The Illuminations, by Andrew O'Hagan
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The Illuminations, by Andrew O'Hagan
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Standing one evening at the window of her house by the sea, Anne Quirk sees a rabbit disappearing in the snow. Nobody remembers her now, but this elderly woman was in her youth a pioneer of British documentary photography.
Only when her beloved grandson, Luke, returns home to Scotland does Anne's secret story begin to emerge, along with his, and they set out for an old guest house in Blackpool where she once kept a room.
The Illuminations, by Andrew O'Hagan- Amazon Sales Rank: #171434 in Audible
- Published on: 2015-09-14
- Format: Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Running time: 550 minutes
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Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Fading Images By Roger Brunyate Look up Blackpool on the Internet. The largest seaside resort on the Northwest coast of England, it drew mainly working-class holidaymakers from the industrial North and Scotland, reaching its peak in the middle of the last century, when major stars would play its theaters, but it has not been able to compete with cheap fares to warmer resorts abroad. Blackpool has long been famous for its extensive illuminations that light up its promenades, piers, and miniature Eiffel Tower. The tarnished glamor of the resort in former days is an emotional point of reference in Andrew O'Hagan's latest novel, even though he does not take us to those particular illuminations until the very end. But the metaphorical associations of the title resonate throughout.Most of O'Hagan's book is divided between the Ayrshire coast of Scotland (setting of his peerless BE NEAR ME, one of whose characters makes a brief appearance here), and Afghanistan. The two principal characters are Anne Quirk, a former photographer now an elderly woman living in a retirement community, and her devoted grandson Luke Campbell, who is a Captain in the British army. I have to say it is a difficult book to follow at first. Anne is succumbing to senile dementia, and little of her conversation makes everyday sense. Though university educated and a thinker, Luke spends much of the novel with the soldiers in his armored vehicle, and the constant barrage of obscene insults in various regional dialects comes pretty close to unintelligibility. The Afghan scenes had a certain element of déjà vu for me, I think from my recent reading of THE HUMAN BODY by Paolo Giordano, but maybe it is simply that both authors took care to show it like it is.Neither story is as simple as it seems. Anne Quirk has been a photographer in her youth, a true artist and something of a pioneer. The author implies that he was inspired by the Scottish Canadian photographer Margaret Watkins, although the biographies don't quite match. Anne's talent emerges gradually through O'Hagan's words, but seeing the pictures which were his inspiration adds an extra glow to the novel in retrospect. Most of Anne's thoughts now are centered on Blackpool, where she met her husband, Harry Blake, a war photographer and hero in his own right. It gradually becomes clear, though, that constructing stories is not merely a symptom of Anne's illness, but something she has been doing her entire life, professionally and otherwise. And when things go horribly wrong in Afghanistan, and Luke returns to Scotland, he too must shape some kind of narrative that makes sense of who he is and what he lives for.I am somewhere between four and five stars on this one. There is much more in the book than I have described -- for example, riffs on the secrets and resentments endemic to extended families -- and at times I felt it lacked focus. But the gentle process of illumination, carefully letting the light in as a photographer does when developing a film, is one that I find quite beautiful, ultimately persuading me to round up rather than down.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Choppy, unfocused, unfelt By A Reader This is a strangely choppy novel, splitting focus between an elderly woman with dementia (Anne, a photographer now living in a housing complex with a lonely neighbor), and Anne's grandson, fighting in, and then leaving (in great psychic conflict) Afghanistan. Anne's dementia takes her into the past, where she remembers, in the vague reminiscenses of the very old, her love affair with another photographer. Her daughter Alice feels abandoned by her. Poor Alice pours out her betrayed heart to anyone who will listen. Although the reason for her abandonment is eventually revealed, it's hard to feel any impact because it's explained, not dramatized. There's much talk of emotions but that's all you get, a lot of talk about it, a lot of distance from it (and a lot of soldier jargon that felt even more false to me). Anne's grandson, Luke, feels a special bond with her but it's almost impossible to know why. He behaves like an example of an idealized person, not a real person. As a memory piece this does not work at all. The structure is messy, emotional life has no impact on the reader. The focus wanders all over the place, which is maybe the point, but as a result it was very difficult to feel anything for anyone. I couldn't really tell you what the point of the story was, although I'm pretty certain we're meant to draw conclusions about the parallel lives lived here. It didn't add up to much for me though, honestly. Very tedious novel.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A wonderfully drawn set of characters providing an interesting link to ... By TFoss A wonderfully drawn set of characters providing an interesting link to life as it is versus life as we'd like it to be... It turns out that the truth may not, after all, set us free... But from one person's "truth" another may be able to come to terms with his own. At times poignant, at times messy, I can see clearly why this book was short-listed for the Man-Booker... A wonderful read, and highly recommended.
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