Marie C. Reviews In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut

In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut. Published 2010 by Europa Editions.

"There is a moment when any real journey begins. Sometimes it happens as you leave your house, sometimes it's a long way from home."

I've been reading Roger Ebert's memoir Life Itself lately, and Ebert describes his early days as a film critic and his education in the art of film- time spent visiting sets, talking to stars and directors, etc., learning how to understand and evaluate a film on technical grounds. But in the end, what he had to talk about was what did the film do to him. It's something I'm trying to think about more consciously as I read and review books. What did this book do to me?

In a Strange Room scarred me. Composed of three almost independent novellas, Galgut tells the story of an itinerant South African man named Damon and his travels in Africa and India with various companions. Each of the three chapters is titled after Damon's role in relation to these companions. In one, he's a follower, trailing behind a vain and self-contained German who poses more and more difficult physical challenges as the mens' amiable relationship breaks down. In the second, Damon is the admirer of a man who is part of a boisterous group of tourists he encounters in a neighboring country and follows all the way to Amsterdam. But it's the final story that will haunt me. Here, Damon is companion and caretaker to the mercurial and volatile Anna, mentally ill and suicidal. His time with her, in India, is horrific- a nightmare that challenges his endurance, his patience, his love and his sense of himself.

The first two chapters are luminous, moody and full of description; the third is all action and plot until it quiets down after the maelstrom in India ends and Damon returns to South Africa alone. When I picked it up to start the third chapter, I didn't expect to be unable to put it down. I picked In a Strange Room as my first Europa of 2013 because I'm on a bit of a South Africa bender right now, but most of the book takes place elsewhere. And Galgut has several lovely passages on the traveler's state of mind, the particular kind of alienation and impermanence peculiar to the wanderer:

A journey is a gesture inscribed in space, it vanishes even as it's made. You go from one place to another place, and on to somewhere else again, and already behind you there is no trace that you were ever there. The roads you went down yesterday are full of different people now, none of them knows who you are....Things happen only once and are never repeated, never return. Except in memory.

And in writing. Damon is always alone, even though he is almost always in the company of others. He is alone in crowds, on bus rides and at checkpoints, and most particularly he is alone with Anna, locked in her disease and her manias. Her voracious need fills every available space, every nook and cranny of Damon's consciousness as he struggles to care for her. Her needs give his life a purpose, at least for a time. But it can't go on like this forever.

What a beautiful, heartbreaking book, a study on solitude and relationships and how to coexist with others and the world and sit apart at the same time.

It's my first book for the 2013 Europa Challenge and I loved it! I published this review on the Europa Challenge site and on my blog.

Athena K's Review - C

The more I sit and think about C by Tom McCarthy, the more I am fascinated by it - I think it might be brilliant. This is not to say I enjoyed every aspect of my read, or that I understood why on earth Tom McCarthy took me to certain places until well after they were over. But his dexterous weaving of complex themes is starting to make more and more sense as I reflect on them - or am I finding patterns and interpreting codes that don't exist?

The novel opens with the birth of a baby boy, Serge Carrefax, second child of an eclectic set of parents. Serge's father runs a school for deaf children that emphasizes teaching them to speak and be understood - and he is fascinated with "modern" wireless communication technology. Serge's mother is deaf (and a former student) who inherited a family silk factory - complete with insect-residents. Serge's older sister Sophie is his greatest companion (and a compelling character) until her untimely death. From these characters, three themes emerge - communication, insects, and death - and are repeated in countless ways time and again through Serge's action-filled life.

It is the continual re-appearance of these themes in Serge's life that ultimately makes this book a comprehensive unit. Serge's adventures as a sick adolescent, WWI pilot, architecture student, drug addict, and Egyptian explorer often cause jarring juxtapositions in the story that took me some getting used to. But I'm having so much fun reflecting back on what it all means, and trying to decode the appearance of insects, communications and death throughout the book, that I'm not sure it matters to me anymore. And don't get me started on the book's title - there are so many instances of the letter C that I can't begin to decide the importance of them. And what about Serge's lifelong problem conveying physical perspective (a problem indeed for a student of architecture)? I would love to convene a discussion group just to pick apart this novel.

