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sharonbakar's review against another edition
4.0
Andrew O'Hagan's Booker longlisted Be Near Me is one of those novels stories where you can see disaster looming for the protagonist a long way off, and feel like shouting him a warning. (But would he have listened? Would he have cared?)
Like Zoe Heller's excellent Notes from a Scandal, the novel takes as its territory the human story behind familiar tabloid headlines (in this case screaming about a paedophile Roman Catholic priest).
Father David Anderton becomes the parish priest for Dalgarnock, a small town in Ayrshire, Scotland. He's a fish out of water (Oxford educated, middle-class) in a former industrial town with high-unemployment rates and sectarian divisions as clear-cut as those in Ulster, across the water.
He befriends a group of loutish teens from the local school, and becomes a de facto member of the gang, smoking dope, popping E's, drinking, hanging out. He is particularly drawn to a boy called Mark, whom he kisses (and no more) after a night on a bender. The boy tells his father who then blows the whistle, and soon the the whole community is baying for his blood.
I could appreciate O'Hagan's depiction of the teenagers, having taught classes just like this!:
The pupils were waiting in World Religions. they hung over their desks as if they had just been dropped from a great height, looking like their limbs confounded them and their hair bothered them chewed the frayed ends of their sweaters in the style of caged animals attempting to escape their own quarters. They tended to wear uniform, though each pupil had customized it with badges and belts and sweatbands, you felt they had applied strict notions of themselves to the tying of their ties and the sticking up of their shirt collars. the small energies of disdain could be observed in all this, and the classroom fairly jingled with the sound of forbidden rings and bracelets.
David Anderton is a more difficult character to work out, since we are only gradually permitted to piece together his past. I didn't find him easy to sympathize with - he lacks conviction in his calling, he comes across as weak and ineffectual and simply to be going through the motions of running his parish.
It is a bit of a stretch that a parish priest should be so attracted to a group of yobbish teens that in some senses he seeks to emulate them, but O'Hagan does make the relationship seem credible ... and even inevitable.
Father David is attracted to the teenagers, and particularly to Mark, for their exuberance and their certainty (even when wrong-headed) and perhaps too for their sheer recklessness which contrast with his own lack of conviction and inertia. He clearly takes pleasure in experiencing life vicariously through them.
The title of the book is a line from Tennyson's In Memoriam and, as Hilary Mantel says, (reviewing the book in the Guardian) it is a prayer whispered by this celibate priest on all those lonely nights, still longing for the lover who was killed in a car accident decades before. It's a blow Father David hasn't recovered from. A sense of loss permeates the novel.
Would I recommend the book? Honestly - I'm not sure that it would appeal to the average Malaysian reader who might find it too slow and the setting perhaps too unfamiliar. (I carry the voices of the members of my book club around in my head - I know how they would react!)
But if you enjoy the kind of contemporary British literary fiction which finds its way onto Booker shortlists and longlists, you should find the novel extremely rewarding.
I did enjoy it very much because I so admired O'Hagan's craft: he writes beautifully (although some reviewers have felt that he rather overwrites) and I relished the language. Scenes were so vividly rendered, that I was watching the movie in my head. (British. Arty. Slow.) I also really liked Mrs. Poole the housekeeper whom I felt was particularly well-drawn.
Like Zoe Heller's excellent Notes from a Scandal, the novel takes as its territory the human story behind familiar tabloid headlines (in this case screaming about a paedophile Roman Catholic priest).
Father David Anderton becomes the parish priest for Dalgarnock, a small town in Ayrshire, Scotland. He's a fish out of water (Oxford educated, middle-class) in a former industrial town with high-unemployment rates and sectarian divisions as clear-cut as those in Ulster, across the water.
He befriends a group of loutish teens from the local school, and becomes a de facto member of the gang, smoking dope, popping E's, drinking, hanging out. He is particularly drawn to a boy called Mark, whom he kisses (and no more) after a night on a bender. The boy tells his father who then blows the whistle, and soon the the whole community is baying for his blood.
