Human Traces |
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Sebastian Faulks
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Pages: 624 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0091796873
Pub: Hutchinson
Pub date: 2006-03-02
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 113071
Reader Reviews:
Interesting but not enthralling (0/0 people found this helpful)
I read a pervious review of this book where the reviewer had written you'll either love or hate this book - well, I didn't love it or hate it. It was a good commuter read. You got to know the characters and watch their lives from beginning to end but it was one of those stories where despite big events not much seems to happen (but then perhaps that was kind of the point).
Truly memorable (0/0 people found this helpful)
I can fully understand those reviewers who didn't like this book. It's simply one of those you either love or hate. I took it away with me and read it on holiday where I could indulge myself in uninterruped pleasure as the story unfolded. It DOES take a little getting into, but the passion of the two main characters comes through at the early stages. There IS a lot of detail concerning mental illness and the desire of those concerned to come to terms with the workings of the human mind, and it could be argued that much of it was not necessary for relating the story. But, speaking personally, I did not find this distracting. This is an excellent read, but don't think you can read it in your lunch hour.
An 'Interesting' Read: But worth the effort?? (0/0 people found this helpful)
When I reviewed Engleby I wrote that I had had difficulty in getting past the first few pages of this book, but having been pleasantly surprised by Faulks' latest offering, I went back and made another effort. Suffice to say I did manage to read the novel this time.
Human Traces is a curious book. I started it in high hopes, as it had that solid, cogent, intelligent feel to it- much as `Birdsong'. However, it became harder going as it progressed, and I ended up feeling that somehow it didn't properly reward the effort of having read it.
There was clearly a great deal of research involved in the construction of this novel: not least the arcana of late nineteenth century scholarship on psychiatry. Faulks isn't the only writer to found fictional work on factual study- take Julian Barnes' `Arthur and George' for example, or in the Theatre Tom Stoppard's glittering and thought-provoking takes on string theory or code-breaking. The problem with Human Traces is that it gives the reader a misplaced expectation that something momentous is about to occur, when in fact nothing significant does.
I can see that this might be a clever ploy: after all, not every scientific endeavour is rewarded with a breakthrough, or a re-interpretation of accepted theories, and not all lives are destined to be glorious (few are!). In which case the `argument' of human traces is `What effect do we have on the world?' and `What `traces' do we leave behind?'. From that point of view, the novel is quite eloquent on the desolation life wreaks on our hopes and expectations, and indeed what we believe others to be capable of.
On balance, however, Faulks' central characters Thomas and Jacques scarcely come close to understanding the causes of madness, and much of the novel is taken up with a layman's explanation of the various conflicting- and changing- theories on mental illness. Even from an historical perspective, this is of limited interest: Yes, I can follow the progression from the confinement of the asylum to the liberation of the sanatorium, but ultimately there is no significant point to be made.
Faulks is devotedly Francophile, and the novel reads like a worthy translation of a weighty French novel, though without (thankfully) the moralising.
The author does create memorable characters and is capable of creating a large and coherent canvass with the greatest craftsmanship. He is clearly a keen observer of human nature and I would have given up long before the end if much of his narrative had not rung so true.
Two cheers only, I'm afraid.
Fascinating, gentle and humane book (1/1 people found this helpful)
If you want a mystery story or a "page-turner" packed with sex and action then do not buy this book. Well, I'll revise that a little: it is indeed a "mystery story" but the mystery is one that has never been worked out (can never be worked out?)- how the human mind works. The life-long friendship and work of Drs Rebiere and Midwinter in their effort to cure madness is set against the late 19th Century debate about the causes of mental illness: neurological versus psychological. There is a wealth of information about the conditions in hospitals and asyla of the day that is stunningly well observed, some well-drawn characters with whom one really gets involved (Sonia, at the end of the book, is a particularly moving creation) and all of this is written in the pellucidly beautiful English style of Faulks, who is a master novellist.
This is a big and thought provoking book. It is probably the best I have read this year. As for comparisons with Faulk's other books, there really is no point. Do we seriously expect a writer to produce the same thing again and again? He has embarked on a huge question and tackled it in an epic manner. He asks, ultimately, the question, "What is the point of living?" and so it is not really surprising that he does not achieve a solid answer. The purpose and glory of this book is, of course, that it leads the reader (well, this reader at least) to ponder the questions raised and to reflect deeply on them. Even now, several weeks after finishing the book, I find myself doing just this.
Stunning (3/3 people found this helpful)
This book is not an easy or immediately rewarding read. It is not a Birdsong, but in many respects a far more powerful novel for it. Epic in scope and subtle in a manner that Birdsong is not, this novel is not about the characters but about humanity as a whole and YOU the reader. It tackles what it is to be human and the constraints that our human consciousness ultimately places upon the more enlightened and ambitious. Like Birdsong, it is a rather melancholy novel, but for the majority, without the drama. Towards the end, relatively subtle lingering threads are drawn together with final, but incomplete realizations. In short, everything lingers in this book, just as it does for those that question and push the boundaries in their lives. It does not provide perfect answers or a key to happiness, but an understanding of why it proves so elusive for some. This novel is not for the restless but for those who like to ponder and revel in the subtle joys and frustrations of daily existence and its uncertainties. It is for those who ask too many questions about their own path in life and at times feel alone in this regard. Epic, beautiful, agonising.
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