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A review by shatcher
In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman
3.0
An homage to Graham Greene (particularly The End of the Affair) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby).
What an infuriating book. First of all there is not much of a story - in fact I think the chapters could be read in any order. Second none of the characters are very likeable - their main purpose in life seems to be proving how superior they are to other people. This makes it really hard to care what happens to them. Third this reads like one of those books that was written to appeal to critics and win awards. Fourth the dialogue is like robots talking to each other.
The setting is in the chattering classes of north London and no one seems to have to worry about mundane things like paying the bills. As others have written the book is full of digressions which seem designed to show off the authors learning rather than advance the plot. And at times these digressions seem like a series of mini lectures joined together by a tenuous story. It clearly appears to be a modern day version of a mash up of The End of the Affair and The Great Gatsby - the reason you know this is that the author actually spells this out in one of his many diversions. Which illustrates one of its main failings - the book tries to be a literary novel but then goes and hits you over the head with its message. There is a lot of tell and not much show - in contrary to Graham Greene and Fitzgerald. And yet and yet... there are some gems here hidden in the lengthy text. This is not a book I enjoyed but it did provoke strong feelings and some curiosity. However if you don't have time to read the 500+ pages I would recommend you read the much shorter The End of the Affair or the Great Gatsby to get a similar and better experience.
What an infuriating book. First of all there is not much of a story - in fact I think the chapters could be read in any order. Second none of the characters are very likeable - their main purpose in life seems to be proving how superior they are to other people. This makes it really hard to care what happens to them. Third this reads like one of those books that was written to appeal to critics and win awards. Fourth the dialogue is like robots talking to each other.
The setting is in the chattering classes of north London and no one seems to have to worry about mundane things like paying the bills. As others have written the book is full of digressions which seem designed to show off the authors learning rather than advance the plot. And at times these digressions seem like a series of mini lectures joined together by a tenuous story. It clearly appears to be a modern day version of a mash up of The End of the Affair and The Great Gatsby - the reason you know this is that the author actually spells this out in one of his many diversions. Which illustrates one of its main failings - the book tries to be a literary novel but then goes and hits you over the head with its message. There is a lot of tell and not much show - in contrary to Graham Greene and Fitzgerald. And yet and yet... there are some gems here hidden in the lengthy text. This is not a book I enjoyed but it did provoke strong feelings and some curiosity. However if you don't have time to read the 500+ pages I would recommend you read the much shorter The End of the Affair or the Great Gatsby to get a similar and better experience.