Although sometimes I felt lost in the middle, this read was worth it and has stayed with me for many days

Marie Reviews The Long Song- 2010 Shortlist

The Long Song, by Andrea Levy. Published 2010 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

I took The Long Song for review a while ago and I knew I'd get to it eventually because it was a finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, and I have to say I was seriously impressed with this multifaceted, engrossing novel.

Set in Jamaica on the cusp of the end of slavery, Andrea Levy tells the story of Miss July, a slave in the household of one Caroline Mortimer, an English widow come to Jamaica. Caroline Mortimer, always referred to by her first and last name, is a comic figure, an emblem of the ridiculous and the absurd. She takes a shine to July, calls her "Marguerite" and makes July her personal servant. Along the way, they get through the Baptist War, see the end of slavery in Jamaica and learn to live with each other in the new era of freedom.

But don't mistake The Long Song for a feel-good novel about relationships between whites and blacks, or one in which the blacks teach the whites some lessons about life. Politics and social realities may change; attitudes change but little. July, whose white Scottish father raped her black Jamaican mother, finds that she is in a peculiar position in the complex racial hierarchy of the island, where how much white blood someone has determines their social standing among blacks and women try to "raise their color" by sleeping with white men. July falls in love with a white man, Robert Goodwin, who appears to be passionately devoted to her. He talks a good game but eventually he shows himself to be no better than July's own father when it comes to his true esteem for her.

I really loved The Long Song. I love how Levy made Caroline Mortimer sympathetic at first, then gradually shifts into satire and absurdity, and I love how she shows the different characters and events with respect for all- or mostly all. I could understand why the characters did what they did, and how their actions seemed right to them even when they seemed very wrong to me. The characters are complex people- there are no cartoon saints and no cartoon villains in this book. The narrator, the elderly July, is funny, irascible and just ever so slightly unreliable, and her voice makes the book the delightful, thoughtful and fascinating wonder that it is. Literary and popular-fiction readers will enjoy this book and I recommend it highly.

Athena K's Review - Parrot & Olivier in America

I'm not sure why I thought I would like this book more than I did.  I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the early 1800's Europe as a moment in history, but the look at America as a burgeoning democracy was enticing.  However, the stylized language, as accurate as it may have been, was wearisome and cumbersome.  It was longer than it needed to be.  Character revelations came too late - I already didn't care about them or their motives or histories.  Themes of incarceration, class in democracy, and the male friendship between the two title characters were not well developed.  I was just bored.


The book follows Olivier, the snobbish son of French nobles in post-Revolutionary France, and Parrot, his reluctant English servant, who was originally trained as an engraver.  Olivier is forced to escape to America to avoid a revival of the revolutionary feeling in Paris with Parrot, along with his French mistress and her elderly mother, under the guise of completing a book about the American prison system.  Blah blah blah he has several encounters in the new world, a brush with the law and a failed romance.  Parrot discovers a new life and artistic ability in America and is happy.  Olivier is not. 


Sure, there were some good moments - Peter Carey is clearly an expert even if I didn't care for this novel.  I loved the insect metaphors he peppered throughout: people resembling wasps, silkworms, crickets and butterflies.  I particularly liked his description of a French wine encountered in America:

I bemoaned the palates of the Philadelphians who had called his Medoc cold and sour.  Miraculously, it was free of sediment, and rushed into my glass at that perfect stage of life.  In a year it would be a dowager with a faded old corsage, but as it entered my mouth it was vigorous and manly, completely composed, its orchestra all present and correct.  Oh heavens, that such small things make a man so happy.

Although this glass of wine sounds excellent, the rest of the novel just wasn't for me.

The Long Song - Wendy's Review

Kitty turned to face her master.

‘Come along, Caroline. Hurry. We need to get out of the sun.’

‘Can I take her?’ she asked.

Kitty tried to seize air enough to breathe.

‘Yes, if she’ll amuse you. She would be taken soon enough anyway. It will encourage her to have another. They are dreadful mothers, these negroes.’

