Just William's Luck

Zero K by Don DeLillo

2016-05-01T18:31:00.000+01:00

'Everybody wants to own the end of the world'

The arrival of a new Don DeLillo novel is always going to create a ripple of excitement. He occupies a place at the top of the pecking order in American literature and after Roth’s retirement some would argue he sits at the pinnacle. His books are seldom what might be called perfect however. Underworld may consistently appear on those lists of great American novels but it’s as bloated as some of those other greats meaning it sits unfinished on many a bookshelf and, personally, I’ve always felt that the opening section describing ‘the shot heard around the world’ is by far the best part of the book.

The excitement from readers and writers comes from the fact that he remains a writer who has consistently been able to see so clearly something about the times he writes in. He has been described by some as a seer for his ability to tell us not only where we are but where we might be heading. Zero K exemplifies this before you even start reading. That futuristic cover, the blurb mentioning cryogenics; this is all about man’s wish to extend life into the future, perhaps to avoid death at all. But this is far from a foray into science fiction. It is a book rooted in the now, in the world in which we live and in fact it articulates something about our anxiety so incisively that you realise he might just be the first to say it and how strange that the man to engage so brilliantly with the contemporary is an 84 year-old who doesn’t use email and still writes his novels on a type-writer.

Jeffrey Lockhart narrates the novel (the first-person narration is key to making this a more accessible book than some) as he visits the Convergence, a remote facility in which his billionaire father, Ross, has invested heavily. This facility allows the wealthy to enter a cryonic suspension until such time as technology and medicine have advanced sufficiently to awaken them again. Jeffrey is there to say goodbye to his stepmother, Artis, whose terminal illness has led her to this facility. The father/son relationship is brilliantly drawn, Ross has not been there for much of Jeffrey’s life and there is an awkwardness about their every exchange intensified by the strangeness of the surroundings.

Scenes of conflict, climate change and disaster are played on screens, the facility seems to be made up of long corridors of identical rooms, there is something dreamlike about everything that happens here, as if limbo were a place on Earth. I wouldn’t want to give too much plot away – this is a novel of ideas rather than plot anyway – but Jeffrey is a character far more interested in living the life he has been allotted rather than one that might be gifted now or promised for the future. DeLillo writes some stonking dialogue to go along with the rather more portentous stuff and I loved the brain-fizz that comes from reading something that makes you think ‘Yes! That is so true.’

This novel might appear to be ice-cold on the exterior but it manages to include an ending of such warmth that I couldn’t help but look back on what I had just read and think about the human heart that was beating throughout. It made me want to read it again, to examine those moments which hadn’t quite landed on the first read. Always a good indication of a novel that might last. If you’ve ever watched the news or looked around you and worried about the way the world is heading, wishing that you could transport yourself to some utopian future - DeLillo has expressed your anxiety in a piece of art.

The Last Pilot

2015-08-08T22:11:00.000+01:00

Remember me?

2015-04-27T13:17:00.002+01:00

...buffering...

2015-01-25T13:35:00.000+00:00

Apologies. Huge apologies. I haven't been able to update the blog with a new video for weeks, for very good reason, but first I wanted to say sorry. I kept thinking that I would be able to find the time to record one but then something would always get in between me and the camera (quite often that would actually happen in the case of my children).

I thought I would just write a quick note to explain the reason for the delay (I am determined that a post will appear soon, perhaps very soon). At the end of last year I saw a job advertised that was very much the answer to a question I had been asking myself in 2014. I have loved writing and talking about books online for the last seven or so years and that passion has been growing to the point where I wondered if I shouldn't look to make it my job rather than just my hobby. What would that job look like however?

Luckily, as I said, I saw an advert that began with the line 'Do you live to recommend books?' I won't go into the rest of the job description, nor the exacting interview process, but I couldn't have wished for a more perfect position to arrive at a more perfect time. And I got it!

So for those who don't know already I am the new Community Manager at Vintage Books.

I am thrilled. More than thrilled.

I will basically be doing what I have done for the last few years: Talking about about amazing books online and through social media and looking to match up those books with the right readers. I knew that starting the job would have an impact on Just William's Luck - the most immediate of which is that I haven't been able to find the time to record a post! The effect may reach further than that of course. I think it might be a slight conflict for me to review Vintage titles here, you might suspect my conclusions, so it may be that this will be a place for me to review books that I don't deal with professionally. The only question right now is when on earth I might find time to read them. We shall see, time will tell.

In the meantime I have a handful of books I managed to read over Christmas that I will blog soon, I promise. There are also some amazing books coming from Vintage in the year ahead. If you want to keep up to date with all of those then you can follow my chatter on Vintage's various channels:

Web

Twitter

Facebook

See you soon, and thanks for your patience.

Will x

F by Daniel Kehlmann

2014-12-15T09:04:00.001+00:00

Do Not Adjust Your Set...

2014-12-01T19:10:00.002+00:00

CHRISTMAS BONUS: Books of the year and subscriber giveaway!

2014-11-25T14:56:00.000+00:00

See You in Paradise by J Robert Lennon

2014-11-17T10:57:00.002+00:00

This Should Be Written in the Present Tense by Helle Helle

2014-11-10T09:08:00.001+00:00

Orfeo by Richard Powers

2014-11-03T21:21:00.001+00:00

Ricky Rouse Has A Gun & The Motherless Oven

2014-10-27T08:49:00.000+00:00

Francis Plug: How To Be A Public Author by Paul Ewen

2014-10-20T09:15:00.002+01:00

New and Improved

2014-10-18T11:39:00.001+01:00

All The Days And Nights by Niven Govinden

2014-10-13T13:57:00.002+01:00

Not The Booker Prize 2014

2014-10-13T12:22:00.000+01:00

The Pigeonhole

2014-10-08T13:30:00.002+01:00

Graphic bonanza: Hayes, Sacco, Burns and Collins

2014-10-07T16:40:00.000+01:00

Clara's Daughter by Meike Ziervogel

2014-09-15T12:33:00.002+01:00

Fatherland and Seconds

2014-09-08T11:07:00.002+01:00

I Put A Spell On You - John Burnside

2014-09-05T13:03:00.002+01:00

The Blue Room and Mira Corpora

2014-08-06T09:20:00.000+01:00

H is for Hawk

2014-08-05T10:15:00.002+01:00

Astonish Me

2014-08-04T08:56:00.002+01:00

The Silent History

2014-07-31T17:08:00.000+01:00

Lee Rourke and Greg Baxter

2014-07-03T09:18:00.000+01:00