Grateful for small mercies

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Chatto & Windus 2008, 176 pages

Jacob Vaark is an Anglo-Dutch smallholder, trader and adventurer.  Although he does not deal in “flesh” he takes a young slave girl, Florens, as  payment for a bad debt.  Florens can read and write and may prove useful on his farm, and so she joins his household of misfits – Rebekka, married off to a man she had never seen; Lina, a Native American whose tribe were wiped out by smallpox, and Sorrow, the peculiar daughter of a sea captain – all of whom are displaced and struggling to survive.

I came to this book with no expectation other than that it would be a quick read, and even in that I was wrong.  The story is told by multiple voices, some of which (for me) were easier on the ear than others.  This is a little book with big themes and I suspect that everyone who reads it will take something very different from it; a good choice for a reading group.

Quality street

The People on Privilege Hill and other stories by Jane Gardam

Abacus 2008, 224 pages

A luncheon party attended by old rivals; an elderly women’s college reunion;  a Victorian mansion converted into a home for unmarried mothers; a woman in love with a gorilla: the fourteen stories that make up this collection are by turns comic, tender, sad and surreal.

In the run up to Christmas my attention span resembles that of a goldfish.  With cards to write, presents to wrap and a leaning tower of ironing to rival that of Pisa, there is little room left for reading.  Short stories are perfect for this time of year and Jane Gardam is, in my view, a perfect writer of them.  This is a wonderfully quirky collection with a very English feel to it.  You are certain to find your own particular favourite (mine’s the purple one The Milly Ming) and there is something in this quality assortment to suit all tastes.

Kiss and tell

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Little, Brown 2008, 320 pages

Mike Bordwin is headmaster of Avery Academy, a private school in Vermont. When he is given a video tape showing four of his students engaged in explicit sexual acts, he is shocked and sickened. The participants are three young men aged between seventeen and nineteen and a girl who appears to be no more than fourteen years old. Mike decides the best course of action is to contain the affair but when the lid is inevitably blown off, the repercussions are far reaching and tragic.

This story is comprised of the testimonies of a number of individuals, some of whom are more directly involved than others; from these we assemble a picture of what has taken place. Unfortunately this device makes for a rather irritating reading experience – a bit like trying to sink your teeth into a chocolate eclair whilst simultaneously swatting away a fly. I am quite partial to the work of Anita Shreve and thought her last book, Body Surfing, was a return to the form of her earlier novels (my particular favourite being The Weight of Water). But here I was left feeling that in a story which purports to tell everything, something vital was missing.

Shrink rapt

Trauma by Patrick McGrath

Bloomsbury 2008, 224 pages

Charlie Weir is a psychiatrist who earns his bread and butter treating the traumatized citizens of New York – Vietnam veterans and victims of child abuse. However, Charlie is not without his own personal baggage: a feckless father whom he despises, a successful brother he loathes and a depressive mother who, try as he might, he can never seem to please. Unable to come to terms with the end of his marriage (due to a professional blunder) he embarks on a relationship with the beautiful Nora, only to kick-start his own downward spiral.

Earlier in the year, this one was being passed around the blogs like a veritable hot potato with reviews appearing on Asylum, Lizzy’s Literary Life and dovegreyreader scribbles. I read it in August, but held back from putting it on this blog because to be frank, it touched a personal nerve. Now that it has been shortlisted for the Costa 2008 novel award, what the heck! Suffice it to say that for me, Mr McGrath has brilliantly nailed the misery and hopelessness of his damaged characters; there is light at the end of the tunnel but not everyone is able to see it, and next time the black dog cocks his leg up my lamp post, I’ll be ready with a bucket of water.

In love and war

Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney

Chatto & Windus 2008, 272 pages

1939 on London’s Old Kent Road. Stevie (Stephanie) and Michael are in love but are soon separated when Michael is sent to Africa with the Royal Corps of Signals. Fifty years on, a widowed Stevie is living with her daughter and granddaughter, but what is the secret she is keeping from them and why is she unable to mourn her late husband? Michael also has a story to tell but cancer has taken his voice. As he lies terminally ill in hospital, he writes it down with the help of a young nursing assistant.

This book gets my vote simply because one of the main characters is a regular visitor to their local library! With a perfectly balanced narrative, Stevie and Michael tell their story in alternating chapters; there is wonderful attention to detail, making the time and setting strikingly vivid. A gentle and accomplished novel that fully deserves its place on the Costa 2008 first novel shortlist.