The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

One of my favourite kinds of literature is novels about novelists. So it was inevitable I'd be drawn into Tan Twan Eng's tale about Willie Somerset Maugham's 1921 travels to Penang and the inspiration he found there for his short story 'The Letter'. He and his secretary/lover Gerald stay with Willie's old friend Robert and Robert's wife Lesley. The narrative revolves around the uneasy companionship formed between Willie and Lesley. It's very compelling how Eng portrays this relationship because they aren't exactly friends but they're not enemies either. Each makes assumptions about the other, but both are at a crisis point and possess secrets. As more about their lives is revealed they form a special connection and understanding about one another. This is a novel primarily about the dynamics of romantic relationships. It's about how to balance levels of truth and intimacy in a marriage. It also vividly brings to life an area with a colonial past and the stirrings of political revolution. And it's about the process of creating fiction: which stories are memorialised, which are forgotten and how the past is manipulated through storytelling. It's a tale whose power became more evident the more I read and it's left me with a lot to think about in regards to all these issues.

I found this book immediately compelling because of the beauty of the writing. Eng's descriptions of the landscapes, the food and the society is so immersive. I felt like I could visualise the environment of Malaysia and feel the sensations being described. There's a transcendentally gorgeous scene where two characters swim in a sea that's filled with bioluminescent life. Not only did this brilliantly capture the feeling of this experience, but it also represented a poignant moment of liberation for the characters. The central metaphor concerns the titular House of Doors which is a structure that houses and displays beautiful old doors salvaged from buildings which have been destroyed. It develops a richer meaning over the course of the story suggesting gateways into the past which lead nowhere, stories whose truth can't be known and doors that open to new possibilities. It prompted me to wonder what is preserved and what is lost. This location is also an important focal point for the plot of the novel.

Lesley conveys to Willie the story of her close friend Ethel who was put on trial for murder after shooting a man. This formed the inspiration for Willie's fictional story, but we learn there is an even more complex and scandalous tale behind the one which Willie writes. Additionally, Lesley is more complex than she initially appears as details about her personal history, marriage and desires are revealed. Though certain sections concern the personal, professional and financial struggles Willie is going through, the narrative really belongs to Lesley and she takes control of her own story through this novel. At one point she realises: “we all had the power to change our pasts, our beginnings – or our perception of them, at least – but none of us could determine how our stories would end.” This epiphany allows her to take some agency in her life rather than be a victim of her circumstances. It also allows the reader to romantically imagine what might occur with her character after the end of the novel. This is such a superbly written and psychologically-rich novel I'm now eager to read Eng's previous two novels.

The Booker Prize 2023 Shortlist

Here are the 6 novels shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize! A new video is up on my YouTube channel where I give my live reaction to each book as I discover it's been listed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MID-r2k20l8

It's a really surprising group – even though I predicted three of them. An interesting diversity of styles and subject matter. It includes two debut authors and three authors named Paul! As it's been commented on social media, there are more writers named Paul than female authors on the list!

I’m very happy to see “Prophet Song”, “Western Lane”, “The Bee Sting” and “If I Survive You” here. I’m a good way through Murray’s doorstopper and I love the twists and complex view of family life that’s formed through their varying perspectives. I’m reading this with my new online book club and we’re having such interesting conversations about it.

I’ve not read “This Other Eden” yet but looking forward to it. Now… I did not finish “Study for Obedience” after only 40 or so pages. It felt way too tedious to be worth it. But keep in mind the judges have read all 6 books at least three times. Sooo… maybe it’s worth a revisit. Should I? Or I might not bother.

I’m very sad “In Ascension” didn’t make the cut and I’m also currently reading “The House of Doors” and I’m shocked it didn’t make the list.

What do you think of the list? Any favourites, disappointments or books you're looking forward to? Let's get discussing and it will be exciting to see which book wins late in November.

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin

I've been meaning to dip into more classic sci-fi for a while so I'm glad my physical book club chose this slender novel by Ursula K Le Guin for us to read. It won the Hugo Award in 1973 and was nominated for several other book prizes. The story is set on the fictional planet Athshe where an outpost of people from Earth are rigorously clearcutting the planet's vast forests. Wood has become a valuable resource since Earth (referred to as “Terra”) is now hopelessly polluted. This is devastating for Athshe's native population, a series of peaceful tribes of Athsheans who are small hairy green beings – given the derogatory nickname “creechies” by humans. The forest is not only their habitat but it's intrinsically linked to their culture. However, the majority of humans not only ignore how its loss impacts the native population but they enslave the Athsheans and treat them cruelly – sometimes raping and murdering them. When a creechie called Selver suffers a horrific loss he resolves to stand up to the colonial intruders and launches a war for the planet. It's an imaginative tale which vividly invokes a range of perspectives to relate dramatic events.

I appreciated how the novel begins with the point of view of Captain Davidson, a human commander of one of the logging camps. He's in many ways a repulsive and hyper masculine figure but it's valuable getting his initial skewed perspective on the creechies as sub-human. Since this native race is completely invented I initially bought this point of view even though Davidson is clearly prejudiced. It felt like an inventive way for Le Guin to encourage the reader to never make assumptions – especially when it comes to encountering living beings we are ignorant about. I also feel like the author had a lot of fun creating the voice of such an awfully aggressive and misogynistic character. When the narrative switches to Selver's perspective we see how Davidson is horribly misguided in his attitude and judgement of the Athsheans. They actually have a very strong sense of community and unique way of inhabiting consciousness. The line between waking/sleeping and reality/dreams aren't as clearcut for the creechies as they are for humans. This was a unique way of thinking about other ways of perceiving the world as well as creating different forms of community.

