The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman
Five words from the blurb: experimental, theatres, mysteries, cosmic, noir
The Teleportation Accident is a bizarre book! It is so weird that I’m not sure I really know what it is about and that was my main problem with the book. So many different themes were covered: from 17th century inventors, through 1930s Germany, to Paris and Los Angeles. It also included science fiction, romance, sex, mystery and violence. I thought there was too much going on and struggled to see the connection between all the different aspects of the book.
The writing lacked subtly – everything seemed to bounce off the page and I became drained by the over-enthusiasm of it all. It often came across as pretentious and I’m afraid that lots of little things that were probably supposed to be amusing/clever just annoyed me (for example naming the central character’s girlfriend Adele Hitler).
Some of the descriptions were vivid, but some made no sense to me:
The problem was his legs, which were just beginning their slow transmutation into the elongated pine cones that can be found glued to the pelvis of anyone with Loeser’s desultory level of physical fitness who wakes up in the morning after a four-hour hike, and were therefore in no condition to perform a sudden vengeful charge.
I abandoned the book after about 80 pages, but skim read some other sections. Perhaps it all makes sense once you’ve finished the book, but I’m afraid the writing style was too bizarre for me.
DNF
Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
Five words from the blurb: Bombay, opium, poor, underworld, broken
Narcopolis is set in Bombay’s underworld. It is filled with a cast of characters who live in this world of drugs, prostitution and poverty. The writing is outstanding and the book is filled with quotable passages:
He enjoys flowers but he worships trees. He wants to be the banyan’s slave. He wants to think of time the way a tree does, a decade as nothing more than some slight addition to his girth.
It captured the atmosphere of the opium dens perfectly, but I struggled with the number of characters – there were so many that I couldn’t connect with any of them. The plot also seemed non-existent. It meandered from one beautifully rendered scene to another, but there was no hook to keep my attention.
The dream-like, hallucinogenic nature of the writing will appeal to many people, but I struggled to follow what was happening and became frustrated by the amount of information that was going over my head. I abandoned it after about 100 pages.
This book is deserving of its Booker longlisting and I’m sure that anyone willing to put in the effort to read (and re-read) this book will be rewarded, but I’m afraid I prefer books with a more compelling plot.
DNF
Have you read either of these books?
Did you enjoy them more than I did?
is most deserving of a place. Written in verse, it is so different from anything else published recently and shows a real literary talent.
, is published in September. I’m lucky enough to have a proof copy and although I haven’t finished reading it yet I can see it shares its engaging, atmospheric style. So far it is just as good as Restoration and therefore deserves longlisting.
has a unique voice and should stand out from the crowd. I’d love to see it longlisted, and am keeping my fingers crossed that it is long enough to qualify.
raises important questions about historical fiction and how easily important events are forgotten. I’d love to see its profile raised and so am rooting for it in all literary prizes this year.
seems to be standing head and shoulders above everything else this year. A wide range of knowledgeable people seem to think that this even has a chance of winning. Who am I to disagree?
has already shown its prize winning potential. This quiet story is widely loved and I’d be surprised if it didn’t make it onto the Booker longlist.
, is even better. I guess that means it should walk onto the longlist without question.
and the emotions come alive on the page. Unfortunately it crossed over the line and became a bit too literary for my taste, but that is what the Booker is all about! If you are willing to put the effort into peeling back the literary layers then you will be rewarded with a fabulous book.
is littered with quotable sentences. It is a bit too quiet and domestic for my taste, but I can see the quality shining through. The many references to literature will mean it has an added appeal that I’m sure those Booker judges will admire.
is his first book for 10 years. The complexity of the prose put me off, but his fans are raving about this one and so I think it may well be fourth time lucky for him.
has received rave reviews from almost everyone who has read it. It has been described as “introspective” and so I’ve been avoiding it so far, but if it makes the longlist I’ll give it a try. I’m prepared to be surprised!
. The subject matter is a bit bleak, but the writing is amazing. It has the benefit of being different from everything else on my longlist.
isn’t my usual sort of book, but a rare endorsement from Kazuo Ishiguro persuaded me to give it a try. I was instantly impressed by the vivid descriptions and the emotional tension that runs through it. It is very deserving of a longlist position.
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, which is about a woman with Asperger’s syndrome.