‘She’ll be my companion here,’ Caroline said. ‘I could train her for the house, or to be my lady’s maid.’ – from The Long Song, page 41 -

July is born in the early part of the nineteenth century on a Jamaican sugar plantation. Her mother is a black slave, her father the white overseer who is her mother’s rapist. One hot day when July is still just a young child, she is noticed by Caroline Mortimer, the sister of the plantation’s owner who has arrived from England. On a whim, Caroline decides to take July to be her companion, stealing her from July’s mother without a second thought and renaming her Marguerite. The Long Song is July’s story, narrated retrospectively by an adult July many years later. It is not an easy story, spanning decades and taking the reader through the tumultuous years of the Baptist War and the controversial end to slavery in Jamaica. But, it is July’s voice which drives the narrative. Funny, cynical, highly observant and intelligent, July weighs in on racism, violence, and the struggle for freedom at a time when blacks were viewed as property to rich, white landowners.

Only with a white man, can there be guarantee that the colour of your pickney will be raised. For a mulatto who breeds with a white man will bring forth a quadroon; and the quadroon that enjoys white relations will give to this world a mustee; the mustee will beget a mustiphino; and the mustiphino…oh, the mustiphino’s child with a white man for a papa will find each day greets them no longer with a frown, but welcomes them with a smile, as they at last stride within this world as a cherished white person. – from The Long Song, page 203 -

The Long Song is a brilliant novel narrated by an unforgettable character. July is, perhaps, one of the most memorable female voices I have read in a long, long time. Bittersweet, funny, often devastating…this is a novel which drew me in immediately and held me in its grip to the final page. Andrea Levy writes with an honesty and insight into the human condition that takes one’s breath away.

The Long Song was shortlisted for the 2010 Booker Prize, longlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers Prize, and named as a 2010 New York Times Most Notable book. It is, in my opinion, worthy of all these accolades. Beautiful prose, enduring characters, and the evocation of place that vibrates off the page, all combine to create a remarkable novel of historical significance.

Readers who love literary fiction and historical fiction will want to put The Long Song on their must read list.

Highly recommended.

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Room by Emma Donoghue (Jill)

This book has been well reviewed and analyzed by literary critics and book bloggers alike. It's a hard book to summarize because I don't want to give away too much of the plot. So, for this review, I will just share some thoughts on this story:

1) Room is narrated by a five-year-old boy who only knows an 11x11-foot room as his home. He doesn't understand that rain falls from the sky, that cars stay in their lane and that bees can sting you. All the things we understand to be true in our lives would be new experiences to a boy who never spent a day outside. Donoghue did a good job writing about these new experiences - and coming up with all the "little things" that seem to be common knowledge, but not for a boy who lived in seclusion.

2) The American media's treatment of Jack and his mother's story was spot on. Their insistence to not grant this family any privacy reminded me of true media coverage in other heart-wrenching stories. Equally compelling (and so aligned with what happens) is how the media digs at the story from all angles in an attempt to "outscoop" each other. There is little regard for what's best for Jack or his mother.

3) This book was a real page turner. During one section of the book, I did not move from my seat. I was worried that something bad was going to happen, and the suspense was jarring. Few books have that effect on me.

This isn't my typical review, but I hope reading it helps persuade you to give Room a try. It's a compelling, provocative book that makes you think about your life and what you would do in a similar situation. It's worthy of its literary accolades, and I predict that it would make a good movie with the right director and actors. What do you think?

Room - Wendy's Review

After nap we do Scream every day but not Saturdays or Sundays. We clear our throats and climb up on Table to be nearer Skylight, holding hands not to fall. We say “On your mark, get set, go,” then we open wide our teeth and shout holler howl yowl shriek screech scream the loudest possible. Today I’m the most loudest ever because my lungs are stretching from being five.

Then we shush with fingers on lips. I asked Ma once what we’re listening for and she said just in case you never know. - from the ARC of Room -

Jack’s mother has lived seven years in a tiny room after being kidnapped at the age of nineteen. Jack’s birth (the result of repeated rapes), gives her a new purpose for her life – that of mother. Room is Jack and Ma’s story which begins on the morning of Jack’s fifth birthday. Narrated in the unique voice of Jack, the novel follows the characters from the limited life of captivity, to the overwhelming and chaotic Outside world and freedom.

