Submission, Michel Houellebecq. What's the excitement?

Michel Houellebecq, France’s former enfant terrible, has written another good novel, Submission. However, it’s not the novel that critics blasted as Islamophobic. Clearly those people did not read the book. Perhaps a half dozen of the 246 pages in the novel even mention Islam. Based on the outraged blurbs, I was expecting some incendiary material, but it’s not there. I would instead blast the book for sometimes boring me witless with commentary on obscure French novelists! Of course, I am exaggerating. Houellebecq offers some profound insights on universal issues of our times, or perhaps of any time.

Most of the book is quite academic. The protagonist is a French literature prof whose specialty is a nineteenth century French novelist, J.K. Huysmans. Huysmans' work, life, and eventual conversion to Catholicism are discussed and pondered at great length. Have you read any Huysmans? Neither have I. Many pages of the book are devoted to descriptions of the mechanics of the French political parties and how they interact and create winners in elections by forming alliances. Most of this was lost on me and quite dull. The link between these two topics is the conceit of the novel. I don’t have to worry about spoilers, I’m sure everyone already knows the story. Through an unusual political alliance, a Muslim, a highly skilled politician, is elected President of France. This occurs close to the end of the novel. Now, let me share some of Houellebecq’s crazy descriptions of life in France under Sharia law...except that there aren’t any. There are a few pages in the last chapter that mention one Islamic practice that is common in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and much of Africa. Islamophobic? Hardly. He doesn’t even mention the pervasive human rights abuses that occur in those countries. The critics got us far off track from what he was writing about...

I soon began to appreciate the tapestry Houllebeq wove of Huysman’s conversion to Catholicism, the protagonist’s conversion to Islam on the last page of the book, and the real story of the novel: loneliness in middle-age, detachment, self-delusion, and disillusion. Key themes also are personal faith and a society living without faith.

Recent events in France were much more dramatic than these considerations. Recall that Houellebecq’s cartoon portrait was on the cover of Charlie Hebdo the day that jihadists massacred a dozen of his friends at the magazine. Michel now lives under police protection, although certainly it’s not needed for this novel. The French love to call Americans imperialists. However, it was France, with a population of 40 million at the time, that brutally subjugated 60 million people in colonies around the world. Many of  these countries gained their freedom through bloody civil wars, such as Algeria and Viet Nam, a.k.a French Indochina. So, there might be a perverse tie between this history and Houellebecq’s theme, although I’m not sure what he would think of my preceding observation. 

Submission is well worth reading, but not for all the inaccurate headlines. His previous novel, The Map and the Territory, has extraordinary writing about art, the gallery world, loneliness, and is not good, it's great. Comments on this novel are found in this blog.

Chance: A Novel - Kem Nunn

This year I read two recently published debut novels in a row by directors of writing programs at big name schools. Both had the same edgy writing-workshop structure: the entire novel was comprised of short paragraphs separated by four lines of space. Each paragraph was barely related to the next one in terms of chronology or subject. The book blurbs were glowing, something to the effect of, "A glimmering, unforgettable construction. Read this book now." In fact, they were completely forgettable, academic exercises that would have been more likely written in the late 1960s.

Today I finished the most recent novel by Kem Nunn, a writer I would guess these literati dismiss with a wave of the hand over a "craft cocktail" at a celebrity chef's restaurant. I was delighted to find a story, well developed characters, and OMG a plot. Chance: A Novel is a contemporary noir mystery that was a compelling read and very well written. This guy can really craft a sentence, which will probably not be recognized by the ivory tower because of his genre.

In this novel an expert witness physician becomes obsessed with a multi-personality client. She is being abused by her husband who is a dirty homicide detective. Along the way, Dr. Chance meets some wonderful, well-developed, believable characters. Carl is an elderly, elegant gay black man who deals in antiques, not always above board. He has a taste for young, violent, leather-boys. Nunn's portrait of Carl is very empathetic and touching, without being patronizing. Big D reconditions furniture for Carl. D is maybe ex-military, certainly well trained in martial arts, definitely huge, and probably mentally ill. He becomes a philosophical street adviser to Chance, and a big help as Doc tries to rescue the damsel in distress. There is some great word-smithing in this noir.

Wichita - Thad Ziolkowski

I picked up Thad Ziolkowski’s 2012 debut novel, Wichita, based on reviews that posed a son returning home & storm chasing with his colorful mom. Implications of metaphysical ponderings lit up my radar. Well…the novel turned out to be a coming of age story, which I usually avoid like the plague. Being 25 years old once was enough for me. However, this time, I became quite attached to the two brothers of this tale. Lewis Chopnik is a broken hearted, failed academic, who has returned home to nurse his wounds & wonder what's next. His divorced mother is a "polyamorous" self-discovery tornado, who is starting a storm chasing business. What she's really looking for could have been more sharply articulated, but she is a hoot, nevertheless. Lewis is rightfully dismayed to discover that his brother Seth is on the homestead. Seth is a bi-polar drug ingesting force of nature, extraordinarily manipulative of his family, and probably dangerous. I was prepared to be annoyed with him & ditch the book, but instead I became quite fond of him Some of Seth's cadre of hard drinking losers are not keepers as characters. Their father is a highly regarded academic, as well as their grandfather. They both skirt the edges of the story enough to realize that mom & dad didn't read the parenting manual.  It's a fast read, but not surprisingly, with a dark ending.

