Harvest by Jim Crace

Not a comfortable read, rather one that sets you pondering about humankind and its capacity for violence, cruelty and how we treat ‘the other’ within our midst. The emotionally flat narrator observing a hamlet’s descent into chaos is both heartening and alarming and really touches the reader with his inability to even try to stop what is happening when his intervention could have possibly changed the course of events. Above all, it is the selfishness of each and everyone that hits hardest, selfishness as both a base position and a fallback position. It precludes both the concept and practice of altruism and for me that it is chilling. Are there lessons in this novel for the modern world? Or perhaps it is simply a reflection of it. In my dotage I frequently assess the Thatcher years in Britain as those years in which our non-existent society became selfish, when all of us were encouraged to look out for number one, but perhaps, as this book suggests, this is universal fact of the human condition that periodically comes to the fore. Does history describe a constant battle between the individual and the collective? But there is also the battle between rural and urban going on and the myth of the rural idyll, so beloved of the Romantic poets, is exploded for good. This is a powerful novel not only in its story but also in the manner of its telling, and it is a novel that I am likely to return to, given time.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

A common enough story – boy meets girl – triumph over adversity – good people and scoundrels, but told in a highly original way. But what is really impressive is the change of pace, gradual at first, then building to a crescendo with ridiculously short chapters, some where the preamble is longer than the chapter content. I’m still not sure who was responsible for the villain’s demise and I wonder about the eventual outcomes for some of the characters, but the way the story is told is hugely impressive. Could do without the astrology but I suppose it is important for Lydia’s character. Overall, I cannot recommend this book too highly and although 832 pages might seem a little excessive the reader is kept absolutely enthralled throughout.

Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon

Not the best crime thriller I've ever read, but it is the first Maigret story and the character has yet to be developed. It seems to evoke the unstable France of the late 20s and seems to signal the great upheavals that were soon to come, but somehow it remains unconvincing. The character of Pietr and his brother, Hans, are possible but improbable and their history which is recounted in curious circumstances in the last few pages is simply not credible. An explanation in terms of brothers both loving the same woman, a distinctly minor character and one with neither colour nor form, simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The fact that Maigret is complicit in the death of his adversary didn't cut it with me, for Maigret to be so grossly negligent spolit it for me.

Life Class by Pat Barker

Not quite the impact of the Regeneration trilogy. This is a curious love story set against the background of the Slade and the outbreak of WW1. The scenes at Ypres are beautifully constructed and very well-written, those depicting various parts of London, rather less so. The reference to real people is inconsistent, almost simple name-dropping in the case of Augustus John, and scarcely more convincing with regard to Lady Otteline Morrell. There’s something not quite right about the characters of Paul, Kit and Elinor and I’m not sure what it is. Paul and Kit are naturally suspicious of each other, both rivals for Elinor and at times she appears to be playing them off against each other. At other times she is distant, aloof even, seemingly unaware of the turbulence she is causing among her suitors and so determined to carry on painting in spite of familial pressures to ‘do her bit’ for the war effort. Two peripheral characters are interesting, the unfortunate Lewis a Quaker volunteer orderly, and Catherine Stein whose father is interned because of his German origin. More could have been made of Lewis’ Quaker convictions and Catherine’s treatment.

These two characters represent different kinds of ‘otherness’ which would have been worth exploring in the context of patriotism, duty and suchlike. It is Catherine’s situation that particularly interests me because my paternal grandfather, a Swiss national with a pronounced Swiss-German accent lived in London throughout the war. After some unfortunate incidents in 1914 in which he was presumed to be German and abused for it, he spent most of the war inside the boarding house which he ran with my grand-mother, also Swiss, but seemingly better integrated into the local community.

However, it is the ending of the book that is particularly unsatisfactory, nothing is resolved and the book seems to have been hurried to a premature end, obviously to allow for the possibility of a sequel. In the final pages Elinor twice asks Paul, ‘What are we going to do?’ Yes, what are they going to do? I am going to have to read Toby’s Room to find out.

The Progress of Love by Alice Munro

It was strange how my appreciation of this collection changed as I moved through it. Dull and domestic, was my initial reaction to the title story, and the second ‘Lichen’ seemed no better. I found it difficult to relate to the experiences that were being explored here. ‘Miles City, Montana’ was better, I felt that I’d got it, these stories are about women, women and family, women who are ill-used either by accident or by design, new world women who art sometimes beset by old world prejudices. ‘Fits’ remains a puzzle, I read it twice and I still don’t get it, did she or didn’t she, and if she did, why? I’m going to have to read this story again, and probably again.

‘The Moon in the Orange Street Skating Rink’, was the first story I really liked, I liked the characters, Callie and Sam. They were real, believable and had a tangible substance. ‘Jesse and Meribeth’ is a delight, growing up with a best friend and dilemmas of trust and boastfulness. I was lost again with ‘ A Queer Streak’, I found the characters difficult to like yet there was a poignancy about this story that lingered.

My favourite was ‘White Dump’, the multiple voices are so cleverly interwoven that it comes as a surprise to find that this story is really about the divorced wife, Isobel. Whereas the character that really intrigued me was the elderly Sophie, who has a world-weariness combined with an admirable independence. Gradually, I began to understand the power of these stories and the reservoir of interest that lies hidden under a veneer of domesticity.