The Book - "Delicacy" by David Foenkinos

So last month - or was it the month before (time goes so fast these days!) - the book club of which I am a member chose to read Delicacy by David Foenkinos. I must say I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. I read through it in a few days, although admittedly it's pretty short.

 

 
The book was originally written in French, but the English translation is very good. It is the most quirky and eclectic book I've ever read, and I can't quite figure out if this is because it was first written in French (and let's face it, the French are pretty quirky) or if it's the author's style. 

I loved every page. While reading it, I was constantly stopping, giggling and then reading out sentences to Luke, such as:

"After their last exchange, he'd left slowly. Without making a sound. As unobtrusive as a semicolon in an eight-hundred-page novel." 

Love it! Is that a French saying? If not, it should be! It was like the book version of Amelie, which makes sense because that's French too.

This novel has incredibly short chapters. (Take note authors, this is a great way to get readers glued to your book. "Oh what, a chapter over already, I'll just read another one or 3.") Also, every second chapter is a kind of separate literary item which refers to something in the previous chapter. For example, the characters order risotto at a restaurant and the next chapter will be the recipe for the risotto; or they go to a play and the next chapter is a scene from the play. I loved this - it's such a neat idea and somehow really made the story come alive.
Anyway, I suppose I'd better also tell you the basic storyline: Natalie meets her future husband in one of the serendipitous must-be-fate moments on a street in Paris. Strangers become lovers, and as a reader you feel the lovers' bliss radiating off the page until François is suddenly killed by a car while on his Sunday morning jog.

Natalie goes into shutdown mode, as if her marriage and happiness were too good to be true. She becomes reclusive and throws herself into her work, creating a barrier between herself and everyone who loves her. However, one day she impulsively kisses Markus, a colleague at work. Markus is the antithesis of Natalie. While she is smart, classy and sophisticated, he is awkward, clumsy and a bit of an oddball. Markus immediately falls hopelessly and helplessly in love with Natalie. However, he is not the only one with his eye on her; their boss has also been quite taken with her for some time.

Yes, there is a film, which I have yet to see. But even without watching it I can tell you the book will be better. There is no way you can possibly translate the subtle, quirky, and of course delicate nature of this book completely on to the screen. 

More favourite quotes:

"Then what were they going to talk about? You can't change context with a snap of the fingers. They'd be like two butchers at a vegetarians' convention."

"Markus left the office feeling as stunned as the sun during an eclipse."

"Lately, Natalie had almost forgotten that Charles existed. He was like an old telephone number, an element that no longer jibes with the times."
 

Until next time :)

The Book - Restoration

Time for another book review, because you know I don't just watch movies; now and again I pick up a book. The last work we read for Book Club was chosen by Bex, and it was Restoration by Rose Tremain.

Restoration was published in 1989, and also made into a movie, but the film version was difficult to locate. Anyway, I'm not sure if this is a book for everyone, as evidently I was the only person in our book club who enjoyed it. Perhaps I liked it so much because the last book we read was so poorly written. This book kind of reignited my faith in modern or semi-modern literature (I guess anything younger than Dickens and Austen can be considered modern.)

The story follows the life of Robert Merivel, a medical student who by chance falls into favour with the King (Charles II) and becomes a kind of personal physician for the King's pooches. The King then arranges for Merivel to marry his favourite mistress, Celia Clemence, as the other mistresses are getting a little jealous. The plan is perfect: Mervivel, apart from being a jolly good keeper of dogs and fool to the king, is also a notorious womaniser and pretty darn good at it. Merivel is given Celia in marriage on one condition: he is not to fall in love with her.

However, despite Merivel's arrogant, selfish and vain character, somehow you end up loving him as he is confronted by his many weaknesses and the true nature of his own heart. Essentially, I found this book was in fact about idolatry: it reveals how different idols at different times can completely consume us, and what dangers this brings.

There was something that really gripped me in this story. The writing was like nothing I had ever read before. Often stories written in first person are unpleasant experiences, since the characters seem as two-dimensional as the black and white words with which they are written. However, Robert Merivel feels like a real historical person. Like Jane Eyre, you feel this character coming off the page. Another similarity between Restoration and Jane Eyre is they are both written in a kind of diary-autobiographical style. 
I also loved how Merivel muses about the course his life has taken in hindsight, contemplating what moments were pivotal in the road he has taken. Halfway through the book, he was pretty much like: "Okay, well you've caught up with me, we're in the present now, and I have as much idea as you do about where this story will end." Maybe that's what I really appreciated about the book: the way the fourth wall was continually broken down. Merivel is frank about the goings-on in his life - almost too frank; one big complaint about the book is that it can get a bit too descriptive about his sexual relations.

I'm also a sucker for anything set in a historical time period, as I feel like I can read a story and get some insight into the place and time where it is set.

So in conclusion, I highly recommend this book if historical novels are your thing. And even if they're not, this might be a good book to start with.

Here's a little snippet for you to get an idea of the writing style:

"She would, on the birthday of Christ, allow herself what she called "an extra helping of prayer." At the time of the Civil War, she would pray for peace. Always, she asked God to spare me and my father. But at Christmas, she talked to God as if He were Clerk of the Acts in the Office of Public Works. She prayed for cleaner air in London. She prayed that our chimneys would not fall over in the January winds; she prayed that our neighbour, Mister Simkins, would attend to his cesspit, so that it would cease its overflow into ours. She prayed that Amos Treefeller would not slip and drown "going down the public steps to the river at Blackfriars, which are much neglected and covered in slime, Lord." And she prayed, of course, that plague would not come.
As a child, she allowed me to ask God to grant me things for which my heart longed. I would reply that my heart longed for a pair of skates made of bone or for a kitten from Siam. And we would sit by the fire, the two of us, praying. And then we would eat a lardy cake, which my mother had baked herself, and ever since that time the taste of lardy cake has had about it the taste of prayer.” 

Until next time :)

The Book - Life Is But A Dream

So I've recently started a book club with some of the girls from work, plus Carolyn and Rebekah, and we had our first official meeting last weekend at our place. It was so lovely just to chill out, eat some yummy food, and talk books. I totally recommend it. There's something really special about reading a book at the same time as other people, I guess because reading is normally such an individual thing.

Anyway, so we read the book Life is But a Dream by Brian James. I'm not sure if I would exactly recommend it. It's about a teenage girl with schizophrenia who is admitted to a mental institution or "Wellness Centre". The basic storyline concerns her struggle between reality and unreality, and her coming to terms with her illness while starting a relationship with another patient.

I would probably give it 2 and a half stars out of 5. I'll probably end up exchanging it at the local second-hand bookstore Arty Bees (yes, Wellington has the most awesome second-hand bookstore in the world - period). However, it did get me to think a lot about how everyone sees the world, and how we will never know if we're all actually seeing the same thing.

The writing style was okay, but to be honest Luke and I are also reading a Charles Dickens at the moment, so that's pretty hard for any author to compare with.

In sum, if you're wanting a bit of a "different" kind of read - something that's not too fast-paced, which you don't need to use your entire brain to comprehend - this book just might be the one for you.

Until next time :)