One of the disadvantages of writing fiction oneself is that it can make you (with the emphasis on the word "can") rather too critical of the work of others. But the opposite can also be true. Just before Christmas 2017 I was searching for an additional present for my wife. I eventually chose the book Die Liebe in diesen Zeiten by Chris Cleave because I liked the cover and because it occurred to me that the woman on the cover could have been my mother.
Actually, the book proved to be quite a success. While reporting her progress through the book to me, my wife used words like "brutal" and "flowery" to describe a story she was enjoying. So - I decided to read it myself, but auf Englisch!
Everyone Brave is Forgiven is the title auf Englisch and I might be forgiven, by my wife at least, for expecting the book to be a story with exchanges like:
"War is such a bummer, yeah?" "Yeah, never should have got involved. Europe ain't no place for us."
But it was not a bit like that. For starters, the book is a masterclass in show-don't-tell. For the non-writer readers of this blog, this means that the author doesn't tell us that a relationship is doomed, he shows us that a relationship ain't working through the words and body language of the actors themselves. It is a bit like watching a film at the flicks. The words and actions of the players tell us all we need to know and, most importantly, the words and actions involve us so that we feel what the characters feel. We don't need a voiceover telling us what is going on, for example: he is now having doubts and turns away from her pouting lips. Meanwhile, she is no longer certain about her own feelings...
Secondly, I love the contrast between the "brutal bits" and the "flowery bits" my wife told me about. The "flowery bits" remind me of Joseph Conrad or Gabriel Garcia Marquez in that, at times, Chris Cleave's language does not appear to be that of a native speaker. And when the "brutal" bits come they are like Mahler's "hammer blows of fate" - powerful and, of course, totally unexpected.
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