Linda Grant (1) (1951–)

The novel takes the reader to post-Brexit London where a woman has killed herself by jumping off a bridge. No one has come forward to identify her. The book explores a whole host of people who are connected to the suicidal woman by the most tenuous of strings. A police officer who can't stop thinking about her case. A nurse who was on the bridge simultaneously, yet unaware of the tragedy taking place. A filmmaker who creates a documentary about the jumper. For each of these people, we meet the people in their lives - family or friends or neighbors. This structure (sort of a hub, spoke, wheel approach) makes for a LOT of characters and a lot of subplots. Many of the subplots touch upon the theme of immigration today and how immigrants are (or are not) absorbed into London.

I was alternatively impressed and frustrated by this book. Grant's writing style is right up my alley. Her descriptions are outstanding, freshly rendered, and compelling in their own right. In this case, the book is set in London, and the author makes London come alive for the reader. She almost makes it seem like a character itself. She describes it: "There's nothing one could do that would provoke its surprise. It absorbed atrocities, shrugged them off . . .nobody talked to each other or made eye contact on the tube; like an elephant bitten by a mosquito, London was simply too big, too absorbed in its own individual business, too intent on getting to work and going shopping and having dates and affairs and planning robberies." Her prose made me think.

And it was a good thing it did, because the plot - such as it was - really lacked suspense. It was very fragmented. I felt I kept forgetting who the characters were (omg, I wish I had read this on Kindle where revisiting character info is 10x easier) and had to remind myself repeatedly of who they were and who they were related to. One character had two names to add to the complications. In addition, there were some pretty surreal moments that require the reader to puzzle out what has actually happened and more importantly why. I questioned if certain scenes were meant to be metaphorical. At any rate, I don't mind doing some of the work as a reader, but I felt the balance was tipped away from my favor and not in a good way.

To Grant's credit, she saved the situation a bit in the end with a relative straightforward recitation of what happened to each character, and I did appreciate that . . .in fact, it almost pushed me to give the book another star.

… (lisätietoja)

A captivating and wholly absorbing novel that spans the times from the late 1960s to the late 2000s. It traces the life of Stephen Newman a she leaves America to begin studying at Oxford University. Gradually his ambition of making a substantial contribution to changing society is whittled away and he settles for what he sees as a less fulfilling life. His disappointment is contrasted to the approach by his wife Andrea, who he marries so that he can settle in Britain and thus avoid the draft for the Vietnam War. Stephen’s discomfort is the greatest of his family and friends from his Oxford days, but by the end of the period with the death of his father and wife, he reflects that he has reached a new understanding of how to take positives from one’s achievements. This lesson is also true to the other main characters, although they realised this earlier in their lives. Linda Grant has written a rich, scintillating and entertaining novel about how we live our lives and how we are never too old to learn or change, although there are hints of problems to come for Stephen’s descendants.… (lisätietoja)