Nigel FarndaleBesprekingen

This turned into one of those books you (a) want to finish to see how it all works out, at the same time as (b) not want to finish, as it's such a good read.

There's a lot going on. A WWI deserter who finds love with his landlady: Daniel, his great grandson, whose relationship with his family changes forever when he and his partner nearly die in a plane crash: their daughter Martha who falls in a big way for her Muslim school teacher: a throughly evil and devious academic...

...Each of these strands would almost make a book on its own, but Farndale weaves a gripping story out of all this apparently disparate matter. It's loosely bound together by the idea of ... what? Hallucinations? Angels? Well, spiritual presences that have been known to appear in the lives , even of unbelievers, at extreme moments of stress. This isn't a big feature of the book, but it is I think an important one and links all the main characters, who all have a differing faith background, together.

A satisfying read, one which paints real, meaty pictures of the lives lived by all the main protagonists.

So I managed to get through this on the second try. The prose is pretty ugly, with lots of descriptions of things that just couldn't happen. For instance, on page one there is an inanimate object that appears to be moving, possibly because of a heat haze. But it's night time, in London, so there's just no way there could be a heat haze. Then on page four there is a character with a German accent who says "zank you" instead of "thank you", but nobody ever says "zank you", since the "th" in thank is voiceless, so the alveolar equivalent is "sank you". You could argue that this is nitpicking, but I don't read looking for these things, they interrupt my flow as I'm reading. If a description is impossible, it adds nothing to the scene and casts doubt on the rest of the description. There is no particular wit or style to the prose, either.

The characters are the best aspect of the book. Most of them are fairly coherent, although somewhat simplified. The dialogue is inconsistent, with some of it flowing quite well and some of it forced.

The plot is entertaining but definitely rather problematic, with an excessively elaborate connection that doesn't actually add much to the tension or the meaning of the events. The queer themes are not dealt with in a particularly interesting or sensitive way. About a hundred pages in I had a peek at the author bio in the front of my paperback copy to check my suspicion that the author is not queer, as there was a deadness to the sections involving queer characters that was in contrast to the more energetic descriptions of straight relationships. Obviously the fact that the author is married to a woman doesn't mean he's not queer, but this is not a queer novel. In fact, this novel serves as a interesting illustration of the difference between "gay" or "homosexual" and queer. Yes, there are gay characters here, but there is nothing radical or challenging about it.

I did enjoy this book a bit, but I skimmed some sections and didn't find any interesting ideas or emotional responses within its pages.

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: On its way to the Galapagos Islands, a light aircraft ditches into the sea. As the water floods through the cabin, zoologist Daniel Kennedy faces an impossible choice - should he save himself, or Nancy, the woman he loves?

In a parallel narrative, it is 1917 and Daniel's great grandfather Andrew is preparing to go over the top at Passchendaele. He, too, will have his courage tested, and must live with the moral consequences of his actions.

Back in London, the atheistic Daniel is wrestling with something his 'cold philosophy' cannot explain - something unearthly he thought he saw while swimming for help in the Pacific. But before he can make sense of it, the past must collapse into the present, and both he and Andrew must prove themselves capable of altruism, and deserving of forgiveness.

The Blasphemer is a story about conditional love, cowardice and the possibility of redemption - and what happens to a man of science when forced to question his certainties. It is a novel of rare depth, empathy and ambition that sweeps from the trenches of the First World War to the terrorist-besieged streets of London today: a novel that will speak to the head as well as the heart of any reader.

My Review: Of the three books in here, I like the First World War narrative the best, followed by the London story of academic backbiting and relationship angst, and least of the three the underdeveloped metaphysical events connecting those two. One character says in the course of stitching the stories together that Darwin described angels as creations of Man, which "...have been described as the most beautiful conceit in mortal wit, and I would go along with that."

And that, me hearties, is that.

Daniel, our modern main character, sees his great-grandfather Andrew as he swims to safety. The World War One soldier was a deserter, which is a deeply shocking and shaming thing in the context of the day. Daniel's decision to save himself and not his pill of a baby-mama struck me as most tolerant of him, since I'd've taken the chance to shove her deep into the wreckage so as to be shut of the nightmare carping whinging misery-guts once and for all.

What unites these men across the generations is their cowardly self-preservation, a trait that ultimately lets each create a future for himself and for unknown descendants. It's hard to fault the men. It's hard for them to forgive themselves. It's an interesting counterpoint that Farnsdale sets up: Andrew saves himself from mass insanity and all-but-inevitable senseless death, and Daniel saves his own hide from an accident that will imperil few. Are either of the men "correct" or "justified" in their actions/inactions?

