5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One great read!, May 2, 2007
This review is from: Taking Comfort (MacMillan New Writing) (Paperback)
"Rob Saunders just wants to feel safe, but the world is a dangerous place."
Rob Saunders is the lead character in this stylish novel by Roger Morris. After witnessing a suicide one morning, Saunders impulsively picks up the notebook the girl dropped, and is strangely comforted by the presence of this souvenir in his briefcase. But as we read further into the book, we learn that Saunders is not the only character who finds comfort in routine, in physical objects, in hopes and dreams that may never be realized (yet are always on the horizon).
Every character in this book is affected by--and witness to--Saunders' movements in his daily life, and in fact, through use of different POVs, we know what they are thinking and feeling, know how they react to Saunders' increasingly obsessive actions as he seeks out more and more tragedies (and souvenirs), and know what their own quirks and "comforts" are. People crave their routines, while also yearning to break out of their ruts and do something exciting or spontaneous. Conversely, if their routine is upset, they feel lost. But how can one feel safe and comforted in this increasingly unsafe new world of terrorism, climate change, and suicide bombers anyway? That's the question Morris poses.
As the story progresses, Saunders' desire for more and more comfort drives him (ironically) into more and more dangerous situations. In the end, something has to give. Morris' use of short chapters and different character POVs really keep the pace of this novel fast, as each chapter flows perfectly into the next. If you are looking for a quick, engrossing, different book to read, I highly recommend Roger Morris' Taking Comfort.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Takes a chance; scores, April 10, 2007
This review is from: Taking Comfort (MacMillan New Writing) (Paperback)
It's been a day since I've finished Taking Comfort, by Roger Morris, and I'm still not quite sure what to write here. It's not an easy book to sum up, nor is it easy to review.
I don't review books I can't consider five-star reads, and I have no reservations about reviewing Taking Comfort. It's just... Well.
The writing, to begin with, takes a huge chance. It's in present tense; it's full of Product Placement; it holds its characters at arm's length even as it assumes their points of view. Done badly, this could provide a great example of style over substance. However, Morris does it very well. So all this--at least in my readerly eyes--underlines the book's message: We live in a fearful world, in fearful times. We fear. To assuage this fear, to survive in this world, we find comfort where we must. We create our own talismans: be they über-designed products that ease and decorate our day, the routines we tread, or even--as Morris' protagonist, marketing man Rob Saunders, knows too well--the souvenirs we collect from disasters that occur on our turf.
Or, sometimes, disasters on turf we have to make a special effort to reach.
This is Saunders' dilemma. He begins his collection almost accidentally, picking up the plastic notebook of a Japanese teenager who commits suicide in the London Tube. Yes, this is creepy; Saunders knows it. He acknowledges it to himself, even as he realizes that it brings him some strange measure of comfort. Doing such a thing once is creepy, but perhaps forgiveable. But then, there's the napkin with the tears of a jilted lover, the bloody handkerchief...and then, the disasters he must go out of his way to witness. And a "normal" man, a businessman in a suit, becomes a furtive obsessive with a suitcase ("The Di Beradino Classic...crafted in beautiful vegetable tanned leather...") full of secrets.
How Morris plays with this, and with the fears and creepiness of others, and with all those marketing-copy-descriptions of the products of Saunders' sterile, disaster-filled world, keeps the pages turning.
This book, I might add, is not for everyone. It's not your average read. It's outrageous; it will provoke debate and, no doubt, some derision. Some will think it's trickery; some might even think it's shallow. I think it's neither; I think it's altogether too appropriate to our times. I think it's very good.
Susan O'Neill, author,
Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam (of course, there's a product link..which rather reinforces Morris' point...)
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