The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller

Princetown, Dartmoor, 1963

 The Big Freeze! Winter of 1962/1963. Britain's most brutal, intensive, and lengthy winter since the 19th century! That's the setting for this novel. The four main characters form two couples, both wives pregnant, and neither couple convinced about their respective partners, on whether love will see it through. Rita, with a somewhat coloured past for the 1960s, is not ideal as a farmer's wife, when her husband is hardly a farmer - more, a young man rebelling his father, and of a past that he is not fully aware of. The GP, Eric, is probably the least likable character here, and is clearly horrid to his wife, even on a normal day. It is in this background that the four people try to fight their inner demons, attempt to make their lives work, and try to see through a most difficult winter. How do the two couples come out of the winter? This novel is a like a close examination of the cross-currents of the four characters. All four characters face danger due to the indecisiveness which lead them there. It could be an attempt at a reconciliation of their families, where  Bill finds his sibling an alcoholic, and possibly still closeted since it was the early 60s. It could be that Rita has a longing for the bright lights and long nights, a far cry from the solitude of the farm. She has a difficult time to keep the demons from the past away. It takes her on a trip with dangerous consequences. The GP discovers the hard way that secrets are difficult to be kept is rural Western Britain, and although the damages to his  car could be fixed, his character in those parts are ruined - so much so we find him contemplating a getaway to become a hero. Probably Irene is the most everyday character we find here, and maybe her cosmopolitan back ground makes her decisions somewhat measured - until the weather makes measurement a farce. 

Britain is still recovering from WWII, and those with deep scars are still fighting their battles (i.e. Rita's father, Bill's father, and even the inexperienced Eric). It is in this background that the author has selected a close examination of the four lives who are the core characters in this book. The book moves at a pace in synchronicity with that of the long winter. The longing in the hearts of those who find  very little to do, who are out of place, who are struggling amateurs, and in hot water due to their own designs are examined in just sufficient detail to portray the restless mix - but usually with an open ended flow, which gives the impression that just like the helicopter that carries our four characters from the snow covered farm at the end, we too are taken away from the novel with an idea about their possible futures, which could be still undecided.

So far this year I've read four books from the Booker long list, with three inside the short list. Personally if I had my way, I'd include Sea Scraper over this in the short list.

Rating: ***1/2

Photo credits: Princetown, Dartmoor, 1963 ( Daily Herald Archives)

Sam the Cat and Other Stories - Mathew Klam

Modern short story is one of the genres that I like to read, especially during the short respites I get for reading during phases of more engagements than usual, in my life - which amount to almost half of the year. This book too was listed as one of the better recent short story collections, although some of the reviewers had mixed feelings about it. Anyway I took up this book to read on my kindle, and here's how I found the stories to be;

Sam the Cat - Sam appears to be an unsettled kind of man, undecided on what he needs, but with no shortage of women. He appears to be bored with life, when he sees a man who appears to be taking care of himself, and somewhat disciplined. Sam becomes further confused with what he wants in life, as he makes a point to impress the man. The reader is left wondering what exactly Sam wants, as Sam himself isn't being honest with himself. A fast paced short story, written in a direct style, giving a good view of Sam's confused state of mind.

Not This - The Protagonist Vincent needs some time away from his girl, Kiffany, and visits his brother and S-i-L over the Labor day weekend. The short story then focuses on the luxurious life that his brother leads, and what he does, and with whom he works with to get so much money. It also dwells on certain problems that the couple is having as they want to start a family. While all this, Vincent is undecided on his future, and is repeatedly insulted by his brother for being a loser. To say that the brothers are poles apart, is putting it mildly. Its a very readable short story, although it finished open-ended. 

The Royal Palms - It appears that most, if not all of, these short stories are related to the issues in relationships, irrespective of the stage they are in. In this short story, we come across a couple in which the woman, Diane, feels insecure about how attractive she is. Maybe she feels that her husband tolerates a dip in her looks out of sympathy ? Does it take an attention from a third party to rebuild her confidence ? And is that ok for the husband ? It is clear that these aren't the kind of things that, leave alone couples, even an individual is honest enough to admit to oneself. Hence a reader outside of the pages, do the deconstruction of what may have taken place.

