William Boyd
This is the second novel of a yet-to-be completed trilogy featuring Gabriel Dax, travel writer and involuntary spy. I read the first book, "Gabriel's Moon", last year; click here for my review if you are interested.
Because I liked the first book so much, my sister gave me this one for my birthday in March, and I enjoyed it maybe even more - a delight to read, very well written, meticulously researched, and leaving me looking forward to the third book (which I wouldn't mind not being the last).
Just like before, the characters are fully fleshed-out and (mostly) plausible in their actions. We meet some of the key figures of the first book again, but new people are also introduced. Gabriel is his usual self; wanting to go back to his normal life where he travels not for some mission or other he is asked to accomplish for the MI6 (or the Russians), but to do research and take photos for his successful travel books. He is a decent man with a compassionate heart, a good example being the way he deals with another author who accuses him of plagiarism.
But once a spy, always a spy, it seems, and so he finds himself in Guatemala first and in Berlin later, both trips only outwardly having to do with his next book.
His stay in Berlin is planned to coincide with John F. Kennedy's speech there, and although I am nowhere near as familiar with my country's capital as my sister, I can relate to much of what is described in the book (of course, it is a very different place now than what it was like in 1963, but I know enough history to perceive the atmosphere as quite authentic).
If I may point out just one minor error I noticed: On a day in late June 1963, Gabriel participates in a raid where the police hope to get hold of a suspect planning an attack on Kennedy during his speech. He meets his fellow spies at 5:00 am and describes the morning as completely dark, pre-dawn. Now, I was reading this particular chapter in late May, and I knew that it was definitely NOT dark anymore at 5:00 am, and would have been even less so in late June. The internet is very useful for such things, and I found out that in late June in 1963, sunrise in Berlin was at around 4:40 am - meaning that 5:00 am will have been nice and bright, not dark at all. This error surprised me, because it doesn't fit in with the otherwise very precise and accurate detail William Boyd provides - and it would have been so easy to get it right.
But this is just me being picky, and rest assured that it did not diminuish my pleasure in reading "The Predicament".
I really am looking forward to Gabriel Dax' next adventure!
Oh yes, I read his books when you wrote your first review and enjoyed them very much. I read this one back then, too, and hope he will have some more coming out soon.
ReplyDeleteThis one was only published last year, so I guess we'll have to wait some more for the third one with Gabriel Dax - and I'm still hoping it won't be the last one :-)
DeleteNice catch on the detail about sunrise! I love finding small errors like that in books...and the better the writer, the more gratifying it is! :)
ReplyDeleteI was in full flow reading along, waiting for the raid to beginn, when I had a "wait a minute!" moment, and I could not read on until I had not made sure I was right about the dark night v. sunrise/early morning light thing.
DeleteThis error in the book would have put me totally off the author. I would never read his books again.
ReplyDeleteI am not that unforgiving, Rachel. We're all human, after all, and if such a minor error would put me off the author completely, I'd only rob myself of more reading pleasure.
DeleteI do not regard it as a minor error in the context of the raid. It would colour my view of the author and shake my belief in him.
DeleteIt would, if it weren't the only error I was aware of. I can't stand sloppy editing and/or proof-reading, but this was clearly not the case with "The Predicament" - my overall impression of the writer's research as well as the editor's work is very good.
DeleteI haven't read a William Boyd book for a very long time - years! - and remember that I enjoy his writing style. You review encourages me to read this not yet complete trilogy.
ReplyDeleteMy sister has read many more of his books and originally introduced me to him when she gave me "Any Human Heart" 13 years ago for my birthday. That, and "Gabriel's Moon" are so far the only ones I have read by William Boyd, but I am quite certain that I'll read more.
DeleteBerlin
ReplyDelete* A city without a curfew and the highest suicide rate in the world. *
A TWEN STROLL THROUGH BERLIN (1960).
German History in Documents & Images. Online.
So sunrise in Berlin in late June 1963 was at 4.40 ?
I can see someone waking then, unable to get back to sleep.
Reason enough for depression and perhaps suicidal thoughts.
President Kennedy with Willy Brandt at the Berlin Wall was a huge event.
I don't remember the Berlin Airlift but I do recall the shock of the Wall going up.
The Odessa File begins with John Voight stopping his car to listen to the radio.
The President has been shot in Dallas. November 22, 1963. Voight's in Hamburg.
A week after the assassination my mother's brother Jack told my father that
Lee Oswald had not acted alone. Jack was an accomplished marksman.
We did not know that the hitmen belonged to the Corsican Mafia.
William Boyd and the lady he married were regulars in The Grosvenor, Glasgow.
Long gone, The Grosvenor was a cafe run by two Italian brothers & their sister.
My girlfriend said Will's fiancee could wear a 1920s cloche hat and look terrific.
Saturdays, 1972.
There isn't an author you have not met at some time or other, I believe.
DeleteThe start of the Berlin wall was in August 1961. My Mum's birthday is on the 12th, and she still lived with her parents then (she and my Dad married in 1965). She remembers the small birthday gathering of friends in her attic room vividly, all of them discussing politics and being shocked by the events.
THE MEN WHO KILLED KENNEDY : PART TWO THE FORCES OF DARKNESS.
DeleteYouTube. Dogeffa.
George Lazenby who played James Bond named the Americans involved in
the Kennedy conspiracy, on The Simon Dee Show (BBC Television).
Lazenby waited until the last minutes of the talk show before naming names.
The episode was once available on YouTube, not any more.
I wish I had met Ingeborg Bachmann and Gunter Grass.
DeleteEdna O'Brien reviewed Dog Years (1963) and said : Gunter Grass is a genius.
A QUICK MESSAGE FROM HANNAH ARENDT (1964) YouTube.
She speaks in German. There's an English interview, on Eichmann.
I've never read anything by this author. Just found a different title by him included for free in my Audible membership though, so will try that one.
ReplyDeleteGood idea to give him a try that way, Monica. Let me know which book it is and how you liked it.
DeleteHe wrote a book called "Nat Tate". It was a convincing hoax that fooled the art world. (I found this out when I looked up the author to see if he had written any non fiction books!)
ReplyDeleteYes, the wikipedia article about Boyd talks about the Nat Tate hoax. His fictional character here, Gabriel Dax, has his own list of published books written at the end of the book - a nice touch, making a figure in a book appear like a real person.
DeleteRead several pieces about him in The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/14/nat-tate-artist-hoax-william-boyd
DeleteWilliam Boyd needed you as an editor! Good catch on the timing of a summer sunrise. I will keep an eye out for these books.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I can actually imagine editing as a realistic job for me. Eight years of experience with a publisher of small weekly local papers, some of the time doing proofreading, have left their mark. Right now, though, I am still happy with being a Data Protection Officer.
Delete