Jazzy D's Soul Notes

Book 5 - John Lanchester "Capital" (Faber & Faber)




This book starts like a small rock slowing rolling down a snowy hill that eventually turns into an avalanche. You are left with silence and white powder at the end of the novel.

John Lanchester’s novel borrows its title from the famous Karl Marx and his “Das Kapital”. Although, the book is not exclusively about a struggle between the proletariat and bourgeois. Rather, it is a more complex observation of how we, in a modern society value, treat, and exchange money and capital.

The novel, for me, felt very Dickens-esque. The story is set in London, and like in a Dickens novel, the city itself is its own awe-inspiring character. Lanchester follows a group of people who either live or are connected to the people who live on Pepsy Road. He slowly weaves the characters into each other, until at the end of the novel their lives become almost all intertwined.

I would suggest that if any one is interested in understanding more about Lanchester’s ideas that they should read his nonfiction novel “Whoops: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and Why No One Can Pay”. Lanchester looks at the rich who feel poor, the poor who know the value of money, and the middle class that are in between in name and nature.

For me, one of the most powerful lines in the book was delivered by the character Smitty, an anonymous artist who goes around London pulling off art stunts. He says:

The stuff which can’t be sold, that’s the stuff which makes everything else seem real. You can’t commodify this shit. Which is the whole point” (p.82).

The book has a strong themes of debt and profit, but not just in the financial understanding of these words. It is about familial ties and obligations that stretch from Mary helping her sick mother, and the Kamals coming together when Shahid is imprisoned. These obligations to family can also be spoken of as debts and profits. And this is the stuff you can’t sell. As Smitty would say, “You cant commodify this shit.”

The book is fairly long, closed to 600 pages, but it is well worth the read. I actyally started reading this book i December. There is always something happening and as each chapter swaps from family to family, you are spurred on to read one more chapter to find out what happens to each family.

Barbara Demick "Nothing To Envy: Real Lives In North Korea" (Granta Books)







Barbara Demick gives us a rare glimpse into the day-to-day life of the people of North Korea. Through the tales of six people who managed to escape the "Hermit Kingdom", we are exposed to horrors that are all but unimaginable.

We read of the initial prosperity of t the 60's and 70's and the decline from there, which ended in the famines of the 1990s. We read of a country where the people are so malnourished the average height to be accepted into the army had to be lowered(to something like five feet). A country where if you were able to purchase a television set, you would need to register it with the government, which would then block all channels except the approved state television networks, and could then show up at your home to inspect the television.

As I read this book I had to stop and process the severity of the tales the author was telling us. People starving in such numbers you would stumble over dead people in the street. Arrests and deportations of 3 generations of a family for the most minor infractions.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in the Stalinist state, although it is at times hard to process due to the overwhelmingly depressing tales.

Daphne Du Maurier "Jamaica Inn" (Vintage)






Mary Yellan’s mother is dying. Her final wish is that Mary go to Bodmin to live with free-spirited Aunt Patience and her husband. When Mary arrives, she is shocked to see her Aunt Patience is a timid, dispirited woman, broken by the abuse of her husband. Jamaica Inn is located in the bleak moorlands of Cornwall and when Mary arrives, she not only has to deal with its bad reputation, but also with the landlord, her uncle Joss Merlyn, a known criminal who has successfully evaded the law.

Uncle Joss warns Mary not to look outside at nights when she hears sounds, but she does anyway and discovers a smuggling ring. Her uncle is a smuggler and probably a murderer too. She also discovers that there is another person, who is secretly working with Joss. Before long she finds herself tossed into a world of shocking human brutality, as she is drawn into the smuggling, theft and murder.

Although the story is a mystery, the author uses the bleak setting to unfold a true classic of gothic romance and adventure. This novel is very well written and I found the characters to be very distinctive. My only complaint is that the narration of the several landscapes Jamaica Inn was surrounded with, were overly descriptive at times and slowed down to story a bit. Nevertheless I could envision Jamaica Inn totally and particularly the smuggling scenes. What a fabulous book, and du Maurier was still a book or two away from her most famous novel, Rebecca.

