Daniel Lowe

All That's Left to Tell by Daniel Lowe is a novel about telling stories set in a disturbing framework.

American Marc Laurent is a midlevel Pepsi executive who is taken hostage in Pakistan. Every night his hands are tied behind his back and he is blindfolded when a woman who tells him to call her Josephine visits the room where he is kept. She wants to know who will pay a ransom for his release. When it becomes clear that Marc is estranged from everyone he knows in the USA, she begins to show more demand that he tell her stories about his life, focusing on his daughter Claire, who at age 19 was murdered a month ago and Marc did not return to the USA for her funeral.

As Marc slowly reveals stories from his past, Josephine weaves tales about a future Claire at 34 years old. This Claire survived the attack, is married and has a daughter. She is traveling to Michigan to see her estranged father who is dying. On the way Claire picks up a hitchhiker named Genevieve, who makes up stories for Claire about Marc’s life after he divorced her mother.

This is a beautifully written novel that consists of a story made up of stories within stories that share common connections. The line between reality and story-telling blurs and what is real and what is fiction becomes unclear. The truth of Marc's situation may be less rewarding than the stories. The stories themselves become more real, more compelling, than reality. The stories are what develop the characters, real or imagined. The plot is the story telling - or the plots within the stories. It's all very consciously self-referential; I kept picturing an ouroboros while reading.

The writing is powerful and masterful - there is no fault to be found there. For some reason I bristled at being played with emotionally as Marc's reality stands in stark juxtaposition with the stories being crafted and so lovingly told. Sometimes it's okay if an author messes with my mind while I'm reading; sometimes it just begins to annoy me and feels like too much manipulation. I'm afraid that this time the set up for the story telling felt too contrived for me and, in view of current events, a bit insensitive and careless. It is clear from the start that Marc, a hostage who is surely going to be executed by these terrorists who are forcing him to tell stories, may find some comfort from the stories being told to him, but I can find no charm in this, no matter how exquisitely written. Yes, people and ideas can live on in stories, but stories don't negate the ugliness behind taking a person hostage to ransom them.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Flatiron Books.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/02/all-thats-left-to-tell.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1917419211 show less

Marc has been kidnapped in Pakistan. Two men take turns guarding him. Whenever the interrogator comes into the room, Marc is blindfolded. The interrogator is a woman who says he can call her Josephine. At first, Josephine tries to learn how they can collect the ten million dollar ransom. But then she starts to question him about his severed relationship with his daughter, Claire, who recently was murdered. She asks Marc to tell her stories about Claire, which Marc reluctantly and painfully show more does. Then Josephine starts to tell Marc imaginary stories about Claire’s future if she hadn’t died. In Josephine’s story, Claire is on her way to visit her dying father, who she hasn’t seen in 15 years. She is now married with a child but is traveling alone. She picks up a hitchhiker, Genevieve, who has her own stories to tell. Genevieve tells Claire stories of the life that Marc may have led during her absence.

Marc’s reality is distorted by the blindfold and he finds comfort in hearing the stories of the life Claire went on to live and can almost believe them to be true. Likewise, the reader’s reality is distorted and sometimes it can be difficult to keep in mind which story is “true”. But then again, it really doesn’t matter which story is true. I became completely engulfed in each story. The author moves smoothly from Marc in prison to the imagined Claire on her way to see her dying father to the imagined Marc who has remarried. That may sound a bit complicated but the author writes in such a way that it’s all very clear. I felt like I was dreaming as I read these stories. What power the written word has, even to bring the dead alive again. It was almost as though the power of these stories could re-arrange reality itself.

I couldn’t be more impressed by this author. It’s hard to believe that this is his debut novel though I do see that he’s a writing teacher and that his stories and poems have been published in literary magazines. His is a name to watch out for. This is a literary work of art, unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Most highly recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review. show less

Whilst working in Karachi, as a mid-level executive for the Pepsi Corporation, Marc has been kidnapped by terrorists. As those responsible for his capture decide what will happen to him, two local men take it in turns to guard him. Every night he is blindfolded prior to visits from his mysterious, female interrogator. Initially reluctant to tell him her name, when pressed tells him that he can call her Josephine, although this is not her real name. However, in spite his protests, she show more continues to insist that he cannot be allowed to see her face. Initially her questions focus on who in America will pay a ten million dollar ransom for his release – his employer, his ex-wife, family, friends? However, when it becomes clear that such a large sum is unlikely to be forthcoming from any source – because he is not important enough in the organisation and, on a personal level, is estranged from everyone he has ever been close to – she suddenly confronts him with why he didn’t return home for the funeral of his nineteen year old daughter Claire, who had been murdered a month earlier. She then wants to know what Claire was like and why his relationship with her had become severed prior to her death. Although shocked and upset by this unexpected line of questioning, Marc gradually begins to reveal details about his memories of his daughter, wife and family. Josephine then begins to tell him stories about what the future might have held had Claire not been murdered; this then enables Marc to begin to invent his own stories in which his daughter is still alive.
So begins an almost Scheherazade-like nightly ritual of story-telling, in which Claire, having survived the murderous attack, is 34 years old, married, has a young daughter and is running a hotel in California with her husband. On hearing that her father is in hospital, possibly dying, she sets out on the long journey across America to Michigan. On the way she picks up a hitch-hiker, Genevieve, who begins to create an alternative story for her about the life Marc has led during their fifteen year estrangement.
I found this a compelling and powerful story and loved the way in which the author allowed his characters to manage their feelings about the various losses they had endured and to find comfort in the imagined alternative lives they could have led. The lines between what was fact and what was fiction very quickly became blurred in this imaginative story-telling, something which was sometimes disturbing but also strangely comforting because it opened up the possibility of alternative scenarios and of resolution, redemption and forgiveness. Marc’s sense of reality was distorted by his blindfold, the strangeness of his captivity and not knowing exactly where he was being held, so being able to escape into the realms of fantasy felt like a distraction as well as a comfort. As a reader I could identify with this, especially on those occasions when the reality of his captivity became too painful and disturbing for him, leading to an almost overwhelming need to move away from it, to believe that there could be hope and to experience a better place. This was a wonderful example of how important it is to be able to use fiction to find a way to resolve traumas and to explore a different way of living and relating.
This is a story not only of loss, fear and pain, but also of hope and empathy and there were moments when I felt profoundly moved by it. I became so involved in the parallel stories that I experienced each one as having its own valid truth and ceased to wonder about what was and wasn’t true, that just didn’t seem to be important – perhaps a reflection of the author’s impressive skill as a communicator. There was an almost viscerally sensual thread which ran through the stories, adding an extra dimension to the lives, real and imagined, of the characters; I thought that the author’s handling of this was, for the most part, subtle and sensitive. His writing style is elegant and I often found myself admiring his beautifully constructed sentences and lyrical language almost as much as his story-telling gift! The epilogue provided a not altogether unsurprising ending and yet in no way did this undermine the power and comfort of the alternative story-telling which had preceded it. I am left feeling haunted by this book and know that it will continue to resonate with me for a long time.
This would be a perfect book for reading groups because of the wide range of themes it encompasses and the author’s approach to the power of story-telling – I’m looking forward to introducing it to my group! show less

This book has had some great reviews, but I was rather disappointed in the pretext of it as "a tribute to the redemptive power of storytelling". I found that it read like a collection of short stories where the character bear the same names. I admire the attempt, but would have preferred a more cohesive story.