Jackson Brodie novels began in 2005.

Ex-DI Brodie, newly separated from wife, Josie, and daughter, Marlee, is grubbing a living as a private investigator, mainly checking out partners of suspicious wives and husbands. In addition there are the continual demands of Binky Rain, the old lady with so many cats there is always one lost for Jackson to hunt down, which he tolerates as it pays the bills.

But then three cold cases come calling: an abduction of a toddler from 1970; an unsolved murder of a young woman in 1992; and a missing person (the daughter of an axe-murder convicted in 1979).

As we, the reader, are given snatches of each backstory, Jackson must trawl old evidence and look for gaps in the original investigations in the hope of finding a new lead. Slowly, the truths emerge, only to give Jackson some moral dilemmas to resolve.

However the strength of the book is not the crime-solving but the characters created, the relationships between them, and Jackson’s internal monologue and dry wit.

Good to be reminded of how it all began and, as ever with Kate Atkinson, an enjoyable read.

1984 – George Orwell

Re-reading 1984 after a gap of fifty years would, you hope, prove a less menacing experience. Think again.

As a reminder, Winston Smith, a low level functionary in the Party, lives a dreary life under constant surveillance of his masters, symbolised by Big Brother. He starts to doubt the Party’s propaganda (indeed his job is to assist the re-writing of history) and wonders if there is a better way. Even thinking such a thing is an offence – ‘thoughtcrime’ in Newspeak – and after a brief secret rebellion, he is brought in for a horrific rehabilitation.

The central themes – surveillance, towing the party line, subscribing to their version of events, re-inventing truth – ‘what the Party holds to be the truth is the truth’ - is all frighteningly relevant today.

Where Orwell had Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in mind, we now have Putin, Trump, the Taliban, and more authoritarian regimes besides, able to replace facts by their truth and impose acceptance through ignorance, corruption, and coercion. Instead of re-writing history, as Winston does, they label it a lie, fake news, a western/liberal elite/infidel (delete as applicable) plot.

Back to the book. Orwell paints a graphic picture of life under a totalitarian government. Smith is no hero, just an ordinary cog in the machine that goes wrong and needs repair. The lengthy and wordy treatise detailing the political science underpinning the regime sits a little uncomfortably in the middle of the book (though repays the reading), but either side of that the story flows well enough to a well-known and unwelcome conclusion.

So, well worth the re-read.

Eden – Jim Crace

In Jim Crace’s eden (with intentional lack of initial capital) there live angels and humans. The angels take the form of large, blue-feathered birds, and the humans take the role of farmers and labourers, working the land for their own sustenance and to provide for the Lord and his host.

It is a hard life for the men and women, and it is eternal. For there is no death in eden, and by implication no birth, no children, and no sex. Also no escape, eden is enclosed by a wall, the only gate carefully guarded and only opened to export meagre alms to the mortals outwith.

Even in paradise there are misfits. Jamin is an angel who fell and damaged a wing and who, uniquely in the host, enjoys fraternising with the humans, particularly Tabi. Tabi has a spark of life about her, a curiosity that sets her apart, makes her noticeable, and she, alone, questions the regulated existence and the angels’ version of the world – leave eden and you will die. Her attractiveness bothers Alum, a surly man and self-appointed informer of transgressions and punisher of lapses, tolerated by the angels for his usefulness. He keeps a close eye on Tabi and pounces on any misdemeanour.

When Tabi goes AWOL, it is not just Jamin and Alum that miss her. Co-worker in the orchard, Ebon, realises how much he valued her companionship. He, like Jamin and Alum, seeks answers to her disappearance and a way to get her back from over the wall.

Benevolent imprisonment and immortality versus a dangerous freedom that promises death is the theme. But it is not just an individual’s choice. One person’s actions can have implications for the whole community.

Beautifully written with a deceptive simplicity that masks a depth of character and plot.

Trust – Hernan Diaz

This is a story of the rise of Andrew Bevel, an American tycoon who plays, even manipulates, the financial markets through the early twentieth century to make his fortune, and about his wife Mildred. He is driven by ambition and is reclusive. She is similarly self-sufficient but active in supporting philanthropic and cultural causes, until she dies relatively early. The twist is that the tale is told in four versions.

The first is in the form of a novel in which an author, Harold Vanner, presents a thinly disguised fictional portrait of the tycoon and his wife. The second is Andrew Bevil’s incomplete attempt at autobiography, penned in response to Vanner’s novel, presenting the ‘real’ story of his business success and his relationship with his wife.

The third part is an historic account by Ida Partenza of how she was recruited by Bevil to turn his dictated ramblings into readable prose augmented as necessary to ‘fill out’ Mildred’s personality. Finally, Mildred’s own voice, in the form of recently discovered notebooks, is transcribed to give her version, shedding light on a hidden aspect of her life with Bevil.

An interesting concept and structure, but in truth only Ida Partenza’s contribution satisfies as a novel, providing characterisation and dramatic tension; the other sections are rather dull.

But what else to expect from a winner of one of the heavyweight prizes, be it Booker, or as in this case, Pulitzer. Will I ever learn?