The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind

inspirationalreads1 Comment

Book #215

Reviewer: Inspirationalreads

Jonathan Noel is a bank guard.   A tragic childhood followed by a disappointing marriage results in a risk-adverse Noel who takes great pleasure in the uniformity and predictability of the life he has created.  He has lived in the same bed sit and stayed at the same job for over thirty years, happy with his bachelorhood, his routine and life in general.  Until one morning, on his way to the communal bathroom he is stopped in his tracks by a rogue pigeon that has made its way into the building.  The effect that this pigeon has on Noel is immediate and immense and what follows is a day where all routine is thrown off, where everything he depends on is shaken.

In a few weeks I will be “celebrating” my ten year anniversary at my place of employment.  When I started, it was only ever going to be a short term measure.  My eldest child had turned three, I was going to go back and finish my University degree and then move onto something brighter and better.  But I didn’t and suddenly it is ten years later.  There are many aspects of my life that are fulfilling and I am very lucky to have the life I do, but as this anniversary approaches I have been thinking about the drudgery of my job, the monotony and repetition and just how quickly this ten years has come up and kicked me in the butt.  So when I picked this book up and started reading on a certain level there was something about this kooky and unsettling story that resonated with me.  Noel settled on his life and quickly enough for him, thirty years passed quickly.  For him though, the repetitiveness and monotony is comforting and when that comfort is shattered by the random appearance and perceived menacing  of a pigeon, this is enough to set off in him a violent reaction.

No human being can go on living in the same house with a pigeon, a pigeon is the epitome of chaos and anarchy, a pigeon that whizzes around unpredictably, that sets it’s claws in you, picks at your eyes…

So how comfortable can he be in his self-imposed bubble that he has placed around himself when it can be destroyed  by the appearance of one, solitary pigeon?  But what a pigeon.  The Pigeon is what I refer to as a bite-size book, a novella that allows you to fully appreciate and absorb the story in one sitting and does in no way suffer for its brevity.  Süskind is masterful at fully immersing the reader into the mind of this seemingly mild bank guard and fully understanding how the appearance of a bird can upset his life and then go on to force him to look at everything around him in a new way.  We understand why Noel is the way he is, we get enough of a taste of his life to feel the apprehension and menace and the subsequent unravelling and then progression to lesson learnt.

This is the second Süskind book on the list, and perhaps less known then the popular Perfume.  Having cheated and seen the movie and not yet having read Perfume (although very eager) the same psychological element is clear and is obviously a strength.  Many have likened his style to Kafka, which I am unable to confirm having not read any of the later (for shame, I know) due to a question of it going a bit over my head.  But what is wonderful about this novella is that it is so clear and accessible without sacrificing anything in terms of writing and language.  And it has made me a bit less apprehensive at tackling Kafka also.  A great read that has made me quite desperate to get my hands on Perfume.

Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis

Ms Oh Waily2 Comments

Welcome to today’s review.  We’ve reached another milestone.  It is the 100th book to be reviewed here.

Book #260

Reviewer: Beth, of Beth’s List Love

First you need to go back to the quote that starts my review of The Moonstone. Betteredge argues that it is a real problem for the rich that they are idle. Well, Martin Amis takes that premise and doesn’t just see the raise, he goes all in. But his setting isn’t high society 19th century England. It is nouveau riche late 20th Century London, NY, and LA. He is merciless. Well, almost. You can build a little sympathy for the protagonist, but you may hate yourself for doing it. John Self is a crass, overweight ad-man turned movie director with a taste for booze by the gallon, cigarettes, coccaine, pornography, and violence (against men, women, whoever). He knows he has problems, but he’s not doing much about them. Oh, and he loves money. He manages to leave a path of destruction in his wake that Gabriel Betteredge could not even imagine, possibly because the messes he makes cannot even be loosely attributed to an interest in art or natural history.

I have a hard time deciding whether to recommend this book. On one hand, it’s pretty brilliant. On the other hand, you have to live through a guided tour of protagonist John Self’s life and brain, and it is a very ugly ride. He spends an incredible percentage of his time falling-down drunk or blacked out. When he’s awake, he’s usually in a strip club or worse. This guy is beyond uneducated and uncultured. A woman he knows introduces him to books. He reads Animal Farm and doesn’t get that it is allegory. Here is his response to reading a book about Hitler:

As for Hitler, well, I’m consternated. I can’t fucking believe this stuff. Look how far he spread his violence. And I thought I was agressive. Boy, Germany must have had some dizzy spell or drunk on, in the Thirties and Forties there, to have given headroom to a sick little gimp like him. I’m consternated. I can’t believe this stuff. And you’re telling me it’s true?

Well, at least he was consternated. And that’s why I hung in there with him. That and his description of LA:

You come out of the hotel, the Vraimont. Over boiling Watts the downtown skyline carries a smear of God’s green snot. You walk left, you walk right, you are a bank rat on a busy river. This restaurant serves no drink, this one serves no meat, this one serves no heterosexuals. You can get your chimp shampooed, you can get your dick tattooed, twenty-four hours, but can you get lunch? And should you see a sign on the far side of the street flashing BEEF-BOOZE–NO STRINGS, then you can forget it. The only way to get across the street is to be born there. All the ped-Xing signs say DON’T WALK, all of them, all the time. That is the message, the content of LA: don’t walk. Stay Inside. Don’t Walk. Drive. Don’t Walk. Run! I tried the cabs. No use. The cabbies are all Saturnians who aren’t even sure if this is a right planet or a left planet. The first thing you have to do, every trip, is teach them how to drive.

With passages like that, you are tempted to keep reading in spite of the hellish world you are travelling through. You want to know if John will be redeemed. You also want to know what is up with the caller who threatens him anonymously and seems to know his every move. It took me two tries to get through this book. The second time I still wasn’t always sure it was worth it, but it is on the 1001 books list, and so I felt inclined to try. This is a funny and scathing critique of a segment of society that certainly needs critiquing, but if you have scruples about reading ugly stuff, it may not be for you.

100 Books Reviewed

Ms Oh Waily4 Comments

We are about to celebrate our second milestone on this long and interesting reviewing journey.  Our 100th review is due out on Monday, so we want to make a big deal about having made it this far.

But before we get to the exciting bit, we would like to say another huge thank you to our very kind and voluntary review crew members.  Without you this would not have been possible.

Now the exciting bit of this post.

We are having our second competition at 1001 Books.  Here is what you have to do, and what you might be lucky enough to win…

It is time to promote your love of reading to your friends, family, workmates, casual acquaintances and lurking blog readers.  Write a post about the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die Blog, phone your family, put a sign up in your front window.  Do whatever it takes to get your network to come visit this blog post, tell them to leave a comment saying who sent them.  The catch?  They need to subscribe.
Oh, and they are welcome to do the same with their friends and family too.

The most noted name (with corresponding subscriptions) will be considered the winner.

What will you win?  A book from the 1001 Book List, of course !

Now on to the not-so-fine print.
– Don’t create multiple personalities to win, please.
– The book will be the paperback version.
– The competition opens today and will close when the 101st review is published, so get promoting.
– You may encourage subscribers here at the blog and at Facebook, but there will only be one entry per new person. We will check for double ups, so play nice. We’re Mums, we know how to growl at people and wag our fingers with pursed lips and a disappointed frown.
– The book you choose will need to be available from The Book Depository, as that is our preferred supplier.
– And one last condition – if the book has not already been reviewed, we would appreciate it if you would write one for us.

And there ends the list of conditions.  We want to wish you all the very best of luck.  Happy reading everybody !

Opening Lines

Ms Oh Waily3 Comments

Today’s Opening Line:

The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.