Title: AKIN
Narrator: Jason Culp
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
“The whole point of
travel is to learn there's no such thing as normal.”
Book Description:
Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower
living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away
from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a
handful of puzzling photos he's discovered from his mother's wartime years. But
he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative
of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he's never met, who urgently needs someone
to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael
along on his trip.
Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.
Written with all the tenderness and psychological intensity that made Room an international bestseller, Akin is a funny, heart-wrenching tale of an old man and a boy, born two generations apart, who unpick their painful story and start to write a new one together.
Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.
Written with all the tenderness and psychological intensity that made Room an international bestseller, Akin is a funny, heart-wrenching tale of an old man and a boy, born two generations apart, who unpick their painful story and start to write a new one together.
My musings:
Emma Donoghue’s novel THE WONDER is one of my all-time
favourite books, so I was very excited to pick up her latest novel AKIN.
Old people in fiction really intrigue me. There is so much
history there for the taking, plus the potential of some of life’s wisdom being
imparted after a lifetime of experiences (even if the lifetime is only
fictional). Also, if older characters behave oddly, this can be excused because
of their age, giving the potential for the author to have a lot of fun sending
their protagonist on all sorts of adventures and speaking their mind. Noah
Selvaggio fits that bill perfectly. At 79, he faces a lonely old age after the
death of his wife Joan a few years ago, and more recently his younger sister
Fernande. In the winter of his life, he certainly did not expect being asked to
become the ward of his deceased wayward nephew’s young son (whose mother is in
jail for drug dealing). Especially as he is about to embark on a long awaited
journey to his childhood home, Nice (France) before he has to follow his wife
and sister to the grave.
As the title suggests, AKIN is about family ties, but there
is so much more at play here. As Noah reflects sadly on the obstacles of old
age – bereavement, loneliness, a slowing of the mind and body – he is also a
character who doesn’t shy away from an adventure. Trying to reconcile early
childhood memories of living in Nice, he is also on the search for information
regarding some old photos he has found among his sister’s effects, which he
believes were his mother’s. The images are mysterious, depicting seemingly random
objects and people, as if the photographer had accidentally pressed the
shutter. Noah thinks this is unusual for his mother, who was the child of a
famous photographer after all. Maybe they have a meaning he has not yet
uncovered?
Suddenly saddled with the responsibility of looking after
eleven-year-old Michal, Noah’s trip may not start out as he had expected, but
it will certainly provide some excitement, - and maybe also the answers he had
been looking for.
AKIN was such a joy to read! Witty, heart-warming, touching,
thought provoking and sometimes laugh-out-funny, the contrast between the
travel experience of the old man and the young boy provided all the feels. With
Joan living on as a voice in Noah’s head, she was also a character in her own
right, providing a running commentary on the two unlikely travellers’
experiences.
Donoghue writes well, setting the scene very early and
breathing life into her characters. I got so much out of this book: there is
the heart-warming relationship between the man and the boy and the refreshing
contrast in their views as they explore Nice. Then there is the mystery behind
the photos, which had me totally intrigued. Noah is like an encyclopaedia of
Nice’s history and sights, which provided an armchair travel experience that
was almost like one of those guided tours on top of a tourist bus across the
city. I enjoyed every minute of it!
Finally, credit must go to the narrator, Jason Culp, who
breathed life into Noah until I could picture him vividly in my mind. In contrast,
he provided the perfect mix of attitude and vulnerability for young Michael’s
voice. It’s not easy to find an audiobook that really resonates from both the
writing and the narration, but this fit the bill. Highly recommended!
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