The last in a trilogy of American University novels I have read recently, and equal to the wonderful The Art of Fielding and The Secret History. Recently rediscovered in the UK, John Williams' novel Stoner from 1965 is a beautiful, sad but at times uplifting story of William Stoner, a farm boy who finds literature during his time at the University of Missouri. There he stays to teach and we follow his quiet life through all it's ups and downs. But what propels this book to it's status as Waterstone's Book of the Year is the prose. Simple and clear, you are able to race through the sentences whilst at the same time absorbing everything on the page. The writing flows expertly and intelligently and keeps the reader involved despite the subject matter. A simple life, one mainly devoid of love and humour. Stoner has difficulty with relationships, although most are not of his own making. I was so angry at certain points in the story that I wanted to throw the book across the room. Chapter 8 is 14 pages of domestic horror. Is Stoner one of life's losers? We have to ask that question. I don't think so. He may have been if he stayed on his parent's farm. But he had choices. He married the wrong woman, and perhaps these days he would have left. But in the 1930's and 40's things were different. But he had his books and his teaching and for him, that was just enough.
Stef Penney won the Costa Book of the Year in 2006 with The Tenderness of Wolves. I thought it was a pretty good story that was well written, so I was always going to read The Invisible Ones, her latest novel. I don't usually read detective thrillers, but this could have been written by Kate Atkinson, and for me, that is saying a lot. A private detective is searching for a missing person. Nothing new there, but a tightly plotted story is more than that. We are right in the middle of a gypsy family's confrontation with the past. The characters are all very well drawn, and their way of life is vital to what happens. But most of all, the pace and the slick prose means the pages roll by in a flash. Wonderful.
A Novel in Five Parts is the full title of the latest from Sebastian Faulks, but really it is two novellas and three short stories. They only share a common theme, so there is no way it can be called a novel. I would have given it three stars if it were not for the magnificent last story of just under a hundred pages which is worth five stars on it's own. I guess that everybody who reads this book will have different interpretations of what this brilliant writer is trying to say. It has a lot to do with moving on after a momentous event in a life, and how people can change, either by growing up and leaving an old life behind, or by a life changing experience. In the first, Geoffrey Talbot is dragged down by memories of what happened to him in the war. It is only at the end does he find he is not the same man and finds a kind of peace. In the second, Billy works his way out from a Victorian workhouse to become something he could never have then imagined. The third story is about Elena who, in the future, finds her place in the world with a dramatic scientific discovery. But it is her unusual friendship with Bruno that changes her social ineptitude for the better. But as she changes, so does he. In the fourth, poor ignorant Jeanne finds a better life by accident. But that last story. The relationship between musician Jack and singer songwriter Anya develops into something magical. Jack tells how "my old life and my new life in collision". Anya's songs are described as "feeling your heartbeat in someone else's life". The writer's familiarity and expertise in the music business are beautifully exposed.
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