In case anybody is counting – yes, I did read No.20 in A Book A Day in May and didn’t blog about it. The book I read is Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, and it’s one of the books in the next episode of Tea or Books?, so I thought I’d wait until then to reveal my thoughts.
And onto today’s book. When I saw Annabel reviewing Russell Hoban’s Kleinzeit the other day, it reminded me that I have a couple of his books to read and they’re quite short. Previously I’ve only read Turtle Diary, which I think is his most famous novel, and… well, Amaryllis Night and Day (2001) is very different.
Peter is an artist who first encounters Amaryllis at a distance in a dream. She is getting on a bus – the bus stop, mysteriously, says BALSAMIC and the bus says FINSEY-OBAY, a place he has never heard of. And the bus is made of bamboo and rice paper in yellows, oranges, and pinks, a bit like a Japanese lantern.
He is beguiled by her (and, yes, it’s the first of Russell Hoban being very Male Author Writing About Women’s Bodies, which did get a bit tiresome). But he has seemingly unrelated dreams and cannot recapture the strange scene – and then, at an exhibition, he meets Amaryllis in person.
When I turned again I saw my reflection, as before, in the glass of the case and fragmentarily repeated in the Klein bottles. Then another face appeared beside mine. I spun around and there she was, dressed the same as in the dream, watching me thoughtfully. She was better-looking than I remembered and not really all that thin. Her dream self might have been painted by Edvard Munch on one of his less cheerful days but the real woman was quite different. Her hair was darker than in the dream; she was still pale but her paleness was that of the Pre-Raphaelite nymphs done by John William Waterhouse; like them she had an exquisite figure, delicately chiselled features, big innocent eyes, and a look of sadness and regret, as if she knew she’d be big trouble but was sorry about it. Astonishing, really, how she was so recognisably herself and yet so unlike her dream self.
I like how Peter, as an artist, sees the world through art references – and not in too forced a way. The Klein bottle, incidentally, is some sort of riff on a mobius strip in which a bottle is eternal surface, or something. I have to admit that I glazed over a little on those bits, complete with diagrams, but other readers will enjoy them.
Peter and Amaryllis have a drink and they want to see each other again – but in the dreamscape. He doesn’t know where she lives or even her last name, so has to rely on this hoped reunion. And… yes, they meet there again.
As their lives continue in dreams (which they call ‘glims’, because saying the word ‘dream’ will force them to awake) and in reality, they take part in a curious experiment. Amaryllis is keen that Peter gets on the bus with her, in the dream, though neither of them seem to know exactly why. And Peter is keen to love Amaryllis forever? I wasn’t sure how the insta-love played into the structure, but Amaryllis is clearly captivating.
The novel continues, with dream and reality becoming more and more aligned. Incidents that happen in dream seem to come true; experiences aren’t clearly dream or reality. The prose remains quite spare and straightforward, which I think is wise. We know where we are within the sentences, even if not within the scenes.
At that time of day I always have the feeling that if you gave reality a good kick the scenery would shake.
I did like Amaryllis Night and Day, though nowhere near as much as I enjoyed Turtle Diary. I think that’s partly because I didn’t much care about either Peter or Amaryllis. Rather, the way Hoban constructed realities was interesting – not necessarily what happened within them. And I did find his erotic gaze a little tedious. He was in his mid-70s when he wrote it, and there’s something a little boring and sad, to me, about old men writing droolingly about 20-something women’s bodies.
So, an interesting experiment that I think deserved more worthy content. But keeping up with my May challenge featuring very different books most days!
Thanks for the link, Simon. It is a little depressing the way Hoban is obsessed with female bodies, but he usually does it in a fairly reverential way rather than as a dirty old man, and sometimes it’s funny. This is one I haven’t read, but I own a copy, so will get to it eventually! (I’d disagree with you re Turtle Diary being his most famous book though, in my mind that’s Riddley Walker, although they did make a film of Turtle Diary with Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley if I remember correctly.)
Oh now you mention Riddley Walker it does ring a bell. Are there any Hobans you particularly recommend?
It is hard to believe he is the same man who wrote the Frances picture books with his then wife.
I wrote about his sister Tama, a talented photographer who wrote children’s concept books, for my MLIS Capstone last year.
Oh wow, that is very different!
I don’t think this is for me, but it does sound interesting. I’ve never read Hoban so I probably should give him a try!
I really liked Turtle Diary, so would definitely recommend that one!
I’d say his most famous novel is Riddley Walker. I read it when it was first published and it knocked me out, the use of language is so brilliant.
I also love a children’s book he wrote, The Mouse and his Child.
Perhaps luckily, I haven’t read any of these books in which he is obsessed with female bodies!
Annabel agrees with you! I am maybe influenced by Turtle Diary being the NYRB Classic I see around.
Well, I’ve not read Hoban – and confess I may not now. I know he’s very highly regarded but I think I might find the male gaze thing hard to take!
Please don’t let that put you off Turtle Diary, though, which is very different and very good!
“I have to admit that I glazed over a little on those bits, complete with diagrams, but other readers will enjoy them.” – this did make me laugh! Well done for keeping up. I wonder if anyone IS counting. I’m so far behind I’m doing a five new blog posts / five old approach so I’m certainly not counting!
I definitely didn’t feel like I was the right audience for that bit, which others will relish :D
I had no idea that Russell Hoban wrote novels for adults. I know him only from his children’s series about Frances the badger, which I loved as a child.
I hadn’t realised he was a children’s author until recently, but I imagine this could hardly be more different!