Henk's Reviews > This Strange Eventful History

Longlisted for the 2024 Booker prize
A globetrotting family history that touches upon colonialism, templates of relationships and love of parents and grandparents handed down through generations (and the importance of selecting the right spouse) and in general dealing with life's disappointing aspects
Just as I was old enough to have learned that everything is precarious I also was old enough to understand you can’t say that.

Claire Messud writes a family saga which is inspired on her own family history. Normally I don't like generational historical fiction as a genre much, but in This Strange Eventful History we get to follow mainly Francois and Denise, siblings whose life span WWII to the new millennium. In part one the child perspective on fleeing WW II to Algiers was very well done, but his father perspective from Greece, which mostly was “How could this happen to France”, and “I dislike Charles de Gaulle”, was decidedly weaker.

This book feels a bit like 2021 Booker prize nominated Great Circle, minus the horrible modern day thread of that book.
Family values play an important role (Men mustn’t be weak, weakness was shameful) and Francois turns into Frank in the US where he ends up studying at Harvard. Denise meanwhile struggles with mental health but manages to get a job in Buenos Aires.

There is enormous, but largely uncommented upon, privilege in this book. From a brother who goes to Harvard, has a Fulbright scholarship and goes to a Swiss MBA, to a sister who goes to Argentina, is on lithium and engages with literature, expat life in the form of golfing and visits of Borges to the bookstore she works in, while the father of the family works for an oil company and ends up as a director. All in all the dying parents, tensions in marriages, dementia and other more mundane negative life experiences seem limited compared to the overall getting ahead and prosperity of the family, which includes intercontinental air travel in the 1960s and positions as professor at the University of Chicago.

There is a breakdown in the past of Francois which is interesting (as is the depression of his sister) but not much mentioned further upon. Often times when characters where complaining how tight money was and how hard things where I ended up thinking they have rich people problems.
Francois even sounds like a millennial, he wants to see the whole world and reflects excessively on missed chances while living in Australia, Canada, New York and earning a 1 million miles frequent flyer status. As a general manager of an aluminium plant, travelling up- and down to New York in the private corporate jet he is still complaining, people nowadays wouldn’t even have such careers and perks. Also there is some discussion on the way gender roles not just limit women but also force men into the role of provider but I seriously lacked any reflective ability in Francois and his wife Barbara, who just ends up complaining about a Valentine trip to Miami (again, sign me up for that!).

Not to say that the author does not draw up layered, interesting characters, that she certainly does well with Barbara, Denise and Francois all three being well executed in my view. Denise even reminded me quite vividly of some of my own aunts. Also the fear of saying things making things so, leading to unspeakable silence between partners and parents and children, is interesting enough.
Still I was not blown away on a sentence level and for a book titled “eventful” there aren't that many life changing events happening, people seem stuck in the furrow of their life, which is realistic but not necessarily super engaging for 450 pages long. Also the revelation at the end of the book felt rather random bolted on.

Overall however a solid 3 stars from me for this historical novel.

Quotes:
Why must she be herself? Why was it so unacceptable to be herself?

But self interest is generally humanity’s motivation, non?

We are always already guilty

How exhausting it was, reflected Denise, simply to be alive

Dying was long, hard work

It is like you think someone should come along and save you

She had been a constant disappointment then, simply from being herself

Family life, like playing chess, involved always thinking a few steps ahead

All life and generations collapsing like an accordion

Just try not to think of it

Not only to always work hard but that he must be the top, the way his father had been the top.
That not to be the top was to fail

We’ve got to turn towards life, towards light