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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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Stairway to heaven: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

2/1/2015

13 Comments

 
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Beatrice and Peter are united in their love for each other, their church and God, but when only he is selected as missionary to a faraway planet, they accept their separation with goodwill. Rocketing trillions of miles in a drug-induced coma, Peter is too excited by the challenge to question the motives of USIC, the organisation that has recruited him.

His first hours on the base are a catalogue of strange new things: the green water that tastes of melon; the humid atmosphere that twirls and creeps like prying fingers beneath his clothes; the community of loners quietly engrossed in their various roles in establishing the colony. But Peter has not been recruited to attend to the spiritual needs of his fellow humans; his job is to satisfy the indigenous population’s thirst for what he calls the Bible and they “the book of strange new things”.

To the earthlings, the Oasans are disturbing creatures, despite their small and frail stature, shrouded in hooded robes of a fabric “disconcertingly like a bath towel” that intermittently reveal faces like twin foetuses “nestled head-to-head, knee to knee”. But, trusting in God and humbled by their openness to Christian the message, Peter easily overcomes his initial revulsion.

Fortunately for Peter, they have a rudimentary knowledge of English via the efforts of a previous missionary, although their physiognomy renders some sounds virtually unintelligible (their own language sounds “like a field of brittle reeds and rain-sodden lettuces being cleared by a machete” p220). Respectful of their difficulties, Peter translates some key Bible passages into more easily pronounceable English, and with more comprehensible metaphors, but they seem to find the booklets he has made for them inferior to his hefty King James Bible. Like an anthropologist, he’s intrigued by their customs and culture, which he discovers through their methods of building his church and his witness of new life and death. Yet, with the limitations of their shared language and body language incomprehensible to the human eye, he struggles to capture the finer nuances. But, with their apparent easy acceptance of what is, they sometimes seem more attuned to the Bible’s teaching than he is. On returning to the camp, he misses them.

With his background as a homeless addict, Peter is less arrogant than the fictional missionary in Barbara Kingsolver’s wonderful The Poisonwood Bible, but he is nevertheless naive in not anticipating how much his contact with the Jesus Lovers (as the Oasans call themselves) would change him. He has promised to share his experiences with his wife (via an email delivery system called the Shoot) and, at least initially, longs for her communications from home. But, absorbed in the alien culture, Peter soon finds himself feeling detached from her reports from home which, with its sudden food shortages, collapse of large corporations and freak weather events, begins to sound to the reader like a world on the road to destruction. More eloquent in speech than in writing, and often both physically and mentally fatigued, Peter is unable to find either the words or the motivation to interpret his strange new life in a way that his wife can understand.

As I don’t read much sci-fi or speculative fiction (last year, I heartily enjoyed Station Eleven but lost patience with My Real Children), I was drawn to this novel by my admiration of the author rather than the plot. The Book of Strange Things is Michel Faber’s first novel in over twelve years, his first since The Crimson Petal and the White, a Dickensian masterpiece featuring a perfume baron and the two women in his life: his doll-like wife who has rejected their child and Sugar, a prostitute with a sharp mind and big ambitions. That novel too features missed communication: Agnes, completely untutored in matters of sex and the workings of her own body, is dreadfully ill-equipped for marriage; the emotionally neglected daughter, Sophie, doesn’t even think that she might inform her father that she needs new boots as the old ones are painfully cramping her toes.

The Book of Strange Things is a beautifully written and engaging novel that asks big questions about communication, community and what makes us human. How do we communicate our unique experience of the world? What happens to long-distance relationships? How do we get to know a person whose culture is so different to our own? Can we maintain our interest in, and empathy for, faraway suffering? And presumably, if you’re interested in that kind of thing, it’s about faith in higher powers.

If you’ve read so far, you might be wondering about the stairway in the title of this post; you might even recognise the reference to
Charli Mills’ first flash fiction challenge of the new year. But before I post my flash, I need to justify the relevance of a staircase to this novel.
Nothing much grows on the planet of Oasis, apart from a versatile fungus known as “white flower” from which the inhabitants derive their food. But when Peter and the Jesus Lovers come to build their church, there is no wood from which to construct a ladder, nor even hemp or sisal to make one from rope. The nature of their building materials means they have no need of scaffolding, but they do require some support to construct a wall higher than their arms can reach. So they build a staircase out of bricks, as long as it is tall, and painstakingly edge it along the wall as they move across. Who knows, perhaps they’d perceive it as a stairway to heaven?

Some months ago, prompted to write about school, my flash featured a dual staircase at the entrance, adapted from a scene in my forthcoming novel, Sugar and Snails. It seems I might have a thing about staircases, as one also provides the setting for some unsavoury goings-on in my current WIP, but I wasn’t sure I could encapsulate it in a mere ninety-nine words. Then I remembered that Underneath, currently under submission, opens with a grisly staircase, of which this is a taster:

Cradling the box of provisions, I descend concrete staircase. Nudging the banister with my elbow for balance, I duck to avoid the underbelly of the stairs above. Reaching the bottom, I count the steps to the panelled door. 

Placing the box on the floor, I put my eye to the peephole and flick the switch on the wall.  The light beams on the mattress where you lie, immobile, camouflaged by the duvet, apart from one foot peeping seductively out the bottom. 

The bolts squeal as I drag them into their casings. Shouldering the box, I shove through the door.

Thanks to Canongate books for my review copy of The Book of Strange New Things.

Have you ever successfully managed a long-distance relationship? Have you ever struggled to articulate your experience of immersion in different cultures? Can you identify with the missionary’s zeal?

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
13 Comments
Charli Mills
2/1/2015 08:03:27 pm

What a rich cover to Faber's book and I applaud you for reading a genre outside your normal scope because of the writer. Your review shows how a strange world helps to articulate our own experiences and large social conundrums. Your flash, well, that is frightening and my imagination leaps to all sorts of circumstances, none heavenly.

Your questions are great for discussion. I'm picking the first. I've managed a 27 year relationship with the Hub through many long distance circumstances. The longest was when he broke into the aviation industry with a commuter job--in Iowa. I was midway through my undergrad studies and stayed in Montana for almost two years. He visited when he could and we chatted on the phone almost nightly. It hurt his relationship with our middle daughter, but time has healed the pain. What matters is commitment. We don't always do the right thing in our marriage but we are open in discussing everything and changing course when needed. For example, I've grown weary of all the traveling he does and have said enough. We are trying, but the lure of traveling, of course, is for a better job for him than what is here. The other option is that I go on the road with him. I can write in motel rooms, but then I miss the garden, birds and a sense of home.

Reply
Annecdotist
6/1/2015 09:39:05 am

Thanks for your feedback, Charli, and for your reflections on how you've handled separations in your marriage. While writing is portable in theory, especially in this electronic age where we don't even need to lug around a bulky typewriter and stacks of paper, like you, I'd very much missed my home if I were on the road. But you're right, as long as a couple can talk things through, you can find a modus operandi that works.

Reply
Irene Waters link
3/1/2015 12:25:55 am

I enjoyed this review and as I thoroughly enjoyed the Poisonwood Bible this is going on my list of to read.
I also don't get good vibes from your flash although you took me on that journey up the staircase ducking and bumping as I read. I fear for that seductive toed person on the bed.
I have been immersed in a foreign culture and only time will tell whether I have successfully articulated that experience. Certainly we have managed to hold audiences captivated around the dinner table (but was that the good bottle of red?)

Reply
Annecdotist
6/1/2015 09:43:15 am

Thanks, Irene, of course, your memoir is the test of whether you can communicate your overseas experience of a vastly different culture without the aid of that bottle of wine!
I think this is quite different to The Poisonwood Bible in that the indigenous population is very open to the missionary message but, of course, that creates different problems. Hope you enjoy it if/when you have time to read fiction.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
3/1/2015 01:46:53 am

I'm a bit lost for words with this one, Anne. I can't think of anything that appeals to me about the book you have reviewed. I don't enjoy (most) science fiction and I'm not into dystopian futures. The one glimmer of hope for me was the mention of the author's previous Dickensian novel.
Your flash does not appear to be edging towards a happy ending, so I'm not sure about that one either. It is very well told though, creating the settling picture you were aiming for.
I do like listening to "Stairway to Heaven" though, so thanks for sharing that. :)

Reply
sarah link
4/1/2015 12:17:03 pm

Haha! Oh, Norah! Even your negative comments are positive. :-D I don't know how you do it. You're such a sweetie.

Reply
Annecdotist
6/1/2015 09:47:38 am

Norah, I agree with Sarah, this made really made me smile. I very much appreciate you taking the trouble to share how little appeals to you here! Of course, you're right, my flash is very creepy – at least I'm glad that came across.
Another point to mention perhaps in the favour of The Crimson Petal and the White is that Sugar becomes a governess and, although I can't remember the details, with some teaching techniques of which I'm sure you'd approve.

Reply
sarah link
4/1/2015 12:15:11 pm

Fantastic review, as always. Surprised to see a Sci-Fi (and one you liked) on here. Looks fascinating. Thanks for the Zeppelin. Ah...reminds me of my college dorm room covered with Floyd and Zeppelin posters. :-)

I was actually intrigued by your flash. It felt like an excerpt and I want to know more...

Reply
Annecdotist
6/1/2015 09:49:28 am

Thanks, Sarah, well there are another approximately 70,000 words to follow this flash which I hope to publish someday and hopefully you'll want to read.

Reply
Derbhile Dromey link
5/1/2015 01:19:09 am

You made this book sound really intriguing, I was switched off by the blurb but will be less inclined to dismiss it now. The Crimson Petal and the White has been on my to read list for a while. Happy New Year to you, Anne.

Reply
Annecdotist
6/1/2015 09:54:18 am

Interesting, Derbhile, as I said in my review was the blurb that attracted me to this book but I don't think it would have put me off, either … or maybe it would, just had another look, not so keen even the reality of space travel. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you too

Reply
Christopher Prendergast
7/1/2015 03:44:47 am

This a brilliant review and very evocative of the novel's central concerns - dislocation and the problems of communicating across distances (and cultures). Although this is a departure for you, in terms of genre, it's a wonderfully written review - I really want to read the book. I haven't read any Michel Faber before. I did see 'Under the Skin', the adaptation of his first novel, last year and absolutely loved it. And I'd really like to delve into some of Faber's work.

The descriptions of Peter translating Bible passages reminds me of China Mieville's 'Embassytown', which is another great sci-fi take on peripheral colonies and the challenges of human/alien interactions. In fact, it sheds a new light on our understanding of language (the aliens communicate via two simultaneous voices operating at different pitches). I recommend it. Thanks for this review, I really enjoyed it.

P.S, My Dad recommended your blog to me, I think he's been in touch with you.

Reply
Annecdotist
8/1/2015 02:16:29 am

Thanks for your feedback, Christopher, and welcome to my blog. Always good to connect with new people and I'm delighted you came here via your father's recommendation.
Thanks also for that recommendation, it sounds intriguing that two voices operate simultaneously at a different pitch, really makes you question how we communicate. Also makes me think of how difficult it is for Europeans to learn Chinese (not that I've ever tried) where it's so dependent on tone. I also wonder if it's like choral singing (which I am fortunate enough to be able to practice) where the different types of voices blend together to good effect.

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