As someone who tended to confine her reading to the greats from Austrian and German literature, interspersed with the obligatory English language classic novel, and preferably only reading works by authors who had been dead for a minimum of 50 years (with the exception of Jörg Mauthe and absolutely anything written by Wolf Haas), I decided I should broaden my literary outlook somewhat and join a book club.
It proved a timely intervention on my part. I realised I was in trouble when I decided that what my blog really needed to get traffic to head its way was a 9-page literary analysis on an obscure Austrian novel from the 1970s written by Jörg Mauthe, featuring a dwarf that saves Austria from destruction. Yes, that old chestnut. I wasn’t even sure the novel had been translated into English. When I mentioned that possibility to my Austrian best friend, he replied he wasn’t sure it could be translated into German. And there lies the rub; it’s such an Austrian book that you really need to be Austrian or at least have spent some time there to appreciate it properly. So not only was it likely that very few native English speakers had read the book, it was quite feasible that most Germans hadn’t either (not to mention quite a few Austrians).
The book in question is called Die Groẞe Hitze oder Die Erretung Österreichs durch den Legationsrat Dr Tuzzi (The Great Heat or How Legationsrat Dr Tuzzi Saved Austria). Heard of it? Possibly not. Did I let such considerations stop me? Did I heck as like! Sure enough, I wrote my analytical masterpiece to general indifference. Well, to be factually accurate it has had 20 views which are 20 more views than I thought it would get.
So with this in mind, I joined a local book club. It meant buying books I’d normally never buy and at the time often resenting spending the money, convinced that I was not going to enjoy reading any of them. Invariably and much to my amazement, I ended up enjoying most of them; novels I’d never think of buying in a million years. Ironically, the only novels I didn’t enjoy reading were the ones I suggested. Even a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German author (obviously) – I’m nothing if not true to form – proved to be my least favourite novel of his. So what has book club shown me?
Well, first and foremost, that I am too set in my ways; secondly, there are a lot of great authors out there even if they are not writing in German (or Austrian-German for that matter); and last but not least, an author doesn’t have to be dead to make it a classic. Listed below are some of my favourite literary surprises.
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
This is the kind of book I would normally never pick off the shelf, so thank goodness for book club because I would have missed out on a treat of a novel. Beautifully written, Gyasi has a wonderful way with words and for creating evocative descriptions. The starting point of the story are the fates of two sisters, unknown to each other, and born in what was later to become Ghana in the 18th century. One sister marries a slave trader while the other is sold into slavery. As each chapter unfolds we learn what happens to their descendants with each chapter telling the story of a specific family member, so well-written that every chapter could be a short story in its own right. Nevertheless there is a strong through line throughout the novel. Given the nature of the material it would be easy for such a novel to be an angry polemic, instead it’s written with a lot of verve and a great understanding for the human condition. You are drawn into the lives of each character which makes the sufferings and injustices they suffer seem all the more acute. And the historical details are horrific, from the conditions the slaves are kept in to the iniquities of the American legal system. Yet despite the tragedy that haunts most of the characters’ lives, Homegoing is by no means a depressing read rather an enthralling one.
A Spool of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler
Like any good novelist worth their salt, you are immediately engrossed in the story and the characters which populate it. On the surface A Spool of Blue Thread seems to be the everyday story of an average American family – the Whitshanks. However, as the story develops, Anne Tyler skilfully reveals the secrets that lie within this family, deftly showing how, as in real life, assumptions and appearances can be misleading. Likewise, as in real life, she shows we never truly know another human being, even our nearest and dearest. So much so that one person’s views of events can differ fundamentally from those of another’s even when it comes to those two people purportedly falling in love and building a life together.
Through the prism of Abby and Red Whitshank and their family, we are also faced with the uncomfortable truth of the onslaught that aging brings to both the body and relationships; and how all children forget the cardinal rule that their parents used to be young once and that one day – even if they refuse to believe it – they will be old themselves.
As you read the novel it’s as if the author is peeling an onion, revealing yet one more layer to the story. Each layer giving you more insight into the characters and making you revaluate what has gone before. The end result? You just want to get to the end of the novel. What’s more, once you’ve got there – and this is the biggest compliment you can pay any writer I should think – you want to start reading A Spool of Blue Thread all over again.
My Year of Meats – Ruth Ozeki
Despite approaching this novel with some dread, I was soon abused of my literary prejudices because I realised fairly quickly this novel is brilliantly written, not least because of the way Ozeki blends the various strands of the novel together. Its heroine, the Japanese-American Jane Takagi-Little, is hired to be the co-ordinator for a TV series that is trying to flog American meat to the Japanese. As the story unfolds, Ozeki looks at relationships, Japanese and American culture, domestic abuse and the pernicious way that big business influences our lives. In the process you also gain a much better understanding as to why the EU doesn’t allow the import of American meat into Europe. All said and done, My Year of Meats is no polemic either but an enjoyable read which gives you an insight into a culture so different from ours while exposing how little we know about our own.
I am Pilgrim – Terry Hayes
This is a real page turner which is handy as it’s a monster of a novel. Pilgrim, the codename for someone so high up in US Intelligence that officially he doesn’t exist, comes out of retirement to hunt down a terrorist who is threatening to destroy the world with the ultimate weapon – one which cannot be destroyed. If that sounds all rather fanciful and unbelievable, it’s not in the capable hands of Hayes. Hayes is a master of suspense but his journalistic training means he imbibes the novel with realistic detail. Not only do you understand what makes our hero Pilgrim tick but you also get an idea of what drives young men to become such fanatics.
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