London lives

Sometimes it's nice to be ambitious. It's not something I've generally aspired to, indeed, my plans for life, such as they are, are pretty simple and probably not all that interesting. Then again, *I'm* pretty simple and not all that interesting. In fiction, however, ambition can be a very good thing. It's good to aim big, but with the caveat it's only good if you can pull it off. Probably one more reason (and there are many) why I'm not a writer. Anyway, when the blurb is talking up Dickens and Thackerary and Trollope (not that I've ever read any of either of the latter two), it's either setting itself up for a fall or it's something pretty grand in scope.

A Week in December, then, is Sebastian Faulks' state-of-the-nation novel. Set, unsurprisingly, across a week in the lives of a huge cast of Londoners approaching the tail-end of the year, it's aim is nothing short of trying to chronicle a snapshot of how we live now, a decade or so into the 21st century. Having never read any Faulks before, other than when he was writing as Ian Fleming, I had no real idea what to expect, though I know he comes with a big reputation. I also gather this is not particularly like his other works, but I suspect that will be one more discussion to come out at book club later in the week.

First off, I liked it. It took a little to get into it, but then I digested it pretty quickly, which is usually a good sign. It's not perfect and how it is to judged may depend on what you want out of it. As a story, it is interesting exploring the lives of characters and how they interweave, though there is no real central plot as such – the finale of the book is the dinner party which we knew was coming the first chapter. However, the size of the cast and the scope of what the book is trying to do also hinders it in that there are too many characters and not all of them are really developed properly and some remain almost anonymous. That said, John, Gabriel, Jenni and Hassan are all strong characters and their stories are all definitely worth the telling. Faulks is also clearly a skilled enough author to move things along and to tease you with expectations of things to come and to throw you off the scent, which is no bad thing.

The other problem is essentially the aim of the book itself. To chronicle things, the author is passing his own judgement, casting a discerning eye on society and picking out the themes he wants to highlight in today's society – money, religion, alienation, law, love. It is therefore his vehicle or sopabox to draw our attention to these things. Knowing that is the point, some of the dialogue and ideas seem a little odd when coming from the voices of the characters, though this may be unavoidable. So in essence, the scope and aims of the book are at once its strengths and its weaknesses in different ways. As a grand in scope, zeitgeisty book, I think it succeeds pretty well, but there are also certain issues with this and your enjoyment of it may to an extent come from what you want out of it and how you choose to judge it.

Book number: 88
Title: A Week in December
Author: Sebastian Faulks
Category: Book club/recommendations