exciting times, The Normal Man and Shrines of Gaiety

 

Ava is only in her early twenties so I can forgive her pretentious attitude. She actually thinks she is a bad person, but this is only in her relationships with Julian and Edith which are explored in minute detail. Her life seems so hectic, all that Instagram, messaging, hanging out. The writing, while first class, is highly introspective: "During these outings I felt that I had hitherto woefully misdirected my energies in trying to cultivate a personality. If you didn't have one then that left more room for everyone else's." There is a lot of this.

There is some interesting stuff about Hong Cong's relationship with China, but we are sometimes overwhelmed by the writer's insistence to to let us know how much she knows about the city. "A few meters down from the Shanghai Commercial Bank was a Yun Fat Pawn Shop" and so on. I actually became a little bored with the story over halfway, feeling it was somewhat repetitive. I was never that convinced about her feelings towards Julian and Edith, but that's the young for you.

Having enjoyed the latest four of Susie Boyt's novels, I tracked back to her first book written in her mid twenties, and what a little gem it is. It was equally good as her later books. It is so well written, with great humour and wit. Janey March lives rent free in a flat in a luxury mansion block off Victoria Street, courtesy of a dead aunt and a cousin who lives abroad. But nothing works so all is not sweetness and light. "The curtains are never drawn in deference to their fragility".

Although the story is told over one weekend, it mostly looks back to her parents marriage and particularly her close relationship with her father. His death still haunts Janey, especially the old songs they used to sing. In those first years after he died, Janey is trapped into looking after her mother. "A solemn little death club was formed (with other bereaved women) for the swapping of tears, stories and handy mourner's tips".

However, an accident at a party over that present weekend throws Janey together with that normal man she meets for the first time. "Casualty, in the small hours of a Saturday morning, had a faintly theatrical air. It smelled like a pub". I have two other of the author's books on my to read list.

I have always been a huge fan of Kate Atkinson. After a couple of recent books ("God in Ruins" and "Transcription") that I had not enjoyed as much, "Big Sky" was brilliant. "Shrines of Gaiety" falls somewhere in between. Cramming in everything about the decadence of London between the wars seemed to be at the expense of good prose and getting on with the story. The story telling is, as ever, first class, and I liked the switches in character. Best of these was Gwendolen Kelling. The author obviously loves this clever young woman whose story elevates the writing and the book. Oh, yes, she's from York! Atkinson has to get her home town in: "York was planning a new Carnegie library". And. of course, a mention for Betty's. Before we head to the smoke.

The matriarch of a London set of nightclubs, Nellie Coker, and her five children all get their stories interwoven with that of Inspector Frobisher, Gwendolen, some bad men and a couple of strays. There is some good description of central London at the time, but not enough. Although Conduit Street (my first office when I joined a new company) gets a couple of mentions and other places that are quite familiar. However, the story turns into one of depravity and death with just too many co-incidences as character meets character. So a reasonable story if a little predictable. And long.

Over three quarters of the way through, very little seemed to be resolved, as if there was going to be a sequel. But then it seemed as if the author gave up on that idea and we were told in a few pages what happened to every character, and how long they lived. All suddenly wrapped up.  How awful. Not what I would have expected from a favourite novelist.