A Review of Trespass by Rose Tremain

Trespass: A Novel

4 out of 5: Beginning with the very first chapter, in which a young girl makes a shocking discovery in a creek while on a school field trip, Trespass overflows with foreboding and suspense. The novel progresses in two alternating storylines. In one, an alcoholic man living in the Cévennes region of southern France is seduced by the money he can make by selling his crumbling ancestral estate, a sale that is vehemently opposed by his sister who lives in a small bungalow next door. In the other storyline, a sophisticated London antiques dealer decides to wrap up his failing business and to relocate to the Cévennes to be closer to his beloved sister. These two narratives move slowly towards each other and eventually intersect in surprising and violent ways. As its title suggests, Trespass is full of encroachments, including those affecting the land, the body, and the mind.

Tremain effectively harnesses the mysteries of the remote French landscape to enhance the tone of ominous dread that pervades this novel. The alternating narratives propel the story forward, and, although the novel labors under an unrelenting grimness, the momentum never flags. Trespass is a haunting and beautifully written novel with a satisfying, but not too neat, ending.

A Review of The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

The Finkler Question

3.5 out of 5: The Finkler Question, Howard Jacobson’s latest novel and the winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize, is an exploration of love, death, grief, friendship, and what it means to be Jewish in contemporary London. At the novel’s beginning, Julian Treslove is mugged after leaving a dinner party with his two best friends, Sam Finkler and Libor Sevick. Based on something his attacker may or may not have said, Julian comes to believe the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism. The problem with this theory is that Julian is not Jewish. The incident sends Julian into an identity crisis, causing him to wonder if he might actually be Jewish without knowing it and leading him into a romance with a Jewish woman. In the meantime, Sam and Libor, who are Jewish, are grieving for their recently deceased wives and spend a great deal of time arguing about the moral status of Israel.

Although Sam and Libor play large roles, Julian is the primary protagonist of The Finkler Question, and he holds the bleak view that “[j]ust to be a human animal [i]s to be a disgrace. Life [i]s a disgrace, an absurd disgrace, to be exceeded in disgracefulness only by death.” This pessimistic outlook, coupled with Julian’s relentless expectation that he is always about to fall victim to a tragic event, results in a great deal of hand-wringing that becomes quite tedious over the course of 300+ pages. Sam and Libor’s ongoing debate about Zionism also runs long for those readers without a serious interest in the subject. Fortunately, Jacobson lightens the mood with plenty of humor, albeit of the dark variety, and his well-paced prose keeps the novel from becoming overly sluggish. Further, Jacobson weaves together the three men’s stories seamlessly and elegantly. The Finkler Question presents its themes intelligently, sensitively, and humorously, but those themes will not appeal to every reader.

A Review of The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago (translated by Margaret Jull Costa)

The Elephant's Journey
4 out of 5: José Saramago’s latest novel, published after his death earlier this year, borrows its action from an actual historical event: the gift of an elephant by the king of Portugal to the Archduke of Austria in 1551 and the elephant’s subsequent journey to its new home. Filled with charm and whimsy, The Elephant’s Journey reads like an adult fairy tale. The uncomplicated plot, which follows the elephant’s path through Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Austria, provides plenty of superficial entertainment as humorous events (a fabricated miracle) alternate with more suspenseful ones (a harrowing mountain crossing). Just beneath the story’s straightforward surface lie more complicated issues of class conflict and religious tensions, though Saramago chooses not to fully explore these more serious issues in this lighthearted novel.

Saramago maintains a witty and satirical tone throughout The Elephant’s Journey. No character is spared from his teasing manner, including Saramago himself:

There is no wind, although the mist seems to form slow whirlpools as if boreas himself were blowing it down from the far north, from the lands of eternal ice. However, to be honest, given the delicacy of the situation, this is hardly the moment for someone to be honing his prose in order to make some, frankly, not very original poetic point.

Some may find Saramago’s way of presenting dialog to be confusing. In typical Saramago form, conversations unfold in long paragraphs of run-on sentences with the occasional comma and capital letter providing the only clue that the speaker has changed. This format lends a natural quickness to the spoken exchanges but can be difficult to follow at first. Although rather simplistic and frivolous compared to Saramago’s more major novels, The Elephant’s Journey is a warmhearted and engaging tale.

A Review of "C" by Tom McCarthy

C

4.5 out of 5: Tom McCarthy's "C" is a brilliant and challenging novel. "C" follows the life of Serge Carrefax, beginning with his childhood in rural England and continuing as he leaves home to fight in World War I, returns to a drug-addled life in London, and finally travels to Egypt to pursue a job in communications. The novel lacks a traditional narrative arc, and the various segments of Serge's life are relatively unconnected to each other in a narrative sense. However, "C" has a strong inner network of recurring motifs and concepts that gives the book structure and cohesion. Throughout all his various adventures, Serge seeks something larger than himself. As a teenager experimenting with wireless communications, he is fascinated by the static that exists at the end of the radio range, which he views as evidence of a greater, unifying power. As Serge matures, he continues to look for the universal constant that holds everything together.

McCarthy peppers Serge's story with recurring motifs of insects, broken or fraudulent communication systems, machinery, and dismembered bodies. These dehumanizing symbols constantly work against Serge's desire to identify a kind of universal humanity, setting up a tension that is never resolved. "C" is not a typical novel with a traditional plot structure and is not likely to appeal to those readers looking for a traditional novel-reading experience. However, for readers interested in an intellectual challenge and willing to try something utterly original, "C" is the perfect choice.

A Review of Room by Emma Donoghue

Room: A Novel

4 out of 5: Told from the perspective of a 5-year-old boy named Jack, Room is the story of a mother and her child held in captivity in a 121 square-foot room. Jack was born in the room and knows no other existence. To him, the small space is the entire world, and he and his mother are its only inhabitants. In an attempt to give her child a normal life, Jack’s mother fills their days with invented games and activities using their limited possessions. At the end of each day, Jack must go to sleep in a wardrobe by 9 pm in order to avoid encountering his mother’s captor (and his father), who drops by most nights to rape his female victim.

Despite this exceedingly grim premise, Jack’s innocence coupled with his mother’s enduring desire to create a happy life for him ensure that Room never wallows in sadness. Jack’s quirky view of his world is often humorous, and he’s perfectly content with his confined life. Donoghue does an admirable job writing from the perspective of a 5-year-old, though the inherent limitations of that perspective are occasionally tedious. Although the first third of the novel drags a bit, after Jack’s mother decides to take action to change their circumstances, the pace quickens dramatically. Given the constraints of her protagonist's young age and narrow experience, the fact that Room is such an engaging novel is a remarkable achievement.