Customer Reviews

Restless

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a spy novel, not a thriller, and there is a real difference between the two genres. Think John LeCarre and Graham Greene, not Robert Ludlum and Ken Follet. With the spy novel, you have the ever-so-slow peeling of layers, deeper characterizaion, a frequent sense of foreboding and, until all is revealed, some confusion. The thriller, in contrast, is the page-turning, up-all-night, action-packed adventure that you can't put down. After finishing a thriller, you are likely to say "where can I get another fix," but not to reflect on what you have just read, and if you try, you may not remember and, if you do, it may not make sense. With the spy novel, you may want to wait a while before reading another, but you will spend some time reflecting on what you've just read, and it provokes you in a more serious, literary way.

I like both genres but find it important to orient my expectations going in.

For the spy novel genre, Restless would have to rank among my favorites. In addition to the terrific writing, the likeable-but-far-from-perfect heroines and the World War II intrigue, the novel offers some additional pleasures.

First, it is quintissentially British. The book involves, among other things, a single mother raising her son, the world of Oxford academia, and all sorts of emotionally powerful events. These all come across with the British stoicism, stiff-upper-lipism and "no winging (whining)" ethic that make the book very different from an American treatment of the identical plot. Not better, or worse, just different and thus very interesting to the American reader. The cultural difference (accurately renedered I should say) is a fascinating sidelight for the American reader.

Second, the author employed heroines rather than heroes. I would be interested to hear from female readers, but I was very impressed with the author's ability to create characters of the opposite sex who seemed nonstereotyped, but true. There is nothing of "the weaker sex" to the heroines, but they are not at all the same as they would be if written as men. In short, they're real women (or at least seem so from my, male, perspective)in a genre that does not frequently offer that.

Third, the novel spends a great deal of time on the intrigue, spying and propoganda surrounding British efforts to persuade the United States to join World War II. In an interview, Boyd says that he mostly used his imagination in creating the spying, but it certainly seems realistic and oh so relevant today. The wheels-within-wheels manipulation of the media and public opinion and the "trust nobody" mantra say more about contemporary foreign affairs than many current nonfiction treatments, which themselves simply repeat the spin that interested actors have given the authors.

Enjoy.

Over the last twenty years, William Boyd has, for me, been among the most consistent writers of narrative fiction. There have been books that will stand the test of time (New Confessions) and ones that already seem dated (Stars and Bars), but Restless finds him in good form. Boyd, as flexible as ever, turns his attention to the spy genre. We are presented with a double narrative, mother and daughter. The plot is hampered by a slightly overwrought literary device, the mother doling out her diaries at intervals, conveniently allowing the author to flip back and forth in time. Still, Boyd remains a wonderful writer. His characters are incisive, full blooded and captivating, even the ones we're not supposed to like. Boyd, like McEwan, manages the perfect blend of literature and thriller and Restless reads very quickly. That alone is a reason to buy it, but add in the Paris of 1939, spymasters and double dealings and Boyd is on to another winner.

Restless: Two Stories in One

In Restless William Boyd gives us two stories in one: the stories of Ruth Gilmartin and Eva Delectorskaya. But sadly only one of the stories is fully developed. Ruth Gilmartin, a single mother, teaches English as a second language and lives in Oxford, England with her son Jochen. Her life gets complicated when her mother, Sally Gilmartin, gives Ruth her memoirs revealing herself as the British spy Eva Delectorskaya. Boyd structures the memoirs one chapter at a time into the novel. This results in alternating chapters of the two women's lives, with two viewpoints, two settings, and two time frames, the seventies and the forties. Ruth, along with the reader, becomes absorbed in her own mother's past. And what a Machiavellian past Eva had: a contrast to the routine existence Ruth lives.

Boyd's creative use of two storylines within one novel makes reading interesting. Eva's undercover story takes center stage. Each chapter ups the ante in violence and intrigue. Her entanglement with Lucas Romer, her boss, leads her to plant fake documents meant to encourage the U. S. to engage with the British in World War II. Boyd packs this thriller with mystery, drama, and devious manipulation, compelling the reader to search for answers. He builds a complicated plot for Eva's story, and withholds information as well as any mystery writer. By the time the story has played out he ties up all the pieces with finesse.

He is not as meticulous writing Ruth's story. He inserts plotlines and leaves them unfinished. What happened to Hamid's love for Ruth and his connection to the protests against the Shah, to Ludger, Ilse, and their connection to the Red Army? What about Detective Constable Frobisher? Why did Boyd build so many fascinating questions in Ruth's story and not resolve them? One writing theory is if the author puts a gun on the mantle in the first chapter, he better let the reader know why it was there by the last chapter. Boyd put too many guns on Ruth's mantle and we still don't know why in the last chapter he included them in the story. Though William Boyd is a talented writer, this careless oversight keeps the novel from being exceptional. Boyd needs to go back and edit.

