26/12/18: Tim Parks – Rapids (2005)

Fascinating novel that keeps you guessing. The plot details the relationships between a bunch of holidaying kayakers and their instructors Clive (an environmental activist) and Michaela (his emotionally fragile girlfriend). You sense immediately that the danger of the rapids they ride will mirror the danger of the relationships that are developing within the “community experience”.

Tim Parks carefully weaves together several narratives and successfully increases the tension by using character to drive drama. Menace and threat are always imminent. It is to the author’s credit, however, that the book does not end the way you think it will. Instead, it continues in an almost surreal manner.

One gripe: there are a few typos. Twice within two pages there were misplaced apostrophes (“you’re hand’s bleeding” and “you’re head filling with blood”). Was it not proof-read?

That aside, it’s his best novel since Europa. It stays with you.

20/12/18: Sebastian Junger – The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (1997)

Turned into a successful film starring George Clooney, The Perfect Storm details the drama of the Andrea Gail, a Massachusetts swordfishing boat that was caught in a storm of vast proportions in 1991.

The biggest challenge to the author is that none of the crew survived to tell their stories. I was curious to see how he would piece together the narrative without the help of testimonies from those who were there. He does this using a variety of sources. There’s plenty of detail on shipping lore and ways of life in the small town of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Radio reports to other ships and observations on weather patterns from other craft in the vicinity help build the picture. Plus he has interviewed rescue workers and survivors from other dramas in the same once-in-a-lifetime event, along with affected families and colleagues.

It’s so much richer and fuller than the film, and yet the film did its best to cram in what it could and was surprisingly faithful to the text. But whereas the book can take several pages to explain how – for example – rescue swimmers jump into the sea and have a strong chance of survival, in the film this looks reckless and even unbelievable. Likewise, the author can take the time to explain how ships float – or don’t – and goes into detail on the science of sinking. Later he tackles the science of drowning – what actually happens in those last few seconds. Disturbing stuff.

But overall it’s the humanity of the book that makes it special. Junger has a real sense of the lives at stake and he’s sensitive to the many losses. It’s never merely an adventure yarn.

18/12/18: Iain Broome – A Is for Angelica (2012)

A novel about a man who spies on his neighbours and keeps files on their activities. We learn that he does this to help cope with a personal crisis: his wife has had a stroke, he is her sole carer and – as a result of his grief – he is keeping this secret from his friends and family.

The premise is intriguing, but elements of the plot never have the ring of truth about them so the characters and their motivations rarely convince. Even the dog seems unbelievable. Sometimes you’re not sure if a scene is meant to be funny or slightly disturbing. There’s a “suburban whimsy” aspect that could have been mined for comedy but which doesn’t really work.

But, surprisingly, as the book progressed and I continued reading I found myself becoming more and more engrossed in the peculiar story. You do want to find out how it will end. Yet ultimately it articulates such a bleak scenario that you’re left wondering why the author felt the need to share this with the world.