What I read: July

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami 

I can’t quite place this book. What starts off as a typical suburban story twists into a dreamlike world of unusual characters and unexplainable occurrences. The book centres around Toru Okada, beginning in his small apartment and spiralling outwards; down wells and back through wars of the past. After the disappearance of his cat and repeated anonymous phone calls, Toru embarks on a journey of increasingly strange scenarios and tasks. This is Murakami’s magical realism at its peak. The plot is twisting and bizarre yet still compelling, commenting on war, relationships and national identity. Reading Murakami is strange - I find his style almost addictive, it instantly pulls you in and there isn’t that barrier that I sometimes find with other works of translation. Apparently Murakami used to write first in English, then translate that back to Japanese, so this might have something to do with it. Yet the moment the book is over I can't quite pin down how I felt or what has happened. TWUBC induces in the reader the dreamlike state that it depicts. 

Life Of The Party - Olivia Gatwood 

I read and enjoyed Gatwood’s debut New American Best Friend when it came out a few years ago. Videos of her reading her work live always seem to turn up on my Youtube recommended page and it was one of these videos that convinced me to buy her second poetry collection. Firstly, the introduction to LOTP is really, really good, and makes for a compelling essay in its own right. It foregrounds the collection’s focus on violence and gender, exploring acts of violence carried out both against, and by women. This interrogation of the inherent fear of the world that comes from being a girl was something I found really interesting and some of her poems are incredibly moving. As with all poetry collections, some pieces resonated with me more than others, but Gatwood’s work is electric and of the moment. 

Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi

I haven’t stopped thinking about Homegoing since I picked it up. Starting with two sisters, Effia and Esi in Ghana in the 18th Century, each chapter follows their family tree down, exploring the black diaspora. You might think the book is short considering it spans continents, centuries, and generations, yet it is accomplished and balanced, an indicator of Gyasi’s skill. We are only with each character for one chapter but every figure and story is compelling. Gyasi shows a long and painful history through alternating perspectives, from Ghanian royalty to the prison-industrial complex in the US. Of course, the novel is haunted by the legacies and de-humanisation of slavery - Gyasi’s portrayal of whose story gets told and whose voice gets lost was something that really stuck with me whilst reading this. By tracing individual stories and experiences down this one family tree, Gyasi focuses on the human cost of these events, exploring what it means to belong, to find a home, to inherit these histories. Nothing I write could ever really do Homegoing justice. 

The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin 

The Fire Next Time is a collection of two of Baldwin’s essays; ‘My Dungeon Shook’, a letter written to his nephew on the 100th anniversary of emancipation, and ‘Down At The Cross’, a longer piece that builds on Baldwin’s personal relationship with religion. It is without question that Baldwin is an extraordinary, powerful writer - his voice resonates throughout his work, whatever genre or form it occupies. These essays are direct and passionate, interrogating the American realities of racism and in particular, the country’s determination to destroy black men. Baldwin’s work demands and deserves re-visiting. It is as relevant now as it was when written in the 60s - I studied ‘My Dungeon Shook’ at university and found it just as vital and moving on each re-read. 

Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman 

Like everyone else, I saw the film version of Call Me By Your Name when it came out a couple of years ago, and again, just like everyone else, I fell in love with it. I went to Italy last summer and one of the places we stayed was Crema, the town where some of the filming took place. I’d seen really great reviews and so partly due to this, partly due to nostalgia for Italian sunshine, I decided to read the book this month. If you don’t know, CMBYN follows the relationship between teenage Elio, who lives in Italy with his academic parents, and Oliver, an older American student who is staying with them over the summer. There is this push and pull between the two of them and the inevitable end of their relationship hangs in the air, a deep connection that can simultaneously only ever be a summer fling. I think that knowing the story already slightly hindered my enjoyment of the novel, but some parts of dialogue from the film are lifted directly from the book and Elio’s internal struggle is felt more keenly, conveyed more intensely through the novel form. The original is still beautiful, dripping with summer and the pangs of first love; this need for understanding and for someone outside of yourself. 

Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

Remote, physical and haunting, Burial Rites is set in rural Iceland, in and around the few farms that stud this harsh landscape. The year is 1829, and Agnes is due to be executed for the murder of two men. But with no prisons in Iceland, she instead must await her death at a local farm. The novel is hugely accomplished; Kent has produced a story that is dark, compelling, yet grounded in realism. Life here in the grip of nature is slow and brutal, the people are dependent on the land and this is reflected in a narrative deeply connected with this landscape. Flitting between perspectives, the looming deadline brings a sense of underlying urgency to the narrative - will the truth come out in time? Will it matter? This is very different from what I usually read but I really enjoyed it. 

Half of A Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

I can’t believe it took me so long to get round to reading this. Set in 1960s Nigeria, the brutality and terror of the Biafran War forms the backdrop for the interconnecting lives of three characters; Richard, Olanna and Ugwu. The fracturing of the country coincides with a severing of these central relationships and throughout the book Adichie continues to combine politics with a love story; of family both inherited and chosen, our country and those we fall for. She effortlessly moves between perspectives, exploring class, race and national identity. Every character is rounded in the sense that they each carry with them flaws, a decision they regret, and this vivid, authentic characterisation brings home to the reader the human cost of war and oppression. The intense destruction and loss of the civil war is played out on a personal level. Adichie’s presentation of it is multifaceted and compassionate, it is impossible to forget that the events of the novel are only recent history, the tragedies it portrays, representations of real heartbreak and pain. 

The Weight of Love - Hilary Fannin 

Jumping between London and Dublin, 2018 and 1995, The Weight of Love is about the love triangle between Ruth, Robin and Joseph- how these connections have shifted and evolved over the course of their lives. As the title implies, the book considers love in its many forms; from the relationship between mother and child to heartbreak. It is a story centrally concerned with nostalgia and with looking backwards, and I think for this reason I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was older - I struggled to form a connection with the characters and their story. TWOL was an easy, enjoyable read but not one of my favourites.