A fetus observes from his mother Trudy’s womb as she schemes with her lover Claude to murder her husband, his brother John. Ian McEwan’s Nutshell has a clever conceit, a loose re-telling of Hamlet told from the point of view of an unborn protagonist. There are shades of Macbeth in there as well, with Claude and Trudy’s dynamic very similar to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. There have been quite a few Shakespearean re-tellings lately (the Hogarth series in particular of which Nutshell is not a part), and McEwan’s novel stands among the best and most clever riffs on the Bard’s legacy.

McEwan pays homage to his source material from the start. The book opens with an epigraph from Hamlet and the early passages provide some knowing winks to anyone familiar with Shakespeare. “Seems, Mother? No, it is. You are,” the narrator says on page 2, echoing Hamlet’s response to his mother Gertrude in Act I, scene 2: “‘Seems’, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems.'” Just a page later, the narrator ponders his will to be born, and his phrasing echoes Hamlet’s iconic “To be or not to be” soliloquy on his desire for death: “So getting closer, my idea was To be. Or if not that, its grammatical variant, is.” There is just enough similarity to twig recognition in Shakespeare fans, and just enough difference in context to make it wholly original. Throughout the book, McEwan maintains a playful touch with language, teasing with hints of Shakespearean phraseology or planting bits of story recognizable from the play, but keeping these touches light enough that they never feel stale, nor trying too hard to be clever.

There are moments when the prose gets a bit unwieldy, the narrator waxing on with as much melodrama as, admittedly, Hamlet was wont to do, and I find myself tempted to skim ahead. That being said, there are also times the florid descriptions work, as with this masterfully vivid passage: “Between his weakness and her deceit was the fetid crack that spontaneously generated a maggot-uncle. And I squat here sealed in my private life, in a lingering, sultry dark, impatiently dreaming.” [p. 34] How beautiful is the phrase “lingering, sultry dark”?

While a riff on a classic, the story itself feels fresh and original. It’s mainly a story of murder, the plotting thereof and the aftermath of the decision. McEwan’s comedic talents and ear for dialogue come to the fore, particularly in the scene where Trudy and Claude attempt to implement their plan. One can almost imagine the actors in this murderous plot turned farce, and much of the comedy comes from the choreography of the conversation.

Or take as well the bawdy comedy of a sex scene as told by a fetus, likely enough to make any pregnant reader blush. “Not everyone knows what it is to have your father’s rival’s penis inches from your nose,” the narrator comments wryly. Then: “This turbulence would shake the wings of a Boeing.” [p. 20] He compares the experience to that of an amusement park ride, and his mother “[arriving] to take her place on the Wall of Death.” [p. 22] As George Takei would say, oh my.

The novel is a masterclass in craftsmanship, and the language finely tuned. The story itself seems like a pretty straightforward one of murder and betrayal, but the execution is brilliant. Bravo, Mr. McEwan.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So the end of August is rather late to begin a reading challenge for the year, but when I saw this tweet from book blogger Buried in Print, I couldn’t resist. Earlier in the year, The FOLD Festival of Literary Diversity posted a 2016 challenge to read more diverse books. I’m a huge fan of The FOLD and the work they’ve done to promote literary diversity in Canada (see: “4 Reasons Canada Needs The FOLD“). So I’m a bit late to the party, but count me on-board with this challenge!

The FOLD’s 2016 Reading List

1. A book you’ve had for more than a year.
2. A book outside of your ‘favourite genre’.
3. A book you buy at an indie bookstore.
4. A book by a person of a faith (different from your own).
5. A book by an Aboriginal author.
6. A book by a Canadian LGBTQ author.
7. A book by a Canadian person of colour.
8. A book by a FOLD 2016 author.

In recognition of the organization that posted this list in the first place, I’d like to start with…

#8 A book by a FOLD 2016 author

I came home from The FOLD with three pretty amazing books:

Laughing All the Way to the Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz

A hilarious memoir about growing up Muslim in Canada, Nawaz’s book caught my eye with the back blurb about her father saying that the Quran says it’s okay to eat at McDonald’s, but only if you order the McFish. It’s silly and irreverent, but also profoundly honest about the experience of straddling two cultures. Nawaz also created the CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, so heads up if you were a fan of the show.

