Reviews of some books I read last term. After a somewhat patchy reading year so far, I finally read some books I thought were brilliant.
29. Traversée de la Mangrove [Crossing the Mangrove], Maryse Condé 5/5
A classic of Caribbean literature, which I read many years ago, but reread this year because it has just been added to the first-year French syllabus at my university. The novel opens with the mysterious discovery of a corpse, but it’s not a murder mystery; the book is made up of short chapters told from the differing perspectives of all the characters in the little Guadeloupean village of Rivière-au-Sel who encountered the dead man (a mysterious stranger who had recently emigrated to the village). As a result you get a broad panorama of life on the island, told by people of different sexes, ethnicities, ages and classes. Their stories intersect like the twisted branches of the mangrove swamp. Many of the town’s residents also have ties to other countries, so the novel is not just about Guadeloupe, but about the increasingly interconnected world we all inhabit. As Condé herself writes, ‘We live in a world where, already, frontiers have ceased to exist.’
30. Childhood, Youth, Dependency, Tove Ditlevsen, trans. by Tina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman 5/5
Recommended to me by a Danish friend. Also known as The Copenhagen Trilogy, this is an extraordinary three-part memoir by a Danish poet and writer. Quite a harrowing read, but also a fast-moving one, that recounts Ditlevsen’s difficult childhood, her love affairs and friendships, and her eventual drug addiction. There are so many memorable lines: ‘Childhood is long and narrow like a coffin, and you can’t get out of it on your own.’ The story of her addiction (first published in 1971) is told frankly and with a remarkable lack of self-judgment. I will definitely return to this book in the future for a second reading.
31. Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear 4/5
As someone who has always had trouble establishing routines, I found plenty of useful ideas in this book. I appreciate the fact that Clear doesn’t claim to have uncovered a life-changing secret all by himself, but draws on and synthesises a range of ideas from different sources.
32. L’Événement [Happening], Annie Ernaux 5/5
I read this short memoir and then saw the film based on it in the same day. The film was excellent, but so visceral that I felt queasy and utterly emotionally drained by it – I’m glad I saw it, but I wouldn’t see it again! The book, unlike the film, alternates between the story of the protagonist’s pregnancy and multiple abortion attempts on the one hand, and on the other hand, the author’s reflections on those events forty years later. This establishes a space of critical distance in the book that makes the narrative feel less grimly relentless. I only wish Ernaux’s story wasn’t still so relevant today.
33. Foster, Claire Keegan 5/5
I loved this as much as I loved Keegan’s other novella, Small Things Like These. In beautifully understated prose, Keegan shows how a child flourishes when she receives a few months of adult warmth and attention. I’m keen to see the Irish film based on this story.