- I loved this book, released in early 2018. It’s such an accomplished first novel. An absorbing dive into the nitty gritty of life in the Big Apple, and into the ugliness of the Iraq war seen through the lives of Baghdad civilians. Both stories are rich in detail.
- It sets up innumerable and meaningful contrasts - age and youth, city and country, health and sickness, sanity and stupidity (especially in politics), East and West; New York and Baghdad. We traverse the presidencies of Bush and Obama.
- Part One, ‘Folly’, portrays an absolutely delightful and intimate relationship between an ageing and highly regarded literary author, Ezra, and a young assistant editor, Alice. They are both endearing, their relationship full of wit and spark, although Ezra is quite ill in all sorts of ways. (Apparently it's all based on Halliday's real-life affair with Philip Roth).
- The War in Iraq has begun. The times are unsettling.
- Part two of the novel, ‘Madness’, is a far different beast. It focuses on Amar, his brother Sami and their parents who are Iraqi by birth and Muslim by religion. In every way ‘asymmetric’ to the New York story. They are highly educated professionals, now American citizens, but trapped in a zone of suspicion and racism. In 2008 Amar, on his way to visit relatives in Iraq, lands in London and experiences the bizzaro world of immigration detention at the airport. It's not stated, but we know why.
- Part Three: ‘Ezra Blazer’s Desert Island Discs’, a radio interview, is superb for its exposition of music and the love of it. And Ezra’s erudition is inspiring. It’s a remarkable celebration of literacy and civilisation.
- The way the three parts fit together - or even it they do at all - is at first puzzling. On reflection, and a closer reading, it becomes clearer. And it’s immensely sad.
- Fascinating and clearly written history of the UK’s Brexit conundrum by one of the UK and Europe’s top economic historians.
- Takes the long view of Britain’s economic and political relationship with European countries, from long before the formation of the EU.
- Very detailed analysis of all the issues, so I skimmed over parts of the history that delved into the fine print of often contentious arguments and legalities.
- But the positions of prime ministers Thatcher, Major, Blair, Cameron and May are clearly articulated. Britain’s relationship with European countries has always been fraught while mostly being productive, particularly in the 30 year post WW2 period of peace and prosperity. Britain, and later Ireland, benefited enormously from the open economic arrangements of the Single Market and Customs Union.
- The issues like the Irish Backstop are explored in detail, as are Theresa May’s fraught negotiations with the European Commission.
- How will it all end? There are too many complexities and contradictions that are still unresolved at this point so predictions are impossible.
- But whatever happens this drama has quite a few acts to unfold in the years to come.
- This is Carroll’s sixth and final novel in his multi award-winning Glenroy sequence. The novels span sixty tumultuous years of Australian history, from 1917 to 1977. The Year of the Beast focuses on 1917, during the First World War.
- It's the story of Maryanne, a strong, courageous, independent-minded woman standing against ugly social ignorance and cruel provincialism. She becomes pregnant and the miserable father is frightened off. Single mums weren’t a common thing 100 years ago. Most of the babies were put up for adoption under the auspices of an authoritarian Catholic Church. But she'll have none of it. Her spirit is indomitable. She's an inspiration.
- The year is 1917 - ‘The Year of the Beast’. The absurd war is taking its enormous toll on Australia’s young men, the polarising second conscription referendum campaign is underway, there are ugly popular uprisings, the mobs are rampaging in the streets, anti-Hun hatred is dominant. The opportunist Prime Minister Billy Hughes is stirring it all up.
- Carroll is very good at person to person dynamics and relationships. He perfectly captures their emotional intensity. They are the heart of his novels, and yet the politics at the time is also central. The personal and political dramatically merge. It's why I find his novels so riveting and satisfying.
- He has a very idiosyncratic writing style which some readers may find annoying. He repeats phrases and sentences as if on a loop. The effect is a constant pummelling rather than a one punch hit. The blurb correctly describes it as ‘rhythmic, insistent and pulsing’. I don't mind it. Its relentlessness fires up the intensity necessary for the unfolding drama.
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There are minor characters who flesh out the story in a very satisfactory way:
A young footballer, Milhaus, of German extraction, has become the city’s obsession because he refuses to enlist, works in the Swiss embassy and is accused of spying. The 'beast', the abhorrent, ugly, populist passion, springs into action. It's baying for blood;
An inspiring young woman, Vera, is a gifted and articulate peace activist. She’s a future leader. She gives needed hope.
- Carroll also allows the reader a glimpse into the future: we are transported to 1977 as Maryanne’s grandson Michael (the son of Vic, Maryanne’s child from Forever Young set in the 1970’s) arrives in Paris in 1977. Maryanne's spirit is present and physical despite being only vaguely remembered.
- The Year of the Beast is a superb and deeply satisfying conclusion to the author's Glenroy series.
- This novel is raw and gritty - virtually a Sally Rooney on steroids. It is exceptionally well-written and immensely engaging.
- A nameless young woman, an only child brought up by wealthy, cold and distant, recently deceased parents, bullied by an arrogant, self-entitled, sexually abusive, Wall St yuppie boyfriend, but who can’t find it within herself to leave him, is ‘pretty, thin and white’ but, perhaps understandingly, depressed. All she wants to do is watch Hollywood movies and popular TV shows, and sleep, day and night. As for the daily news - politics, crime, disasters - she opts for the off button.
- We are treated to an existential binge on mindless popular culture. In the end she’s reduced to becoming an art installation perpetrated by a modish artist acquaintance. A more accurate title would have been ‘My Year of Stupidity and Degeneration’.
- Her psychiatrist, Dr Tuttle, is, ironically, a nutter. She’s a comic portrait, but also a standing savage critique of the psychiatric profession. It’s all pills, pills, pills, and missing any substantial professional diagnosis of the woman’s condition. And of course the pills counteract each other, especially when combined with the constant intake of coffee and alcohol.
- Her best friend, Reva, is a delightfully whacky portrait of a New York Jewish girl. Addicted to cheap fashion and junk food. But she's sane and a perfect friend.
- The New York setting is telling. Moshfegh captures the shabby character and pulse of the street as well as the ultra-trendy clubs and bars of the rich kids of the hollow ‘art-party’ set. It's the end of the 20th century.
- The story tragically ends on 9/11. Reva was in the twin towers.
Some publishing notes:
1.Outrageously overpriced for a 290pp paperback. It’s $35.00 but should be no more than $29.99. The publisher, Penguin Random House, is obviously using the weakening A$ as an excuse to ratchet up its prices. But ironically the current A$/£ exchange rate (0.55p) is close to its average over the last five years. And the standard pricing formula for an imported title, FX rate x 1.1 (hedge) x 1.1 (GST), makes the price close to $29.99 after rounding.
2. And the binding is the worst! It takes enormous arm strength or a crowbar to hold open because of the excessive glue on the spine, which won’t crack no matter how much pressure you apply.
3. The title is just wrong. Like probably many people, I passed over it when I saw it on the bookshop shelf six months ago, as I quite logically judged it a lame, new-age, self-help book describing a search for emotional equilibrium or something. It's nothing of the sort. It's as sharp as a tack.
