Tag: contemporary fiction

#BookReview Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, trans. by Sondra Silverston

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LiarAbout the Book

Nofar is just an average teenage girl – so average, she’s almost invisible. Serving customers ice cream all summer long, she is desperate for some kind of escape. One afternoon, a terrible lie slips from her tongue. And suddenly everyone wants to talk to her: the press, her schoolmates, and the boy upstairs – the only one who knows the truth.

Then Nofar meets Raymonde, an elderly woman whose best friend has just died. Raymonde keeps her friend alive the only way she knows how – by inhabiting her stories. But soon, Raymonde’s lies take on a life of their own.

Format: Paperback (288 pages)        Publisher: Pushkin Press
Publication date: 28th March 2019 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literature in Translation

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My Review

I alternated between reading the paperback edition published by Pushkin Press and listening to the Audible Studios audiobook narrated by Ajjaz Awad.

The author is clearly fond of similes; in fact, so fond that waiting for them at the end of a sentence became somewhat distracting at times. Depending on your point of view, the examples that follow are imaginative, laboured or simply perplexing.

‘She shrank like a caterpillar on its back’
‘Nofar’s guilt, like a Persian cat, rubbed her legs fleetingly, sat for a brief moment on her lap, then moved onward.’
‘Smiles have a way of catching a person’s eye, like a red balloon gliding in the sky and drawing the glances of people below.’
‘Her thoughts, like pizza-delivery boys on their motorcycles, reached the most remote streets.’
‘Love is a very delicate thing, the truth can trample it like a hippopotamus running wild.’
‘The words were like a can of petrol thrown on the small ball of fire in her stomach.’
‘Her face was red and swollen, but to Lavi she looked like a wonderful grapefruit.’

I wasn’t entirely convinced by the introduction of a secondary storyline and a new character, Raymonde, in part two of the book. Although consistent with the theme of the book – that lies take on a life of their own and are difficult to take back – I struggled with the nature and context of her deception. It was more deliberate and studied than Nofar’s spur-of-the-moment outburst. I suppose it could be argued that, in sharing the stories of her dead friend, Raymonde was at least ensuring they would be heard.

I also found it hard to identify with the characters in the book or become engaged in the central relationship between Nofar and Lavi, which seemed a little on the creepy side to me. Although never stated, the book is  set in Tel Aviv but I didn’t get a particularly strong sense of place; much of the action is confined to Nofar’s family’s apartment or the dingy alley beside the ice cream parlour where she works. The exception was a night time scene in which Nofar looks out over the city from the roof of the family’s apartment.

I felt the novel worked best as an exploration of lies and their consequences. Pretty much all the characters in the book lie in one way or another. Some are motivated by a desire for attention or sympathy, others to show off or to make believe they’re living a different, more exciting life. Their lies range from the ‘white lie’ to out-and-out deceit or, as in Nofar’s case, to false accusation. The book also demonstrates the way lies can take on a life of their own, make the teller vulnerable to manipulation and unwittingly compromise the integrity of others.

In three words: Thought-provoking, intimate, discursive

Try something similar: Belladonna by Anbara Salam

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About the Author

USE-THIS_ayelet_gundar©alon_siga-copyAyelet Gundar-Goshen is an award-winning novelist, and a clinical psychologist based in Israel. Her novels One Night, Markovitch and Waking Lions, both published by Pushkin Press, have been translated into 14 languages.

She is an occasional correspondent for the BBC, TIME magazine and Israeli media. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

About the Translator

Sondra Silverston has lived in Israel since 1970. Her translations include fiction by contemporary Israeli authors Amos Oz, Eshkol Nevo, Savyon Liebrecht, Aharon Megged, and Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, as well as the fiction and essays of Etgar Keret.

#BookReview 337 by M. Jonathan Lee @HideawayFall #337LEE

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337About the Book

337 follows the life of Samuel Darte whose mother vanished when he was in his teens. It was his brother, Tom who found her wedding ring on the kitchen table along with the note.

While their father pays the price of his mother’s disappearance, Sam learns that his long-estranged Gramma is living out her last days in a nursing home nearby. Keen to learn about what really happened that day and realising the importance of how little time there is, he visits her to finally get the truth. Soon it’ll be too late and the family secrets will be lost forever. Reduced to ashes.

But in a story like this, nothing is as it seems.

Format: Paperback (384 pages)                Publisher: Hideaway Fall
Publication date: 30th November 2020 Genre: Contemporary fiction

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My Review

Like the two previous books by the author I’ve read, Broken Branches and Drift Stumble Fall, 337 is strong on the detail of domestic life – the annual picnic in the park, a Sunday roast dinner – and the dynamics of family relationships. For Samuel, the book’s narrator, his childhood is punctuated by memories of tensions simmering beneath the surface of his grandparents’ and his parents’ marriage which occasionally boil over.

It quickly becomes apparent that Samuel’s life has been overshadowed by his mother’s disappearance when he was a child and the author deftly illustrates the emotional and psychological impact this has had. Not only has it caused an estrangement from his father and younger brother Tom, but it has led him to spend time in therapy. The sense of ‘unfinished business’ has also contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. Yet still he feels a compulsive need to find answers to a disappearance the police have long since consigned to the drawer marked ‘cold case’.

His grandmother’s impending death signals what may be his final opportunity to discover why his mother left and what became of her. It’s a prospect Samuel finds too difficult to resist, even if it means overcoming a breach between him and his grandmother that’s lasted nearly twenty years.

Those attracted by the mystery element of the book will be pleased to know it is liberally sprinkled with enigmatic phrases that could either be important clues or playful red herrings. There are other quirky features, some of which left me scratching my head trying to work out if they had hidden significance, and others which made me smile. Readers drawn to the book by the promise of a domestic drama will be rewarded with poignant scenes as Samuel gently tries to coax information from his dying grandmother whilst at the same time struggling to understand his own feelings of helplessness and frustration. However, I believe every reader will recall the words ‘Nothing is as it seems’ as they turn the last page.

I was fortunate enough to receive a limited edition copy of the novel from the lovely people at Hideaway Fall with its unique double-ended upside-down format. (Please note the double-ended upside-down version of the book is only available if purchased in hard copy from UK booksellers.) However, in whatever format you read 337, I think you’ll find your emotions a little topsy turvy by the end.

The author’s self-imposed challenge was “to write a novel where the entire story hinges on the last word, which changes your view about many of the characters you’ve travelled through the story with“.  Success.

In three words: Inventive, touching, insightful

Try something similar: Tell Me Where You Are by Moira Forsyth

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MJonathanLeeAbout the Author

M. Jonathan Lee is a nationally shortlisted author and mental health campaigner.  His debut novel, The Radio, was nationally shortlisted for the Novel Prize 2012. Since that time he has gone on to publish five further novels. 337 is his sixth novel. He is obsessed by novels with twists where nothing is exactly how it first appears.  He was born in Yorkshire where he still lives to this day with his twins, James and Annabel.

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