Simon Winder "Germania: A Personal History of Germans Ancient and Modern" (Picador)




Writing “German” history prior to 1871 presents a daunting task because before that date there was no country known as “Germany.” The land we think of as Germany was composed of numerous principalities, dukedoms, bishoprics, and independent city-states that popped in and out of existence owing to the vagaries of hereditary suzerainty and noble marriages. Winder notes that successive historical maps of the country resemble nothing so much as "an explosion in a jigsaw factory." He does not undertake to present a chronological narrative; rather, he travels around the countryside and regales the reader with stories relevant to the place he is visiting, although the history still manages to be presented in roughly chronological order.

Winder is not one to make heroes of long-gone historical characters. Of Charlemagne he writes:

"As usual with such leaders, historians – who are generally rather introverted and mild individuals – tend to wish Charlemagne to be at heart keen on jewels, saints’ relics and spreading literacy, whereas an argument might be made for his core competence being the efficient piling-up of immense numbers of dead Saxons.”

Rather, the “heroes” of Winder’s story are the Free Imperial Cities such as Strasburg , Nuremberg, and the Hanseatic League that endured the middle ages as independent entities fostering trade and cosmopolitan values.

Winder breaks off his history in 1933 with the rise of the Nazis, avoiding not only the nastiest period in German history, but also its remarkable economic recovery after World War II. But he does manage to get in a few jabs at modern Germany, as with his exploration of what it means to “be” German, spoofing the Nazi’s efforts to create a pure Aryan race. After a short summary of the shifts of various unrelated tribes over the territory for about a thousand years, he says, “In practice Germany is a chaotic ethnic lost-property office, and the last place to be looking for ‘pure blood.’” Indeed, he sees German reverence for their deep past as having a corrosive and disastrous effect:

"There can be few stronger arguments for the damage that can be done by paying too much attention to history than how Germany has understood and taught its ancient past, however aesthetically pleasurable it can be in operas."

Winder livens up his sweep of German history with a tourist’s eye for the unique and noteworthy in his travels, describing the Christmas markets, the Ratskellers (with their massive glasses for serving beer), the ubiquitous castles, dense forests, flower-bedecked windows on half-timbered houses, marzipan in a variety of shapes (including, in one Lübeck shop, models of the Brandenburg Gate, the Eiffel Tower, and the Houses of Parliament) and “endless sausages.” He quips, “There is always a pig and a potato just around the next corner…..”

Germania is a quirky book that could hardly be classified as serious history, although it contains a lot of factual information on an important topic. ("Germany," the author writes, "is a place without which European culture makes no sense.”) Perhaps “travelogue with historical background” might be a more apt description. The writing is sprightly and entertaining, and the book presents an often delightful and decidedly unique guide to the region.

Sylvia Simmons " Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes" (Helter Skelter)



I stumbled upon this in the back end of my bookcase recently. I decided to read it again. I inhaled this bookt back in 2008, took its wayward magic into my lungs and held it.

Historically I haven't read much about French vocalists, and in fact, I tend to read about French artists more. However, as I have a couple of albums by the Frenchman I thought this was an appropriate read.

Serge's televised encounter with the late Whitney Houston was astonishing as was during his less than cereberal time in Yugoslavia. Beyond such, Gainsbourg was an unflinching artist, one compensating for his own insecurites and baggage. He stormed across borders and perforated genres. His mark on music is unmistakable. This biography illuminates such and is a remarkable survey of his life as well.

I highly recommend it.

Kate Atkinson "Normal Rules Don't Apply" (Bloomsbury)



Not what you’d expect if you’re familiar with this talented writer, the first of eleven stories introduces The Void, a daily worldwide massacre that kills off any (formerly) living creature out in the open air. It occurs for five minutes per day, and at five minutes later every day, and seems to be the method used to remake the world, by a god named Kitty. Other strange and occasionally connected stories feature Franklin, who works on a popular British soap opera called Green Acres, encounters a talking horse, and becomes engaged to a woman with murderous sisters; a collection of stuffed animals whose child dies; a popular movie star who falls in love with a prince; and a fairy tale that springs into real life. Some of the stories are bound together, some not, and each is either enchanted/enchanting as a standalone or as part of the larger themes, which are the fragility of life and the sinister power of fantasy. Best read twi

Kang Han "Greek Lessons" (Penguin)



Originally published in Korean in 2011 it has finally been released in early 2023 in English with a translation from Deborah Smith.