When Ruth, a single mother and teacher of English as a Second Language, goes to Middle Ashton to visit her mother, Sally Gilmartin, in 1976, she receives a surprise. When Ruth is ready to go home, Sally gives her a folder entitled _The Story of Eva Delectorskaya_. Ruth has never heard of Eva--until her mother stuns her by announcing, "I am Eva Delectorskaya." Sally believes that someone is trying to kill her, and she wants Ruth to help her find Lucas Romer, her former boss in a British spy agency, during World War II.

The novel which ensues from the additional folders Eva gives to Ruth alternates between Ruth's life in the 1970s and the life of Eva Delectorskaya from 1939 through 1942. A Russian émigré to Paris, Eva is recruited by British intelligence, and once she has been trained (and has removed all traces of a foreign accent from her voice), she is sent to Belgium, where she works for Agence d'Information Nadal, a front organization which plants disinformation which the allies hope the Germans will accept as truth. Later she goes to Holland with Lucas Romer, her boss, and eventually to Manhattan.

Ruth's life, far more plebeian than Eve's, revolves around her teaching of foreign students, her care for her son, her friendship with Hamid Kazemi, an Iranian student and engineer, and her involvement in activist politics. When Ruth succeeds in locating Lucas Romer, the two story lines come together in a grand climax.

Always a master of narrative pacing, Boyd keeps the story moving smartly, though Eve's story is far more interesting and more involving than Ruth's. His ability to recreate the atmosphere of Europe and the US in 1942 makes for lively reading as he explores some of the lesser known intrigues by British intelligence. Boyd has often made use of diaries and journals to advance his plots, and this formula works as the reader becomes fascinated by Eve's complex life as a spy. Unfortunately, the characters themselves are not very complex, and as a result, the reader remains at arm's length from the action. With its unusual plot twists and its focus on British spy activity within the US, however, the novel moves quickly and is fun to read. n Mary Whipple

British actress Rosamund Pike is probably best known for playing the gal who caught James Bond's eye in Die Another Day. While that performance certainly grabbed audience attention, she has numerous other noteworthy credits both on stage and in films. She does another star turn as she inhabits two narrative voices in the 9th novel by William Boyd. He's been called "The finest storyteller of his generation," and Restless again demonstrates how splendidly he can spin a tale.

Set in Oxfordshire, England during 1976 our story opens with a bit of a shock - Sally Gilmartin gives her daughter, Ruth, a memoir she has penned. Ruth is amazed to learn that her mother is not at all who she believed her to be. In actuality, Sally Gilmartin is Eva Delectorskaya, A Russian who worked for the British Secret Service during World War II. Sally or Eva has guarded this secret well for almost 30 years.

Now, she is revealing the truth about herself to her daughter not because she wishes to be open but because she fears for her life and Ruth is the one person in the world she believes she can trust. Ruth is not only astounded but disbelieving, wondering if her mother may be delusional at the onset of old age. Nonetheless, for her mother's sake she tries to find Romer the man who recruited Sally/Eva and with whom she had an affair.

Restless is related in parallel stories, probably the most compelling are the accounts of Sally/Eva's enlistment, training, and experiences. Following the war she returns to England, adopts an identity and marries. She has every reason to believe her past is well behind her.

Not so!

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

I HAD to read it. It is William Boyd, after all, one of my favorite authors.

Many years ago, a friend told me I HAD to read News Confessions. And I did it : I took me away. Loved it. And advised other people to read it.

Since then, I am still looking for the next Boyd masterpiece. The Nat Tate story was brilliant. Some others were sustaining. Is Confessions his masterpiece? Yes. What is Restless? A far cry from Confessions... It made me wait for those Boyd comments & twists. Interesting, enjoyable, but really not the best Boyd ever. There is no real punch in this one, just interest in going on to find out more about the Eva character.

I'll stop here, Mr Boyd. I will still read you and wait for a new strong book like you are capable of.

Cannot fathom the 4 stars reviews; especially the reviewer who states: "plot is hampered by a slightly overwrought literary device, the mother doling out her diaries at intervals, conveniently allowing the author to flip back and forth in time." The device is brilliant. You want to read straight forward and mundane, well, stick to Ludlum or Silva or whomever. The discerning reader will note the author's subtlety and craft. His slight of hand if you will. The slow way the substance of the tale is revealed. It's like being lost in a forest. You believe you know which path to take out. The sun is shining. You come upon a meadow here, a brook there. No, wrong way. It is only when all is revealed and you are safely out that you say, well, I knew where I was all the time. But, you didn't. Boyd never disappoints. I stumbled upon him long ago when I read The Ice Cream War. His novels are all dissimilar. He's vastly underrated because he's so accessible. I cannot wait to see what he gives us next.

