Sebastian Faulks is the writer of 15 earlier novels, 4 works of non-fiction, and the most effective line of literary criticism I can bear in mind. “Reading a Penelope Fitzgerald novel,” he as soon as wrote, “is like being taken for a ride in a peculiar kind of car. Everything is of top quality – the engine, the coachwork and the interior all fill you with confidence. Then, after a mile or so, someone throws the steering wheel out of the window.”
Faulks’s personal novels are additionally superbly made, however not so stunning. What you see is what you get: a widescreen exploration of points like battle (Birdsong), psychiatry (Human Traces) or politics (A Week in December), sensitively written, exhaustively researched, and inferior to Ian McEwan. He additionally has a enjoyable aspect, which has produced each a James Bond novel and a PG Wodehouse pastiche.
His new novel, The Seventh Son, makes an attempt to mix these points of his writing: large themes inside a style format. The story opens within the almost-visible future: it’s 2030 and we’re launched in vigorous style – larky dialogue, fast-moving scenes – to the three units of characters whose gears will mesh. First Talissa Adam, a younger American educational who’s seeking to make sufficient cash to fund her post-doctoral analysis. Then Alaric and Mary Pedersen, a British couple hoping to conceive a baby with a surrogate mom. And lastly, the Parn Institute, whose employees will carry collectively Alaric, Mary and Talissa.
So far, so clear – however wait. The Institute is funded by Lukas Parn, “the Buddha of Bulls–t” (in Talissa’s phrases), who, like many tech-bros earlier than him, spends his cash making an attempt to reply questions no one requested. Parn desires to know why Homo sapiens developed so rapidly and dramatically compared with the Neanderthal.
This results in the Parn Institute interfering with Alaric, Mary and Talissa’s surrogate being pregnant in a approach it might be unfair to disclose, however which is the primary instance of strained plausibility within the novel. Then once more, just about every part on this ebook is strained, schematic, or not fairly sq.. The joins are seen: we get heaps of explanatory dialogue which is there not for the characters however for the reader. “Walk me through it again,” says Parn to his chief scientist. “Tell me as if to a kid.”
