Billed as a ‘best seller’ and ‘book of the year’ this is a long read with the appearance of a typical small town crime novel. And not only has the crime (the disappearance of a young girl) remained unsolved for thirty plus years but the engaging but slightly annoying protagonist is writing about said crime.
In this way the book extends into the territory of why write, what it is to write and further into the murky water’s of writing about the truth, or people’s versions of the truth, and of who has the right to document and make public the truths of other people. This leads the story into big city/publishing politics and the selling value of public interest, or is it prurience, in the hidden lives of the famous and not so famous.
Dicker, and his translator (from French), Sam Taylor, do a good job of guiding the reader through the complexities of the story as it swings back and forth through thirty three years. The characters are well established, and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep a reader’s interest. I found the background detail on Harry and Marcus rather tedious and the writing in these sections a bit banal. Otherwise the prose is strong and authentic.
This is a book is about love, snobbery, atonement, tenacity, and secrets and how these all work to shape the very different lives of the cast of characters. It is an ambitious book that took me some time to get into but the story is intriguing and the overarching theme of fiction-making with truth is thought provoking. That makes it, for me, a good read.
More generally, this is another in the short list of translated novels I've read recently. All translated to English (obviously!!!) this book from French, others from Icelandic and Spanish. Where next I ask myself?
And while on the subject of lists Joel Dicker's (JD) book is set in a small America town, the setting for many novels by Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout. Add to that the number of similar small towns that Lee Child writes of in his Jack Reacher novels ... quite a list of authors, well, four anyway. What is it about those places that two American authors (AT and ES), one (LC) British born but living in the USA), and one (JD) Swiss and living in Geneva, and I'm sure there are more, what is it that takes their writing to those similar settings? It is as if the setting is another character for these writers. As if the psycho-geography of the streets, commercial sectors and environs of the town have agency in their stories.
For me, there is a message here. Several in fact. One of which is how important it is to read. To read widely, with thought and to learn from others ... thank you LC, JD, ES and AT and others ....
I'm interested in your thoughts on this. Other questions also come to mind. Would similar settings in other countries be the same? Is there something unique about small US towns? I think I get the small town bit but the American angle is interesting. Your thoughts please. Leave a comment ... send me the name of book set in a small UK town where the settings has a strong role ... please!!
It is raining here, gently watering the plants and freshening up the air. And we are drying figs. Nuff said. Back soon.
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