Linda's Daddy's Loaded - Mike finds out he has married rich, and through his wife Linda's father's money, they soon begin to have a life their incomes would otherwise will not permit. But it comes at the occasional tolerance of the old man's unbearable visits, and his whims. But Mike soon finds out that maybe he really can ill afford to not tolerate his father-in-law, however much the daughter feels otherwise.

There Should Be a Name For It - A very young couple in the intense of early passion, try to understand if what they feel for each other is love - is there another name for it ? There should be a name for it.

Issues I Dealt With In Therapy - Is an enjoyable short story where a couple joins the wedding celebration in a resort island, of a close friend of the guy, who has really moved up the ladder of influential people. While the incidents therein make it a fun story, the fact that the father of the bride is one Mr. Niyangoda suggested that Matthew had picked up a Sri Lankan family in the U.S. to inspire the story. The therapy in question is the getaway for Phylida, a surgeon, and her guy, our narrator, who manage to  patch up issues that had accumulated over a time due to their busy schedules.

European Wedding* - Rich and Gynnie, both Americans, are supposed to get married in France, upon Gynnie's mother's insistence, citing their German and French roots. As with most of the stories in this collection, there is the doubt on the minds of both parties, an infidelity or two, and usually busy occupied lives.

As suggested above, all seven short stories are relationship related, and that of the young couples - young in today's terms for marriageable ages, I reckon - and the challenges, doubts, distractions that they have to live through. There is only short story, in which the story has a married couple as the center point.

A decent short story collection that I enjoyed, especially since I didn't spend my core reading time on this.

Rating: ***1/2



*A personal note about this 75 minute short story - I read this in the wee hours as I was returning on the night mail from Badulla upon completing stage 16 of Pekoe trail, somewhat drunk, and amidst the discouragement of my fellow trekkers.

Cultural Divisions, The Willingness To Embrace, and Rock Music

Black Crowes have been my one of my favourite rock bands for over thirty years, and of the American bands, the only Southern Rock band that I am an ardent fan of.

However, the reason this post comes about is due to a PodCast that I stumbled upon, which talk about the Black Crowes song 'Remedy', while also focusing on their other songs.


See Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Gl9WXf_Z0&list=PLFCSXNEPM7tft2CQcLB0bwcWhxXGfljZd

Given that I have been a fan of their music for ages, I will not dwell on the superiority of their song ( or their music), as the PodCast dwell on (especially on the latter half.)

I was more interested in the cultural signifiers that Diallo Riddle in particular highlight here. He says, with Back Crowes, he "almost made my peace with Southern-Rock", because when Lynard Skynard visited Atlanta, with the Confederate Flag in their concerts etc., he found it unsettling. Both Diallo and Luxxury then go on to describe the 'authentic' black singers as used by the Black Crowes for the video etc., plus the various influences ascribed to the Black Crowes.

On top of this, I was listening to the song 'cypress hill' from their Lions album, and I felt that it could be a reference to lynching. I felt that too could possibly compliment the arguments by Diallo about how the Black Crowes were the response within a music sub-genre, which has traditionally discouraged a segment of the population from embracing. 

All in all, inclusivity and a sense of belonging in a broad sense is everything, and I felt Diallo was almost eager to embrace the Black Crowes, for he loved some of the Southern Rock, and the band gave him an opportunity to embrace the music, as they rejected the cultural signifiers which would've otherwise discouraged that genre of music for a man Diallo's origin. Rock music at least from the 90s onward have been rebelling against racial prejudice ( my favourite example - Pearl Jam's WMA -"Police stopped my brother again", but they are a Grunge band), and this recognition of such equality in a Southern Rock band is significant. It is also a welcoming trait that one party is all eager to embrace the other, only if the other party makes an effort. This is clearly noticeable to the extent that Diallo goes to embrace The Black Crowes (although I don't know if he has enough grounds to talk down The Black Keys, which can sound 'racist' if pronounced in a certain manner - maybe he was stretching it there - but he could be better informed.)