You Only Live Twice by Chase Joynt and Mike Hoolboom

A beautifully written, evocative and humorous exploration of the idea of second lives: Joynt’s transition from female-to-male and Hoolboom’s near-death from AIDS in the 1990s. I bought this because of Joynt’s reading at The FOLD, an anecdote about his grandmother’s death that managed to be both hilarious and heartbreaking all at the same time. The book alternates both authors’ perspectives, and while I personally preferred Joynt’s more straightforward narration to Hoolboom’s more abstract ruminations, I loved the interplay between both voices. At times, the writing felt almost like a dance, each writer sharing a piece of his story, then gracefully stepping back to let the other take centre stage. I also love the idea of major life changes such as transition and living with AIDS being the catalyst that begins a ‘second’ life, one that starts anew without negating the experiences of the ‘first’ life.

She of the Mountains by Vivek Shraya

What can I say about this book other than that it is simply beautiful? The book tells two stories: the first is a re-imagining of a Hindu myth of Parvati, her husband Shiv and their son Ganesh. Shiv beheading Ganesh and replacing his head with that of an elephant are from the original myths, but Shraya tells it from Parvati’s perspective as a grieving mother and betrayed wife, and that just makes the story feel so visceral and immediate. I wasn’t familiar with this story from Hindu mythology, and likely Hindu readers will have a much deeper appreciation of the nuances of Shraya’s re-telling, but it’s a beautiful tale nonetheless, and I felt horrible for Parvati.

The second story is about a bisexual man who is trying to reconcile his identification as gay with his growing attraction to a woman. Both stories are aligned somehow, and I’m not sure exactly how, but Shraya’s writing interweaves both narratives beautifully so the book feels like a single story with multiple threads. Shraya’s writing style is a bit beyond my comfort zone, as I usually prefer more straightforward narratives, but I’m so glad I read this. The writing and the illustrations just work beautifully together, and I feel like there is still so much more to it to unpack.

Next Up…

#7 A book by a Canadian person of colour.

This is the perfect incentive to finish Lawrence Hill’s The Illegal, which a friend lent me a few weeks ago.

#6 A book by a Canadian LGBTQ author.

I picked up a signed copy of Lake on the Mountain by Jeffrey Round at my last trip to Indigo, and again, this is the perfect incentive to move it up my TBR pile!

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Thanks to The FOLD for this awesome idea and to Buried in Print for calling it to my attention!

Cracked is a fast-paced thriller about a woman’s hunt for her twin sister’s killer. Danny Cleary is smoking crack in her Toronto apartment when she hears of her twin sister Ginger’s death. She immediately hops on a plane with her rock star brother Darren and flies over to Ginger’s home in California to find out what could have happened. It turns out Ginger’s death could have been drug-related, and the reason Ginger was doing drugs in the first place was to get a better understanding of her twin’s addiction. Things are further complicated when a woman who looks like Danny manages to get ahold of Ginger’s young sons, and Danny begins to wonder if her sister’s death was somehow her fault.

Danny and Darren’s search for the truth takes them deep into a much more complex web than I originally anticipated. Leslie keeps the twists and turns and minor reveals coming, quick and often enough to keep the reader off-balance and wondering what the heck the truth actually was. Danny’s crack addiction plays a major role in the story, as she struggles to stay sober enough to find her twin’s killer, though at one point and surprisingly, giving in to her addiction actually ends up helping her out.

Danny is also a former women’s self-defence instructor, and therefore joins a welcome and ever growing list of kick ass heroines who can disable a bad guy with a single blow. I especially like that despite Danny being really good at fighting, Leslie still manages to keep it realistic, so that Danny isn’t so much super powered as just really good at strategizing and at taking advantage of the element of surprise.

I also really liked how Danny’s love for her twin sister is so evident on the page. It forms her main motivation throughout the book, and it’s her loyalty to her family that fuels all her ass kicking. So when Danny speaks of her desire for vengeance on whomever killed Ginger, and when Danny goes to great extents to save her nephews, it’s all very much a part of who she is, and Leslie does a great job of creating a character whom you believe will travel across North America and combat her addiction for her family.

The big reveal was actually surprising. By the end, it felt a bit more complicated than it strictly had to be, but to Leslie’s credit, she did keep me guessing throughout. Cracked is the first in a trilogy, and the book ends with a set up for the next one. So if you try this out and enjoy it, keep an eye for the next book Rehab Run, out this November 2016.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.