Kate SlotoverRiddle reads…. Family Life
Riddle’s own bibliophile runs the rule over Akhil Sharma’s Family Life - and reckons it’s a 7/10
Review by Kate Slotover
What are we reading this week?
I’m glad you asked. Family Life is a novel by Akhil Sharma that just won the Folio Prize.
Ah, yet another literary prize?
Yes, but we like book awards. With so many books published each year, competitions such as The Man Booker Prize, The Baileys (formerly Orange) prize for women’s fiction, the Samuel Johnson prize (for non-fiction) are a great way of flushing out the good ones. The Folio Prize was launched in 2013 and is open to all works of fiction written in English that are published in the UK. Books are nominated by the Folio Academy made up of writers and critics from around the world. A long list of 80 titles is whittled down to a shortlist of eight by five judges, this year led by author William Fiennes. Fiennes has said they were looking for ‘boldness, freshness and books in which the form or structure of the story was perfectly matched to the ideas’: watch this short film for more.
Ok, I think I understand about the prize, now tell me more about the book.
If you know anything about this novel, you’ll probably know it took the author 13 years to write as he fought an ongoing battle with depression. It tells the story of Ajay Mishra and his brother Birju growing up in Delhi in the late 1970s. From the hot, dusty streets of their childhood home they travel with their mother to join their father for a new life in America. Although strange, America is a land filled with possibility, and the family’s hopes rest firmly with Birju, their bright elder son. But tragedy strikes when Birju suffers an accident leaving him severely brain-damaged. The defining feature of family life from this point on is caring for their lost, but still present, son. Ajay, meanwhile, is left to find his own place in the world.
It sounds a little heavy going, if I’m honest.
The enjoyment comes from the writing, which is deceptively simple and effortless to read. At one point in the novel Ajay becomes obsessed with the writing of Ernest Hemingway, and Family Life has some of the same character in its short, simple sentences that carry the story along in a straightforward fashion, stating the facts without emotional flourishes, yet the moments that are described are often devastating, and linger in the mind’s eye long after they have been read. The novel is anchored by Ajay’s relationship with his parents; their struggle to grieve and to care for their eldest son is all encompassing, they have nothing left over for their younger boy except their shared disappointment. And yet although their actions are sometimes shameful Ajay doesn’t judge them, instead he shares their emotional burden. And sometimes, just sometimes, there are moments of companionship, of shared feeling that despite everything binds Ajay and his parents together.
A worthy winner then? What’s the Riddle score?
Let’s say 7 out of 10, caveats being that it is a little short, and that this is not the sort of book that dazzles you with its writing. Its power comes from the way it haunts you after finishing. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan’s Booker winner of 2014, includes the line ‘A good book … leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.’ Somehow, without apparently trying too hard, Family Life encourages you to do just that.
What else should I read?
Also from the shortlist, the Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill, a wise, tender, funny and poignant meditation on a marriage in crisis. Written in short fragments, this book will have anyone who has experienced family life with small children both smiling and frowning in recognition. And our old friend Ben Lerner’s 10.04 also made the shortlist and is highly recommended (http://riddlemagazine.com/the-digest-books-about-time/). Also don’t miss last year’s Folio winner, The Tenth of December by George Saunders, a brilliant collection of short stories that will tug at your heart and take you to some extraordinary places. 