Maybe 35 years ago people didn't speak of these sensitive topics as today, or simply today obviously there are more ways to be heard. In a time when U.S. politics has made a revolutionary choice, I couldn't help noticing these tendencies of cultural signifiers, and the will to look out for them - either to embrace or reject - as the PodCast clearly signify. Was glad to see that the Robinson Brothers and co. have come out winners on that count.

Flesh - David Szalay

 Read the 2025 Booker short listed novel, 'Flesh' by David Szalay.

 It was... okay.    

    
 Well, it was much more than okay. You'll get the joke on 'okay' when you read the book.

The main character in 'Flesh' is, István, a taciturn youth whom we first meet at the age of fifteen. Initially he finds that he's unable to attract the opposite sex due to his taciturn nature. But  we the readers soon find out that a sort of "primitive form of masculinity" that he has, attracts women, especially experienced ones, several of whom he has intimate relations with for the rest of his life. Upon completion of the book, I skimmed through several reviews and The Guardian's review says that István is a "Camus’ Meursault meets Forrest Gump" kind of character with an existential wayfarer about him.

The novel, by nature is sketchy with fewer dialogues where the  parties explain their emotions in details. A fine portrayal of this is when István  cannot help himself from crying upon seeing Labrador pups ( he intended to buy one for his son, Jacob, at one point) , and we the readers are left to figure it our selves, through the action of the crowds all looking at him. István  himself doesn't realise that he's crying till sometime. The mere fact of crowds looking at him suggest that István just didn't have a few tears falling from his eyes, but rather, outright loud crying or howling which makes people turn around to look. István is however never cruel. He is given a chance to salvage himself from a precarious situation in life, but he opts to save someone at subsequent high personal damage to him. This, even after his mother suggests that the death of the person whom he saves, is the one fact that can give him a chance in life.

The skill of the author, is maintaining the minimalist narration, which synchronizes perfectly with the lead character István's journey in life. His travails, his successes, and then his subsequent losses are accepted with a placidity which the modern world finds difficult to align to a man of sensitivity. True, there are  certain personal losses he cannot come to terms with - but then those are of the most painful type, and is certain to make an impact unless one has an issue with his or her mental faculties.

It is the subsequent mulling over of the nature of the novel, and the skills that the author has put to good use,  upon its completion (in contrast to midway of reading, comparatively), which makes one realise that the books has ingredients of a subtle masterpiece as the novel ages.

Rating: ****

Reading of Booker 2025 Short-listed novels - 2

The Rest of Our Lives - Ben Markovits

 

Read, 2025 Booker short listed novel, 'The Rest of Our Lives' by Ben Markovits. It was a thought provoking read as a fifty five year old man battles internally on the questions related to his life, at that juncture - whether he should save  his marriage, his new redundancy as a professional in a fast changing world - where, leave alone his views, even the mere association with parties with now unpopular, or even unacceptable views, is sufficient to make him so, and the "engine alert" on his health he ignores - until he cannot any more. In summary a series of simultaneous worries, that nags at his heart, while he remains undecided. As the narration happens in the first person, we realise that our narrator Tom, is actually only guilty of one case of inaction - his attempt to continue in life from his youth, non-committed, and as a drifter. We find that his profession as a legal academic was not his first choice, but what he settled for. That he was lucky to land a beautiful spouse, but that too more out of chance, more than either party falling 'head over heels' in love, as could be expected of a youth. As we listen to our narrator, the reader questions, if Amy, Tom's wife too felt restless upon realising that she had settled for less than she could - whether she missed the prize catches that passed her by in life, with whom she had relationships before settling for Tom. 'Settling' is the key word here. Can settling for one thing,  at one stage in life in an attempt for temporary piece of mind, come back to haunt you as you see things in a different perspective later in life ?

