Story revolving around Jude, a very successful litigation attorney with a traumatic past and those whose lives revolve around him, in particular: his Story revolving around Jude, a very successful litigation attorney with a traumatic past and those whose lives revolve around him, in particular: his three college friends – JB (an erratic black artist who gets his fame from paintings of photographs of the four friends), Malcolm (a brilliant black architect) but more particularly Willem, Jude’s closet friend who eventually becomes his lover as well as a world famous actor; his law professor Harold who with his wife adopts Jude when is he 30; Andy – a Doctor who treats Jude at college and becomes the only member of the medical profession he will trust as well as the closest he has to a confidant.
Very memorable and ultimately harrowing not for the very difficult abuse passages, but far more for the lasting effect that they have on Jude’s life. At passages, particularly in the middle of the book, the times the reader (alongside the characters – and most noticeably his adopted father whose first person narrated sections are the most striking and poignant in the book) longs for Jude to finally realise that he is loved or for some form of retributive justice to be exercised in his name.
What is particularly admirable in a book which explicitly namechecks and lives out the American dream, is the way that the author rejects any form of ultimate redemption and makes it clear that the greatest career, the most amazing houses, the most successful and interesting friends, and the unconditional devoted and sacrificial love of friends cannot overcome the physical but more importantly psychological after effects of abuse.
However the book is not an enjoyable read – both significantly too long, and with the equally unlikeable contrast of harrowing and completely overblown tales of abuse and ludicrously and obnoxiously successful and self-satisfied characters.
The book also suffers from a ridiculous sense of time and place – despite being set over apparently around 40 or more years in the characters’ lives, the world setting for the entire period is rich New York in the mid 2000’s contemporary.
It also suffers from its incredible (in the literal sense) but one can only assume deliberate lack of wider perspective.
Firstly in the book itself: given its time and place setting to not even mention 9/11 is astonishing; the rest of the US let alone the Rest of the World exists only as a venue for the characters to own, build or rent sumptuous holiday homes – even as the book is closing Jude arranges for Willem to have a private personal opening of the Alhambra.
Secondly in the life and times of the characters - those around Jude are seemingly obsessed with Jude to the complete exclusion of all other parts of, or people in, their lives and to the point of implausibility, Andy for example seemingly basing his entire practice around Jude and being capable of treating any type of physical condition while still maintaining a successful practice, JB apparently becoming a world famous artist from taking pictures of other characters looking at Jude, Malcolm largely designing properties for Jude.
Interestingly the Jude character is seen by all of the other characters as remarkable for their whole lives, whereas even the emotionally hooked reader after 300 pages starts after 500-600 pages to despair of his self-absorption and selfishness.
The author appears to have made a number of deliberate choices and effectively based the timelessness, one person fixation, the implausible successes and the equally implausible abuse on fairy tales – but the authors attempts to sustain this over a 800 page pretentiously literary novel more than jar with the reader....more
Story of four Indian immigrants to the UK – Avtar, Tarlochan, Randeep and Narinder, all of whom spend most of the book in and around Sheffield, althouStory of four Indian immigrants to the UK – Avtar, Tarlochan, Randeep and Narinder, all of whom spend most of the book in and around Sheffield, although for the first 3 we have lengthy flashbacks to their previous lives in India and for Narinder details on her upbringing and visits to India.
A difficult story to judge.
The story relies heavily on Sikh culture and makes frequent use of untranslated object names, caste distinctions, expressions and curses – whole paragraphs being rendered close to incomprehensible as a result (and presumably key nuances and plot developments being lost to an English reader).
The ending of the book is underwhelming, particularly a weak epilogue a few years later.
In between these the story is topical and engaging, bringing to live the characters’ lives in both India and England and the contrast and interactions between the two but without really building strong characters (Avtar and Randeep are largely indistinguishable, Tarlochan loses his “voice” when in the UK and Narinder verges on implausible).
Overall a triumph of theme and ideas over execution....more
Tale about four generations of the Baltimore based Whitshank family and the house in which they live.
A simply written book around family live with stTale about four generations of the Baltimore based Whitshank family and the house in which they live.
A simply written book around family live with strong characters and enjoyable to read. On the surface a simple take it does uncover the lies people tell themselves, the myths that families create and weave about them, the underlying resentments and unfulfilled ambitions that lie between children, children and their patents and husbands and wives, however ultimately it lacks any real literary merit....more
Review revisited after the author’s stronger but still I felt flawed second novel was also Booker shortlisted by another jury keen to produce a diversReview revisited after the author’s stronger but still I felt flawed second novel was also Booker shortlisted by another jury keen to produce a diverse and international shortlist.
A tale of four Nigerian brothers (told in the narrative present tense by the youngest brother Ben many years later)
The story very consciously rests on African storytelling (which often leads to inconsistencies in the retelling, as well as the blend of folklore and superstition with a country struggling in but part of a globalised world (Mortal Kombat is a key interest of the younger brothers and one which seems to foretell the two later murders). Allegory and animalism is mixed in with the retelling – the chapters are named after animals or insects to which a character or group of characters are compared in vivid imagery at the start of each chapter. Clearly also the book serves as an allegory for Nigeria’s struggle post-independence and the way in which brothers have fought each other and the country has failed to reach the ambition of its founders – the boys are transformed by a meeting with a politician later deposed by a military coup.
Despite or perhaps because of the simplicity of its narrative the book is both enjoyable and full of imagery – but still reads very much like a flawed if promising first novel rather than a literary masterpiece....more
Like Remainder a very consciously literary and theme-exploratory book and surprisingly enjoyable if unusual read – although unlike that book with littLike Remainder a very consciously literary and theme-exploratory book and surprisingly enjoyable if unusual read – although unlike that book with little or no attempt at either a plot (other than a bizarre diversion into what feels like a completely different science fiction story set around the Genoa riots) or human interest. Instead it is much more of a Milan Kundera style meditation on a theme although with a clear emphasis on a post modern and corporate world (unlike Kundera's emphasis on a world which has long passed).
The book’s author – a corporate player called U in a clear nod to Kafka (and only real character – the rest being cyphers) could best be described as a meta-anthologist.
Its key themes include interconnectedness, the present tense (and its relation to past and future), anthropology itself and its Heisenberg principle type effects on those being observed (although U happily admits he and his fellow anthropologist mistakenly describe this as the Schrodinger cat effect – something he does then explore), the general vacuum of power in a globalised and social media and IT world and a sense that the system increasingly runs itself (in one analogy he speculates that humans are increasingly simply agents of this system – and cannot even be described as slaves, as slaves at least have the hope of liberation).
A book that would repay re-reading to think more clearly on its themes....more
Multi first-person narrator short chapter novel, often written in Jamaican patios/Rasta/gansta speak. The book centres around the lead up to and the cMulti first-person narrator short chapter novel, often written in Jamaican patios/Rasta/gansta speak. The book centres around the lead up to and the consequences of a real-life assassination attempt on Bob Marley (called “The Singer” in the book and only ever a character around which others circulate rather than ever featuring) just before a Peace concert organised in Jamaica by the left-wing leaning governing party (and its associated crime gangs) and a time of increasing CIA and Cuban (exile and regime) involvement in that county. The first part of the book is set around the gang warfare in Jamaica itself and in later sections this extends to drug wars in the US. Some of the key narrators are: Josey Wales (the upcoming gang leader of the gang associated with the right win political party), Alex Pierce (a musical journalist) and a Jamaican woman and one-time lover of Marley. Josey Wales leads the attack (and wounds Marley personally) which is witnessed by Pierce and the girl. The latter flees and adopts various identities first as the lover of an American ex-pat (who she hopes will take her back to the US) and then as a care worker in the US, while the former only realises late on the secret that he knows after some time writing various exposes and articles on Jamaica and the US drug wars and narrowly avoiding an assassination attempt. The other participants in the attack are killed (the Seven Killings – often at Wales instructions it seems) while Wales is eventually killed when he is due to be released from prison.
Overall a very striking but not at all enjoyable book. Read as a whole it brings to life the sordid and violent world of the Jamaican gangs, however the individual sections (more often than not written in by unpleasant characters about acts of violence and sexual obsession, in a stream of consciousness style and in dialect/slang) are often close to impossible to follow (and unpleasant reading when they can be followed). ...more
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer
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Books:
2015-booker-shortlist
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