Not waving but drowning

   

    What an extraordinarily powerful book this is. From Peirene Press comes Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi (translated by Adriana Hunter), short, intense and quite unlike anything I've read before. Read it at a sitting, as I did, for it will hold your attention and it demands that level of concentration - it is a monologue, spoken almost as if in a single breath, its style conversational, but its voice barely concealing anguish.

     Unfolding over the course of twenty four hours, it's the story of a woman who takes her two young sons on a trip to the seaside, but there's nothing bright and happy about their outing. Yes, they travel by bus which is a novelty in itself, stay in a hotel, go to the beach, drink hot chocolate in a café and later visit a funfair, but what happens is so far removed from the buckets and spades and ice cream that we expect a day like that to feature, that - as becomes increasingly and agonisingly clear - we can only wait for the awful and inevitable outcome.

    A seaside resort out of season can have a particular bleakness to it, and this one does; rain-lashed - relentlessly, chill, shabby and stale. There are no sun-warmed smiles, no friendly faces to lighten the mood, instead the mother meets only hostility or indifference, and her boys, self-reliant from necessity, accept the meagreness of their experience and trust their mother to make things alright.

    Fear and isolation, love, loneliness and lack, all these govern the woman's actions and lead to the book's dreadful conclusion. This is motherhood turned in on itself, and it's raw and painfully plausible, horribly real; as such this is not an easy book to read, but please don't let that stop you.

Comments

[Verity]

I agree - this was extremely intense, but I found it an unpleasant read ultimately

[Dark Puss]

Sounds interesting! I'll see if any of my libraries have it. I note that DGR shared your enthusiasm for it.

I see Nicholas Lezard concluded his Guardian review with this sentence. "When you think of the rather more unadventurous stuff that does well over here and compare it with Beside the Sea, you despair."

I'm motivated to read this book.

[Alison M]

I'm afraid this one left a bad taste in my mouth. I really didn't like it.

[Cornflower]

I know exactly what you mean, Alison.

[Dark Puss]

But you are still giving it a strong recommendation or have I misunderstood your review?

[Cornflower]

Very strong recommendation - it's extremely accomplished - but for those who like their reading on the 'pleasant' side (vast generalisation, of course), this will not appeal.

[Simon T]

It is very striking, isn't it?

[adele geras]

I read reviews of this when it came out first and I feel what happens is rather obvious from all of them. I will give it a go on your say so, Cornflower but I'm not rushing particularly as I got David Mitchell from the library on a quite short loan and will have to read that next, I feel. After your recommendation, again.

[Skip]

Sounds interesting and I have a sub-interest in books that take place in a single day. Actually, might make an interesting blog post round-up...

[Dark Puss]

Skip, have you read Murakami's After Dark? This takes place over the course of a single night and is one the best of his recent works. There is an excellently written review by Walter Kirn if you are not already familiar with it.

[LizF]

Read it at the weekend, not quite at a sitting as I got to a point when I felt that I really needed a break from the awful feeling of knowing that something awful is going to happen.
It is certainly an impressive and compelling book but if I had to say whether I had enjoyed it I would have to say no although I am glad that I read it.

[Cornflower]

That sums it up well.