March 2017 book and film review

Welcome to my latest media review, with apologies for late posting.

BOOKS

UP CLOSE, by Shelagh Weeks
A family takes a holiday cottage in north Wales, but while there the husband admits he's been having an affair. Everything falls apart. He goes home by himself and shacks up with his paramour, while she rebuilds her life as a single parent. The children grow up, the son into a very young parent, while the younger daughter gets involved in a Christian cult.
          Shelagh is a tutor on our masters in creative writing course, so obviously I needed to see how a professional does things. And as we might expect, it is well written and plotted, (though I found at least six typos, and Shelagh says there are several others I missed) though compared with some of the other books I read last month (which perhaps, when you see which ones, isn't completely fair) it's pretty thin gruel. Even she says it isn't her best work. I'll have to try the others...

THE BEGINNING OF SPRING, by Penelope Fitzgerald
A British expat living in Moscow in 1913 runs a printing press. One day his wife disappears without a word and goes back to the home country, taking the two children with her. Then, a day later, the children arrive back in Moscow by themselves. Turns out she put them back on the train in Germany, while she continued on alone. Now, effectively a single parent, he has to re-organize his life, while hoping and praying she'll change her mind and come back. He employs a nanny, and perhaps under the influence of severe stress, finds himself falling for her. Not that he'd dare say anything...
          Penelope Fitzgerald is known for two things: the exquisite purity of her prose, and her exhaustive research. How does she know so much about Moscow life prior to the breakout of the Great War, and how does she know so much about the print industry of the time? Research, stupid, long, deep and thorough research. And what comes out of this is a beautiful piece of writing, humane, funny and mysterious. Highly recommended.

SEIZE THE DAY, by Saul Bellow.
Tommy Wilhelm is having a bad day. His ex-wife is bleeding him white, he's making unwise decisions on the stock market, and his wealthy father refuses to give a helping hand- not a red cent. He got himself into this mess, his Dad argues, and he can get himself out of it.
          When Seize the Day came out in 1956 it was almost immediately hailed as a masterpiece of the "new writing". It's easy to see why. Bellow takes us on a journey deep into his protagonist's psyche, and there we find all his broken dreams, hopes and fears for the future. Tommy is a lot like us, he's had some bad breaks and this day isn't about to let up on him. What emerges is an extraordinary profile of a man in crisis, let down by those he would trust, and not even trusting himself to make a good decision- this is a man on the edge. Remarkable.

A MEAL IN WINTER, by Hubert Mingharelli.
It is winter in Easter Poland, 1943. Three German soldiers, desperate to avoid another day as part of an assassination squad, volunteer to venture into the woods to catch any stragglers from the army's sweep of the area to root out all the Jews. But one of them has other things on his mind: he has just heard his teenage son has taken up smoking, and although he and his comrades are all chain smokers themselves, he is mortified. How to persuade him to quit?
          The temperature is well below zero, though at least there is no wind. They have gone out before dawn, and thereby missed breakfast. As the day wears on, they're getting famished. What they need is a hot meal. But how to manage it here, in this god forsaken wilderness? Then two strokes of luck: they find a Jew, and then an abandoned hut with a stove. If they can get a fire going they can cook up their meagre supplies to make a hot stew...
           Novellas are all the rage at the moment. It's the hot new format, it seems. And if you're wondering which novella to sample next, you could try any of those reviewed already (except Up Close, which you could probably leave out) and especially this one. Translated from its original French so perfectly it appears to have been written in English, this is a wonderful tale, told with the subtlety and apparent simplicity of a true master. Rarely have I encountered such an intimate portrait of men at war. Terrific.

Please see next post for the film review.