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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
"Turbulence" by David Szalay is a novel in the form of - cleverly - linked short stories. A pair of IATA codes titles each chapter (short story). The first chapter is LGW-MAD. Frequent flyers would deduce that to mean from London (Gatwick) to Madrid (Barajas) airport. Sure enough, the story begins in London and ends in Madrid. The next story starts in Madrid and ends in, well, the next place. Character also links: a background character will fly to the next destination and become the new central character. The novel as a whole has no principal set of characters nor plot. It's a novel joined together by its conceit or theme: we are all connected, flight connects us. And, sometimes that flight isn't smooth: there's turbulence.
Short stories within a short book, each chapter devoted to an individual person on a leg of the book's journey across the globe. Gives a good sample of how we are all connected in some way, whether we realize it or not. Easy, quick read. Was OK, just not my preferred read.
emotional
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
12 short stories connected by flights around the world. A few were really good and left me wanting more, but most were fairly forgettable. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because I read it in an airport and it fit the vibe.
Partly short story, partly connected vignettes (think "Winesburg, Ohio"), this book is an interesting tale of different lives, connected by necessity of flights from different cities across the world. It took me a bit to feel connected to this book, but once I got into it, the book flew by. The lives cut across class, circumstance, culture, gender, etc. A fascinating kind of zoom-in on people. One gets the sense that you are learning about the private lives of people that you might only consider as a bystander on Earth, looking up at a passing airplane, wondering who might be on board and where they might be coming from. Fascinating device!
Understated, nuanced and subtle, David Szalay builds complex emotions and portrayals of human relationships like few contemporary writers. What makes his works a joy to read is the artful weaving and threading of snapshots into a complete work that is more than the sum of its parts. Like his last novel, ‘All That Man Is’, ‘Turbulence’ is about different people in different places at different times. They are connected by their experiences of life, of suffering, of loving and longing and family.
The world is growing smaller and more connected but individual loneliness and isolation grows. What Szalay reminds us of with his two most recent works is that we are connected by our experiences of one another and by the inherent vulnerability of living. His gift is that he can twelve (very) short stories take us around the globe and back again in 136 pages without losing intimacy or empathy. ‘Turbulence’ lacks the depth of ‘All that Man Is’, but not the flair and imagination.
The world is growing smaller and more connected but individual loneliness and isolation grows. What Szalay reminds us of with his two most recent works is that we are connected by our experiences of one another and by the inherent vulnerability of living. His gift is that he can twelve (very) short stories take us around the globe and back again in 136 pages without losing intimacy or empathy. ‘Turbulence’ lacks the depth of ‘All that Man Is’, but not the flair and imagination.
Quick and immersive and page turning. An interesting structure that really came full circle. Mini soap operas of people’s lives that I just couldn’t stop reading.
Interconnected stories via airplane flights come full circle. This book made me think about the people in them and what connects us all as human beings.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I like the structure of the book and the way that the stories were told. It is very unique. The stories themselves are also very different from each other. Short and sweet.
An older woman is on a plane. She and her seatmate are strangers. There is a bout of - wait for it - turbulence, that inserts her into her seatmate's life. So it begins; a series of lives briefly touching lives from one story to the next.
I'm sure that I was meant to feel something while reading this; something was supposed to catch my breath, quicken my heart rate- it was supposed to hit emotionally. Really, I just felt Szalay going through the motions. One person's disappointment bleeds into another's tragedy. Their tragedy morphs into someone else's annoyance. One person's poverty is outshone by another's utter destitution. It was a misery parade. "Look how bad things are here, but WAIT- they're even worse here! Got ya!"
One piece briefly burned, but it fizzled out on the next connection. A journalist in Brazil wakes up from an app-procured one-night stand, and her co-conspirator is in no hurry to leave. He's a long-haul cargo pilot, and he's hoping for a real connection. He's waiting in the wings while she's in a hurry to jet off to Canada for a story. They share an Uber to the airport. He wants to share more, but she's gone with a wave.
This collection feels like Szalay had a scrap of an idea that could grow into something meaningful, but he was up against the wall of a serious deadline. While well-written in a technical sense, the scaffolding of story into story fell flat for me. Instead of marveling at the human condition, I found myself rolling my eyes while channel surfing through misery porn.
I'm sure that I was meant to feel something while reading this; something was supposed to catch my breath, quicken my heart rate- it was supposed to hit emotionally. Really, I just felt Szalay going through the motions. One person's disappointment bleeds into another's tragedy. Their tragedy morphs into someone else's annoyance. One person's poverty is outshone by another's utter destitution. It was a misery parade. "Look how bad things are here, but WAIT- they're even worse here! Got ya!"
One piece briefly burned, but it fizzled out on the next connection. A journalist in Brazil wakes up from an app-procured one-night stand, and her co-conspirator is in no hurry to leave. He's a long-haul cargo pilot, and he's hoping for a real connection. He's waiting in the wings while she's in a hurry to jet off to Canada for a story. They share an Uber to the airport. He wants to share more, but she's gone with a wave.
This collection feels like Szalay had a scrap of an idea that could grow into something meaningful, but he was up against the wall of a serious deadline. While well-written in a technical sense, the scaffolding of story into story fell flat for me. Instead of marveling at the human condition, I found myself rolling my eyes while channel surfing through misery porn.