The Apartment - Greg Baxter

The Apartment

is a quiet, graceful novel, that draws one in. This is Greg Baxter's debut novel and it is a strong showing. I normally don't enjoy stories that are built around the events of one day. But through substantive looks into the past, and reflections on the meaning of it, this one worked well. An unnamed 40ish American veteran spends a day looking for an apartment in an unnamed European city. He is helped by a local woman who he has befriended. Their short relationship is somehow trusting, with clear boundaries, & yet gently evolving. The real story, however, is the slow revelation of the man's life, which is woven into the events of this day. We learn of his parents & childhood, as well as his many years on submarines and then tours in Iraq with the Navy, and also as a contractor. This history is imparted briefly and unobtrusively. The man reflects on the meaning of these years and seems to aspire to a simpler life in which he can be more honest with himself. Baxter also webs in discussions of playing the violin, the development of perspective in painting, playing billiards, and Mozart vs. Bach. Somehow these conversations fit seamlessly into the story. Baxter's writing is spare and elegant, and I found myself gripped by the prose as if this were a mystery or thriller. It certainly is not a thriller. But, Baxter perhaps deals with the mysteries of how we define ourselves and live with ourselves. I look forward to his next novel.

 

Burning Down George Orwell's House - Andrew Ervin

Burning Down George Orwell’s House is a novel of big ideas and lots of fun. This seems to be a rare combination today. Many current novels are either painfully self-conscious, or romps of destructive characters careening through life. So, hats off to Andrew Ervin who has created a well balanced read in his debut hovel. Ray Welter, a young advertising exec, burns out with pangs of guilt over his successful campaign that effectively used social media. A George Orwell fan, Ray connects the dots and believes that the current intrusive iteration of social media has placed us squarely in 1984. With his marriage falling apart, he heads for the remote Scottish island of Jura to live in George Orwell’s cabin & ponder his life until his money runs out. He doesn’t get a warm welcome from the locals who are intent on preserving their history and culture from the likes of him. Enter many colorful characters. Did I mention that Ray likes Scotch whiskey a little too much? If you are a Scotch aficionado, you could read this book just for the reflections on single malts.  His old boss is recruiting him hard for a new firm, as Ray signs his divorce papers. Ray does return home to Chicago, and opts for a simpler life, although he’s still finding himself. Well, so am I.

 

F, a novel. Daniel Kehlmann

F is a thought provoking and wonderfully written/translated novel by the young German author Daniel Kehlmann. It is the story of a father and three sons, from two failed marriages, who all are finding their way in the world with some difficulty. The father is a wanna-be writer and free spirit who walks out on two marriages. His children are damaged goods, each in their own way, but with a lot of common ground. Every reviewer speculates what the “F” stands for. Failure? Forgery? Fraud?

Each chapter is in the voice of one of the characters and tells his story and evokes his psyche. Son number one is an athiest Catholic priest. He is quite likeable in his wandering “what do I make of the world” thoughts. A pair of identical twins are from dad’s second marriage. One is a mentally unstable financial advisor, whose agnst is palpable. His twin is, like dad, a wanna-be. In this case he’s a painter, who in fact becomes very successful: by forging a body of work that is sold as the paintings of his long-time lover. I found this character to be quite intriguing and was impressed by Kehlmann's thoughts on making art, the art world, and forgery vs “real”.

That sense of forgery versus real is perhaps the heart of all the characters and the novel. In a very real sense, these men are not frauds. Like all of us, they are trying to find their way to who they truly are in this world and have settled for a compromise version of this. Kehlmann, by contrast, is the real deal. He is an author to watch for.

Lost for Words, Edward St. Aubyn

I’m generally an easy mark for books about writing, so I happily read Lost For Words. Edward St. Aubyn created a clever satire of writing prizes, wrapped in a British comedy of manners. He has a sharp eye and pen for the human condition, and the difference between our public and private personas. Each chapter is from the perspective of one of the vividly portrayed characters: judges, writers, editors, poseurs, lovers, and lovers scorned. Usually, I don’t enjoy this multi-view format. But St. Aubyn really captured the voice of these characters, their views, prejudices, and blind spots, despite being written in the third person. Often when I read books in this structure I find the author’s voice droning on in each character, but not so in Lost For Words. Most chapters have some wonderful one-liners in that character’s voice and world-view, but somehow universally applicable to all of us: “…she had the special affliction of a novelist, of wanting to be the author of her own fate and take charge of a narrative whose opening chapters had been written by others with terrifying carelessness.”

The squabbles between the judges were priceless, especially if you’ve ever cast a jaundiced eye at the treatment of writing, music or art by the haughty academics of the ‘60s & ‘70s, who somehow still hold sway in our world. One judge’s trumpeting of “relevance” made me laugh & cry, it was so true to life and annoying! I tip my hat to St. Aubyn for capturing it, along with many other forms of hubris, with such a light touch. Have fun!