Books
fP/n/L 99o; '/ 4'? e / JOHN HASKELL American Purgatorio ’Cii’i’flifll’rt‘: C...
‘Doubt,’ as eminently quotable American writer Ambrose Bierce once wrote, ‘begins only at the last frontiers of what is possible.’ And thus, John Haskell’s broiling, darkly quixotic pilgrimage of a book begins. Our protagonist Jack walks out of a New Jersey petrol station to find that his wife has vanished with the car. Upon returning to his and Anne’s apartment, Jack discovers a map of the US in a drawer, with Lexington, Boulder and San Diego circled on it. He decides to follow the clues westward in search of his missing wife. Written in an abstract, near-miniscule detailed prose style, Haskell’s book attracts neither the label of satire nor realism; though he is happy to lead the reader into those cul de sacs of thought before yanking them back with something opaque. It would not really be spoiling things to reveal that all is not what it seems here; Jack’s quest is vague at best and undefined at worst, a voyage of Buchanesque qualities being played out while Anne is Dante’s Beatrice, ever beckoning the narrator into the black hole of the inferno. At one point our narrator even spells it all out for the reader: ‘To understand the world, I had to be part of the world, and I was determined to go into the world and, like Bach or Mozart or Charlie Parker, let the world play
with me.’
Haskell has achieved the remarkable: a work of resounding doubt that refuses for one moment to pander to
the overarching ironies of our age. (Paul Dale)
Reviews
men 1 l n pit/\MA JAMES SIEGEL
Detour (I we Warner) O...
Detour follows the first rule of truly great suspense by taking an ordinary couple and placing them in an unpalatable situation over which they have little control and no choice but to see it through. Such identifiable. accidental heroes make for one contributing factor in the success of James Siegel's compelling nightmarish, yet profoundly human stow.
Another is the use of unexpected but \“dlld plot twrsts that lead the narratiye to spiral out from one thread into a tangled web and allow a reflection on the coiiipleXities of parenthood and international adoption. drug trafficking, hostage taking and Colombian
32 THE LIST ‘r-i—QS Apr AK 5
politics. And it is here that Siegel excels. exhibiting a real talent for addressing both the roots and the consequences of a predicament Without ever losing sight of the human interest or the story being told. And all With a voice of compassion. concision and intelligence.
(Mark Edmundsoni
sxnmcm- coMipv DAVID GILBERT
The Normals lFaberi .00
Davrd Gilbert "s first novel opens on the familiar predicament of Billy Schine. 28 years old. a Harvard graduate drifter With a liye-in girlfriend. a dead end temp rob and rapidly burgeoning student debts. This deeply self—righteous waster is offered escape from his creditors in the term of a physiological test-group. which leads to his being Cryogenically frozen until a solution to his problems can be found, It's no surprise that Daud Gilbert '5 only pr‘eyiously published fiction was a collection of short stories. There's a germ of an ingenious idea here that's been stretched out and ramblineg embellished. but there's a huge element of the 'so whats?‘ in Gilbert‘s COflClLJSlOlTS. not to mention an utterly
David Gilbert
NORMA LS
Lllll)(3|l(:\.’(ll)l(3 resortiticr: involying BIH‘, being emotionally reunited with his parents Along the way. l)()l(3llll€tll\, rich characters amhle Eli and out of the plot. but are i'xastrxl in favour of
Billy 's ultimatel. wearing manic diati'rhes.
iAllan Radcliffe.
SOClAl. DRAM/i. ANDREW MILLER
The Optimists iSceptrer COO.
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ALSO PUBLISHED
Andrew Holmes (L: Clarke A rtiissirtg child. a dodgy saiesman and a man with a shadowy past are somehow linked in this dark tale of modern London. Sceptre. Felice Picano Fred 1!? [Mi 0 'l he story of two cats and their male owners But which coupling Will go for it first"? lerrace Books. George Pelecanos Drama Citi Another tale from the dark side of Washington DC depicting a generation at war With itself, Orion. Malcolm Pryce llie Unbearable
l rglitriess of Being in Aberystwytli It's Welsh neir wrth a copper called louie Knight. Bloomsbury; Hywel Williams Cassel/ Chronology of World History All the dates. events and ideas you need to help you pass that exam or bore your pals in the pub. Casse/l Reference.