Intense, moving and sometimes harrowing
work of fiction makes for an absorbing read. (Review by Keith Millar)
There is no doubt that A Possible Life by award winning and multi best-selling author, Sebastian
Faulks, is a very good book indeed. Subtitled A Novel In Five Parts, it is an intense, moving and sometimes
harrowing work of fiction which is an absorbing read and very difficult to put
down.
The question is, is it a novel or a collection
of five separate stories? It is a fact that each story is self-contained with
no obvious common theme and the links between them are tenuous at best.
The book begins with the narrative of
Geoffrey Talbot, a school teacher and talented cricketer who at the start of
the Second World War volunteers for undercover work in France. He is betrayed
to the Germans and is sent to a Nazi extermination camp. Here he witnesses
unspeakable horrors and the only way he keeps his sanity is by imagining
himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire.
The
second story, entitled The Second Sister,
relates the life of Billy who, after growing up in a Victorian workhouse,
manages to makes good and is able to lift his family from a life of poverty. It
also recounts his relationships with two sisters who he met in the workhouse.
Everything
Can Be Explained is set in the future in rural
Italy, which is beset by an economic crisis. Elena Duranti is a solitary child with
few social skills. Her family adopts an orphan called Bruno who becomes her
only friend and lifelong soul mate. Elena grows up to become a leading neuroscientist
who discovers the area of the brain which gives humans self-awareness and so is
able to prove that there is no such thing as the Soul.
The research is fictional but may be a
common thread in all the stories in the book as all the characters seem to
lapse into state of what she calls “screen saver” consciousness to cope with
the tribulations in their lives.
Jeanne is the central character of a rather
bleak story called A Door Into Heaven.
She is a simple, unsophisticated and unschooled peasant. She is the housemaid
and nanny for a well-to-do family in 19th century France. Through her simple
beliefs and religious zeal she has an influence on all the members of the
family.
Finally we read about Anya King who is a
very talented singer/songwriter. She is mentored by Jack who narrates the story
and with whom she has an intense and poignant love affair.
Still the question remains. Is it a novel
or a collection of stories?
As mentioned, there are tenuous
links between the stories. The apartment Jack rents in London is converted from
the old workhouse where Billy grew up. A plaster Madonna figurine belongs to
both Elena and Jeanne in their stories. The old farmhouse where Geoffrey was
betrayed is the same one where Jeanne met Brother Bernard. But is this enough
to make them part of the same story?
As for a common theme? Possibly it as
simple as man’s indomitable spirit in the face of considerable adversity. Or
possibly the suggestion that the life we end up with, is just one of many
possible lives.
What is difficult to understand is why the
author would be so obscure about his intentions in this regard. I cannot help
wondering if he is not having a quiet chuckle at everyone trying so hard to
find hidden meanings in this work. My suggestion would be not to worry too much
about the message and rather enjoy five very good stories told by a master
storyteller.
A
Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks is published by
Hutchinson 2012 - ISBN 9780091936815 and the recommended retail price is
R215.00. – Keith Millar
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