    "When he broke up with Amy, it was her first experience of being dumped by a guy who realized she wasn't ambitious enough for him. Or at least, who decided she wasn't part of his ambitions. This is something she was in the process of internalizing when we started going out. Who wants to do that ? But it's also part of what attracted me to her, or made me sympathetic; at that time, I was in drop-out mode myself. First I wanted to be a professor, then I wanted to be a writer, but I ended up going to law school because ... I thought, just live a nice life, where you pay for nice things, which I wanted to do partly because of Amy. She gave me a sense for the first time of how nice a life you can buy, if you have the right tastes and know the right people.
    This is more or less the life we lived.
    At the same time, though, I wondered what she saw in me. I wasn't Jewish, I wasn't at Harvard. I was just some guy... working on a dead end PhD, who spent his long weekends making money as a check-in agent at Logan. In other words, basically adrift, at the one period of her life where she was drifting, too."

The word regret is not mentioned much in this book - only four times ( I checked -  the advantage of an electronic read as it were), and the most apt use of it, in terms of the point in discussion unfolds in the following dialogue:

"I used to tell my kids, you don't have to do anything you'll regret. most of the time you know beforehand, so you don't have to do it. So this ... just seems like an example of that."

"Okay," she said.

"It's just something I used to tell them. I have a feeling like, I want to get through unscathed. Does that make sense?"

"Get through what?"

"I don't know. The next twenty years, the next two months, whatever it is."

"That sounds like a dumb way to live," she said.

This dialogue is between Tom, and one of his early girl friends whom he visits, during his road trip, after dropping his daughter at the University - his daughter leaving,  which brings upon a stage in life where he tries to come to terms with his new life, with both his kids away from home. Maybe its what he didn't do that he regrets most, and maybe now in a stage of life where all those regrets stack up in front of him, the man finds it is beyond his immediate assessment - but maybe he doesn't have time to do so either ?

The Rest of Our Lives, doesn't necessarily mean the remaining days of Tom and Amy, in their 50s. It also means the rest of their lives, as they made a decision of a union, at a time when they were adrift, and was looking for something, and someone to settle with, maybe due to whatever disappointments, and indecision,  they found themselves to be. I found it a thought provoking, somewhat pertinent read as I too start on my middle age, with less things to look forward to, and often in a mode of critical assessment of my decisions - mostly unfairly so - but natural at this stage of life. Earlier this year, I read "Remains of the Day", and I found that as a necessary ingredient in looking at one's remaining time in this life. This book may compliment it, although the lesson to carry in mind is from Ishiguro.  In essence, the existential nature holistically of the book, the only mentioned in passing act of 'forgiving' - forgiving yourself mostly, your loved ones if necessary - that is implicit, in a book that lacks any specific plot, makes a fantastic novel. One of the best read of the year for me, clearly.

Rating: ****1/2

(photo credits: Faber Books)

කැමෙලියා - විරාජිනී තෙන්නකෝන්

 2023 වසරේ, රාජ්‍ය සාහිත්‍ය, විද්‍යෝදය, සහ ස්වර්ණ පුස්තක යන සම්මාන තුන ම ජයග්‍රහණය කරලීමට සමත් වූ, විරාජිණි තෙන්නකෝන් ගේ 'කැමෙලියා' නවකතාව කියවීමි. විරාජිනි මෑතක ම ප්‍රකාශ කල කෙටි කතා සංග්‍රහය, 'අන්ධයා සහ සුරුට්ටුව' කෙටි කතා එකතුවයි. ඇය එහි දී ඇගේ මීට පෙර සාහිත්‍ය නිර්මාණ වලට වඩා වෙනස් නිර්මාණ පසුබිමක් භාවිත කලා. හැකි තරම් කාලය-දීපය-දේශයෙන් විනිර්මුක්ත, තරමක අඳුරු, වැස්සක පෙර නිමිති රගැත් සවසක් පාඨකයාට සිහි ගන්වන පරිසරයක් එහි පසුබිම වූවා. කතුවරිය 'කැමෙලියා' හි දි, එම නිර්මාණ පසුබිම නවකතාවක ට වඩාත් සුදුසු අයුරින් සකසා ඇති සෙයකි. තව ද මෙම කෘතියට යම් අයුරක මායා යථාර්තවාදී රීතියක් පමණක් නොව, ඉසබෙල් ඉයන්ඩෙ - ගා

