Willoyd's Read Around The World

[willoyd]

#55. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle for Denmark *** 
A tricky one. I read this as a book group choice - I hadn't intended for this to be my Danish novel, but, shortlisted as it was for the International Booker, it seemed a good one all the same. And in many ways it was. But, but.... (and be warned, I've tried not to spoil, but inevitably some of my comments might work that way for some)

The idea is both an interesting and a familiar one: the narrator, Tara Selter, an antique book dealer, finds that she is trapped in November 18th. It's reminiscent of the film Groundhog Day, although the author says that she had the idea long before it appeared. Life constantly repeats, and yet it also doesn't. Whilst time never moves on, she does - a burn that she incurs on the first Nov 18th gradually heals, some objects stay with her (eg some books she purchases on the first Nov 18th), but others don't. She experiments at trying to keep her husband Tomas awake through the night to see what happens, and early in the morning he goes through a reset, and suddenly wonders why she is in the house and not away (as she is on the first Nov 18th). So, whilst the day repeats itself, some things, even people, move with her. But (that word again!), and this was the start of my problems with this book, what does and what doesn't move seems to be pretty random. In fact, the only consistency appears to be that it suits the author that they move (or don't!).

Well, maybe, or maybe this is part of what Balle is addressing - our relationship with time. Even so, it's the randomness that bothered me. However, one thought that cropped up in the book group is that maybe, somewhere in there, there is a consistency, and perhaps that's part of what we might found out later; it may even be part of the resolution (if there is one).

Tara herself, not the most empathetic of characters even initially, becomes ever more self-orientated as the book progresses, almost inevitably I suppose, but other characters recede as a result, not least Tomas himself, who becomes more and more just a series of sounds, a 'ghost'. We see things very much from her perspective, so Tomas 'forgets' at the end of the day. Er no, he doesn't, he's moved on to Nov 19th and the Tomas she sees at the start of the day hasn't yet known the things that she sees him as having forgotten. Meanwhile Tara sees herself as a 'monster', not least because the food (and other items?) she consumes is not replaced - gradually the supermarket is being emptied of the goods she favours. This may well partly be a take on our consumerism, but again, I found the logic somewhat illogical, especially as some items do revert, and again felt events were being fitted to the author's needs/wants, not the author coping with the 'reality' of recurring time.

I may well be focusing too much on this aspect, but for me the main weakness of this book, and what left me rather underwhelmed at the end, was the inevitable repetition (of course it's repetitive, that's the point, but it's also the challenge!), and yet what moving on there was just didn't work for me. Now that all might come out in the wash, and there's no doubt that I am intrigued to find out how this time issue is resolved (if, of course, it is), but therein lies the final problem I have with this book. Balle has already made it clear that this is a seven volume series. I am interested in knowing what happens at the end, but do I want to read the other 6 books to find out? It's rather like a boxed set series- and rattling around in my head is the question, am I sufficiently addicted to continue? Or am I prepared to become 'addicted'? And when I look on it like that the answer is pretty much the same to pretty much every boxed set I've ever seen: 'No' (a few BBC classics dramas aside!). Of course, it doesn't help, that I'm going to have to wait for future volumes to come out (Vol 3 in English will be in the shops soon). Maybe if I waited until all 7 were out and read them as one single long book? I don't know, although the prospect doesn't excite me in the way that many long books do. In the meantime, this was an interesting concept, with, as things stand, just too many flaws and too much commitment required to make me want to stick it out. Just like the finale is almost always the most watched programme in any series, I might just wait and read the final book.

Edited 3 hours ago by willoyd

[willoyd]

#56. Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan for Indonesia **** 
The story of two interlinked families. A shocking, apparently inexplicable event happens in the opening pages. Gradually we find out why it happened. It's a dramatic, really lively promising start, with an interesiing touch of magical realism. The book never loses its interest or pace, but whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it, I was a mite diappointed that the magical aspect was left rather undeveloped. Equally, the chronology, deliberately blurred, for me just edged into the unnecessarily convoluted. But these are minor nitpicks - this was a genuinely good read, which I rattled through in barely a day!

[willoyd]

#57. The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud for Algeria *****
Also read as a follow-up to L'Etranger. This was a fascinating counterpoint to Camus's classic. I was glad to read it immediately afterwards as I might well have missed some (many?) of the points of contact otherwise, and I really enjoyed picking these up! Overall. I was surprised, if anything, to enjoy this more than the original. This felt more human and more deeply rooted in place. There was a colour that Camus's lacked. All of this was obviously deliberate on the part of both authors, but the later book did chime more with me (although it of course needed the earlier work to build on!). Perhaps it would be fairer to say, that they worked really well as a pair, both contrasting and complimenting each other; a case of the sum being distinctly greater than the parts.

Edited 3 hours ago by willoyd

[lunababymoonchild]

I did not know about this and I read the Camus in August! Thanks for reviewing this and pointing that out, I will acquire ASAP.

 

Edited to add: bought!