This was a very fun read but I cannot let this one go without commenting on the autrocious Kindle version. The thing was riddled with mistakes all over regarding spelling and puncuation. COME ON how hard can it be to trnasfer a digitial copy to a digital copy?!! Don't you kindle people review your product before selling it?? But worse is the publisher. If I was Boyd I'd be livid.

At this point in his career, I don't know if Boyd is capable of writing a bad book. With his past work he's shown himself to be a writer at ease in multiple locations and time frames, and here he plays to that strength with a narrative moving back and forth between 1939 Paris and 1976 England. The story starts in the latter, where single mother Ruth Gilmartin is given a rather shocking manuscript by her aging, Cotswold village-dwelling mother, Sally. It's a well-worn adage that we can never truly know our parents, and Ruth is given prime evidence of this, as her mother's manuscript reveals her true identity. The sharp, white-haired, garden-tending widow grew up as a White Russian émigré in Paris, and was recruited into the British Secret Service in 1939.

The story of Sally's three year espionage career in Edinburgh, Belgium, and U.S. are meted out through further manuscript packets over the course of weeks. Anyone with a penchant for spy stories will find the details of this fascinating, from her training in mnemonic tricks and losing six-person tails, to her work in a unit dedicated to planting false stories in newspapers around the world, with the intent of both misleading German intelligence and bringing the U.S. into the war. (This is all based on the very real presence and activities of British intelligence agents in the U.S. during World War II.) However the modern story has its own element of more immediate intrigue, as Sally is convinced that someone is out to get her. Ruth thinks her aged mother is just paranoid, but agrees to try and track down the mysterious man who recruited her almost forty years previously -- if only to prove her wrong.

Yes, the mother's doling out of her life story in manuscript installments is a rather clunky device, but Boyd has always had a fondness for having characters speak through letters, diaries, and so forth. And yes, these epistletory devices are always much more fluid and dynamic pieces of writing than any normal person would pen, but Boyd sweeps you along with his elegant prose and good pacing. Some reviewers have criticized the book for an imbalance in interest between the stories of the mother and daughter, however that may well be missing the point. Sure, Ruth is "just" a English-as-a-second-language tutor with a young son to look after, an everchanging roster of awkward foreign students, and an unfinished history dissertation. But such normalcy serves to both highlight the difference between her life and the secret life of her mother's, and give the reader someone to identify with. This may feel to some as "Boyd lite" due to the espionage storyline, but such pigeonholing seems to smack more of knee-jerk genre snobbery than anything else. Boyd is among the finest novelists of his time and once again he proves his ability to write female characters better than almost any other male novelist out there. Great stuff.

A secret service thriller with alternating sections. There is the story of Eva Delektorskaya, who had been recruited into the British Secret Service just before the outbreak of the Second World War. She was very good at her work; but for much of the time the bigger picture is kept from her by her boss, and that picture includes the deadly rivalries within and between the various intelligence agencies. When she realizes that as part of that game someone has tried to have her killed, she escapes from the outfit and adopts a new identity in England, of which the man who would become her husband and her daughter Ruth are kept in total ignorance. But in 1976 she thinks she has reason to suspect that whoever wanted her dead in 1941 is still after her; and she has to recruit Ruth to help her fend off the danger. In order to do this, she has first to tell her story to Ruth, and she does this by sending her in instalments the story of her previous life. I found it an unsatisfactory and unconvincing device: it reads like chapters in a novel that she had already written: it is a third-person narrative and there is far too much novelistic detail in the script for it to have been written for the purpose of putting Ruth into the picture. On the other hand, if the account had already been written, why was it not handed over to Ruth all together, instead of being released to her in sections alternating with the first person narrative of Ruth's life after she is first told that her mother's life might be in danger?

Ruth, divorced from a German husband, teaches foreign students in Oxford. Prominent in her story are an Iranian student opposed to the Shah's regime, and her brother-in-law and his girl friend who suddenly turn up from Germany where they may have been involved with the Baader-Meinhof group. At any rate, the police are interested in them. One is led to suspect that there might be a connection between these strands and the situation in which her mother finds herself. They play as big a part in Ruth's story as does her growing involvement in the task her mother has set her.

I don't usually read spy-thrillers, and the intricacies of, say, John Le Carré`s plots happen not to appeal to me very much. The intricacies in this novel are of that kind; and fans of Le Carré will probably like this book, too. It is of course very well written, as one would expect from the winner of many book prizes; but it is all plot, and the characters, except for Eva in her old age, are not really three- dimensional. The climax, I think, is weaker than I expected it to be, though, in the few pages after that, the unravelling of motives in unexpected, and the suggested analysis of the political background in 1941 is one I have not come across before: I find it ingenious but historically not really convincing.

The book did not really grip me; but then I am not the best judge of this kind of novel. Bear that in mind when you see my rating.