බ්‍රියෙල් ගාසියා මාකේස් වැනි ලේඛකයන්ගේ ඍජු ආභාෂයත්, එය ලිවිමේ ශෛලියට බල පෑ ඇති අයුරුත් පැහැදිලිය. නවකතාවේ ප්‍රධානත ම තේමාවක් වන්නේ ඉන්දීය සම්භවයක් ඇති ජනයා කම්කරුවන් වශයෙන් තේ වගාව ට තම ජීවිත වලින් ගෙවූ මිලයි. තවමත් ගෙවමින් ඉන්නා මිලයි. මේ මුඛ්‍ය කාරණාවත්, ජෙෆ්‍රි වැනි අකාරුණික වතු හිමි හාම්පුතුන් ද සිංහල සාහිත්‍ය ට එතරම් ඇස නොගැටුණු දිශානතින් ය.  

මීට අමතරව, මෙම නවකතාවේ කිහිප තැනක, නවකතාවට ඍජු සම්බන්ධයක් නැති සිද්ධීන් මගින් සමාජයේ සමහර ප්‍රවනතා සඳහන් වේ. පුංචි මම්මා ගේ එක් සැමියෙකු, අයෙකු මියගිය විට වැන්දඹුවගේ ඉල්ලීම මත කෙරුනු  රෝමාන්තික ඡායාරූප ගැනීම එවන් පරිධියේ කතවකි. 

විරාජිනී මහත් පරීශ්‍රමයක් දරා, ඓතිහාසික කාරණා, යටත් විජිත සමයේ දේශපාලනය සුදුසු මට්ටමින් ගලපා, අත්භූත කමක් ද මුසු කර සිය නිර්මාණ ජීවිතයේ මෙතෙක් බිහි කර ඇති වඩාත් අභියෝගාත්මක කලා නිර්මාණය බිහි කිරීමට උත්සාහ දරා ඇති බව පැහැදිලි අතර, ඊට හිස නම ගෞරව කරමි.   නවකතාවෙන් විරාජිනි බලාපොරොත්තු වූයේ කිනම් කාරණා මතුකරලීමට ද යන්න පැහැදිලි ය.  ඒ පිළිබඳ සිංහල පාඨකයා නොදැන නොසිටි නමුත්, සාහිත්‍ය කෘතියක් ඔස්සේ එම සංවේදී කාරණා මතුකරලීම අනාගතයේ හෝ අප රට විදේශ විනිමය ගෙන ඒමට විශේෂ දායකත්වාක් එම ජන කොටස කෙරෙහි වඩා සංවේදී වීමට හේතු වනු ඇත.  මෙම නවකතාව මා  දුටුවේ කතුවරියගේ සමාජ දේශපාලන පණිවුඩයට යාත්‍රාවක් බිහිකරනු වස් ඉදිකෙරුනු රචනාවක් බවයි. බොහෝ රචනා සියුම් ලෙස යම් සමාජ දේශපාලන කාරණාවක් මතු කරලීමට ලියූ ඒවා මුත්, නිර්මාණ සාහිත්‍යයේ සාර්ථකත්වය මනිනු හැක්කේ, එම නිර්මාණය සමෝධානයේ සාර්ථකත්වය මතය. මෙම සමෝධානය සාර්ථක කරනු වස් ය, කතුවරිය ගුප්ත සිදුවීම, කෲර සිදුවීම්, එම කම්කරු ජනතාව ට නින්ද නොයෑම, සිනා සීමේ නොදත්කම ආදිය මතු කර ඇත්තේ.   එම සියළු තැත් පාඨක අවදානයට ලක් වුව ද, අවසන් විග්‍රහයෙදී, නවකතාවක් ලෙස සමස්තය සැලකීමේදි මට නම් හැඟුණේ මෙය තරමක් ආයාසකාරී, පරීශ්‍රමයක් දරා ලියවුන්නක් ලෙසටය. නවකතාව පුරාවටම මෙය 'පිටු පෙරළවන සුළු' (page-turner) තත්වයකට පත් නොවේ. සමහර දීර්ඝ කොටස් නවකතාවට වෙසෙසින් යමක් එක්කාසු නොකරයි. පිටු 222 ක් වන් කෙටි නවකතාවක් වුව, මට මෙය කියවීමේ උනන්දුවක් අවසන තෙක්ම වගා කරහත නොහැකි විය.  අවසන සාපේක්ෂ වශයෙන් තිබුනාට යම් සතුටුදායක තැනක් එම කම්කරු ප්‍රජාව ට ලැබීමත්, ඊට ඇනීටා ගේ සම්මාදමත් නවකතාවට අවසන් පිටු කිහිපයේදී එතෙක් නොතිබූ රසවත් බවක් ගෙන ආ බවය, අපගේ හැඟිම.  මෙය බහුතර පාඨක ප්‍රජාවගේ ආස්ථානය නොවූ නිසා, එය පුද්ගලානුබද්ධ රසය පිළිබඳ ගැටළුවක් ද විය හැක. 

