Books
Reviews
(JUN l [*Ml )OHAHY [)l {AMA
NICK MCDONELL The Third Brother (Atlantic) 0...
In the back of your head you can't help but wish for precocious youths with exemplary literary talent to fall flat on their faces. Nick McDonell, now 21, presents us here with his second novel, having been on the receiving end of some substantial hype for his debut, much of which was not unfounded. Twelve was at heart a great book, and his follow-up is constructed using the same spartan, if evocative, prose. Mike is a sallow, distant soul who, despite good education, financial privilege and tender years, is a jaded voyeur of life. Handed a trip to Bangkok as a fledgling hack for a Hong Kong magazine, he expects to witness mindless vox-popping of drugged-up ravers but ends up wading through a grimy subculture of pseuds, drop-outs and wannabe Colonel Kurtzs. The trail leads through the untidy past of his parents and back to his home in New York, a city that bears down on McDonell’s characters like smog. Mike and his brother Lyle witness the attacks on 11 September and as events take turn after turn into painful strangeness, the protagonist’s head truly begins to unravel. In The Third Brother, the line between real and imagined becomes blurred, though not so much that McDonell gets lost in fancy. His matter- of-fact narrative and cold clarity with language makes it difficult to make true connections with his characters but this remains a driving, addictive
read. (Mark Robertson)
lllSlOHICAL DRAMA KUNAL BASU Racists
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson) O.
In this novella the authOr of The Opium Clerk returns to the 19th century and the high seas. turning his attention to issues of race against the emergence of Darwnism in the last days of legal slavery. Far smaller in scope than its predecessor. the story is set around an experiment pitting Britain's foremost craniologist against a
30 THE LIST B—itS Feb 2006
celebrated French ethnographer in a doomed attempt to unravel the mystery of human variation. Around this contest for racral superiority. an unlikely
love story and an altogether more human struggle unfolds. Typically. Kunal Basu spends no small portion of the book setting out his stall, though the premise of the narrative crux (the experiment itself) never really raises itself above the unlikely. The cast often lean towards stereotype and the outcome. like many of the stOry's events. feels all too convenient, Thus RaCists. despite highlighting a Significant period in the West's raCial awareness. proves a supertiCial endeavour.
II1L1'k t\1”t.li' .“n '
5px (:7 5' :21; 5 TC BOYLE Tooth and Claw (Blyrcrrist (rip O...
R) Boae rs ()llt' _~t Americas best .‘.'lllt"ff» for getting to the Eirit at thr- rteritru of a tale. and this exemplary (rev. collectior‘ (it short stories shows him doing exactly that All the typically .'.'or|d wean, characters of Boyle's fiction are present and correct. titles like 'V‘lhen I Woke Up This Morning. [Everythingl Had Was (Bone' and 'All the Wrecks I've Crawled Out Of" summing tip the everyday struggle of life which Boyle depicts ‘.‘/llll a steely compassion and a dry
w t
There are oddball tales scattered throughout. from the Step/0rd eres' romp of 'Jubilation' to the plain weird 'Dogology' (about a suburban woman who runs wrth a pack of stray mutts). But it's when Boyle tackles fraught relationships and damaged lives head on. like in the wonderful ‘The Swrtt Passage of the Animals’ about a blossorrirng romance gone awry in a snowstorm. that he really excels at rnovrng the reader.
(Doug Johnstonei
POLITICAL NON-FICTION GEORGE PACKER
The Assassins' Gate (Faber) O...
'| first went to Iraq.' explains New Yorker staff writer George Packer in his prologue here. ‘because I wanted to see past the abstractions to what the war meant in people's lives' For anyone whose experience of this definitive event is dwined from largely glib
AS SAS 5 I N S GATE .\II\|‘ll(.| in Iraq
GLORGE PLLmfil‘.
and rhetr iriial telmrsier: reports. [he Arami‘srvrn,’ (Life deals ~.'.itl‘ the build up, “‘J‘llif; and atterrriatb :it the i‘tifiui Iraq war (it .er‘, hiir'iari detail.
Narried atter the taiix ancient arch on the it rad to one of Saddam l-lusseiri's presidential palaces (a name dispensed. |l()lll(3{lll\,, by the Western iiisurgentsi. the book begins with the 1960:; creation of the neo conservative: “a liberal who's been mugged by reality. By S) l l. Cheney and Rumsfeld's forergn policy echoes America's own tear of losing its pie-eminence and Packer seeks to understand their position as well as the soldiers. lr'agis and numerous well informed friends he has meticulously intenxiewed. All of which makes this essential stuff. (Davrd Pollock)
LIlEHAHY lvtE-MUIH THOMAS HEALY
l Have Heard You Calling in the Night (Grantal .00
Sometimes the simple things in lite give the greatest pleasure. And while the writing of Thomas Healy is certainly among the simplest things in literature. that doesn’t mean you Will be lllfOWlllg this book at anyone you meet With a hearty recornmendatiori. The author of hard- bitten novels It Might
\0 I. ‘p K] O!)
i‘t‘ a? Grandma's t3 ‘rtais ket". 't r" acting “m [‘q‘t [lot‘e'n‘afl Martin
lrri-tirwswi
tttii (‘rti‘fttir‘a
ml: ttn‘lt‘U :« t~lt.ll‘:i' .ir‘ tst'ri (Wit that gt‘t. must Maiti'i has one pix. " t'zoi ht“‘.ll(‘ttlil ‘\l‘tl ‘.'.T‘li(' there are i 2"i.llll|‘, some arnrruiiiriaiirl “It‘lllltl (litillltrllit; here, you an- It’ll lt‘t‘llllti that illi- gloritiiid diary ll.l1;
bet time a llt".‘. lllt‘l.lt‘, tlt‘lllt,‘
(Briari [)orialdsirrii
ALSO PUBLISHED
Paul Collins The Trouble with Tom The unknown history of American social pioneer Thomas Paine. as told by one of Dave Eggers‘ pals. Which gives you a fair idea what this will be like. Bloomsbury. Ann Widdecombe Father Figure Yep. she writes novels as well. You know. as well as whatever else she does these days. This one is about dads' rights to their kids. Phoenix.
James Bailey Man, Interrupted This true story, loved by Mel Brooks, is subtitled ‘Welcome to the Bizarre World of 000. Where Once More is Never Enough'. Mainstream.
Hannah MacDonald Julianna Kiss A young Hungarian student comes to London but a series of unfortunate events leaves her stranded and alone. Then a mysterious stranger offers a way out of her predicament. Which sounds mildly dubious. Uttle, Brown. Angela Patmore The Truth About Stress I'm just anxious thinking about this book which seems to suggest that the army of stress therapists appear to be adding to rather than reducing the problem. Aaaaaarggghhh!!!!! Atlantic.