Pereira Maintains, By Antonio Tabbuci

The Fox and Badger, Wellow, Thursday 28th June.

Apologies from Chris B and Steve.

There was a reasonable level of appreciation of Tabuchi's novel about the creeping effects of fascism on pre-war Lisbon, with general disappointment that the book didn`t deliver as much as it promised.

Richard described the politics of Portugal and the Salazar government whose dictatorship had only ended in the 1970s. This regime was well known for its ruthless implementation of fascist ruleat home and overseas. The leadership of the Catholic church too was in cahoots with the fascists although local priests often tried to support the Republican cause when possible.

Richard enjoyed the book – he thought that it was well realised – it grabbed him more as it progressed. He thought that it was well written but not one of the greatest books he`d read. The story was about an old journalist hiding from reality. The young revolutionary Rossi brings him back into the real world. A lot of debate about whether Pereira's final act of rebellion followed by his decision to leave his friends and country was a difficult decision or was it in fact an act of liberation for Rossi? The idea of a confederation of souls – each one taking its turn to come to the fore – was appreciated by both Richard and Rob as an explanation for an individual's character and behaviour.

Mark like the imagery, which took him straight to the streets of Lisbon. Enjoyable but too short and it particularly irritated him every time the word “maintains” cropped up! Apparently the original Italian version was called Pereira “declares” and not “maintains”… but with Steve being absent there was no point arguing whether anything had been lost in translation. Mark thought the idea of Pereira talking to his wife's picture was interesting but then not explored deeply enough.

Rob thought this was a strange book – the story progressively drew him in with its subtle but effective style. A predictable, enjoyable easy read.

Ras was not very impressed with this book – found it difficult to read and it ended up being a damp squib.

Neil too was not very impressed with the book. The introduction at the beginning of the book spoilt it (should have been the back of the book so it could be read afterwards). A week after having read the book he had to reread the end of the book to remember the finale (such as it was…)! He also found the character of Pereira implausible. Would somebody who has worked as a journalist all his life really be so naive? He was depicted as a bit of a bumbling old idiot, which was not realistic.

Chris W was looking forward to reading one of Europe's best translated novels of the 20th century (as promised on the cover) but although the atmosphere and imagery of pre-war Lisbon was good, the book never really delivered. The finale was too brief and it was unlikely that as a journalist Pereira could not have foreseen the outcome of his harbouring Rossi in his apartment. Good that it had informed him about this period in Portugal's history.

Chris`s comments were emailed in from afar. He enjoyed reading about the experience of living ordinary lives under a progressively totalitarian regime, and the historical, cultural and political setting was well painted. The violent event at the end comes as a suitable shock to the “ordinary lives” of the characters. The contrast between the young and sexy revolutionaries and the washed up journalist worked well too. Chris liked the book so much he started to re read it – enjoyably.

So a mixed reception for Antonio Tabucchi in the end… – you can`t please everyone all of the time!

A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh

The Pulteney Arms. May 31, 2012.

First published in 1934 A Handful of Dust deals with issues of class, social change, loyalty and faith, to name but four. Despite this, it's a shortish novel, written in an accessible style and with a deceptive lightness of touch. Today it is cited by some authorities as one of the great English novels of the 20th century. But what did the Bath Blokes make of it?

A mixed response, it's fair to say. The humour that Waugh uses to make his narrative slip down more easily left some cold. Others enjoyed this aspect of his writing (the description of the Master of Hounds standing in a distant field nibbling forlornly on an ginger nut…) finding it understated and more effective for it. Some found the writing style fairly anonymous, not really making a case for remark – again, others thought the writing highly skilled, the words and themes meticulously chosen, and the book an achievement in covering so much ground in relatively few pages.

To what extent was Waugh's subject matter relevant to us today? The degree to which the narrative was steeped in 1930's upper-class terminology made it harder for some to identify with the characters, and the apparent fickleness with which relationships were regarded raised a barrier to empathy. Some of the characters seemed plain unbelievable (Princess Abdul Akhbar, anyone?).

But there was genuine interest in the legal matters surrounding the plot – the impending change in the divorce laws, and the seemingly ridiculous subterfuges that were required beforehand to effect a legal separation.

On one hand, there was a sense of profound change in established ways of life and expectations – houses being split into flats, the future of Hetton in doubt (becoming a school perhaps – Chris W was very informative about the huge numbers of stately homes and estates that had to be sold to cover death duties pretty much until the 1970s), apparent lack of respect for the sanctity of marriage, and even in Brenda's case for her son's life and death.

