#BlogTour The High-Rise Diver by Julia von Lucadou

 It's my turn on the BlogTour The High-Rise Diver by Julia von Lucadou, translated from the German by Sharmila Cohen. 

About the Author

Julia von Lucadou was born in Heidelberg in 1982. She studied film and theater at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and Victoria University of Wellington and earned her PhD in Film Studies in 2015. Lucadou worked as both an assistant director and a television editor prior to writing The High-Rise Diver, her debut novel, which was nominated for the Swiss Book Prize in 2018. She lives between Biel, New York, and Cologne.

Sharmila Cohen is an award-winning writer and German-to-English translator who has translated the works of several leading German-language authors. Her work has been featured in publications such as BOMB and Harpers, and her projects span from poetry and literary fiction to crime and children’s stories. Originally from New York, Cohen came to Berlin in 2011 as a Fulbright Scholar to complete an experimental translation project with local poets. She now divides her time between both cities.

About the book

‘The High Rise Diver is a chillingly beautiful dissection of perfected capitalism. Lucadou creates a horribly convincing world where every aspect of existence has been monetised. In a taut, delicate narrative an implacable and disinterested cruelty faces the human ache for tenderness, mercy, contact and affection.’  A.L. Kennedy

Riva is a “high-rise diver,” a top athlete with millions of fans, and a perfectly functioning human on all levels. Suddenly she rebels, breaking her contract and refusing to train. Cameras are everywhere in her world, but she doesn’t know her every move is being watched by Hitomi, the psychologist tasked with reining Riva back in. 

Unquestionably loyal to the system, Hitomi’s own life is at stake: should she fail to deliver, she will be banned to the “peripheries,” the filthy outskirts of society. For readers of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Circle, and Brave New World, this chilling dystopia constructs a world uncomfortably close to our own, in which performance is everything.

Review

This is going on my top reads of 2021. It is an intricately planned and well written dystopian story. A premise with shades of Orwell's 1984, but perhaps on a much bigger scale.

To Hitomi Riva is just a job, a way to keep her status, which is closely linked to obedience and performance, and in turn to performance management. The human and humane element is non-existent. Trying to determine why the high-rise flyer refuses to fly and convincing her to jump once again becomes all consuming and directly linked to the slow decline of Hitomi's success.

The Big Brother or Sister aspect is more than intrusive it is law, lifestyle and a mind-set. It's voluntary because nobody questions it, unless they aren't part of the right side of the tracks. The privileged side, who are set on paths to success, whereas the rest are treated like the poor relatives. 

But let's talk about that privilege and success, is it worth being subjected to a life of 24/7 scrutiny in all areas of their lives or being isolated from all emotional bonds like a Harlow monkey. Creating a species that craves positive reinforcement to a degree that it makes them easy to control - it's fascinating and in equal measures frightening.

Lucadou is the kind of writer who thrives on the possibilities of speculative creativity, especially when they are cemented in possible futuristic visions of our society. Compelling and riveting. On a side-note - excellent translation.

Buy The High-Rise Diver at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: World Editions; pub date 6 May 2021 - £12.99 paperback. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via World Editions.

#BlogTour The Republic of Love by Carol Shields

 

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Republic of Love by Carol Shields - can I just say I am totally here for the forewords by Margaret Atwood in these new editions.

About the Author

Carol Shields (1935–2003) was born in the United States, and emigrated to Canada when she was 22. She is acclaimed for her empathetic and witty, yet penetrating insights into human nature. Her most famous novel The Stone Diaries was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, along with the Governor General’s Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Happenstance was praised as her tour de force, masterly combining two novels in one. The international bestseller Mary Swann was awarded with the Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian mystery. In 2020, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, a North American literary award dedicated to writing by women, was set up in her honor. Her work has been published in over 30 languages.

