Book 5 - The Outgoing Man by Glen Neath

Probably our most interesting book club meeting so far.  Glen is a local author who many of us know - he has a son who is at nursery with some of our children.


Glen suggested a while back that we read his first book and that he would come and discuss it with our book club.  Here is a bit about it from The Independent newspaper...

Here is a first novel about a man who doesn't know why he's following orders, or whose they are, or why he is stuck in the hotel to which he has been led. He exists in an anonymous space run by anonymous authorities - who may or may not be political assassins, and who include figures with names such as X or D.

Sound familiar? Yes, The Outgoing Man is a rerun of The Trial, Kafka lite, almost completely shorn of any obvious purpose other than to take the reader on an entertaining journey through the vaguely conscious mind of its central, unnamed figure.

Technically, the novel consists of two "postcards" sent by a former "outgoing man" from some sort of safe house to an "incoming man" who has supplanted him, and who is in the process of being supplanted himself.

Almost nothing is made of this framing device. There are no chapters in the two monologues, just pauses. It's like being stuck in a lift with a deadpan comedian, waiting for a punchline that never comes. You have to keep going, or you risk losing any grip.

The book club ladies were all a bit nervous about a discussion with an author - we don't consider ourselves to be too high brow.  Glen let on though that he was also pretty nervous about being chewed up by a bunch of women who might hate his book!


None of us found it a difficult read but it was not the sort of book that any of us had ever read and we had hundreds of questions for Glen due to the fact that it didn't seem to conform to the formula of most books i.e descriptions of key characters, a beginning, middle and end - and the fact that none of us really 'got it', although most of us enjoyed reading it.


There were a number of stand-offs in the book between the main character and people he meets.  Some of the group found this annoying, and even a little uncomfortable, and others found it entertaining and amusing (me included).


What many of us had not considered before was that you actually don't have to get a book but isn't it enough that the pages you are reading are a pleasure to read and so what if it doesn't seem to have a logical sequence?  For me personally it was a bit like looking at a piece of modern art that I enjoy but don't get - as is the case with most modern art for me!  I certainly didn't really understand where the story was going in Glen's book - and in fact it turns out that he never really intended it to be a story, but I enjoyed it and for reasons I couldn't explain found it a real page turner.


So we all learned a lot about reading and to perhaps stop having an expectation on how a book should be and to just enjoy the words for how they make us feel.


We all agreed that this was our best book club so far.  It is of course a treat to be able to pose questions to the author himself, and it is unlikely we we have this opportunity again (unless we read Glens "The Fat Plan).  Everyone there was very engaged with the discussion and we exceed our obligatory 45 minutes of book chat (before allowing ourselves to digress) by far!


Glen has recommended our next book, Pig Tales, by Marie Darrieusecq - about a prostitute who turns into a pig - we really are veering well off the mainstream!!!


Delicious soup was made by Juta - recipe please?!


Posted by Jo