As for Waugh himself, it was notable that we did spend quite a lot of time relating what we though about the book to what we thought about him – more than we normally would, I think. Perhaps this was partly because he's a well-documented writer, known to be irascible, perhaps pompous, not suffering fools gladly… but also from a middle class background himself and therefore arguably aligned more with Beaver than anyone else in the book. Ras wasn't impressed by Waugh's war record. We wondered, to what extent did the book's use of racially pejorative terms (shocking to us today) suit his literary purpose, or did they simply reflect the times he was writing about, and did he himself find them easy to use?

It's perhaps no surprise that, as the book's nominator, Steve was a fan - a masterclass in effective and elegant writing, though admittedly stretching credibility on occasion for 21st century consumers. Most support came from Neil and Mark Th, sadly neither of whom were there on the night! With all scores now in it averages 6.48, which slots in between Case Histories and Suite Francaise - mid-table anonymity.

Dreams of Rivers and Seas - Tim Parks

The Ram, Widcombe. April 26th.

This story of dysfunctional family relationships set mainly in India produced a 50:50 split of opinion in the group, like no other. Some people liked the constantly changing narrators, some found this odd. Most liked the plot revolving around the young man discovering his parents and his madness on the death of his father. Some found the end unsatisfactory despite it's unexpected twist (not twisted enough for some). Some liked the portrayal of the characters. We really felt got to know them, except perhaps the father. We all liked different characters with votes for Paul, the visiting academic biographer and the mother Helen. Some thought the son John, an accurate portrayal of a son unable to find his own way in life with distant and professionally obsessed parents. Others thought him not only completely pathetic (where did the empathy and care of our professionals go?) but unconvincing too: too stupid for a Ph D (some of us know otherwise) and not recognising his father's worldwide reputation.

There was also a mixed reception to the portrayal of India with some recognising the experience of Indian streets and a foreigner's shock at the intensity of it all, others critical that, for example, a cheap hotel had air conditioning (and why not?).

Many liked the philosophical themes, often based on opposites e.g. loyalty/betrayal that were brought up but felt they were not explored or explained enough. Some liked the style despite some hiccoughs, others found it slow and unengaging.

Did we like the frequent allusions to sexual and sensual attraction (and the occasional encounter)? On balance, yes. This added to the engagement with the book and the observations e.g. awareness of someone's skin tone and heat were appreciated. Some rather liked the sexy actor girlfriend but couldn't believe she'd go for an older man!

Chris B has been reading Tim Parks' autobiographical book, Teach Me to Sit Still. This explores Tim's journey though his prostate related pain (or is it?) via traditional medicine and absolute scepticism for any alternatives though meditation, shiatsu and Buddhist practice. In the book, he reflects that many of his novels are about people who want to be or are set apart from the world, event to be point of Alberta’s death wish. He notes that this reflects his tendency to become withdrawn, lose interest in intimacy and be accused of beings aloof as a result of his pain. He also observes that these stories "didn't quite satisfy," "didn't really say it". And that reflects our experience of his book too!

An Ordinary Soldier - Doug Beattie

The Crown, Bathford, March 29th 2012. Good ale!

It was clear from the outset that this book would not be one of our literary classics, which was disappointing in that Doug Beattie MC was assisted by his co-writer Philip Gomm, who as a journalist probably has an A level or a Degree in English.  Notwithstanding this we are in a “book club”; not a “literature club”.  If the literary style irritates – tough – it was easy to read and had few if any grammatical errors.

Doug Beattie was clearly a man with a particularly interesting life.  Who else amongst us has shot their best friend; suffered systematic bullying; guarded Rudolf Hess; served with the UN peacekeeping force in the terrible Balkan war; was part of the initial invasion of Iraq, serving under the Col Tim Collins who made the widely broadcast pre-invasion speech to his troops. Doug Beattie’s account was frank and honest. That gave the book considerable credibility, however many of these failings grated with me/us.  As for the assault on Garmsir it was amazing how chaotic it all appeared and how much “lead” flew around without hitting much.  The chaos was not unexpected; there is a saying in military circles that all plans, however well found will not survive first contact with the enemy, due to human error, communications or technical breakdown.  In spite of this they (the British OMLT) seemed quite fearless standing up in their un-armoured Land Rovers to return fire against the Taliban.  Neil needs a big thank you for pointing out the U-Tube link to the documentary about this assault on Garmsir.  It is well worth a visit, giving a different perspective and adding context to the book. 

