Focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of four time periods, author Andrei Makine analyzes what it means to be human; whether an individual is important in his own right or as part of a community; what makes life worth living; what obligations, if any, an individual has toward other individuals; and how and why individuals expresses themselves in art, literature, or music. Main character Shutov’s favorite authors, Chekhov and Tolstoy, whom he often quotes, are from the early twentieth century, yet they have helped provide Shutov with the values he retains even at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Georgy Lvovich, known as Volsky, a character with whom Shutov has a life-changing conversation in Parts III and IV has survived the Siege of Leningrad in the 1940s, then has had to deal with the aftermath of the war and the communist crackdowns and mass arrests in the ‘fifties and ‘sixties. Shutov himself grew up in the mid-‘fifties but knows little about a life like Volsky’s, having left for France in early 1980 and lived a fairly anonymous life. His affair with young Lea, followed by a visit to St. Petersburg to a former flame, show him how much times have changed, and Shutov has failed to adapt to the times, not even acknowledging that adaptation might have some value. The novel, powerfully and passionately drawn, presents well developed themes about life, death, individuality, and the arts, and their significant changes during a century of historical and philosophical upheaval. Romantic and often heartbreaking.
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Focusing on Ceausescu’s last hundred days as ruler of Romania, author Patrick McGuinness recreates all the forces leading to the overthrow of the government, telling his story through the eyes of an unnamed twenty-one-year-old speaker from the UK. The speaker had applied for a foreign posting upon the death of his father and was given a job teaching English in Bucharest, one for which he had neither applied nor appeared for an interview. In Bucharest his mentor, Leo O’Heix, shows him “the Paris of the East,” which now more clearly resembles “a deserted funfair.” Leo has adapted to Romanian life completely, ignoring most of the other Brits there and carving out his own identity – as the biggest black-marketeer in Bucharest. Gradually, Bucharest comes to life through the speaker’s eyes. The city is being bulldozed at a rapid rate, and the old architectural monuments and historical buildings are being replaced with cheap, modern buildings. Shop signs appear on new buildings but have no shop behind them, people are hungry, and even the headstones in the cemeteries have disappeared. The speaker finds himself growing up as he makes choices or has them made for him, and he discovers that no one is who s/he seems to be. Subtle, often humorous, and profoundly ironic, this is a unique approach to a study of a city in the midst of evolution and then revolution and its aftermath, and none of the characters here will remain unchanged.
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Set in 1785, just four years before the French Revolution, Miller’s main character, Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young engineer from rural Belleme in Normandy, arrives in Paris, hoping for a job which will allow him to put his skills to use in ways not possible at home. Interviewed at Versailles and hired by a minister there, he learns that his job will be to empty the Cemetery of the Innocents in the heart of the city of its entire underground contents, and with over twenty burial pits located within a small, enclosed area, the work will be “both delicate and gross.” Despite the unusual and unsavory subject matter, Miller is careful to recreate the human side of the story – to make the reader empathize with Baratte, to see how important the job is to him, to show how he longs for acceptance, to appreciate his desire for love, and to understand how good he is at heart – and even a job as putrid this one quickly involves the reader in the story and its historical setting. As Miller’s develops the story, his clever symbolism reveals simultaneously the state of mind of Baratte and the conditions in the country itself, as the reader observes the foreshadowing of the coming revolution through the eyes of Baratte. An unusual and beautifully written novel which shines new light on some of the elements which empower the oppressed and lead to revolution.
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Although he has often dealt with the themes of identity, reality, and what it means to be human, Australian author Peter Carey creates a whole new approach to these ideas in this complex and sometimes strange novel with two overlapping narratives set one hundred fifty years apart. Catherine Gehrig, a Curator of Horology (clockwork) at the Swinburne Museum in London, has led a secret life for thirteen years, enjoying an affair with Matthew Tindall, the married Head Curator of Metals. On April 21, 2010, she arrives at work to discover that Matthew is dead, and that she is apparently the last to know. Frantic with grief which she dare not show at the office, she cannot even imagine how to go on with her life without Matthew. Catherine is so distraught that Head Curator of Horology, Eric Croft, whose specialty is restoring mechanical “singsongs,” takes dramatic action. He arranges for her to take sick leave and then to move to the privacy of the museum’s Annexe in Olympia, where she will have a special job – to go through eight boxes the size of tea chests, filled with assorted gears, screws, and machine parts, along with assorted papers associated with an automaton of a duck from the mid-1850s and restore it. Great dialogue, fascinating subject matter, important themes treated in unique ways, and characters who engage our interest make this a story to celebrate, despite the fact that the many motifs sometimes seem to strain the narrative.
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This mind-boggling “quest novel” from Sri Lanka operates under its own rules, defies expectations, twists and turns on its own momentum, and ultimately resolves itself in ways the reader never predicts. Wijedasa Gamini Karunasena, known as Wije, the main character here, is a sportswriter who has covered cricket for years. Winner of Ceylon Sportswriter of the Year, 1969 and 1976, he has always believed Pradeep Mathew, a Tamil who was a star in only four games over his career, to be the best cricket player who ever lived, someone whose feats have been wiped out, somehow, in the records. Though hobbled by drink, and in poor health, Wije buddies up with his friend, Ariyatne Cletus Byrd, to produce a documentary about the best cricket players in Sri Lanka, with one whole episode devoted to Pradeep Mathew. As Wije does his research on Pradeep, however, every lead seems to end, every clue seems to disappear, and Pradeep seems to be on the receiving end of a plan to wipe him off the face of Sri Lankan cricket history. No one even knows if Pradeep is alive or dead. All this time, Sri Lanka is fighting for its political life, with the Tamil Tigers fighting for total control of the north and east and the military trying to maintain control of the rest of the country. Bombings, assassinations, and terrorism accompany the daily news about the latest Sri Lanka cricket team losses and occasional victories, with the characters here more concerned with the cricket results. “Sport can unite worlds, tear down walls and transcend race, the past and all probability,” Wije observes. “Unlike life, sport matters.” The novel, filled with wonderful dialogue and humor, portrays life in Sri Lanka in ways not seen before in literature.
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