FIRST THOUGHTS: Lars Kepler, Paul Dolan and Sarah Waters
AMIS’S work divides into two broad strands. There are the state-of-England satires (Success, Money, Lionel Asbo) and then there are the books that reflect on the horrors of the mid-20th century, the gulags and the death camps (Time’s Arrow, House Of Meetings). The Zone Of Interest falls firmly into the second category.
Set in Auschwitz and rooted in real events, it focuses on a tight cast of senior Nazis (among them Camp Commandant Paul Doll) and inmates like Szmul, who, as a Sonder, endures a unique hell among hells — forced to assist in the cremation and disposal of the slaughtered.
In every Amis novel, there is usually an additional character to contend with: the Amis style. With its rhetorical inversions and repetitions, its neologisms and its italics, it has been lauded, derided — and much imitated. It remains probably the most distinctive voice in British fiction. But here Amis has toned things down and simplified his usually rambling approach to structure. As well as following a well-defined historical chronology, he moves his characters through a narrative that is part thriller and part thwarted love story, and gains direction and momentum as a result.
The result of years of reflection, the book helps to make real horrors that can easily come to seem like abstractions. Trying to put thoughts into the head of a Sonder will no doubt attract controversy, and who can say if the results are credible. But this is a brave and ambitious novel that will help readers to remember — even to discover — what must not be denied or forgotten.
JUREK Walter is Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, jailed for a decade for unspeakable cruelty. Joona Linna is the policeman who helped put Walter into a secure unit at a mental hospital at great personal cost.
But he can’t rest until he is sure Walter’s reign of terror is over and he doesn’t believe it is. As Walter appears to be biding his time, Linna continues to search for the answers which plague his every waking moment. Why has Walter been so cruel and why has he wreaked havoc with such purpose? It’s almost as if there is a hidden reason. As Linna battles through a myriad of misleading clues and misinformation, time could be running out for the latest of Walter’s victims. There are other questions which bother Linna, including how Walter appears to those he haunts at the same time as being locked up.
The Sandman is the latest in the Joona Linna series which has sold over 4.5m copies. Kepler has delivered a taught thriller which pits Linna against his most devious and cruel adversary so far.
Maticulous Fingersmith and Tipping The Velvet writer Sarah Waters heads back a century for her sixth novel, the compelling and richly written The Paying Guests.
Opening up in London in 1922, we meet Mrs Wray, a formerly well-to-do widow and her spinster daughter Frances who have fallen on hard times following the late Mr Wray’s poor investments, and forced to take in lodgers to make ends meet.
Somewhat brasher and less socially established than the Wrays, Lilian and Leonard Barber, a young upwardly mobile couple from the clerk class, bring a change in their domestic dynamic. The two young women start a fervent friendship and before long, fall in love. But the domestic bliss, which luxuriates in a tantalising slow burn, is soon shattered by a tragic event which binds the two women together in a terrifying way.
While compelling, The Paying Guests does fall short of topping some of Waters’ justifiably praised earlier novels.
PAUL Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, takes a cool, scientific look at how we can organise our lives to put more joy into them. Happiness, says Dolan, lies in finding the right mix of pleasure and purpose — the feeling that what we’re doing is worthwhile. We often don’t feel as much happiness as we could, simply because we don’t give enough attention to it.
What’s more, we often focus on our overall level of happiness, rather than concentrating on how day-to-day experiences make us feel. For Dolan, becoming happier is more to do with making small adjustments to what we do, rather than big changes — chatting to a stranger to enliven a boring queue, setting up out-of-office emails that make us laugh, minimising distractions — can mean more happiness.
While much of this may be obvious, Dolan’s tips are helpful and it’s heartening to think that experiencing more of this elusive emotion is within our reach.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
