July 2019 Books

Right so this post is about six months late… but I read some pretty good books in July. Forgive me if the reviews are a little on the short side; I read lots of them by the pool and didn’t take as many notes as I usually would.

Highs

Generations of Winter by Vassily Aksyonov

This is an epic novel that follows one family through the Stalinist era, their triumphs and their tragedies. The writing is regularly light and funny, other times acerbic and satirical, then nostalgic and warm. Aksyonov deftly handles the long stretch of time in the book and managed to keep me interested over hundreds of pages, as we follow the Gradovs - a bourgeois Russian-Georgian family - negotiate Stalin’s terrifying logic-defying regime. His pacing is perfect, his characters flawed but lovable. In order to get the most out of this novel I would definitely recommend you read up a little bit about the period if you don’t know anything about it, though it does work extremely well as a historical novel and is undoubtedly an accurate portrayal. The cast list also extends beyond the Gradovs too, with appearances from military generals, eagles and Stalin himself. I would highly recommend this book, though it brought tears to my eyes a number of times and is often distressing, as I think it’s a wonderful example of contemporary Russian literature.

The Progress of Love by Alice Munro

Alice Munro’s short stories are quietly told, but are brimming beneath the surface with the unsaid. Set mostly in rural Ontario, the stories explore a wealth of things including the inheritance of the female line, long term relationships, love, loneliness, bigotry, family, small town life, and what we owe to others. Her world building is second to none, and her ability to create and maintain tension make these short stories feel much more fulfilling than your average work. I’m extremely keen to read more of her books.

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

This novel interrogates the relationship between violence and power in the maintenance of systems of oppression rooted in race, class or gender, and what can be done - if anything - to disrupt these cycles. Set in post-Apartheid South Africa, it follows a professor who after a (dubiously termed) 'affair' with a student, falls into disgrace and goes out to live on his daughter's farm. Whilst the first section of the novel interrogates the idea of scandal and exploitation (what does true repentance look like? How much of it is performative? How does this relate to the justice system?), it is the latter where David encounters the violence of a country in transition, and this section scrutinises the intersections between patriarchy and racism. Naturally this novel can be read as an allegory for post-Apartheid life (as it does not deal with it directly); David - a white middle-aged professor - finds his place in the world is increasingly uncertain and his own values outdated, and this provides a fruitful reading. However, I would argue that the novel can be read on a deeper level as an exploration of how regimes like Apartheid even come to be, and what it means to transition out of them (if that is even possible). Coetzee is interested in the complexity and stickiness of these issues, and creates a layered narrative that manages to cover a lot of ground.

This novel is extremely complex in its outlook and scope, but it comes in a small package. It is relatively short, the language is taught and spare, and there is enough storyline to uphold the bigger ideas within it. Be warned, this is a highly distressing and uncomfortable book, with scenes of sexual violence and exploitation, and it is easy to come out of the experience feeling depressed about the state of the world. Nonetheless, I found it to be an important read, one that is unafraid to look into the difficult entanglements of power and oppression, and it is handled in an extremely assured manner. Some have argued that there is a redemption of David over the course of the book, and have criticised the book and Coetzee as a result. However, I personally never read it that way (just because David pities himself and sees himself as a victim does not mean that he is one), but it's something that you will have to make your own mind up about.

Nowhere Man by Aleksander Hemon

Nowhere Man follows the life of a Bosnian man, Jozef Pronek, who finds himself stranded in Chicago after the siege of Sarajevo starts whilst he is away. Through various narrators we observe different parts of his life; his childhood in Sarajevo, his failed romances, his attempts to speak an unfamiliar language. He is a warm and lovable character, wonderfully drawn by Hemon, and the novel is regularly funny and light, even in the face of traumatising historical events. Hemon's language has been compared to Nabokov's, and although I do think they are different in tone, I can see where people are seeing some similarities. As a non-native speaker, Hemon has something of Nabokov's unique and left field approach to English, combining phrases and words in new and delightful ways. Hemon seems keen to capture that in the plot itself, where translation and miscommunication are one of the main focuses of the book.

This novel is a bit disjointed, which I'm sure is part of its attempt to describe a man out of place, but it does feel a bit unfinished as a result. Apparently Jozef Pronek was first introduced in one of Hemon's short stories, and it does at times feel as if this book is a short story gone long, but in general I really enjoyed it and will be keeping an eye out for Hemon's further work because of his excellent feel for characterisation and his gorgeous writing style.

Lows

The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger

This is a pretty oversimplified and sometimes patronising look at life in the the ‘year 1000’ - it was fine, but not great. It’s a popular history book that was published in 1999, and seems to speak more to that time on the cusp of the new millennium than anything else. For that reason it might be of use to history projects you might have, but otherwise it’s not worth a read as it glosses over all the nuances that might make it more interesting.

Everything in Between

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

This is a slim little book made up of vignettes from the perspective of a teenage Latina girl named Esperanza growing up in the Chicano and Puerto Rican district in Chicago. The writing is warm and nostalgic, building a strong sense of the community with each passing chapter, but it also asks what it means to grow up as a woman, including the pressure to conform and the ever-present threat of violence. The writing is pared back and poetic, making this an effective read, and it won’t take you much more than an hour or two.

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

This month I read two (two!) crime novels, which is a genre I don’t read much of despite its popularity. I have read a Coben or two before, and this novel confirmed him as a solid choice within the genre for me. This particular book follows a young widow who witnesses her husband’s death, only to see him appear on her nanny cam a few days later (what a premise!) His writing is slick and readable with only a few eye-rolling moments, and the novel is well-paced with satisfying twists and turns. The ending is a little rushed and ridiculous, but otherwise it was a good read and when I’m in the mood for a thriller again I’ll happily be looking to Coben’s ouvre.

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Now onto our second crime novel, this time a historical mystery set in colonial Calcutta. Ex-Scotland Yard detective Sam Wyndham arrives from England only to discover a distinguished white politician has been murdered in one of the more unsavoury parts of the city. Despite its colonial setting, Mukherjee seems willing to tackle issues of race and colonialism in this novel, though it fails to elevate itself completely and can occasionally be a little uncomfortable. As for the crime element, it was readable, fast-paced and action-packed, so a worthy book if you like historical mysteries.

The Inheritors by William Golding

I read this one by the pool which is probably the worst possible place I could have read this book as it requires real concentration. It follows a group of Neanderthals and their first encounters with modern humans. The former are family-oriented, nature-loving and generally peaceful, the latter more ambitious, more proficient with various technologies and tools, and also more violent and individualistic. As a historical work, this book is definitely pretty inaccurate, but it does hold value as a thought (and prose) experiment. I liked the way Golding imagined the building blocks of thought and the collective consciousness of the Neanderthal group, so there are certainly elements of this novel that really interested me. The reason its in this category, however, is that the style can be grating and it is extremely slow; protagonist Lok obviously does not have words or concepts for ‘boat’ or ‘arrow’ (both things humans use that the Neanderthals do not), meaning Golding describes them in a completely abstract way for pages and pages. Often I had no idea what was going on. Naturally this fits with the thought/prose experiment element of the work, but it takes a fair amount of enjoyment out of the experience of reading it.