S. H. discovers her long missing diary while packing up her mother’s belongings. At first she’s amused by this record of a bright young woman’s experience in a city she’s long dreamed of inhabiting. S. H. arrives knowing no one, having negotiated a deferment of her Columbia fellowship. She finds a tiny, sparsely furnished apartment and sets about writing her novel. Three weeks pass before she has a conversation. Friends are not as easily come by as she might have hoped. She hears strange declamations from her neighbour through the walls which sets her imagination racing. Is her neighbour mad, or perhaps rehearsing a play? She meets a woman at a poetry reading who becomes her friend and soon she’s part of a small circle. Then she meets a man at a party who insists on coming home with her, refusing to take no for an answer, from whom Lucy, her mysterious neighbour, rescues her. Lucy’s story turns out to be even stranger than S. H. had imagined while her own has taken a turn that leaves her questioning the way in which men relate to women who refuse to be quiet. The older S. H. reflects on all this, interpreting and reinterpreting her twenty-three-year-old self within the context of 2017.
Hustvedt weaves her present day narrative through the 1978 diary and the comic detective story which was to have become S.H.’s first novel, exploring themes of memory, storytelling, interpretation and gender while frequently reminding us of the unreliability of her role as a narrator. She’s not the person she once was; memory becomes both flexible and down right slippery with age. As ever with Hustvedt, her book is stuffed full of literary allusions, ideas and erudition but it’s also playful in its early stages, taking a darker turn after the younger S. H. is assaulted. Her experience leads her to examine all her relationships with men, even with her beloved father who seemed incapable of imagining his daughter’s interest in his work as a doctor resulting in anything but a career as a nurse. Other men are more forthright in their resolve to keep women silent, determined in their sense of entitlement and superiority. Written in Trump’s America in the wake of the infamous pussy-grabbing tapes and the sickening misogynistic chanting of his election campaign, this is an intensely political, fiercely intelligent novel which manages to be both deeply serious and very funny at times. Another Hustvedt triumph.
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It’s great, isn’t it. Absolutely nails all of the good stuff about autofiction (it reads like memoir with an overarching sense of coherence), and none of the bad (solipsism etc).
It certainly is. Beautifully executed.
I JUST returned this to the library – I didn’t read it because too many others were piling up. I haven’t read What I Loved (but own it) but I did enjoy The Blazing World so it sounds like I’m in for a great read when I do return to pick up Memories of the Future. Great news!
I’m sure you’ll love both this and What I Loved, Penny. She’s such an intelligent, perceptive writer. Autofiction can backfire horribly but not here.
Great review, Susan! I was already curious about this book, but now I want to read it asap 🙂
Thank you, Juliana, I’m delighted to hear that. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
It sounds intricate yet very compelling, not always an easy combination to balance. I’m really glad this delivered for you, especially given your fondness for this author.
Thanks, Jacqui. Always a little nerve wracking when starting a novel by a favourite writer but no need for that with this one.
This sounds brilliant. I already know the author is quite brilliant herself after reading The Blazing World, but I think I would like this one even more!
This one’s more accessible than The Blazing World but still with a strong feminist strand running through it as you’d expect from Hustvedt. I think you’ll love it, Naomi.
I have an ARC of this and trying to find time to read it. I’ve only read The Sorrows of An American but I really loved it.
I enjoyed Sorrows but I’d say this one’s better, Cathy. Hope you find time for it soon.
I haven’t read any of her stuff, but this does sound tempting, especially since we are clearly roughly the same age so the idea of comparing the youthful aspiration with the achievement would probably resonate. Would you advise starting with this or do you think it’d be better to read one of her other books as a first?
I’m that age, too, which does add to the reading of this one. Given how besotted I am with What I Loved, I’d say start with that.
Thanks – I’ll check that one out!
Fingers crossed you’ll become a convert!
Lovely review, Susan. Hustvedt is also one of my favourites, I’m glad she’s retained that playfulness which is one of the things I most enjoy about her work. This sounds excellent, glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you! Yes, there’s an indulgent amusement as S. H. looks back at her younger self and what she hopes to achieve which lightens the darker strand. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.
As a quiet tenant, with a neighbour prone to loud and strange declarations, I’m curious about this aspect of the story. (And of course I keep meaning to spend more time with her writing, as a long-time Paul Auster reader.)
That does sound mysterious! I’m a Paul Auster fan, too, but Hustvedt is so much better, I think.
Somehow I’ve let Hustvedt slip off my radar so am very glad I stopped by and saw your review. I loved Blazing World (as dense as it was) so think I need to read this new book and go back and read What I Love as well. Thank you for this great review!
Thank you, and if I’ve helped make a Hustvedt convert I’m very happy!
I really like the sound of all the layers in this. I have What I Loved in the TBR and knowing your fondness for it I dug it out for promotion to the pile next to my bed, but still not got to it. I really must!
Very pleased to hear that. I know it’s quite long but I think you’ll like it!
Sounds promising, an author I’ve always meant to read and one I’ve gifted to others without reading myself, but will start with What I Loved and would definitely pick this up if it came my way, she sounds like an author I would enjoy certainly. Great review.
Thank you, Claire. I do tend to proselytise about Hustvedt but I think she would appeal to you.