Emma Donoghue deftly creates Jack and Ma’s world within an eleven by eleven foot room. Their days are surprisingly interesting, with Ma creating imaginative games for them to play together. But there is an underlying tension, made more poignant by the fact that it is through a five year old’s eyes that we see the story unfolding. Jack is no longer an infant. He is a smart, curious boy who asks a lot of difficult questions. His mother has allowed him to believe that the world does not exist except for the room in which they live, an alternate reality which eventually must be corrected if they are ever to escape Room.

I must admit that the first 40 pages or so of this novel took some getting used to…Jack’s voice is odd. But once I allowed myself to be fully inside Jack’s world, the book began to resonate with me. The daring escape attempt is perhaps one of the most suspenseful and nerve-wracking scenes I’ve read in a long, long time. Ma’s inner turmoil is perfectly captured through the eyes of her observant son – even though he does not fully understand it. What begins as a story of captivity evolves into a deeper novel of mothering, love, hope and the resilience of the human spirit.

It takes a talented writer to write entirely from the point of view of a child – and Donoghue pulls off this feat seamlessly. The relationship between mother and child is beautifully revealed on every level. Donoghue’s ability to draw the reader in and emotionally invest them in the story is brilliant. Room was recently shortlisted for the 2010 Booker Prize…and it is a well deserved nomination. Original, enthralling, haunting, and memorable Room is a novel I highly recommend for readers who enjoy literary fiction.

Would you like to own signed copies of the shortlist?  Enter this Man Booker Prize website competition now!  The competition closes Friday 17 December 2010.  If you win, please comment here so we can all celebrate!

Win signed copies of the 2010 Man Booker shortlist

Laura's Review - Room

Jack is a precocious 5-year-old who has spent his entire life with his mother in an 11x11-foot room. He's never felt the sun on his shoulders, or rain on his face. He's never worn a coat or shoes. But to Jack, Outside is not real; it's only something he sees on TV. Room and Ma are his reality. And so is Old Nick, who brings food, takes out the trash, and metes out "special" items -- like new jeans for Jack -- as "sundaytreat."

Old Nick is a psychopath who kidnapped Ma seven years earlier, held her hostage, and subjected her to repeated acts of rape. Ma is a survivor, largely because of her fierce devotion to Jack. She is determined to give him the most normal life possible, carefully rationing his TV time and using the most ordinary events as educational opportunities. And she never lets Jack know they are captive. But one day, as the result of a minor slip-up, Jack catches on and begins to ask a lot of questions about Outside. The way Ma explains the world, and her response to Jack's growing knowledge, turn this story into an intense survival tale.

Emma Donoghue has been widely praised for Room, especially for her ability to create such an authentic narrator in Jack. The reader sees Outside through his eyes, where everything is new -- a completely different perspective from Ma, who lived Outside before. Jack's voice makes even more clear the stark contrast between confinement and freedom.

Room is a suspenseful novel, but also a story of the profound bond between mother and child. A wonderful book.



My original review can be found here.

Trevor's Review of Galgut's In a Strange Room

Since this book wasn't available in the U.S. when the 2010 longlist was announced, I bought it and read it on my iPhone. At the time, it was just an experiment, a way to read a shortish book when no other way was possible. This book is so engrossing, that I didn't even realize I was reading it on a tiny screen. I was quickly taken out of my surroundings and eagerly followed Galgut as he told three linked travel stories focused on a character named Damon.

The three stories are "The Follower," "The Lover," and "The Guardian." In each case, the story is being narrated by an older Damon as he reflects on these three trips he took some ten or twenty years earlier. Because a focus of the book is memory, the older Damon sometimes speaks in the first person as he recalls the events and at othe times, when he seems less sure or more distanced from who he was, he narrates in the third person. This is not as cumbersome as it sounds. Galgut has complete control and the prose is actually clean and spare.

As much as I loved The Finkler Question, this was my pick for the Booker winner.

For my complete review on my blog, click here.

2010 Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

The blogosphere is all agog with the announcement of this year's shortlist:

• Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America 
• Emma Donoghue Room 
• Damon Galgut In a Strange Room
• Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question
• Andrea Levy The Long Song  
• Tom McCarthy C

There's a fair amount of debate and controversy surrounding this list, most notably at The Guardian Books, but lots of bloggers are weighing in as well.  What do you think of the shortlist?

The winner will be announced October 12.