Back from my London break (more of which later in the week) with February’s second batch of new fiction beginning with one I’ve already read. Opening in 1960s Vienna, Robert Seethaler’s The Café with No Name follows Robert Simon, whose dream is to run a bar, against a backdrop of a social change as Vienna picks itself up after the war. He opens his doors on the first day to a steady stream of customers, many of whom will become regulars over the years. Before long he’s busy enough to take on practical, no-nonsense Mila who becomes virtually indispensable. As the years roll by, happiness is embraced, small tragedies play out and the occasional drama flares up. Nothing much happens in Seethaler’s novels, yet they’re full of rich detail, humanity and humour for which a café offers the perfect setting. Review shortly…
I had mixed feelings about Michelle de Kretser’s Scary Monsters but enjoyed The Life to Come. Theory & Practice is set in
1986 when a young woman arrives in Melbourne to research Virginia Woolf’s novels. When she meets Kit they become lovers, despite his claims of being in a ‘deconstructed’ relationship. Then she uncovers something in her research which throws her work into disarray. ‘Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain. Michelle de Kretser, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes to uncover what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art’ says the slightly opaque blurb although it does sound worth reading.
In Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection graphic designers Anna and Tom are living in Berlin, curating a glossy, enviable life on Instagram while filled with an insidious discontent neither can quite articulate. Their friends are reproducing and moving away, they’re discontented with their work, and they’ve lost their sense of purpose despite a half-hearted bout of political activism. ‘With the stylistic mastery of Georges Perec and nihilism of Michel Houellebecq, Perfection, translated by Sophie Hughes, is a sociological novel about the emptiness of contemporary existence, beautifully written, brilliantly scathing’ according to the blurb which all sounds a bit bleak but I don’t think I’ll be able to resist this one.
A bestseller in France, Kevin Lambert’s May Our Joy Endure follows Celine, a renowned architect and hit Netflix show host, whose plans for the new headquarters of a multinational tech company have sparked a furore about the potential destruction of fragile communities. ‘With flowing prose that glints with irony, Kevin Lambert infiltrates the upper echelons of society to depict the dreams and anxieties on which skyscrapers are built. This is a dazzlingly stylish social novel about the ways wealth shapes our world – and the seductive fictions of the powerful’ according to the blurb which all sounds very timely.
This is an unusual one for me but I like the sound of Laurent Binet’s Perspectives which opens in Florence on New Year’s Day 1557 with the discovery of an artist on the floor of a church stabbed through the heart beneath the paintings he’s worked on for a decade. A secret work depicting Maria de Medici as a naked Venus is found in his house. Renowned art historian, Giorgio Vasari heads the investigation which promise to be a rats’ nest of intrigue. ‘Bursting with characters and colour, Perspectives is a mystery like no other that shows us Renaissance Florence as we’ve never seen it before – a dazzling, hugely entertaining novel of court machinations, murder and art’ says the burb which sounds unmissable.
February’s short story collection is Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell for which I have high hopes. Themes of marriage and female friendship are explored
in twelve stories including an awkward school reunion for Lee Fiora, who some readers may remember from Prep. ‘Sittenfeld skewers our assumptions about fame, marriage and celebrity. Laying bare on the page what we’re all thinking but hesitate to say, she explores women’s lives at the intersection of sex, love, ambition and the entangled pursuit of a fulfilling life’ says the blurb. Looking forward to getting stuck into this one.
That’s it for February’s new fiction. As ever, a click on a title will take you to a more detailed synopsis should you want to know more, and if you’d like to catch up with part one it’s here. Paperbacks soon…
Have never read Michelle de Kretser but I love the cover of Theory & Practice.
It’s very striking, isn’t it.
Well, I’ve just ordered the Laurent Binet and the Robert Seethaler from the library (not there yet of course) and the Latronoco sounds one not to miss. In fact yu’ve got a tempting selection here altogether.
It’s a fine month, for sure. I can vouch for the Seethaler, one of my favourite writers. Fingers crossed for the Binet and Latronoco.
Latronico certainly, but any of the others too for me! Such a good selection.
I’m anticipating a bleak but short read with the Latronico. Lots to brighten up February!
Quite a varied selection, some of them new writers to me. I have heard of Sittenfeld, whose work gets very good reviews. So maybe I will start there.
I’d recommend Sittenfeld’s American Wife, my favourite of hers.
Great, will check it out. I have just finished Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter. Beautiful, atmospheric story set in the big freeze winter of 1962. He is such a beautiful incisive writer of relationships and social mores pertinent to the era. Loved it.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Lucy. A standout read for me last year.
A new Seethaler is very exciting!
And it’s brilliant too!
I love that Seethaler cover, so much more enticing than the Europa Editions one I read. The Sittenfeld is a delight. I have a review copy of the de Kretser. Binet I’ve not read since HHhH, which I loved.
I see what you mean about the Seethaler cover. Looking forward to the Sittenfeld and crossing my fingers for the de Kretser and Binet.
Thanks, Susan. I particularly like the sound of the Seethaler.
You’re welcome! Seethaler is a superb writer. I hope you enjoy this one if you decide to read it.
I liked Binet’s HHhH a lot. I hope you enjoy the Sittenfeld more than I did!
Thanks! I remembered just after I posted this that you weren’t so keen.
Binet is usually quite impressive, I need to read this one!
I’m not much of an historical fiction reader but it sounds great.
May Our Joy Endure really appeals, as does Perspectives. Will keep an eye out for both
It’s a good month for translated fiction, including these two. Always pleased to see that.
Perspectives sounds quite enticing…
There’s a great deal I find tempting here! I’d already noticed the Michelle de Kretser and I will definitely give that a go. I’m also intrigued now by the Laurent Binet and the Robert Seethaler. The latter sounds like the kind of novel I love, where everything and nothing happens in the great sweep of ordinary human life. Cat nip to me!
I’m a huge Seethaler fan having enjoyed everything I’ve read by him, all reviewed on here. Fingers crossed for the de Kretser and the Binet.
Thanks for these lists – really helpful. I like the sound of Perfection in particular.
You’re welcome! I’m very tempted by Perfection too.
I’ve been thinking of a mini-binge to catch up with de Kretser’s books! Whatever I read (something on the Orange Prize list…it’s been that long heheh), I really enjoyed, but it’s been ages. She’s to be featured on the upcoming BBC Writers podcast too.
May Our Joy Endure was a standout reading experience for me last year, although it was demanding and stressful at times too (from a story perspective). An incisive and clever Québécois storyteller (who now identifies as Kev Lambert, having recently transitioned) whose latest is yet to be translated but is different from their earlier books yet again.
I’m hoping to enjoy Theory & Practice more than Scary Monsters which didn’t quite gel for me. Thanks for further whetting my appetite for May Our Joy Endure. Definitely keen to read it now!