There were comments below about the unfairness of the war in that air strikes can be brought in “at will” (not so in the book), but this is an asymmetric war where the Taliban attack at their time and place of choosing and lob mortars into areas populated by their own people.  The only moral call here is that probably the Taliban have more right to kill their own people than we do, although we have been invited Afghan Government to be there.  (I don’t intend opening that particular can of worms, it was just a note on the morals of how the war is conducted.  Don’t blame the messenger – tell Mr Blair.)  Each day in Garmsir seemed similar to the previous one.  It probably was and all credit to the ANA, ANP and OMLT for sticking to their task, retaking the town and actually encouraging the locals to return home and open shops etc.  It was not the author’s fault that the mission was inevitably going to fail when the ANP & ANA could not hold the town as the support was withdrawn.  It was a gutsy hard won battle and an inspiring read for it.

The following additional comments were offered:

Steve had not finished the book, being about half way through.  Doug Beattie tries to be introspective, but his experiences were so profound that he could not find the words to tell the story.  The writing style was naïve and cliché overloaded – in particular the description of the suicide bombing in the opening chapter.  It could have been a better book if the co-writer had done his job better.

Mark T was irritated by the style – GCSE essay style, and reading about things he did not agree with, i.e. the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He is only half way through, but encouraged at the meeting to complete the book and provide a score.

Richard felt the book was full of thoughts and feeling, but if there was a ghost writer why was it so bad?  He liked the autobiographical approach and was sorry it was not developed more fully.  He like less the details of each days skirmishes which were samey and in particular his self description as a buffoon and he was convinced this is not true and downplaying himself was grating.

Chris B agreed with the style issues, but thought there were exciting situations described and was impressed by their response to them.  It was easy to read in spite of the style.  It was a classic war book highlighting the chaos, luck/ill luck of war.  The human portrayal was real, but the whole situation was frustrating.

Mark Th thought the writing quality was never an issue - it was uniformly bad throughout.  However, the last 120 pages were compelling for revealing his honesty, frustration and the way he showed that even the most heroic fighters can be prone to self-doubt, guilt and fear. The caricature of the Afghans and in particular General Gulshan also struck a chord of credibility.  The first 2/3 of the book were not so good, partly because he sketched over his past life so superficially, and partly also because the memoir of a soldier who enlists to fight as a career as he did is less interesting for me than a story told by someone who never planned to fight, as was so often the case in the two world wars.  My biggest problem with the book was the sheer boredom of reading the early battle scenes.

Chris W: Although you can't enjoy a book about a war that is being fought as I write I found this months long titled book very gripping and "unputdownable". Beattie describes in clear unpretentious prose the details of the fighting going on apparently on our behalf in Afghanistan. Even he is surprised that he survives the amount of lead sent his way. This phone precludes further text but among the things I will remember are the close relationships that developed when fighting a common enemy not only with his afghan troops and squaddie mates but also the distrust between the army and police who are meant to be on the same side. It doesn't augur well for the future.

Rob: it failed on almost every front. Accepted that the quality of writing was poor from the outset. In particular, he seemed to have no concept of how to introduce people and situations in a way that gave context and 'colour'. Probably the worst example was when his wife suddenly appeared as a completely unexplained character - we were expected to be shocked by him writing how she was neglected (e.g. Him not being present at the birth - surprise, surprise), nearly vomited when reading "she was right, I did have a mistress, the army". Pathetic cliché. Learnt nothing about what is going on in Afghanistan from the book that I hadn't already got from the BBC and the Guardian. Had hoped for something new - but no. Carried on reading it to the end, because genuinely wanted to know what was happening to the author - but that was because he was a real, current day person put there by our Govt., and not because of either the writing style or the depth of content.

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

Devonshire Arms, Sarah Waters seemed to get a thumbs from all, while falling short of rave reviews.  There was agreement for example that the first plot twist was both impressive and impossible to second guess.   

Mark Th felt it was a fine read, though not quite as good as Affinity.  Mark T found the plot really exciting and saw Fingersmith as a modern take on gothic authors like Wilkie Collins.  He found the love scenes convincingly erotic and also noted how well Waters had evoked the look and feel of London.  He had looked forward to each reading of the book.  Chris W enjoyed it too, but felt it was some 200 pages to long with too much in the Maud section that was repetition. His suspicion was that Waters wrote in the hope of having a film based on the novel.  He enjoyed the plot twists and the imagery of the flight from Briar and felt that there was real dramatic tension at times.  However, the ending was predictable and the plot at times unconvincing – would Sue really seem convincingly mad, he wondered?  This was echoed by Ras, who also felt that it was, on balance a good book.  For Ras the plot was unnecessarily convoluted – why not just pitch up at Briar with the letter and a good lawyer and get the loot?  He also enjoyed the imagery, atmosphere and the description.  He also questioned whether a nocturnal marriage ceremony was legal at his time.  