I'm still thinking about them a year after reading the book for the second time. That's a damn good sign.

But I can't go over 3.5 stars of five. The messiness of the story lines is just too egregious for me to go up, and the inventiveness and intriguing premise are too involving for me to go down. It felt to me like the subplot of Daniel's dying father needed to be pruned out, and the characters of Hamsi the teacher and the twirling-mustachioed villain Wetherby were so broadly drawn as to be uninteresting. So while not unflawed, the book was a good, solid read with interesting philosophical points jabbing the soft, lazy parts of one's novel-reading brain.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.½

This is a very readable book about bravery, duty and personal fulfilment - in war and peace time.

Overall, I found it engaging, but it was a bit distracting to switch between the two storylines, and sometimes the plot links between the two stories felt a little forced.

While I appreciate all the research and details in the WWI sections of the book, ultimately, I thought Farndale overburdened this novel with too many plotlines that never successfully resolved or jelled.

This is another of the many books written in two time periods. In the first in 1939 Charles and Anselm are in a homsexual relationship and are found out. Charles is courtmartialled and Anselm, a German, is sent to a labour camp to be reducated.
In 2012 Edward, Charles's son is a diplomat who has just been releaded from 11 years held captive to find that his wife has died and he now has a teenagae daughter that he does not know.
Edward struggles to cope with his wife's death and rebuild his life while at the same time being very puzzled as to who paid the ransom to have him releaded.
The chapters set in 1939 fill in the story of Charles, Edward's fathers life and as the book progresses the connections are made and questions answered. I enjoyed it but did not find it a great read, but the descriptions of his time in captivity were very well done. I think for me it was just rounded off a little too quickly and too neatly.

On the very short short list of superb WWI novels.

Two men, three generations apart, cope with the consequences of their failure of nerve. Daniel Kennedy, an academic scientist, is taking his long-time lover and mother of his daughter on a trip to the Galapagos to propose. When their small plane ditches about 20 miles from the islands, Daniel pushes Nancy out of the way to escape the sinking craft. She survives but cannot forgive him, even though he goes back to the plane and rescues almost everyone, then swims towards land to find help. Back in England, Daniel's career is endangered by a jealous colleague who pretends to be his friend, even as he struggles to save his relationship with Nancy and cope with a vision he had at sea which led him to keep going when he was about to give up and remove his life jacket.

Interspersed with Andrew's story is that of his great-grandfather, who disappeared during the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. New evidence points to his desertion and death by firing squad, a possibility which is torturing Daniel's father, himself a decorated war hero and now quite ill, and Daniel accompanies him to the continent to unravel the mystery. A long-rumored Mahler symphony revision, stories of guardian angels leading soldiers out of danger, and a Muslim elementary school teacher who seems oddly familiar to both Daniel and his father, all lend depth as the two stories intersect.

It is easy to become absorbed in many of the plotlines here. The war scenes are particularly effective, and the machinations of the psychopathic colleague are chilling. The struggles of a confirmed atheist dealing with a possible religious vision were also interesting, although he's really, really strident about his convictions. And although Daniel and Nancy repeatedly declare their love for each other, neither is all that convincing. So it was a book I couldn't out down, but it didn't always flow successfully, although all the important questions are at least partially answered by the end.

As I suspected from reading the back cover, this is a very readable and enjoyable book. As I didn't expect, Nigel Farndale has decided in the novel to tackle pretty much every theme there is out there in the medium of a novel. So, faith and atheism; heroism and cowardice; terrorism and the secret service; art and science; age and childhood; love and fear; visions and neuroscience; music, marriage, friendship, travel - and the book covers Birdsong territory, as well as crossing into 'state of the nation' territory.

One of the bits of the book I enjoyed most was the beginning, when Daniel - scientist, militant atheist, husband, father - and his wife Nancy are getting up in the morning. It's a charmingly detailed piece of writing about a very banal moment that could be in any marriage, on any day. From then on we are hurtled into relentless narrative in the present and back in the First World War - all the pieces, themes and characters interlock - rather as if a blind watchmaker has put them together. Personally I started longing for a turtle that might just be a turtle, not a symbol or a vision or a cunning parallel between Daniel and Andrew, his great grandfather from WW1. It is for me, just a bit too neat in its dense plotting. But having said that, the ideas are interesting and the characters generally vivid (though I personally found Wetherby, the voice for Christian faith in the novel, just too monstrous to be true. The idea of the hypocrite Catholic who confesses only to sin again went out, I thought, with the anti Catholic Gothic novel in the 18th century). Worth a read!

