BOOKS | Reviews
POLITICAL ANALYSIS IAIN MACWHIRTER Disunited Kingdom (Cargo) ●●●●●
While the space between deadlines for journalist Iain Macwhirter finishing and publishing his post-indyref book was clearly a tight one, it still missed the event which encapsulated his central point perfectly. With newspapers struggling against the new media revolution, it seems almost absurd that a new daily would attempt a launch. Yet, the initial test run for The National (a
pro-independence paper edited by Macwhirter’s boss at The Sunday Herald) was so successful that it has confirmed its status as a permanent fixture on the news-stands. The very existence of The National backs up Macwhirter’s
thesis that something profound has happened in Scotland, both before and after the 18 September vote. Why else would the ‘losers’ have enjoyed a bounce effect with all the main Yes parties experiencing a dramatic hike in membership? Meanwhile, the Better Together ‘winners’ are seemingly
in utter disarray with Scottish Labour particularly in freefall. For Macwhirter, the tide has turned irrevocably towards independence and whenever the next referendum is called (the earliest touted date coming after the 2017 in-out EU vote), the result is a Yes shoo-in. This Road to Referendum sequel is written in a sober, highly authoritative style, solid on the historical contexts and precise on the details which may have swung the result towards unionism. Things get a little bogged down when he pokes around the subtleties of federalism and it might have been easier to simply not write about Nicola Sturgeon’s looks, but as a record of this monumental period in modern Scottish history, it’s peerless. (Brian Donaldson) Out now.
MYTHICAL DRAMA POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR The Last Illusion (Bloomsbury Circus) ●●●●● TRAGICOMEDY KAUI HART HEMMINGS The Possibilities (Jonathan Cape) ●●●●●
POETIC PROSE BEN LERNER 10:04 (Granta) ●●●●●
FAMILY DRAMA PHILIP TEIR The Winter War (Serpent’s Tail) ●●●●●
Take two potentially life-changin g events (Y2K and 9/11), throw in an old Persian myth and a delusional illusionist, then add an undertone of behavioural psychology and there, in a nutshell, is The Last Illusion.
When Zal is born in Iran, his mother, horrified at his pale skin and hair, locks him in a cage and raises him as a bird. Discovered many years later by a documentary filmmaker, Zal’s plight attracts the attention of Anthony Hendricks, a behavioural psychologist who adopts him and brings him to New York. As September 11 approaches, Zal’s struggle in adapting to modern society runs in parallel to the build-up to the most devastating attack the city has ever seen.
Khakpour’s tale has the potential to
be distasteful given the deeply emotive nature of the incidents that form the plot, but the injection of myth, legend and illusion offer a new perspective on the day that devastated New York. Enjoyable, but still deeply unsettling, The Last Illusion is stark and real, no matter how wrapped up in fiction it may be. (Jen Bowden) Out now.
68 THE LIST 11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015
Bereavement is a recurrent theme in Kaui Hart Hemmings’ work. Her debut novel The Descendants profiles a family as they deal with the loss of a mother and wife, while this latest offering explores the life of Sarah St. John after her son Cully is killed. As with her Hawaii-based first
novel, Hemmings plays the imperfect grieving process out against an idyllic backdrop, with the action taking place at the Breckenridge ski resort. Here, Sarah meets Kit, a girl from Cully’s past armed with a revelation that threatens to change Sarah’s future.
The storyline is predictable, and its
slow trudge towards an inevitable conclusion is at times detrimental to the novel’s impact. Fortunately, the plot is carried by strong characterisation, droll dialogue and a poignant psychological profiling of Sarah. Hemmings’ unique prose style strikes
a strong balance between humour and heartache. If only the novel’s pace was as quick as the writer’s wit, the possibility for enjoyment would have been far greater. (Rebecca Monks) Out Thu 8 Jan.
For an avant-garde poet, Ben Lerner’s first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, was a surprise commercial success. Self-referential and mordantly funny, it followed a young American poet on a fellowship in Spain, and was animated less by conventional plot than by the narrator’s struggle to find meaning in his life. Through a series of autobiographical
vignettes, the equally brilliant 10:04 (the time the clock tower was struck by lightning in Back to the Future) follows a similarly Lerner-esque narrator, unexpectedly successful following the sale of his unwritten second novel, as he adapts to a serious heart condition and debates whether to help his best friend conceive a child.
A work of dark humour and effortless originality, 10:04 confirms Lerner’s position as one of the best young writers in America. Concerned less with authenticity than with the valorisation of the past, it’s a work that’s akin to the narrator’s proposed new book: ‘like a poem, it is neither fiction nor non-fiction, but a flickering between them’. (Richard W Strachan) Out Wed 31 Dec.
Translated from the original Swedish by Tiina Nunnally, this family drama opens with an acknowledgement of divorce before jumping back to explore the causes. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of four Helsinki family members: fiftysomething couple Max and Katriina and their two adult daughters. The characters are consciously
aware of how performative their lives are, both professionally and as a family unit. They play their parts but display little genuine emotion or affection. Each is isolated in a comfortable but unfulfilled life.
Philip Teir uses clever layering of trivial matters and subtle characterisation to demonstrate their quiet dissatisfaction. Despite the bleak outlook on modern life, there are excellent comic moments. But these flashes of humour coupled with the youngest daughter’s discovery of self- expression go unnoticed by the family, exposing that the despondent tone of the work derives from their own self- absorption. (Rowena McIntosh) Out Thu 15 Jan.