 Neil, having read all of SW’s oeuvre, had not re-read it for the meeting, but felt that it is a book that says long in the memory with its vivid description and imagery.  The period feel was a real strength of the book.  Steve had yet to complete, but was enjoying it thus far and contrasted it favourably with Alison Weir as a book written by a real author.  He was full of praise for the language and the rhythms of Water’s prose.  Chris B had also yet to complete, but had already noted that the surroundings and the description of familiar places in a very different time as an impressive feature. Richard had agreed with the view that character and plot were well handled (despite having gone over to the dark side of electronic readership).   

Rob had also liked the book, as well as raising questions about the male characters’ individual and collective weaknesses, and the critique of pornography possibly implied.  Here views were mixed, with some seeing Gentleman as a pivotal character in the book, some seeing the book as pointing up the dangers of pornography, while others saw it as a device that showed the upper middle classes, for all their piety, as no more moral than the residents of Lant Street.

What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt

Mark, Mark, Chris W, Steve, Rob and Ras met in the Salamander, Jan 26th 2012, noting apologies from Neil, Chris B, and Richard from various exotic parts of the world.

What I Loved was discussed first, having been introduced by Rob (again as he introduced it at the December meeting as well).  He was clearly enthused by it in terms of the characterisation, and the writing style.  He indicated that the three qualities he looks for in a book were all there – characterisation, a storyline that is going somewhere and well-written, plausible relationships.  The shock of Matt’s death was very real, although someone thought there was a clue to it in the pages at the end of the first part.  There was general agreement with Rob’s comments, but Steve and Ras were less enamoured by the reams of prose about Bill’s art, they could not see the point nor was there enough detail for the point of it to be clear.  Give us less or more.  (A little like squash or cooking in “Saturday”, was Siri just showing off her knowledge of modern art? Or is that an oxymoron? – Knowledge & modern art.)  Ras asked whether or not there were any clues in the story that might have indicated that Mark was somehow implicated in Matt’s death and there was some thought that this might have been possible.  With regard to the story going somewhere, Ras thought it did not, as Mark was clearly not going to turn from his lying, stealing and drugs, which formed the basis for the last third of the book, confirming what had happened in the earlier parts.  We were not supported by our specialist Psychologists so a detailed analysis of Mark was not available. (I am sure Richard can provide us with an essay on this from his veranda.)

Many agreed that the chase around hotels at the end to rein in Mark provided some light relief, but it was a pretty downbeat tale of lost lives and opportunities, held up by lasting friendships.  Bill & Leo, although there was some discussion about Bill & Leo that the friendship was a little one sided with Leo the passive partner.  Also Leo’s love for Mark as a surrogate father even if he failed to turn him from his ways, but he did show extreme perseverance until the end.


(Notes suplied by Ras - the 'I' above!)

Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir

Salamander, Jan 26th 2012 (a double header with 'What I Loved'!).

Innocent Traitor everyone enjoyed the writing style in modern language and in the first person.  This moved the story along at a good pace and was easy to follow; no ye olde English words or phrases.  It made a good comparison with our recent read of Wolf Hall.  Apart from Jane, who had a pretty terrible short life at the hands of her parents and the power brokers of the day, the only sympathy was for her mother at the end when she realised how bad she had been to her daughter, using her as a pawn in their game to reap riches and power.  The discussion was also mixed about Guilford; was he just a brute to Jane or was he too an “innocent” and how strong was the historical evidence? The issue here was about the exchanged looks/tears between Jane and Guilford on his way to the scaffold.  Those present made no admission of any tears at the end, but it is the BBBC!  Many liked the portrayal of the executioner, but then he was as innocent as Jane.  Most admitted that they did not enjoy history at school, but now in middle age it is time for us to catch up on what we have all missed.  Perhaps O level history was badly taught and had the wrong syllabus.  Present teaching/syllabus is probably more engaging and relevant.  (From my perspective, I want to know why something happened as well as what happened.)

Notes nobly supplied by Ras once again.