While I enjoyed the sense of adventure the story invokes and obviously felt sympathetic to its message, I'm not surprised this novel has been criticised for being a polemic. The message about the inevitably destructive effects of colonialism is extremely clearcut. However, it feels like Le Guin is making an important point. There can be no denying how destructive such colonial enterprises are to native populations and the environment. The story has clear parallels with the Vietnam war which was reaching its devastating conclusion in the time around when Le Guin wrote this novella. So it's impactful how the story is imbued with so much emotion. Nevertheless, I felt like it was somewhat simplistic in the way it depicts the harmonious nature of the Athsheans and the permanent ill-effects to their culture once the concept of war is introduced to them. I appreciated how a human scholar named Lyubov becomes an important bridge between the two races and adds more complexity to this tale which has clear lines between good and evil. So overall I felt this was an entertaining novella with some inspired world building but it could have been more thought provoking and complex. I've been told some of Le Guin's other books have more layers to them so I'm eager to explore more of her work.

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

There's a long tradition of literature that vividly shows how the liberties of citizens can be systematically stripped away by totalitarian governments. From Orwell's “1984” to Yevgeny Zamyatin's “We” to Atwood's “The Handmaid's Tale”, these dystopian stories pinpoint the way that language and technology are used to manipulate the public into obedience and complicity. It's something every society must be continuously vigilant about because the designation of power in any form of government will always give rise to some form of abuse and corruption. Now there is a powerful new modern novel which stands alongside these classics. Paul Lynch's “Prophet Song” details a nightmarish fictional version of Ireland where increasingly draconian laws and policies lead to the suppression of all personal freedom and the disappearance of individuals designated as potential dissidents. It focuses on the point of view of Eilish who is a scientist, wife and mother of four. When her husband comes under scrutiny and restrictions increase her life and community gradually unravel in an alarming way. It's a harrowing story which grows increasingly gripping and acquires more contemporary relevance as Eilish's reality spirals out of control.

At first the style of this novel might seem unnecessarily confusing because quotation marks aren't used in the dialogue. It also blends any speech into the overall narrative to create big chunks of text. However, it's usually clear who is speaking and, as the story progresses, this form takes on more significance as it adds to Eilish's sense of claustrophobia and chaos. Eventually the crowded narrative comes to feel like a stream that cannot be stopped and it becomes oddly hypnotic. As a busy individual trying to balance a demanding job on top of caring for her four children and a father struggling with dementia, much of her life is composed of the chores and small details in her day to day existence. There's little time for taking a stand against the government or working to preserve her liberties. The oppressive system relies on this and gradually strips away her autonomy. Of course, she raises her voice when obvious illegalities are turned into policy but if the government disappears those who violently object to it or remains mute there can be no recourse. It's observed at one point that “they take something from you and replace it with silence and you're confronted by that silence every waking moment and cannot live, you cease to be yourself and become a thing before this silence”. A sense of dread increases as the story goes on, but nothing can be done as normal checks and balances fail and her circumstances become dire.

I sympathised with Eilish's sense of helplessness when faced with a larger system that feels like it can't be changed or even questioned. I encounter this issue on varying scales from my work to my community to the government of my country. It's a constant process of negotiation about how much I'm willing to take a stand when falling into line is much easier or might even be the only option given other obligations. However, alongside this strong message about the individual being caught in larger systems, this novel also movingly represents changes in personal relationships over time. Eilish's 12 year old son Bailey is at a precarious stage in life and when the authoritarian pressures increase his development is affected. There's a striking scene where Eilish is challenged by this son. She can simultaneously see him as a boy and as a growing man. This is something anyone who has known an adolescent will understand. It's impressive the way the novel captures these in-between stages where individuals inhabit multiplicities that are warped by the stress of living under oppressive circumstances.

Though this story is set in a nebulous alternative present or possible future in Ireland, it also feels like it draws upon real elements of history. Aspects of the plot resembled the recent novel “Black Butterflies” which so vividly describes the Siege of Sarajevo from the inside and other parts of the novel reminded me of the people who went “missing” during Argentina's “Dirty War”. However, it also comments on the international reaction to strife and warfare occurring within a particular country. At one point Eilish's daughter comments “They are calling it an insurgency on the international news, Molly says, but if you want to give war its proper name, call it entertainment, we are now TV for the rest of the world.” As the book progressed, it made me think more and more of the war on Ukraine which came to dominate the news in 2022 though the conflict had really been going on for many years prior as described in the memoir “The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister”. In these ways, it felt like this novel speaks to our present day as well as potential dark paths our society might take in the future.

“Prophet Song” is certainly an unsettling read, but it never feels too dreary because of the elegant use of language. Paul Lynch conjures images of startling beauty in short descriptions of the environment such as a pond where there is “a swan gliding whitely through wrinkles of sun”. Of course, the potency of this verbiage also intensifies scenes of horror. It's particularly effective when things occur rapidly during a catastrophic event. It's very challenging to convey this on the page but Lynch does an impressive job of dramatically representing that experience. Both the psychology of the characters and the physical details being portrayed feel so realistic in these moments. Overall, there are many memorable scenes in this book and impactful ideas. These make this novel such an arresting read which also leaves a lasting impression.