I could appreciate O'Hagan's depiction of the teenagers, having taught classes just like this!:
The pupils were waiting in World Religions. they hung over their desks as if they had just been dropped from a great height, looking like their limbs confounded them and their hair bothered them chewed the frayed ends of their sweaters in the style of caged animals attempting to escape their own quarters. They tended to wear uniform, though each pupil had customized it with badges and belts and sweatbands, you felt they had applied strict notions of themselves to the tying of their ties and the sticking up of their shirt collars. the small energies of disdain could be observed in all this, and the classroom fairly jingled with the sound of forbidden rings and bracelets.
David Anderton is a more difficult character to work out, since we are only gradually permitted to piece together his past. I didn't find him easy to sympathize with - he lacks conviction in his calling, he comes across as weak and ineffectual and simply to be going through the motions of running his parish.
It is a bit of a stretch that a parish priest should be so attracted to a group of yobbish teens that in some senses he seeks to emulate them, but O'Hagan does make the relationship seem credible ... and even inevitable.
Father David is attracted to the teenagers, and particularly to Mark, for their exuberance and their certainty (even when wrong-headed) and perhaps too for their sheer recklessness which contrast with his own lack of conviction and inertia. He clearly takes pleasure in experiencing life vicariously through them.
The title of the book is a line from Tennyson's In Memoriam and, as Hilary Mantel says, (reviewing the book in the Guardian) it is a prayer whispered by this celibate priest on all those lonely nights, still longing for the lover who was killed in a car accident decades before. It's a blow Father David hasn't recovered from. A sense of loss permeates the novel.
Would I recommend the book? Honestly - I'm not sure that it would appeal to the average Malaysian reader who might find it too slow and the setting perhaps too unfamiliar. (I carry the voices of the members of my book club around in my head - I know how they would react!)
But if you enjoy the kind of contemporary British literary fiction which finds its way onto Booker shortlists and longlists, you should find the novel extremely rewarding.
I did enjoy it very much because I so admired O'Hagan's craft: he writes beautifully (although some reviewers have felt that he rather overwrites) and I relished the language. Scenes were so vividly rendered, that I was watching the movie in my head. (British. Arty. Slow.) I also really liked Mrs. Poole the housekeeper whom I felt was particularly well-drawn.
joesb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
georginadaw's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
zebglendower's review against another edition
4.0
Really good. Psychologically and spiritually astute, and beautifully written. A sometimes heart-breaking exploration of what can happen when we turn away from our truest selves. Redeeming in the end, too.
jsc8675309's review against another edition
3.0
Profoundly sad story of a man who never quite fit into himself and was unable to accept who he was. The relationships that precipitated his downfall never gelled for me, I never understood the attraction, but I loved David's relationship with his mother and with Mrs. Poole. I appreciated the idea of a well bred, thoughtful man, with refined sensibilities being completely unaware of how little he understands the poor, uneducated, insular people he has come to minister, and this is what ultimately ruins him.
michael_levy's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
slammy90's review against another edition
2.0
Mi sarebbe piaciuto possedere la sensibilità adatta per apprezzare questo romanzo, che sicuramente merita :(
Quando nel mio cammino incontro libri come questo, mi rendo tristemente conto di quanto la mia capacità di trascendere la trama e perdermi nei dettagli sia piatta ai limiti dell'inesistente; ho trovato il romanzo soffocante ed eccessivamente 'edonista', vuoto quasi.. Non so ben spiegare le sensazioni che la lettura mi ha trasmesso, ma sicuramente tra queste c'è la noia: è un romanzo MOLTO statico, alla fine tutto ciò che accade nel romanzo è riassumibile nella quarta di copertina (NON leggetela tutta!) ed il resto si compone di dettagli, sensazioni, colori, odori, canzoni.. Leggevo ed ero affranta perché piuttosto che assaporare questi dettagli, in me prevaleva la sensazione di impazienza e di "dai, dai, diamoci una mossa!".
Ripeto, ho la sensibilità di una poltrona abbandonata in una discarica, me ne rendo conto. Se voi a differenza mia (beati voi!) sapete apprezzare le piccole cose, O'Hagan ha una scrittura magnetica e poetica, consiglio, consiglio!
