Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi
Title: Gabriel’s Gift
Author: Hanif Kureishi
Date Published: 2001
Pages: 178
Blurb: The protagonist of Hanif Kureishi’s new novel is a fifteen-year-old North London schoolboy called Gabriel, who is forced to come to terms with a new life after the equilibrium of his family home has been shattered by the ousting of his father.
Trying to fend for himself, as well as providing emotional support to his confused (and confusing) parents, Gabriel is forced to grow up quickly. The only support he can draw upon is from his remembered twin brother, Archie; and from his own ‘gift’, which is accompanied by sensations that urge him into areas of life requiring the utmost courage and faith.
A chance visit to 70s rock star Lester Jones crystallises the turbulent emotions inside Gabriel and helps him to recognise and engage with his gift.
Hanif Kureishi has written a tender, witty and moving meditation on the power of imagination to enrich our lives.
My thoughts: Maybe it was because the book was so short, but I just did not become attached to the main character, even though the reader is clearly supposed to like him. Gabriel’s father Rex has been kicked out of the family home for various crimes including not working and spending all day in the pub. His one moment of glory was in the 70s when he played in the band of Lester Jones before he fell off the stage and broke his ankle and he longs to return those times. Gabriel is attempting to reconcile his parents throughout the course of the book.
Gabriel’s main desire in life is to be a filmmaker - he is very artistic and has a strong imagination. However this leads to several random events in the novel such as daffodils winking at him and his dead brother talking to him.
Critics loved this book. In fact, apparently they love all Kureishi’s work. Possibly I read it too fast, but I have several problems with the plot. Firstly the background characters were weak, one-dimensional and gimmicky. Secondly, Gabriel is supposed to be fifteen but he consistently reads more like a ten-year-old. I think this is a flaw of the writer more than an intentional narrative choice. Thirdly, the plot moves too fast and everything is tied up too neatly at the end when you consider all the issues which needed to be worked through. Finally, the surrealist aspects just seemed to be randomly inserted in the plot. For example, there is one section when Gabriel draws a pair of shoes and they come to life (I think: I was a bit confused by that point) but this is not referred to again in the entire book. I kept expecting it to become a plot point but it never did.
These flaws kept me from enjoying the book too much however I get the impression from reading this one that Hanif Kureishi potentially is a great novelist. I haven’t read any of his other more lauded books so I couldn’t give my impression of how this one stacks up but I don’t think that it deserves a place on the 1001 books list. Maybe the other two novels by him on the list will prove better constructed.