By Jonathan Traynor
When an author’s work is labelled as existential and surreal the casual reader may look away and head for the latest bestseller or cookbook. When it comes to writers such as Christopher Owens that would be a mistake, as evidenced in his latest book, Soineanta Maskirovka.
The book tackles a life lived normally that comes to a sudden conclusion with early retirement. The protagonist, Gilbert Hood, is coming to terms with a new reality, and the past that rears its head too often in his memory.
Set in Belfast, and within Hood’s own actions, this examination of ageing is tempered by the mysteries that his life casts up.
Whether the tales told by Hood are reliable is a question that is left hanging, dismissed as they are by his psychiatrist/therapist who doodles as the retiree talks of his doom-laden dreams.
As a counterpoint is Hood’s YouTube channel discussing the merits and joys of the golden era of silent movies. The delight found in his musings adds to the compelling nature of the narration.
Leading to a strange trip to Drogheda, this is introduced as just one more aspect, that is part of the musing on train journeys as reading opportunities.
And, journeys are a key touchstone in the storytelling. These excursions in Hood’s mind and the literal journeys, such as that to the crumbling Forster Green hospital’s mortuary, and the exhumation of his Uncle Victor’s body in addition to questions over his grandparent’s past.
These force the reader to try and reason what is real, and what is imagined. Like in so-called reality there is no simple answer.
The tone is melancholic, but with enough inherent wit to ensure the reader remains engaged. Whilst the setting is largely within the streets of Belfast, like Owens previous work Dethrone God, the depictions could be of any city in Europe, made all the more evocative of the nightmares that plague Hood.
As a guide the protagonist is unreliable, but charming in his own way.
What Owens has attempted, and succeeded, is to paint a character who forces us to consider the worth and value placed on those who step into retirement, without a guide and a still active mind. As society’s ever growing life expectancy there are no clear paths laid out for ageing, the TV image of pensioners playing bowls, golf and ‘doing lunch’ idyll is not the reality for Hood, or for many.
Thankfully Owens asks these questions without explicit declamations, rather a tale that enables the reader to consider them. And that is what makes this a compelling read. Perhaps the Older People’s Commissioner should order a copy.
The book will be available for purchase in paperback and eBook from 28th February and will be available to order through Amazon.