A brilliant war-time story with a heart, I loved the two story trails and the cross-overs between them.

The Lifeboat

The lifeboat example, a classical Philosophy 101 illustration, depicts a scenario in which you reside safely in a lifeboat surrounded by a sea of drowning passengers. While the hope of you – the lone lifeboat resident ­– is to save as many as possible, only one more person can safely board. Amongst the drowning treads your spouse, a brilliant physicist, and a poor child. Who should you save?

Daniel Kennedy – a zoologist, Dawkinsian atheist, and protagonist of The Blasphemer – would first choose to save himself. As a downed seaplane off the Galapagos Islands fills with water, he swims past his struggling, common-law wife, Nancy, in order to reach the surface. Although Daniel fills his lungs with air in order to swim back down to the sinking wreckage in order to save Nancy, the psychological damage is done.

Later, while Daniel attempts to swim approximately 14 miles to the Galapagos Islands hoping to find help for his fellow survivors, he is compelled forward by a vision of a man, an apparition, or more logically a hallucination.

Fight, Flight, and Faith

Farndale’s book discusses weighty subjects. Following Daniel’s great-grandfather, Andrew Kennedy, through the First Great War and detailing Daniel’s detective-natured father, Philip, the Blasphemer narrates three familial generations through war, terrorism, and foundational belief.

In between the tensions of modern science and ancient religious tradition, Farndale crafts his characters:

“Perhaps you are right. Perhaps that is why God makes angels, immaterial beings whose identity resides in the world of thought. The unseen world. The abstract world. They are creatures that can’t be explained away by scientists.”

“Thought you sad men make angels.”

“No. I said that Darwin said that men make angels.”

“So you do believe in them?”

“They have been described as the most beautiful conceit in mortal wit, and I would go along with that” (177).

Although the tome begins slowly, the story compellingly unfolds into a page turner. Farndale’s characters provide depth in the storyline and the motifs from each era unite nicely.

Foundational Faith

Ultimately, the Blasphemer is a cinematic story surrounding belief. While some create a dichotomy between faith and reason, Farndale suggests that faith is a necessary aspect of reason. When placed in stressful and life-threatening situations, humans react in different ways. Some safe themselves, some save the most talented, and other are self-sacrificial. In all of these instances, actions exist on a foundation of faith. As one of the better books read last year, I recommend this book.

Originally published at http://wherepenmeetspaper.blogspot.com/½

The Blasphemer - Nigel Farndale Read It Forward Aug/2010

5*****

“The Blasphemer” is a great novel, easily deserving of any awards which the author, Nigel Farndale might win. Published in 2010, Farndale’s book gave me a glimpse into my own family’s past. Since I had relations that served in the trenches of WW1, I kinda felt a unique curiosity and connection to “The Blasphemer”.

Well written, “The Blasphemer” is the story of 3 generations of men, 2 of which served time in the military. It’s a story of courage, and how we define it, both in war and daily modern life crises. It’s also a story of humanity and the struggles which we all face when faced with our own survival.

I won this book in a ReadItForward draw, and will definitely pass it on! I am a book review member of Goodreads, Librarything, BookDivas, Black Velvet Seductions and the Penguin book club.
DBettenson

I hardly know where to begin. This is a story about Zoologist David Kennedy and his ancestors.
The reader is pulled into flashbacks of WWI, into the trenches and the lives of those who fought.
These flashbacks are compelling and chilling. We are introduced to The Angel of Mons, a legend from
the time of the first world war. The Angel was reputed to have saved lives through supernatural means,
and has a very special relationship with Kennedy's Family.

Also central to the story, a plane crash where Zoologist David Kennedy and Nancy his significant other and
the woman he plans to marry nearly lose their lives. The role that Kennedy plays during and after the crash
leave both of them wondering if they really belong together. This has a devastating effect on Martha, their
young daughter.

There is always a source of evil, isn't there? This story is no different. A sick and evil
thread runs through it, Time and time again we wonder how far this will go, and if the anyone
will find the villain hidden under the mask of faith.

A good story will also provide a hero. Sometimes more than one.
I will leave it to you to find your own heroes among those offered here.

