|
|
Executive Times |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2008 Book Reviews |
|||
|
|
Beginner’s
Greek by James Collins |
|||
|
Rating: |
*** |
|||
|
|
(Recommended) |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Click
on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Sweetness James
Collins, a long time journalist and former investment banker, chose a
Victorian style romantic novel for his fiction debut, titled Beginner’s
Greek. The summary: man and woman meet and click; a twist of fate draws
them apart; a coincidence reunites them; commitments prevent them from
picking up where they left off; and by the end love conquers all. After fifty
pages or so, I thought his last name was wrong, and he is really Jane Austen’s
long-lost brother. Perhaps James Austen as a pseudonym has some legs. I began
to like the characters after not too many pages, and found myself finishing
the book and feeling that life can certainly be sweet. This novel would make
the kind of chick flick movie that both genders will like, although I don’t expect
the audience for the novel to become very wide. Here’s an excerpt, pp.
49-51: Why
was Peter marrying Charlotte? Why was Charlotte marrying Peter? Charlotte
worked in the New York office of L'Alliance Generale et Specifique des Pays
Francophones. The AGSPF fostered economic and cultural exchange among the
French-speaking peoples of the world and tried to promote the French language
and Francophone civilization in all places sadly suffering from their lack.
Dogged and intelligent, Charlotte had mastered the politics of Chad (Djamous,
the finance minister, was on the rise, though not supported by the Quay
d'Orsay) and the diplomacy of Laos. She was, it seemed, always writing a
report on intra-Francophone trade. There were lots of tables. In addition to
this intellectual work, Charlotte also participated in the AGSPF's busy
social life: no minor Algerian poet could pass through New York without a
reception. That's what was happening tonight. Charlotte had to attend a
dinner for a Belgian economist, who had appeared in town unexpectedly. For
a time, Charlotte's father had worked in the Paris office of a New York law
firm and the family had moved there when Charlotte was seven. With this
credential, she could legitimately make France her thing, which she proceeded
to do. After her parents divorced, when she was sixteen, Charlotte's father
and her stepmother bought a small property in the countryside, where they
went every summer and where Charlotte would visit. Charlotte majored in
French and she spent two years in Paris after college There
she had had the requisite love affair with a Frenchman, with lots of tears.
Maximilien-Francois-Marie-Isidore had been thirty-seven, an incredibly
ancient and sophisticated age for Charlotte, then twenty-two. He was always
lurking in the background, supposedly poised to swoop in and carry Charlotte
back to Paris forever. That never seemed to happen, but on a regular basis,
heavy-smoking, black-whiskered French friends — Heli, Valery, Claude,
Hilaire-Germain, Alexandre-Cesar-Leopold, Gilles — would pass through New
York. They would take Charlotte and Peter to obscure rock clubs and talk
endlessly about American bands and films and writers whom Peter had never
heard of. Of course, they all spoke English perfectly, and from time to time
one or the other would engage Peter in conversation, while making it evident
that he was merely doing so out of politeness. One
requirement for Charlotte's job was that she speak the language well, and
she did, using all sorts of slang. Nevertheless, whenever she spoke it with
a Frenchman, there was always the air that she was performing, an
amateur-hour talent, rather than simply talking to someone. Whenever they
went to a French restaurant, she engaged the staff in long conversations, and
they were delighted. Peter — who had taken AP French! — sat there smiling
uncomprehendingly for the most part. Eventually his existence would edge
into the consciousness of the captain, and he would turn to Peter with an
expectant smile. "Er
. ." Peter would say. "Pour commencer, je voudrais prendre aussi
les moules." As soon as he heard Peter's accent, the captain's smile
would disappear and he would adopt a manner of cold courtesy while Peter,
losing his way grammatically, would give the rest of his order. "Very
good, monsieur, and for the wine, shall I give you a moment to decide?"
Okay, so he answered in English. Big deal. In fact, that suited Peter just
fine, for somewhere deep in his Celtic-Anglo-Saxon bones, he believed that
it was improper for any real man to speak French. Another
requirement of Charlotte's job was that she dress well despite her low pay.
Charlotte did dress well, if by "well" one meant fairly
expensively. Her clothes were fashionable and of good quality. Yet she did
not dress well, really. There always seemed to be too many flaps or folds or
layers or lappets or something. She always seemed to be reaching for an
effect, an effect that was neither achieved nor worth achieving and one that,
even if those conditions were met, would not show Charlotte off to her best
advantage. When Peter thought about Charlotte's clothes, her stepmother,
Julia, always came to mind. She was ten years older than Charlotte and was
naturally chic, but as far as Peter could tell she mostly wore a skirt,
cardigan, and pearls. Charlotte had always cast Julia in the role of her
guide in the ways of the world. Why not simply copy Julia's clothes? But
Charlotte, with no intuitive sense of these things, was blind to the example
her mentor set for her. As
with Charlotte's clothes, so with her grooming. It was always, somehow, just
a bit off. The haircut was either too severe or too full, and, in either
case, had a life of its own, regardless of how determinedly brushed; the
lipstick was one shade too fauvist; the nails were ragged (Julia wore clear
polish on her nails and kept them shaped liked torpedoes). These superficial
flaws bothered Peter much more than he thought they should. For reasons that
are mysterious, some people — men and women — are always able to look well
put together, stylish, suitable, whereas others, to a greater or lesser
degree, fail in this. Well, so what? Some people can wiggle their ears, and
other people can't. If someone has a good heart, how can that sort of thing
possibly matter? Irksomely, it did seem to matter. In a way that was more
than irksome, so did Charlotte's looks. It wasn't a question of whether she
was good-looking: she was. She had a long, rather concave face, large eyes,
and a prominent nose and chin; indeed, it would not be inaccurate, and it
would not be at all displeasing to Charlotte, to say that her face was
"Pre- Raphaelite." She was pretty. And from the reference to the title, pp.
321-322: "Jesus
Christ!" Thorndale cried from the other side of the table. "If
you guys are going to keep this up, you can take your damn slide rules
someplace else." He and Kakouilli began conversing in Greek. They knew
each other, it turned out, because both were friends with an American poet
who had lived in Greece much of the time. They were talking about him and
switched to English. What was that very early poem, something about learning
Greek? How did it start — smelling the sun? They both turned to Peter. Miraculously,
Peter remembered this work and was able to recite it. "You mean 'Beginner's Greek'? Let's see
.. . To
one Who
smells the sun, Eyes
shut, and tastes that rain is sweet; Who
hears Music,
but fears Its
presence in empty gardens; or, discreet, Only
observes The
nerves And
fibers of a painting — shade, technique; What
is Beyond
analysis Is
perilous: we must not wish to seek And
ay ‘This
is what I Love,
what I cherish!' Instead, be wary of such Intensity That
we May
never be hurt or happy or anything too much. Isabella
had been listening intently. "Oh, Peter, that's so beautiful,” she said
in a whisper. “He
was twenty," Peter said. Kakouilli
and Thorndale just stared at him. Collins
is a talented and clever writer, and Beginner’s
Greek is a worthy debut novel for your consideration. Steve
Hopkins, May 15, 2008 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
Go to Executive Times Archives |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the June 2008 issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Beginner's Greek.htm For Reprint Permission, Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