Oltre ai miei limiti patologici, non sono riuscita ad apprezzare il protagonista, padre David, né ad entrarci in sintonia.. Anzi, vi dirò, mi ha messo in uno stato di profondo disagio ;_;
Non so, il suo modo di porsi al mondo, il suo edonismo (sì, è la seconda volta nella recensione che utilizzo questa parola, quando probabilmente nella mia vita l'avrò utilizzata una volta e mezza e pure per sbaglio.. Il fatto è che così si definisce lo stesso David con i suoi trascorsi universitari), il suo lasciarsi scivolare addosso la vita.. Mamma mia che ansia!!
Un altro mio limite che mi ha impedito di entrare nella storia piuttosto che osservarla da fuori da spettatrice un po' annoiata è la mia scarsa conoscenza della storia inglese degli anni '60/'70'/'80/'90.. E beh direte voi, che ti importa? Nel testo ci sono tanti riferimenti alla politica e alle lotte di quel periodo e io mi sono sentita un po' persa, con zero punti di riferimento a cui appigliarmi ;_;
Spero un giorno di poter rileggere il libro e apprezzare le piccole sfumature che ora mi sono lasciata sfuggire.. per ora posso solo dire che la scrittura è 'tanta' è bellissima.. Forse un po' troppo, addirittura!
Quando nel mio cammino incontro libri come questo, mi rendo tristemente conto di quanto la mia capacità di trascendere la trama e perdermi nei dettagli sia piatta ai limiti dell'inesistente; ho trovato il romanzo soffocante ed eccessivamente 'edonista', vuoto quasi.. Non so ben spiegare le sensazioni che la lettura mi ha trasmesso, ma sicuramente tra queste c'è la noia: è un romanzo MOLTO statico, alla fine tutto ciò che accade nel romanzo è riassumibile nella quarta di copertina (NON leggetela tutta!) ed il resto si compone di dettagli, sensazioni, colori, odori, canzoni.. Leggevo ed ero affranta perché piuttosto che assaporare questi dettagli, in me prevaleva la sensazione di impazienza e di "dai, dai, diamoci una mossa!".
Ripeto, ho la sensibilità di una poltrona abbandonata in una discarica, me ne rendo conto. Se voi a differenza mia (beati voi!) sapete apprezzare le piccole cose, O'Hagan ha una scrittura magnetica e poetica, consiglio, consiglio!
Oltre ai miei limiti patologici, non sono riuscita ad apprezzare il protagonista, padre David, né ad entrarci in sintonia.. Anzi, vi dirò, mi ha messo in uno stato di profondo disagio ;_;
Non so, il suo modo di porsi al mondo, il suo edonismo (sì, è la seconda volta nella recensione che utilizzo questa parola, quando probabilmente nella mia vita l'avrò utilizzata una volta e mezza e pure per sbaglio.. Il fatto è che così si definisce lo stesso David con i suoi trascorsi universitari), il suo lasciarsi scivolare addosso la vita.. Mamma mia che ansia!!
Un altro mio limite che mi ha impedito di entrare nella storia piuttosto che osservarla da fuori da spettatrice un po' annoiata è la mia scarsa conoscenza della storia inglese degli anni '60/'70'/'80/'90.. E beh direte voi, che ti importa? Nel testo ci sono tanti riferimenti alla politica e alle lotte di quel periodo e io mi sono sentita un po' persa, con zero punti di riferimento a cui appigliarmi ;_;
Spero un giorno di poter rileggere il libro e apprezzare le piccole sfumature che ora mi sono lasciata sfuggire.. per ora posso solo dire che la scrittura è 'tanta' è bellissima.. Forse un po' troppo, addirittura!
juliechristinejohnson's review
4.0
A beautifully written, intense novel. It's about a middle-aged priest serving in a parish in a struggling west Scotland town who (deliberately?) throws away all that he has built in a moment of recklessness. It's set in 2003- just after the US invasion of Iraq and travels back in time to 1968 London, when the main character was a student at Oxford and falls in love for the first, perhaps only, time.
It's sad, tragic, frustrating, fascinating- very quiet and deliberate, with an odd sense of hope and life despite its tragic twists.
It's sad, tragic, frustrating, fascinating- very quiet and deliberate, with an odd sense of hope and life despite its tragic twists.