I felt that the book bogged down a bit in the middle chapters, but I never felt the urge
to abandon the story. I was far too intrigued and curious about how it would all end. I
am still wondering...

A very interesting novel. I liked the different stories within the novel and the connecetions or parallel between them.

Simply, this is a novel about a man (a scientist)named Daniel. The other important characters are his defacto wife (Nancy), his father (a retired soldier), his great-grandfather (who 'deserted' at Paschendale) and his daughter's Muslim teacher.

Daniel and Nancy are in a plane crash - they physically survie but both have to deal with the aftermath of guilt and blame. This affects them as individuals, their daughter - which brings her teacher in the story. Meanwhile his father is researching his grandfather.

It is a well-written story - there is not a character I could not empathise with. The novel changed stories/perspectives just in the right places each time.

I really liked the mix of current day life in England (terrorist alerts and the treatment of the muslim teacher) and the historical setting of WWI.

I would thoroughly recommend this novel. The big ideas are guilt, courage, connections between people, jealousy, persecution. I was disappointed when the novel ended - I wanted more!

A fast paced story whcih crosses time-lines and generations. It raises the eternal issues of cowardice and forgiveness, with a bit of God-debate thrown in as well. While the execution of the plot seems too contrived at times, the descriptions of the minutae of trench warfare in WW1 are what made this book a good read for me.

This was the last novel I finished reading in 2009, and it was solid yet gripping, a satisfying read that explores big and complicated emotions - yet I've struggled in my thoughts about how to do it justice in a review.

Where to start? Examining the cover gives a clue to the two strands of the story. We start in a prologue at Ypres, 1917 as the troops are preparing to go over the top on the first day of Passchendaele. A young private is searching for the major, only finding an apparently shell-shocked officer conducting an imaginary orchestra from a sheet of music in front of him.

Then we're taken back to the present day and meet Daniel, the great-grandson of the young soldier. Daniel is a biologist, a Darwinian atheist (in the mould of a young Dawkins), a successful university lecturer and TV presenter. He's working on his grand gesture - taking his girlfriend, the mother of his child, on a surprise trip to the Galapagos islands to tie the knot. But before they can get there, their plane crashes in the ocean. Daniel is faced with a life and death decision - whether to save Nancy and possibly perish himself, or to save himself. He swims for help, helped by turtle and a vision of a figure who leads his to safety. Luckily Nancy survives, but she can't help feeling that Daniel betrayed her, and he is full of guilt. Their relationship falters, and Daniel becomes increasingly desperate to find redemption.

This is when the two stories start to entwine ever more deeply, as Daniel begins to investigate the story of what happened to his great-grandfather, spurred on by letters that his own father has kept all these years. As a counterpoint to Daniel's story, we meet Wetherby, who is jealous of Daniel's media profile, and is seeking to influence the Dean over the appointment of the new professor, he makes insinuations about Daniel who pre-crash was a shoe-in for the job.

I'm not saying any more about what happens, but it builds into a real exploration of emotions - guilt, courage, cowardice, jealousy, love, but most of all faith and belief. Once I got past the slightly slow start, it became a compulsive read, the WWI sections were particularly evocative, recalling John Singer Sargent's painting 'Gassed'.

I can thoroughly recommend this big and ambitious novel with a vivid cast of strong characters, which is published this month. (9/10, book supplied by Amazon Vine)½

This novel has multiple layers and threads and examines some thought provoking topics. Farndale explores the concept of cowardice and bravery. With two parallel threads he contrasts a present day cowardly act where judgment is private and limited in scope with a cowardly act in war time where the consequences are public and punishable by death. His descriptions of battles being fought in WWI are extremely vivid and well written; he captures the chaos, the fear and disorientation of soldiers and makes the reader feel the impact of the lives lost. For me, this thread was the stronger of the two main themes; compelling, suspenseful, informative and emotionally engaging. Interesting, but not quite as well developed is the author’s exploration of religion vs. science. The main character, Daniel is a scientist and an atheist who believes there is a scientific explanation for everything. His search for answers to an unusual personal experience provides a nice backdrop to examine this concept. Personally I would have preferred more debate on this issue; still it was interesting and stimulated as presented. The book opens in the present day and grabs you immediately. However, this thread becomes muddied and confusing - too many characters-too much happening- with no closure or resolution on many things.

Review previously posted at: www.princetonbookreview.com
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