LITERARY FICTION
ANATOMY OF A SOLDIER by Harry Parker (Faber £14.99)
ANYONE who remembers the awful results of being asked, as a child, to write a first-person account of a day in the life of the penny may flinch at the prospect of Afghan veteran Harry Parker’s debut novel.
The story of the Afghan war of British soldier BA5799 — later revealed as Captain Tom Barnes — is narrated by a series of objects associated with him and the terrorists he is fighting, including a helmet, an army boot, a boy’s bicycle, a bag of fertiliser and an improvised exploding device.
At first this is irritating but gradually its raison d’etre becomes clear, which is to allow an objective, dispassionate account of what happens to Tom, seen from a variety of angles.
What makes it work is the matter-of-fact way horrific events are brought to life. That and some truly powerful writing. The mayhem caused to a human body by an IED is graphically and harrowingly narrated; the rehabilitation of a double amputee is masterfully and movingly told.
Who would have thought a beer glass could understand human emotions so well? Parker’s novel may well be the finest so far to emerge from the UK’s 21st century wars.
THUS BAD BEGINS by Javier Marias (Hamish Hamilton £18.99)
SPAIN 1980. In the aftermath of Franco’s long Fascist dictatorship, 23-year-old Juan takes a job as gofer to film director Eduardo Muriel, a man he comes to respect and admire almost unreservedly for his intelligence and urbanity.
The ‘almost’ concerns Muriel’s treatment of his wife, Beatriz. Installed in the Muriel home, Juan witnesses what the world does not see — Muriel’s verbal abuse of his wife and disdain for her. Juan overhears the director cruelly dismiss her requests to be allowed to sleep with her husband.
Muriel learns of a shocking rumour about his friend, Dr Jorge Van Vechten, and, without revealing its substance, asks Juan to get close to the man, hoping he will let slip something that will confirm it. Spying becomes Juan’s role and of his own volition he begins to follow Beatriz to try to unlock the secret of what she has done to make her husband despise her.
Marias — in this beautiful translation from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa — writes elegant and beautiful sentences, reminiscent of Proust but accessibly less complex, with powerful imagery: a long marriage becomes a view from the window you get used to and the transitoriness of life like chalk wiped from a blackboard. Magnificent.
EILEEN by Ottessa Moshfegh (Cape £16.99)
EILEEN is a disturbed young woman whose life is caught between looking after her alcoholic father and a lowly admin job at the local boys’ prison.
At once full of self-loathing while feeling smugly superior to her workmates, Eileen dreams of escaping from her snowy New England home town to New York but makes do with the excitement of shoplifting.
Her love life consists of lusting over hunky prison guard Randy, who hardly notices her existence. Everything changes with the arrival of Rebecca, a stunningly beautiful and classy education officer. Dazzled by Rebecca’s charisma, Eileen is flattered by the attention bestowed upon her by the sophisticated newcomer and rapidly plunges into what she assumes will be a life-changing friendship with her.
It doesn’t take long though before it begins to dawn on her that Rebecca is even more troubled than she is herself, but it’s too late to prevent herself being drawn into a criminal and potentially deadly situation.
The blurb compares this debut to the works of Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith. It’s not in that league, and there are longueurs in the narration that echo Eileen’s dull life. When it finally gets going, though, the nailbiting climax is probably worth the ride.