We are now beginning our descent by James Meek charts more than the globe-trotting activities of jaded war journalists Adam and Astrid. Adam is divorced, unstable and increasingly desperate, as his planned new life crumbles around him, and he is left surveying the wreckage of bridges he has burned and good intentions he has no hope of fulfilling.
The narrative of this novel does not follow a clear trajectory – it is splintered out of chronological order, moving from Iraq to England, a plane en route to New York, Afghanistan and a small town in Chesapeake Bay. Meek handles his characters deftly, giving them substance that reveals itself as the novel unfolds. Both Adam and Astrid carry what the Guardian review called “mysterious moral injuries” that form the basis of the story.
Hey! Has anyone actually read this book?
Someone must have, because someone recommended it for book of the month…. but it wasn’t me. I looked at it and I read a couple of reviews and I completely failed to motivate myself to read it (so I read a biography of Queen Victoria’s children and three funny mysteries on the weekend instead – more on them over in favourite reads real soon).
I don’t know that the person who recommended it still works for Council. I have a copy, and I do plan to read it, but I have three interlibrary loans to get through first.
Hey, it’s the August book. I’ll have it finished by the end of August.
I promise to read the next one, OK? 8)
In all honesty I have tried to read it and made a dedicated effort to read beyond the first two pages. Its strange but may provoke discussion which is what a book club hopes to do – right?