Group Read, September 2015: Troubles

Our September Group Read is Troubles by J.G. Farrell. Please post any comments on the book below.

I'll be reading this but probably won't start for a week.

Thanks for the reminder! I'd almost completely forgotten about this. Just starting it this evening with a pint of beer and a nice warm bath!

I have got this on my TBR pile from the library, so may well start it soon. Having only read 36 books from the 2012 list, I think this is the book which will flip me from the 2012 list to the combined list!

I am a hundred pages in and am experiencing the same as while reading The Siege of Krishnapur: as if I am watching an English drama on tv. So many characters but without getting to know any of them. You just watch them doing whatever they are doing.

I started today. So far well within my reading comfort zone - end of Empire, decaying old colonial house full of eccentric characters. Much amusement to be had, but darker undertones with murder and terrorism closing in. Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September covers much the same ground but without the humour.

It's very dry isn't it? Really reminding me of Seige but The Singapore Grip is, to my memory, not as wry.

Enjoying it immensely. Have laughed out loud a couple of times.

>7 arukiyomi: I'm now starting the second part. Yes, the humour is there but increasingly wistful and melancholy as the rot sets in everywhere, like some of the subtle British comedies. There are more grim elements as the story progresses, so far mainly by way of contemporary newspaper excerpts, but I sense that tragedy may strike close to home before the novel is over (and if it does I won't be revealing anything here!).

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

If I had a criticism of the book so far it would be that the characters are a bit one-dimensional and their motivations are unexplained so far - why does the Major continue to stay at the hotel? (why does anyone stay at the hotel?), why did Angela correspond effusively with the Major and then brush him off once he visited her? is Sarah feigning her disability and if so why? what is Murphy up to? (what is anyone up to?) etc. No great revelations so far, yet I'm enjoying the overall feel of a somewhat gloomy but humorous novel.

To me, in his criticism Puckers describes the exact points why I didn't very much like the book. So many questions unanswered and not in a way that adds to the reading experience.

I did like the setting: the hotel in decay and the parallel with the situation in Ireland at the same time.

However, the one-dimensionality of the characters and the many unanswered questions, made this book for me rather unsatisfying.

I think you need to come to this book not expecting any deep new insights in to "the Irish question" (having Wikipedia handy to confirm some of the references did add to my knowledge though). Nor should you expect any interesting character development. However if you are looking for some humour in a decaying old house then you can sit back and enjoy the stiff upper lips watching furniture crash at their feet through the ceiling from the floors above. At that level this is a good read.

Just getting started with the book today, but I liked it right off from the first few pages.

that's exactly right puckers. The main character being developed in this and the others of Farrell's empire trilogy is the British Empire itself not the people who find themselves born into roles within it.

For me, that's what makes this and the others such important novels. They show an Empire so enamoured with itself and Manifest Destiny that it is utterly blind to what we can so easily see from our perspective. In this novel in particular, the Majestic as a literary device is a wonderful tool for developing this character. Just one example of this is that, despite the rot and decay and that it is obviously doomed, the Major (a metaphor for the British military) just can't seem to leave it, despite saying he will do. Brilliant!

These are wise words. Now I understand how I should have read it, but didn't. I'll certainly keep it in mind when reading The Singapore Grip.

I am about 100 pages in and enjoying it so far but is there an actual point to the novel? I thought it would be about a courtship between the Major and Angela but certainly isn't happening now. I am rather curious about what now keeps him at the hotel.

ermmm... see my earlier comment (#12)... this is literature, not Mills & Boon ;-)

Literature doesn't need to have a plot point. The writing itself can be the sole purpose of the novel. As an example, if the Major represents the British Empire and the Irish lady figure (no spoilers there!) represents Eire, then we have a great illustration of exactly what the political situation was at the time.

Can't go into more detail or I'd give away too much for you. But if you read it with that in mind (and also with my earlier comments about the hotel above) then I think you'll discover something of what Farrell's point was in writing the novel.

I'm finally starting this. I've been reading these comments and I'm glad to have a focus of how to read this in mind.

I read this book a while ago and enjoyed it a lot. The character development issue didn't bother me at all. I didn't think of it as exactly an allegory although now that arukiyomi makes that argument I can totally see it. But the lushness of the writing, and even the lushness of the decaying hotel, was so captivating. I did think that The Siege of Krishnapur was a somehow fuller book, more complex, but over time The Majestic has stayed vivid in my memory.

I'm saving the third book of the trilogy for some moment when I need to read something I know I will like.

I actually found The Singapore Grip to be the most demanding of the three to read. It's much longer for a start and, I think, has less of the dark humour in it. It's a bit more tragic.

I've started this and am about a third of the way through. I'm enjoying it, but I wish I had a better background in what was going on in Ireland politically. I know only the very basics and I think it is detracting from a complete understanding of the book. Maybe I'll spend a little time googling.

Just finished it last night. Very much enjoyed it. It could really only end the way it did. I really liked the way that the Irish love interest was used throughout the narrative and that, just like the Major, what started out for the reader as a fairly straightforward relationship, got more and more enigmatic and contradictory as the novel went on. Very clever writing indeed. We lost a lot of literature when this guy fell in the sea that day.

I just finished this and really enjoyed it. I don't think I'll ever forget that hotel just crumbling around the family and guests. I loved that it was humorous, symbolic, and serious all at the same time. Farrell struck a great balance.

I didn't realize that this was part of a trilogy when I started it. It sounds like it's pretty lose - not even recurring characters? I saw some of you have read the other books. Do you see them being connected or are they pretty close to stand alone novels?

We lost a lot of literature when this guy fell in the sea that day.

I had to do a double take when I read that and then go find out what you meant. What a tragic end!

Finished today and not sure what to say really. Not my favourite book, I rated it 3 star.

I liked the setting of the hotel very much. but how dreadful to sense that it is getting closer and closer to ruin. I felt frustrated with the Major and didn't understand why he stayed on, especially after being rejected. The analogy to the British Empire may well have passed me by, but fortunately I read the comments above before I finished the book!

A good read. I didn't read the comments for fear of spoilers but I guess I've studied enough texts to have picked up on the analogy of the hotel and the cats and the people without any need for hints. It ended better than I thought it would.

Because the people weren't really people I didn't find their behaviour frustrating but it did mean that I wasn't connected to anyone. It was an unusual book.

3 1/2 stars.

japaul22, the novels are standalone with completely different characters. What connects them is the subject matter (British Empire and it's woes) and the characters' blinkered approach to the realities around them. I thought the second novel, The Seige of Krishnapur is one of the best novels I've read. I found it much better developed than Troubles. My review is here: http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?p=2000