JOYCE
LITERARY DRAMA NICOLE KRAUSS The History of Love (Viking) one
Structurally complex yet wonderfully elegant and forceful in its delicate arrangement, Nicole Krauss’ second novel is a hugely ambitious attempt to examine the nature of love and the power of words. And it’s an ambition that is almost entirely fulfilled. Polish war refugee Leo Gursky is now an old man living in New York, ruing his past life, unrequited love and a lost book he wrote in his youth, the eponymous The History of Love. Unbeknownst to him, his manuscript has gone on to have a life of its own in a way he could
never have dreamed of.
There are essentially three stories in one here: Gursky’s tale, the account of how his book came to be published after all and the story of 15-year-old Alma - named after a character in the book - who is searching for her own identity. Add to that the extracts from the book itself and you’ve got a cleverly interconnected mesh of lives and stories, but it never feels messy, as Krauss impeccably switches between superbly realised voices and expertly draws everything slowly together to a gently thrilling finale.
What’s more, as the delicate threads of this story converge, you’re left with a gradual snowballing feeling of uplifting joy at a world that never ceases to amaze. Krauss handles the different storylines with an incredibly deft hand and reveals a hope in the human heart that is impossible to resist. A technically gifted writer of emotional power, Krauss has surely already entered the big league of American authors. (Doug Johnstone)
Reviews
HISTORICAL THRILLER MALCOLM ARCHIBALD Whales for the Wizard (Polygon) .0.
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Malcolm Archibald's compelling historical yarn opens in 1860 Dundee where penniless Robert Douglas. a former chartist who has recently been discharged from the army, is searching for a job. After an abortive
34 THE LIST E) 91’, Jun 9007')
attempt to raise a crew for the distrusted. possibly haunted. steam—whaler Redgauntlet. Douglas and others are eventually forced to man the ship as it steams towards the Arctic. Having initially endured the wrath of the ship's mate on the outbound jOurney. Douglas eventually teams up with ‘Bully' Houston to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the sister ship Ivanhoe. a conundrum that will eventually lead them back to Dundee and a gallery of roguish suspects.
This Dundee Prize» winning novel's great strength is the meticulous historical detail which vividly evokes the changing face of the City at its
industrial height. While elements of the story are somewhat far- fetched. Archibald's zest for his subject and strongly-realised characters will keep those pages a-llipping. (Allan Radcliffe)
SOCIAL DRAMA MARK TUOHY The Tide
(Crescent) «0
With his first novel. one- time community worker Mark Tuohy has created a convincing, low-key account of a young man confronting his past in an effort to throw off the shackles of mental illness. Tuohy's hero is 19-year-old Michael who. having lost the grandmother who raised him. attempts suicide. Follt‘nving treatment in a r sychiatric ward and an outpatient hostel. he sets off for Ireland.
determined to return to
his grandmother's old house in Connemara. the source of happy
childhood memories.
. While he’s haunted by
ambivalent recollections of the mother who abandoned him aged 13. the image of Connemara seems to carry with it some hope for redemption.
The novel is striking for Michael breathless stream of consciousness which largely complements the protagonists mystification. But Tuohy too rarely varies the rhythm of Michael's narration - even as the action develops and cirCumstances shift — and readers might find their eyes swimming at the long. unfettered sentences and unchanging mood. Nonetheless. Tuohy's promising debut is moving, insightful and ccmpelling.
(Allan Radcliffe)
MUSIC HISTOR\ SIMO REYNOLDS Rip It Up and Start Again
(Faber) «00
Out of every moment of madness comes sparks of genius. And after the flashbulb of punk came an afterglow of disparate ideas that gathered under the catch-all of 'post-punk'. With a task somewhere between courageous and foolhardy. Simon
Reynolds has made a stab at corralling these strands together. contextualising them and gauging relative success or failure. This leads to an unsurprisineg sprawling and scholarly book. carved up by city and movement: the industrial electro of Sheffield. the art rock of New York or Postcard Records and the sound of young Scotland.
Given the book's strict chronology, chapters end all too abruptly and. while the genesis of each band and scene is captured in the kind of detail any music fanatic could wish for. subsequent influence is not. The legacy of this musical period is a whole other book. a tome to look forward to. (Mark Robertson)
CHII DREN'S DRAMA THERESA BRESLIN Divided City (Doubleday) “O
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Graham and Joe are
- two boys wrangling
with the double edged sword of adulthood. finding that with freedom comes responsibility and that the world arOund them is by no means black and white. A friendship borne from a love for the beautiful game is tested not least by their conflicting allegiances to Celtic and Rangers. Told with a straight and uncomplicated style. Divided City attempts to tackle the complexities of Glasgow's divisive social issues for the city's book-reading youth. examining the roots and circumstances surrounding the often interrelated matters of religious intolerance, the Old Firm and an apparent influx of asylum seekers. The hope is. presumably. to
promote tolerance in today's youth and. as such. Theresa Breslin can come across as a little preaching at times; her dialogue somewhat flat. Diiided City is still a positive and contemporary look at friendship across the divide. and a commendable one for it. (Mark Edmundson)
ALSO PUBLISHED )
Andrew Cowen What / Know The tale of a bloke who wakes from a dream and wonders whether everyone’s life is better than his own. So he sets off to find out. Sceptre.
Eric Hansen The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer The US travel writer reflects on 25 years of encountering oddballs and weirdos. Methuen. Stephanie Merritt Real A stmggling playwright and a fading actor get together and all goes swimmingly until reality bites back. Faber. Nick Brooke My Name is Denise Forrester Glasgow writer's debut about a troublesome teen who attracts stray cats and will only eat white food. Weidenfeld & Nico/son.
Vanessa Colllngridge Boudica Ex-weather girl and Captain Cook biographer takes on the myth of the Warrior Queen. Ebury.
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