Follow Carol Shields on Goodreads, on Amazon,

About the book

On love and the absence of love - A celebration of love in its many guises, The Republic of Love recounts the heartfelt tale of two of life’s unlucky lovers: Fay, a folklorist whose passion for mermaids has kept her from focusing on any one man; and, right across the street, Tom, a popular radio talk-show host who’s been through three marriages and divorces in his search for true happiness. Touching and ironic, The Republic of Love flies the flag for ordinary love between ordinary people.

Review

It's not my favourite book by Shields, perhaps because this is more of an eight lane carriageway. If it were set on screen it would be a Woody Allan pseudo highbrow visual representation of lives and loves of a small affluent community.

It's clear from quite early on that Fay and Tom will eventually become a couple. What Shields does is navigate readers through their lives prior to that moment. The disappointments, the failures, the chances and opportunities not taken or those taken with a pinch of regret.

Throughout the story there is also the topic of mermaids - Fay's work. The question was really how the mermaid element related to love, relationships and marriage. If this wasn't a story balanced equally between Tom and Fay I would say it is all about the way men envisage women. 

Mermaids are both sexually seductive, they use their call to seduce and destroy, they are also physically void of the epi-centre of temptation and violation. The myth of mermaids was born of men, who predominantly work the seas and oceans. Are they a figment of imagination driven by the solitude, the fear and biological need of men?

If the emphasis had been on Tom and his love endeavours there would be more connections to make, as is you kind of wonder what the point is. Or is the point just that there is none and that Fay is entirely obsessed with these mythical creatures who are not able to have relationships physically with moral men. Does Fay equate herself to the mermaid who always remains behind the wall she built?

As I said not my favourite, but certainly one that can get the grey cells jogging.

Buy The Republic of Love at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: World Editions; pub date March 2021 £11.99 paperback. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

It's my turn on the BlogTour The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields - foreword by Margaret Atwood.

About the Author

Carol Shields (1935–2003) was born in the United States, and emigrated to Canada when she was 22. She is acclaimed for her empathetic and witty, yet penetrating insights into human nature. Her most famous novel The Stone Diaries was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, along with the Governor General’s Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. 

Happenstance was praised as her tour de force, masterly combining two novels in one. The international bestseller Mary Swann was awarded with the Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian mystery, while The Republic of Love was chosen as the first runner-up for the Guardian Fiction Prize. In 2020, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, a North American literary award dedicated to writing by women, was set up in her honor. Her work has been published in over 30 languages.

Follow Carol Shields on Goodreads, on Amazon, Buy The Stone Diaries

About the book

Widely regarded as a modern classic, The Stone Diaries is the story of one woman’s life; that of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman born in Canada in 1905. Beautifully written and deeply compassionate, it follows Daisy’s life through marriage, widowhood, motherhood, and old age, as she charts her own path alongside that of an unsettled century. A subtle but affective portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life, this multi-award-winning story deals with everyday issues of existence with an extraordinary vibrancy and irresistible flair.

Review

This story follows the life of Daisy Goodwill from birth until death. From the moment she experiences loss within minutes of her first breath. The attachments she forms as a motherless child, the men she loves and the children she bears. The tragedies that unfold as trauma in unexpected moments. The woman who appears to the world as content and fulfilled.

I wonder if it matters who you are - what age and gender - when it comes to reading this story. For some it's simply the story of a woman, an astute reflection of a life lived and yet not lived at all. A literary excursion into the reality of suppressed desires and needs.

Personally I found it a depressingly sad read, not because it isn't a good read, but because of the softly spoken truths within. Daisy represents so many women, so many lives that are lived predominantly by the rules of others. It isn't until decades have passed that Daisy realises she has never really lived and enjoyed life for herself, as opposed to uplifting and supporting the lives of others, during her lifetime.

After reading this I wondered how many women would turn around and say the same. Trips not taken, countries and passions never explored. But perhaps the saddest thought of all the image of someone dying and feeling as if their full life was actually completely empty. 

Being able to portray all of that by slipping in and out of Daisy's life only intermittently is a tribute to Shields and her writing, and also her comprehension of the matter at hand. 

