The novel starts with Veronica, our narrator claiming that she has something to say about something that happened, or she thought happened, back at her grand mother's place when she was eight or nine. The narration happens in the aftermath of her brother Liam's death, by suicide. It makes her reflect back on her early life with her family - her grand parents, her parents, her siblings - and particularly everything which was wrong with them. The narrator is unsure of her self, although she almost never contradicts herself. Things which happened a long time back, which she believes may have had an impact to the life of Liam, her brother, whom she loved the most among her siblings - and also possibly the most troubled, is the essence of what troubles her. Our narrator also fights her own demons, testing her husband Tom, with inconsistent behaviour upon Liam's death. Tom, who to all appearances as revealed in the book, is a patient man, a workaholic who appears to be highly dependent on his wife for sex, irrespective of the nature or the pleasure derived by his wife. It suggests a crisis in her life, as she suggests a couple of times that she may have had sex with Tom for the last time, but the book ends with a suggestion that she looks for a reparation on their relationship. For, although bitter, neither of them have taken any drastic actions, which prevent restoring of their marriage. The narration takes on a matter of six months or so, immediate to the death of Liam. Veronica tries to recollect what took place when she 8 or 9, and at one point even uncovers which may have happened, realising where a family friend of her grand parents, was really no friend.
But the whole narration is presented from the troubled mind of Veronica, and as such is interspersed with her love-hate relationship with her husband, anger against her grand mother, dissatisfaction with her siblings, and even a scorn for the relative success of her own family which she seems to have caught from her deceased brother. This mix, when presented to the reader doesn't add up to an enjoyable read, or even an engaging one. The book, although concise in length at a mere 261 pages, takes the effort of a much longer one given the style of writing. True, the style of writing which suggests the mind of a frustrated, troubled woman, trying to get back to her life with her husband and her two daughters, is possibly what convinced the judges of a convincing narration to give this book the Booker award. Yet, this conviction of the authors mayn't necessarily mean an enjoyable read for an average reader like me. This I suspect is the matter with this book. There have been more harrowing books which have been page turners, narrated by multiple characters, or even by an omniscient narrator. But a direct narration by the troubled mind itself, may sound like this - and that is a learning for the reader, I guess. For example, Humbert Humbert, although a villain to the core is so sure of what he wants, and convinced of a concocted righteousness of his ill formed desire, the resulting narration is pure pleasure for the reader, irrespective of the subject matter. But narration from a troubled mind is possibly, like this. However, given that I set myself the task of reviewing the book as a reader, I can do no more than rate the book as I have done, while also citing the possible conditions which may have influenced the Booker Award panel.
Booker Award - 2007
Rating: ***1/2
