I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
I will write a post about this book and not simply on how amazing Jane Gardam is.
Awww darnit, I can’t! Jane Gardam is simply amazing. Generally I am more than happy to allow everyone to have their own opinions on books I review on this blog, but not this one. And not this author. God on the Rocks has everything one could possibly ask for. Humor. Heartbreak. Redemption. Family. Sacrifice. Love. Regret. Class struggle. Drama. I could go on for pages. Gardam’s post WWI set novel examines a cross-section of life in a coastal England town inhabited by characters Dickens himself would be proud to populate his novels with. Quiet Ellie, brave Margaret, repressed Mr. Marsh, brassy Lydia and the rest will stay with you long after you finish this rather slim work.
Using the ultra-scientific “How long does this make my metro ride to and from work feel” barometer, I give this book a solid rank of “may the metro break down and take forever to get home.” The plot, such as it is, bounces back and forth in time revealing key events in the lives of its characters exposing their vulnerabilities and truths in such a heartbreakingly humorous way that the sting is sharp and soft at the same time. One of my favorite aspects of reading Gardam is the manner in which she takes the upper and middle classes, upends their stereotypes and delivers a subtle yet scathing indictment of high society without robbing that society of its humanity. This passage from page 76 is just one example:
‘Father. He is not clever like Charles and Binkie, dear. He’s not educated like them. He has always lived here, you see. He’s never lived anywhere else.’
‘Do you have to leave a place to be clever?’
‘I believe you do in a way…It’s because I never went away that no one here will ever think I’m clever. Charles and Binkie went to Cambridge.’
‘What’s Cambridge?’
‘A place for clever people.’
Gardam saves some scorn the religiosity of Englanders post WWI as well, painting many of its most religious as its most troubled characters and those free from religion are its most lucid and centered. The intersection of morality, religion, class and real life provides much of the story’s plot progression and finest moments. However, to leave Ms. Gardam’s attention to detail and period description would be an offense to this wonderful woman. The propriety and pomp, the manners and behaviors of a society in flux come through in ways that allow the setting and dress of the scenes and characters to reveal as much as the dialogue and plot.
Ms. Gardam had made a fan of me long before God on the Rocks, with Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat and The Queen of the Tambourine. This was the first of her books that I had read (though it was written in 1974 I believe), to include so many various first-person perspectives. Honestly, I could not pinpoint one main protagonist. I highly recommend this and the other Europa Editions works by Jane Gardam. One could reach Espresso level reading just her four alone and would be hard-pressed to find a bad apple among the bunch. This is my second Europa of 2012, putting me at Ristretto level with many more to come! Up next I need to re-read Between Two Seas for my book club this month and after that I’m tossing around either Three Weeks in December or Kerrigan’s Little Criminals.
