Thursday 30 April 2015

GUY WARE - THE FAT OF FED BEASTS (2015)

Synopsis/blurb….

Monday lunchtime: a bank is being robbed. The gunmen tell everyone to get down on the floor, but an old man refuses. Behind him in the queue is Rada Kalenkova, an investigator for the Office of Assessment, recording everything she sees. Shots are fired and a woman is killed. Or maybe two. But Rada ignores the murders and pursues the old man instead.

Nothing about the robbery or the putative killings makes sense. The robbers might be police. The bank manager denies anyone was hurt, despite the blood on the walls. Every subsequent enquiry leads towards Edward Likker, a renowned fixer. But Likker is dead.

The Fat of Fed Beasts is an ambitious literary mix of existential uncertainty, murder, bureaucracy, unreliable father figures and disaffected policemen. It asks why we do what we do, whether it matters, and what, if anything, our lives are worth. And it’s funny.

‘Ware has an uncluttered prose style and a willingness to stretch the boundaries of fiction. His sensibility is finely tuned to those grey areas of experience where identities shift, where people forget who they really are. No other writer springs to mind as a ready comparison to Ware: already he has defined a unique thematic territory.’ AIDEN O’REILLY, The Short Review

I had fairly high expectations for this book and I whilst I enjoyed it and it was interesting and well written, by the time I got to the end I was left scratching my head, wondering what had happened and why, as well as what it all meant. Which the more I think about it, may have been the author’s intention all along.

We have the bank robbery mentioned above and Rada one of the team from the Office of Assessment breaches protocol by pursuing a live witness, when her employment is strictly concerned with the dead. The team at the Office includes, boss Theo – soon to be retiring, Rada, her half-brother – D. and Alex. D. despite his junior position has a high opinion of himself and is jostling for Theo’s position once he has gone. Their function is to look into the lives of the dead and make a recommendation as to onward destination – heaven, hell or limbo.

We have multiple narrators, which when they jump in, it wasn’t immediately apparent to me who was speaking and who’s head we are inside. This includes one of the bank robbers. The robbers themselves are an interesting bunch insofar as they are three police officers, one of whom is retiring in a few days. The others have also stalled in their careers.

Rada pursues the live witness. The robbery is investigated by a detective and also looked into by Rada’s brother. One of police officers-cum-bank robber fears the robbery resulted in a couple of deaths and there is mistrust and suspicion among the thieves. The one thief who knows claims she shot through the ceiling to quieten a panicking witness, though it was eerily silent after the second shot. The bank claim no-one died, but that’s an awfully big blood stain running up the wall in the bank. D. thinks he can profit professionally from his sister’s unprofessional behaviour.

Her suspension from work means her case-load is divided up between her colleagues. And introduces the mysterious and feared Lopez to the office. One of Rada’s cases is pursued by Alex and is the suicide of a lawyer - Rodkin who killed himself by sawing his throat with a bread knife. He is connected to Likker, a dead man, who was his client. Our bank robbery witness was attempting to withdraw cash from Likker’s account. Likker and Lopez knew Rada and D.’s father, who perhaps wasn't who he seemed to be and also died in unusual circumstances, tagged as suicide.

Things get confusingly resolved in our dead lawyer’s basement flat where Alex had been held prisoner for a few days by Kurt. (Who the hell was Kurt?) In attendance are Lopez, Alex, Rada, D., Theo, our investigating police officer and our bank robbers. Something dramatic happens and life then goes on.

Interesting and enjoyable, but my enjoyment was tempered by not really comprehending what it all meant. A re-read in a year’s time might offer me a better understanding.
Great characters. We share some of Rada’s home life, with her husband, Gary and their son. Her half-brother lives with them as does Alex. D. thinks Gary’s an idiot. Gary is too blinkered to comprehend this. Alex and D. don’t gel.

Some great lines dropped in throughout, one of which stayed with me…….

In life, I find the secret is to plan nothing, to want nothing, just to see what happens. What is offered. Such a life requires strength and stealth and is harder than it looks.

Oscillating between a 3 and a 4. On balance probably a 3.

Guy Ware has a book of short stories previously published – You Have 24 Hours to Love Us.

Thanks to Tabitha at Salt Publishing for my copy of this.      


14 comments:

  1. This does sound like an unusual kind of book, Col. Kudos to the author for innovating, but I can see how one might be confused about what's going on, etc.. I think I prefer books where I have (or develop as the story goes on) a little bit of a clearer picture of what everything means. Still, as I say, points for trying something new here.

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    1. Agreed re author and trying something new. I perhaps think I'm more of a fan of clarity and definites at the end of my reading, though not not always admittedly.
      I'm sure there will be a ton of people who get this totally and rave about it, and I'm a little bit envious of them TBH,

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  2. I get cranky when I don't get what the author intends. I am sure that there are lot of people out there who will go for this story, though.

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  3. I'm going to read this one, so we'll see if I can make any sense of it....

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    1. I had earmarked a passage of prose which showcased a man's attire, right down to the green tie. I was going to include it in my post a la homage to CiB, but I couldn't blooming well find it again. I'm guessing you'll spot it immediately.

      Hope you enjoy it and then you can explain it to me!

      Did you see the 5 star review in Saturday's Guardian?

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  4. Col, on the face of it the plot does sound confusing though it'd be a good thing to read the novel and then decide. I'll have to think about that.

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    1. I'm hoping Moira might shed some light on it for me. Ambiguity or uncertainty, kind of bugs me when I finish a book, I'm afraid.

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  5. This sounds challenging. I wonder if it's been published in this country . . . off to take a look.

    Great cover, by the way!

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    1. Well it's my favourite cover of the month, even if the book was a bit disappointing. I think you can get it on Kindle over your side of the pond.

      If you give me an address in the UK, you can collect it when you next visit family.

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    2. A kind offer and many thanks, but I'm trying not to add physical books to the collection. I'll check out the ebook option.

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    3. Okey-doke. Look forward to your take on it,

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  6. From information gathered, the book seems a little too self-consciously clever, very much the product of a young author in love with experimentation. It reminds me of the non-lamented post-modernist movement (American, 1970s or so) in which writers achieved wonderful literary effects admired by critics but forgot that readers want to read stories.

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    1. Sherry thanks for stopping by. I think you've summed it up well. Ps I love your dog, Emily!

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