While you can’t tell a book by its cover, it certainly can encourage you to look inside. Deborah Levy-Bertherat’s The Travels of Daniel Ascher, newly translated from French and published on May 26, certainly piqued my curiosity. The cover resembles an old-fashioned valise, promising mysteries within.
We meet Hélenè as she moves into her great-uncle’s home in Paris where she is studying archeology. Her great-uncle, Daniel Roche, is an author and adventurer writing under the nom de plume of H.R. Sanders. Through words and sketches, Daniel created an extensive series of world-traveling adventures, capturing the hearts of legions of young boys and girls. Hélenè is quite disinterested until she realizes their impact on those around her.
Daniel’s life is eccentric at best, disappearing and reappearing on his travels with no notice. And his home is reflective of his unusual and secretive life. Bit by bit, Hélenè begins uncovering the layers of Daniel’s life as if it were an archeological excavation. Some of the family secrets Hélenè uncovers harken back to WWII.
Despite having the size and typography often found in YA novels, the revelations at times presume an understanding of world affairs and are handled with a very subtle hand not in keeping with the style of YA works. The sketches interspersed with the text help draw the story along.
Regardless of his name, Daniel is a complicated figure, imaginative, considerate in many ways but with a pervasive air of mystery and unexplained detachment. Levy-Bertherat brings the reader along with Hélenè on a journey of discovery. It was definitely worth the trip.
IN A NUTSHELL
- Genre: Fiction
- Locale: Paris
- Time: 1999-2000
- Book Group Potential: Better suited for sharing with friends than a full-blown discussion.
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Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation topped many “Best of” lists for 2014. Unusual in style and format, the entire book is the interior voice of an unnamed woman as she moves through the trials of early adulthood. It is almost as if the reader jumps into her skull and wanders among her thoughts as she explores the early days of her marriage, the arrival of her daughter and the travails of developing a career as an untenured academic and writer. Each of these bits of information is gathered through her silent dialogue and classic quotations that give voice to her internal conflicts.
As the book progresses, the tasks of daily living often appear overwhelming. She becomes suspicious of her husband’s inattention and concludes, correctly, that he is having an affair. Offill captures the anger, fear and self-doubt while reporting on the progress and dissolution of the affair. While distinctly modern in tone, this is not a feminist work by any means. In fact, there is little interaction with the world beyond her immediate challenges.
And then there is a shift, a detachment, as her life veers off course once again and the narrative shifts to the third person. There is an odd juxtaposition of emotional distancing despite more normal interactions as the family relationships move to a new equilibrium. Throughout, our narrator seems alone with her thoughts.
While it is not so unusual to jump into a story with both feet, a la double-Dutch jump roping, there is often a flashback or recap to catch the reader up. Offill does a good job of keeping the reader as off-balance as our nameless woman, with constant forward motion, except for an occasional memory as in real life. The language pops in short bursts of sentences and paragraphs.
Far more than the story itself, I am impressed by the design of the novel. I kept turning the pages to see the progress and transitions of the work. While I could marvel at the brilliance of the literary conceit, I finished this short book so sad for a woman whose private thoughts were spread out for every reader to see.
- Genre: Fiction
- Locale: New York (I think)
- Time: now
- Book Group Potential: Great for groups interested in literary construction/analysis or feminism (or the lack thereof) in contemporary literature.
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David Liss has created a special niche in historical fiction. His books provide a rich portrait of difficult business and social interactions at pivotal points in commercial history. My first exposure to his work was The Coffee Trader which takes place in 1659 in Amsterdam at the beginning of coffee as an international commodity. In each of his novels the main protagonist is Jewish, well-versed in the different business and social customs of the times and often at odds with those governing Jewish communal norms in the city. Liss is expert at describing the look of the city, its clothing and foods, taverns and houses of worship, elite and servant classes.