In Greek Lessons, the nameless narrator finds the echo of words in her mind so overwhelming, that she loses her capacity to speak. She signs up for a for ancient Greek language course to see if she can communicate in a language other than her native Korean.
Her instructor is captivated by the silent woman since he himself is slowly going blind.

Soon the two discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence when his sight finally fails him completely .

Greek Lessons is the narrative of an improbable friendship between these two people, as well as a beautiful discourse on human closeness and connection. Greek Lessons is a remarkably deep book for such a short tale.

Toby Manning "The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd" (Rough Guides)




A nice overview of Pink Floyd whether you are a committed fan or curious to find out more about the band. It gives a lot of inside information to the rise and fall of this mysterious progressive rock band. It also provides a lot of additional places to find out more information about them. Therefore, it serves as a great start-up to any Floyd fan, including all the post Floyd solo music or projects by members of the band. One to read thoroughly or dip in to. Perfect.

C J Tudor "The Drift" (Penguin)




Dystopic apocalyptic fiction with a touch of horror driven by a global pandemic.

Narrated by 3 different characters, the novel focuses on survival in a world that has been changed by a virus that keeps mutating and infecting. Students bound for safety are stranded in the snow after their bus crashes. A cable car with workers going up the mountain to volunteer at the Retreat stops halfway up to the control station. In the former chalet, the staff at the Retreat are tested by dwindling supplies and power failures. Hannah, Meg, and Carter are willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive. Everyone has a secret and all are lying.

This was OK but I didn't find it suspenseful or compelling. Many characters, but they were dropping so fast that I didn't invest much into them and couldn't work up the empathy needed to care. The Whistlers were much more interesting to me and I would have preferred to read about them rather than the 3 sets of people in the bus, cable car, and chalet. The sketchy details about the virus and the pandemic left me wanting more. Much of the action and all that happened required a great deal of suspension of disbelief. Lots of blood and gore if that's your thing. A few twists and turns along the way to a reveal and the sort of unsatisfying conclusion.

Zadie Smith "NW" (Hamish Hamilton)




I think this book is Zadie Smith's way of dealing with mortality, which is to say it's a very erudite, emotionally complex, formally inventive take on the issue.

The book is split between different perspectives, each with its own formal conceits and tone. The fun is the interplay between these, the way time compresses and overlaps, and choices have consequences that radiate outward jaggedly. This isn't your magnolia/love actually/slacker characters cross paths and fates diverge and mingle thing--it goes deeper. It's not even a pulp fiction/imitations of pulp fiction non linear interlocking deal where the story emerges bit by bit across many crossing timelines. It's more of a high modernist Faulknerian thing, where subjective experience is recreated in prose, and perspective is fluid and time compresses and expands, except here the subject is time itself and persons across time. Did I mention time? What I'm trying to say is weird shit happens with time in this book.

Oh yeah and the characters are extremely well drawn and there's a whole lot of class and race politics in the fold and marriage and motherhood and technology find themselves under the microscope.

The Natalie section is one of the best things I've ever read. Her section forms the structural and emotional core of the book. Her search for a constant identity and the slow erosion of the person she once was is devastating to witness. Her tale is told in vignettes that act like guideposts along the timeline of her life, sometimes narrowing in and viewing a single incident from 3 to 4 perspectives, sometimes covering years in a single stroke. All of the pathos of the Nathan section that immediately follows was built in Natalie's journey. He doesn't get a chapter, and his chastisement of Natalie is one of the best 11th hour character reveals I've read.

This is the work of someone who has lost the faith. The voice is far from the certainty of White Teeth. It has more of the ambivalence and empathy of her nonfiction, without the occasional both-sides fallacies.

Reminds me of Light in August and In Our Time. Oh and I caught a Joyce reference, most likely from Ulysses.
Anyway, the more I read, the more I liked it. This is a novelist at the height of her powers. Definitely has me hooked for at least one more novel.