2023 වර්ශයේ නවකතා මෙතෙක් මා කියවා ඇත්තේ හතරක් පමණි ( තිවංක කතාව, ද්‍රෝහි, සිල්වර් ටිප්ස් අනෙක්වා ය). මේ සිව් නවකතාවන් කෙරෙහි මගේ එතරම් කැමැත්තක් නැති මුත්, සාපේක්ෂව කැමෙලියා ඉදිරියෙන් සිටී ( තව නවකතා 8ක් පමණ කියවීම ඉතිරිව ඇත).  එහෙත් මා බලාපොරොත්තු වූයේ සම්මාන තුනක් දිනූ නවකතාවක් කෙරෙහි මීට වඩා ප්‍රසාදයක් මා කෙරෙහි උපදිනු ඇති බවටය.

ශ්‍රේණිය: ***1/2

Seascraper - Benjamin Wood

I selected Seascraper as the first of the nominees from this year's list of nominees to read, as I liked the marine sound of the title. Later I found out it was more inclined towards novella length, and in fact double checked to see if the audio book version I listened to ended half way. No, no trouble there, but it was the ending which was rather open ended.

This was a quiet read, with solitude mainly that of our protagonist, Thomas Flett, a "shanker" who makes ends meet for his rather young mother, and himself, being the main companion of the reader. At just 20, Thomas, has already given up on finding a more meaningful life for him, and clearly lacks the courage to confront his rather selfish and complaining mum about dreams of his life. Then as chance should have it, a film producer visits the desolated beach side, and finds the scene ideal for a movie he has in mind to produce, where he meets Thomas. The novella then moves on to elaborate on the difficulty one finds in materialising one's dreams - be that of Flett's dream of being a folk singer, or Edgar Acheson's dreams of producing a movie out of a book he has read. We find the demons that Edgar has fought all his life, and how in possibly his last attempt at success he may have inspired a boy just sufficiently to chase his dreams, irrespective of the odds.

The novella is thin in plot, but oozes of the environment that it is fixed in. The cold sea breeze, the stench that Tom so wants to rid, the sand - but is his fate, the bleakness that the whole setting brings, makes the reader feel that she is isolated in a rather barren place, where life hardly moves, and when it moves, only through the cyclic pattern which offers no hope for a change. The success of this novel is in how Benjamin has managed to encapsulate this bleakness, cocooned in a short trip that will stay in the readers mind for quite some time. 

Rating: ****
Long Listed for the Booker - 2025 ( with the short list yet to be announced)