Buy The Stone Diaries at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: World Editions; pub date 25 Sept. 2020. Buy at Amazon com. At Hive. At Bookshop.org. At Waterstones.

#BlogTour The Bitch by Pilar Quintana

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Bitch by Pilar Quintana, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman.

This book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN’s Writers in Translation programme supported by Bloomberg and Arts Council England. English PEN exists to promote literature and its understanding, uphold writers’ freedoms around the world, campaign against the persecution and imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and promote the friendly co-operation of writers and free exchange of ideas.

Each year, a dedicated committee of professionals selects books that are translated into English from a wide variety of foreign languages. We award grants to UK publishers to help translate, promote, market and champion these titles. Our aim is to celebrate books of outstanding literary quality, which have a clear link to the PEN charter and promote free speech and intercultural understanding.

In 2011, Writers in Translation’s outstanding work and contribution to diversity in the UK literary scene was recognised by Arts Council England. English PEN was awarded a threefold increase in funding to develop its support for world writing in translation. Visit www.englishpen.org

About the Author
Pilar Quintana lives in Colombia.  She debuted with Cosquillas en la lengua in 2003, and published Coleccionistas de polvos raros in 2007, the same year the Hay Festival selected her as one of the most promising young authors of Latin America. Her latest novel, The Bitch, won the prestigious Colombian Biblioteca de Narrativa Prize, and was selected for several Best Books of 2017 lists, as well as being chosen as one of the most valuable objects to preserve for future generations in a marble time capsule in Bogotá. The Bitch is the first of her works to be translated into English.

Follow @pili_quintana on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Buy The Bitch

About the book
Colombia’s Pacific coast, where everyday life entails warding off the brutal forces of nature. In this constant struggle, nothing is taken for granted. Damaris lives with her fisherman husband in a shack on a bluff overlooking the sea. Childless and at that age “when women dry up,” as her uncle puts it, she is eager to adopt an orphaned puppy. But this act may bring more than just affection into her home.

The Bitch is written in a prose as terse as the villagers, with storms―both meteorological and emotional―lurking around each corner. Beauty and dread live side by side in this poignant exploration of the many meanings of motherhood and love.

Review  

Damaris wants someone or something to love - to love unconditionally. A puppy destined to die without care and attention seems the perfect solution to her needs, although she may not realise why she has picked her.

I am renowned for metaphors and analogies, especially ones I make up on the spot and often can't remember afterwards. Quite brilliant ones, if I do say so myself - my adult children don't share my enthusiasm or think they are quite that brilliant. One day I shall remember the one about the elephant and the pizza slices.

Anyway my point is that Quintana writes a book about a woman and a dog, and yet it's not really about a woman and a dog. It's an incredibly clever piece of literary fiction. I do however think it is also like art - open to interpretation. Each reader, and we all know that reading is a subjective experience, will connect certain elements of the read with their own frame of references.

For myself I found the core was Damaris and her infertility. Her inability to produce a child makes her feel inadequate. Shame turns to anger, frustration and eventually despondency. Why does society have such a hold on her womb and her fertility, and why does her marriage begin to crumble at every sign of failure.

Her relationship with the puppy is a direct parallel to the mother she believes others want her to be, the mother she thinks she wants to be, and ultimately the very real fear that she will be a catastrophe as a mother. The thought of failure to give love results in a growing feeling of anger towards the dog.

The abandonment issues born from her own mother abandoning her are triggered by the dog consistently leaving and not returning. The natural behaviour of the dog is exaggerated and experienced as planned. A self-fulfilling prophecy of hatred and violence evolves from a barren woman scorned by her contemporaries and a fertile dog who mirrors both what she wants to be and who Damaris really is.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the kind of story you can dissect in book clubs and in educational settings. The idea of what it means to be a woman living under the rule of a patriarchal society that decides what her worth is, and the awakening of said woman when they recognise their inability to conform. The problem is what happens to such a woman in the interim and when they feel driven to the extreme.

Buy The Bitch at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: World Editions; pub date 4 Aug. 2020. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Waterstones.