Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor

Title: Reservoir 13
Author: Jon McGregor
Publisher: Fourth Estate
ISBN: 978-0008257729
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 Stars

Reservoir 13 is one of those books that miss and go. No one pays attention to them. No one talks about them. At the same time, I am only too happy that it was featured in the long-list this year for the Booker Prize. Owing to this, I hope a lot of people sat up and took notice of it. I remember reading “If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things” way back in 2000 and being astounded by the writing. McGregor sure knows how to make great use of a phrase, an emotion that is homeless and at the same time he does all of this with a lot of grace. Yes his books are difficult to get into (but they are delightful and once you get into them, it is very difficult to not turn the pages), but extremely satisfying.

“Reservoir 13” is long-listed for Booker 2017 (just as “If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things” was) and while it may not win, I was mesmerized by the writing. It is the story of lives – many lives in fact haunted by one family’s loss. A teenage girl goes missing in the hills at the heart of England. The villagers are called on to search. The search continues and daily lives are led – as they would be. Life goes on. And yet amidst all this, the missing teenager’s life hangs in the balance – through memories, secrets that tumble (also of the inhabitants of the village)and how small kindnesses and grace plays such a major role in the book.

McGregor knows how to write. In fact, he is brilliant at it. The book unfolds over thirteen years and yet the tragedy refuses to die. It is in the taking the novel from one point to another, is McGregor’s single-most talent – and that too convincingly and with a lot of heart. Just as his previous books, even in this one, nothing happens and everything happens. The technique of writing is simple (I love that about almost all long-listed titles this year) and the narrative takes its own course. There is no major psychological revelation and yet there are a series of small moments that move you. “Reservoir 13” is one of those books that might be a miss when it comes to most people’s reading list, but shouldn’t be, for sure.

All That Man Is by David Szalay

Title: All That Man Is
Author: David Szalay
Publisher: Graywolf Press
ISBN: 978-1555977535
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 Stars

“All that Man Is” is classified as a novel, however to me it was just a wonderful collection of short stories that represent man at a pivotal time in his life. Each story advances age to age and gives us a glimpse of man and his complexities – the way he functions, thinks, and conducts himself. The stories at the same time are also interwoven but by very small details – details that you might even not recognize as you go along and somehow comes full-circle at the end of the book. I would call the book dark but not depressing. It just manages to show you men’s lives and how they are. At the same time, it doesn’t make motherhood statements in any story nor does it endorse the concept of “all men”, which to me was very refreshing.

Szalay’s style of writing is brooding. I like the fact that he spends a lot of time on each story and more than that on each character – giving it the full body and flesh as it should be. Also, might I add that these men are away from home, so that adds another layer altogether to the narrative – which is delightful, fearsome and thrilling at the same time. Also, the locales in which these stories are set are quite edgy in the sense of being melancholic – whether it is a suburb in Prague or a dingy hotel in Cyprus to an Alpine village, the drama of life and death unfolds beautifully through the prose.

The book relies heavily on its characters, more than the locales, which is how it should be, however at some point I thought that the detailing was a bit much sometimes and could have been avoided a little. Having said that, the nine lives could not have been put in any other way than what Szalay has done. “All That Man Is” is a tribute to the contemporary urban life and how we are all a part of this gigantic mosaic that doesn’t fail to amaze us with its simplicity, complexity and zest for life, no matter what.