Book review: The Silver Swan

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But first. . .

I want to thank all the commenters (I couldn't find either "commenters" or "commentors" in my online dictionary, so I'm going with this) to FtQ, typified by the sensitive and constructive comments for Kenan's work and effort in the last post. You guys rock.

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I was sent a novel for review by Henry Holt and Company. I tell those who send books for review that I look at them from a critical editor's point of view, not just that of a reader. They all say, "Okay." So here's one now. . .

The Silver Swan is, I suggest, a literary mystery. Set in Dublin, Ireland in the 1950s, I found it to be dark but fascinating. The characters stayed in my mind for a considerable time after I read it, and the writing was often exceptional. It is by Booker Prize winner John Banville, published under the pseudonym of Benjamin Black.

Here at FtQ we spend a lot of time looking at the first 16 lines of narrative and deciding whether or not we would read on. Here are the first 16 lines of The Silver Swan as they would be in a manuscript:

Quirke did not recognize the name. It seemed familiar but he could not put a face to it. Occasionally it happened that way, someone would float up without warning out of his past, his drinking past, someone he had forgotten, asking for a loan or offering to let him in on a sure thing or just wanting to make contact, out of loneliness, or only to know that he was still alive and that the drink had not done for him. Mostly he put them off, mumbling about pressure of work and the like. This one should have been easy, since it was just a name and a telephone number left with the hospital receptionist, and he could have conveniently lost the piece of paper or simply thrown it away. Something caught his attention, however. He had an impression of urgency, or unease, which he could not account for and which troubled him.

Billy Hunt.

What was it the name sparked in him? Was it a lost memory or, more worryingly, a premonition?

He put the scrap of paper on a corner of his desk and tried to ignore it. At the dead center of summer the day was hot and muggy, and in the streets the barely breathable air was laden with a thin pall of mauve smoke, and he was glad of the cool and quiet of his windowless basement office in the pathology department. He hung his suit jacket on the back of his chair and pulled off his tie without undoing the knot and opened two buttons of his shirt and sat down at the cluttered (snip)

This opening was plenty compelling for me. Good plot story questions were raised, and I also found the character very interesting because of the hints of his dark past. Quirke is a pathologist with insatiable curiosity.

The name "Billy Hunt" was that of an old schoolmate of Quirke's whose wife has been found dead in a river, and the story has to do with her murder, and plenty more. I won't get more into the actual story, though I will say that the interweaving of characters' stories was well done and kept me involved. The plot is not a breakneck thriller in style -- as I said, it is literary, and builds from rich, troubled characters.

An interesting technique

The story of the woman who is dead could have been told in the ordinary manner, through discovery of backstory via the protagonist's investigation, but the author does it differently, and well. He leaves the "current" story at times and tells hers as if it were happening in the now. We see the events of her life and what leads to her death in parallel with the investigator's discovery of the people and events that may -- or may not -- reveal the truth to him. As a result, I came to care about her, as I did many of the other often sad characters in The Silver Swan.

Description at its best

If not for the story, this book worth reading for the way the author has with description. He uses the technique I espouse of "experiential" description, of filtering description through the lens of a character's point of view. But he does it far more elegantly than I would, and I found it to be very effective.

Here's a sample from the point of view of a woman as she watches a man she is interested in.

What a lovely loose way he had of walking, leaning down a little way to one side and then the other at each long, loping stride he took, his shoulders dipping in rhythm with his steps and his head sliding backwards and forwards gently on its tall stalk of neck, like the head of some marvelous, exotic wading bird.

Don't you just see this man?

Here's another example, this one from the main protagonist's point of view. He's just left a meeting that has affected his mood, and we see it reflected in the description of the scene.

The trees along the canal seemed to lean lower now, exhausted in the heat of the day, yet to Quirke the sunlight was dimmed, as if a fine dust had sifted into the air, thickening and sullying it.

Bottom line, as an editor, a writer, and a reader, I recommend The Silver Swan. If you read it, let me know your thoughts.

For what it's worth,

Ray

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ARCHIVES .

© 2008 Ray Rhamey

Comments

[Sheila]

I always appreciate a good book recommendation, especially if it's one that's outside my normal radar. I checked to see if my library had this (they do!) and found out that there's a first book in the series, Christine Falls, have you read that?

Thanks!

[Deana]

"he was glad of the cool and quite of his windowless basement office"

Shouldn't this be cool and quiet?

If a really great opening contains both a reason to care and interesting action, this one, to be honest, falls short. I agree that the description was well-written, but...it was too boring. IMO.

[Ray Rhamey]

Yes, it should have been "quiet." My typo. Your reaction reflects the subjective nature of this business. Thanks for your note.

Ray

[Ray Rhamey]

Sheila, I have not read the first one, but there are allusions to that story in this one, and it sounded interesting as well.

[Deana]

Re. commenters -- is the word you're looking for, commentators?

[Deana]

Well, I re-read the opening to see if I missed something, and the last sentence caught my eye, but alas, not in a good way.

"He hung his suit jacket on the back of his chair and pulled off his tie without undoing the knot and opened two buttons of his shirt and sat down"

Huh?! This is "compelling" writing? Did we not just discuss earlier this week that this is the kind of stuff that slows the story down?

Seriously!

[John]

Throat clearing, no matter how elegantly written, is still just throat clearing. I can't help but wonder how you would have reacted if this excerpt had been submitted by an unknown rather than clipped from Banville's novel. There's really no conflict or tension, the first thing you usually bring up when the first 16 lines are filled with inner musing and tedious details.

There's nothing wrong with the excerpt. A lot of people enjoy Banville's style and have no problem letting him ease them into the story. He's a literary writer and this is expected. To compare his opening lines to the submissions that are trying to hook the reader into turning the page is comparing apples to oranges. (sorry for the cliche)

[Bill]

I agree with Deana and thought if this was submitted to an agent by an unpublished writer it would end up in the trash. The book itself has many bad reviews scattered around the internet.
I think this is a lousy beginning and would not be compelled to turn the page.

[Mai]

I love mysteries. For me, reading a one is like slowly dancing with the unknown. A mystery challenges me to work, as well as to read. It respects my intelligence, and asks me to partner with it more than any other kind of writing except poetry.

Bold action doesn't have to be thrown in the reader's face on the first page of a mystery. What's needed is the beginning of something unknown, offered in such a way that feelings of tension and curiosity are created in the reader.

There are enough mystery cues in this opening to take me deeper into the book. I want to know know about the protagonist, and his memory puzzle. There are hints of coming conflict in the main character's mood, and in the description of the atmosphere in the streets, and in his office.

Beyond that, this writing is lovely to read, both in my mind and out loud. One of the joys of reading is the music it can make, for us, and in us. What we call literary fiction is written by authors who have a talent for making this kind of music. This book seems to be written by an author with that kind of skill. I'm not surprised that the author has won a Booker, writing under his own name. Thumbs up on this one, from me.

[Mai]

Commenters is the spelling generally being used.