#35 Held, by Anne Michaels





Booker Prize:  Shortlisted 2024

Plot Time and Place: 1908/ 1910/ 1912/ 1917/ 1920/ 1951/ 1964/ 1980/ 1984/ 2010/ 2025; France, England, Estonia, Gulf of Finland

Opening sentence: "We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?"

Plot summary: 1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory - a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast - as the snow falls. 

1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river - alive, but not still whole. Reunited with Helena, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures. (from the bookerprizes.com)

Review:  The writing is beautiful, but the kaleidoscopic device just didn't do it for me. I got lost amidst all the different characters and timelines. 

Rating:  2/5


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