Book Review: The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

Title: The Tunnel
Author: Ernesto Sabato
Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics
ISBN: 978-0141194547
Genre: Modern Classic, Literary Fiction
PP: 160 pages
Price: £8.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

This is a succinct novel told from the point of view of a man obsessed. The reader follows the narrative through the eyes of the main protagonist, a jailed artist, Juan Pablo Castel, explains why he murdered a woman. He recounts the story of his intense, destructive relationship with Maria: it begins with a fleeting, seemingly inconsequential moment but turns in to an obsession which consumes him completely.

This is written in sparse and succinct sentences which makes this easy to read but nevertheless the reader can relate totally with the narrator. You the reader start to understand and share his obsessions and frustrations.

The narrative voice is aggressively intellectual, but almost delirious, as Castel veers between self justification and self loathing, whilst trying desperately to fight against his own destructive impulses. But it’s also funny, and planted enough in reality that you can identify with his painful shyness, his jealousy, and his compulsion to find this woman and somehow ‘possess’ her. Anyone who has ever admired someone from afar, yet felt completely paralyzed when in their company will appreciate how brilliantly written these parts are.

Castel is well-named: he is an artist whose intellectual arrogance creates a castle in which his own psyche runs wild, uncompromised by the views of others. We follow him through the cold, hard passages of his mind as thoughts and fantasies feed on themselves and paint an increasingly perverted view of the world. Sabato creates another metaphor in the book’s title The Tunnel, referring to Castel’s sense of going through life cut off from everyone else.

The imagery is subtle yet satisfying, and the story echoes Camus’ The Outsider, although Castel is very much an Insider too, trapped in his own mind. There is irony too: as an abstract painter he cannot deal with the abstract responses of Maria, demanding empirical truth and solid facts. Denied them, he creates them for himself.

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The Tunnel

Book Review: The Perfect Murder by H.R.F. Keating

Title: The Perfect Murder: The First Inspector Ghote Mystery
Author: H.R.F. Keating
Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics
ISBN: 978-0141194479
Genre: Detective Fiction
PP: 288 pages
Price: Rs. 299
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

It is quite appropriate that Alexander McCall Smith has written the preface to this edition of The Perfect Murder because, although set on a different continent in a quite different society, Smith’s own creation, Precious Ramotswe of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency has much in common with Inspector Ghote. Their methods are not dissimilar since both have a rather homespun, but effective approach to problem solving and both bring a large measure of basic cunning and common sense to bear. In Ramotswe’s case her constant companion is a well thumbed edition of Clovis Andersen’s `The Principles of Private Detection’, whilst Ghote relies heavily on his equally well used copy of Hans Gross’s `Criminal Detection’.

“The Perfect Murder” sees the debut of Keating’s best known character – Inspector Ganesh Ghote, of the Bombay CID. The police had been called in by Lala Arun Varde, distraught that his secretary – an elderly gentleman called Mr Perfect – had been killed. Varde is “a man of immense wealth” with “vast influence in the highest quarters” – and, as a result, he’s someone Ghote doesn’t want to displease. On the night of the attack, Varde is distraught and blames his business rivals – he apparently views it as an attack on him more than an attack on Perfect. (He was overly-reliant on his secretary by all accounts – but refuses to idenify any of the business rivals he blames). Things turn slightly farcical when it turns out that Mr Perfect actually survived the attack – although, at no point during the book did he ever fully regain consciousness. Even worse, when Ghote returns the following day to continue his investigation, Varde doesn’t take him seriously – refusing to answer his questions and even denying that anything had happened. One of Varde’s son, Dilip, is even worse : where Arun is childish and evasive, Dilip is high-handed and confrontational. The pair clearly believe a mere policeman is beneath them.

“The Perfect Murder” had been handed to Ghote by DSP Samant, officially as his number one priority. Unfortunately, Samant is quite happy to over-burden the Inspector : he also has to deal with Axel Svenssen, a criminologist from UNESCO, as his number one priority, and solve a robbery from the Minister for Police’s office – again, as his number one priority. (Some money had been stolen from the Minister’s desk, and his assistant swears no-one could have got into the room when the robbery took place). Still, it all seems a little over-zealous for a single rupee.

With amusing fresh and stylish dialogue at a pleasantly sedate pace `The Perfect Murder’ makes an enjoyable and entertaining read that is a far cry from today’s horrific roller-coaster crime thrillers. In spite of its title the book deals with low key situations of an unsolvable assault and a puzzling minor theft. The setting is Bombay, now Mumbai, at a time when India was more influenced than now by then recent British colonialism. It is surprising how brilliantly author H R F Keating evokes the spirit, attitudes and traditions of the time – especially as the `Preface’ explains he did not visit until after he had written numerous Inspector Ghote detective novels – of which the initial story is `The Perfect Murder’ and it was first published in 1964.

There are strong moral connotations with Inspector Ghote being an upright and honest man operating and dealing with dishonourable and frustrating circumstances. He strives to follow guidance from the esteemed `Gross’s Criminal Investigation’ in his attempts to remain diplomatic and yet come to terms with undue pressures and corruption, and he emerges as a most endearing character who elicits much sympathy. Inspector Ghote is beset with lies and evasion as he copes with misinformation and incompetence and has to thwart obstructive witnesses and confusing suspects to unravel intriguing predicaments. H R F Keating manages to create characters perfectly suited to his delightful light-hearted narrative and charmingly scintillating humorous language. `The Perfect Murder’ is easy and relaxed reading – for my next holiday I shall be taking other books from the Inspector Ghote series.