Paris – Arthur Hofn

The gentle stories.

Ever since the rise of McDonalds and their kin the word fast has become synonymous with lesser quality. I don’t always agree, and even when the “fast version” isn’t the luxury type there is still a place for it. A few years ago a winner of the Eurovision Song Contest got criticised for claiming the majority of music these days is “fast food” music. He might have a point that the music industry can favour the ephemeral and speedily lucrative at times, but there is still quality out there and sometimes you just want fun.

The same is true with books, not everything has to be a classic, or a potential award winner, sometimes you just want something light and easy, something “fast”.

Having said all of that the criticism can work the other way too. Some books are “slow” – they take their time to build, are gentle in the way they tell their story and don’t always spell out everything, It’s very easy to label these “boring” or state it doesn’t go anywhere and needs more action. The fact is there are so many different types of books because they appeal to a variety of people and some are written for a slower audience – no, let me restate that; a book shouldn’t always have to have roller-coaster dynamics, those without will be appreciated by some – so let us have them.

Personally I like slow books. I like to gently follow the story and the characters. That’s not to say I don’t like “faster” books with action and adventure, yes I do – but I see a place for the full spectrum.

Some of the books I’ve heard other people mention that they found “dull” (or other similar expressions) I’ve loved, in fact some are well established to be “good reads” for someone to come along and state “I don’t know what the fuss was about I found it boring and gave up.” Well fair enough, we all have different tastes but in this blog I’m going to stand up for two “slow” books and if you like that type of thing, I’d recommend them.

Described by some as “pretentious” and “banal”, instead I found The Elegance Of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery to be thoroughly enjoyable. Originally written in French (but available in several languages) and set in Paris in the present, this is the story of an older woman called Renée. She has a so called “lowly job” as a concierge in a block of apartments and no one really pays her much attention. This is just the way she wants it, in secret she is highly educated and very well read. It would be easy to take a story about a person with hidden intelligence and make it pretentious, but this is not the case here. The author isn’t trying to show off but just tell the story of people who are overlooked or like to hide. There is some but not a lot of action, the slow pace through the lives of the people who live in the apartment building builds characters whose lives overlap in the building they share. The gentle nature of the story contrasts with the deeper concepts that are going on underneath. I get this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you do like slower reads I’d recommend this.

“People aim for the stars, and they end up like goldfish in a bowl. I wonder if it wouldn’t be simpler just to teach children right from the start that life is absurd.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Another book that seems to split opinion is An Artist Of The Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro. To be honest when you’ve won the Nobel Prize for Literature that’s enough of an argument; sometimes just because we don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s bad – it’s just not to our taste.

This novel tells a story of a Japanese artist during and after the Second World War. Big events are hinted at subtly, strong concepts are left for the reader to consider without being underlined. In real life the way world history touches everyday people can seem mundane when you don’t consider the context. Here we are told the story of a man who lived through such events and was affected by them to suddenly find the whole perspective of his life has changed and he is left find a way to cope. It might be a look through the microscope rather than the full canvass, but that is the whole point. Every big epic hides thousands of lives forever changed with consequences that will live on. How does the choices people make to deal with the past identify them in the present?

Not everything is spelled out but that makes reading it become more like the way we see other people and as a result it’s a slower read, but one that is worth putting the effort into.

“For however one may come in later years to reassess one’s achievements, it is always a consolation to know that one’s life has contained a moment or two or real satisfaction”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of The Floating World

Literature should cover the spectrum and the fact that one type of book doesn’t appeal to us is what makes the mosaic of works so colourful (if you’ll forgive me mixing my metaphors); it would be boring if we all liked the same things. Either way not every book has to be a classic but equally there is space out there for the slower reads.

Buy The Elegance Of The Hedgehog Paperback by Muriel Barbery
Buy An Artist Of The Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro