Books - Mark Haddon
I have liked his first book “The Curious Incident” very much, but I thought it to be a one-off.
The protagonist is a 15 year old Christopher who apparently has Asperger’s syndrome, an extreme form of autism. It makes him painfully bright, logical and perceptive observer of facts but completely ignorant of other people emotions. He has a range of compulsive rituals and extreme reactions to common things like touching. So the world shown through his eyes is a revelation. Some parents of Asperger’s syndrome or autistic children have reacted to this book as accurate and insightful, and it reads very believable to me. It is funny and kind, it is a good story, and above all it is optimistic. It completely lacks the cheap “romantic” sentimentalism that I hate so much since reading the Andersen’s tales as a child - because I cannot resist it. This book shows from the inside how insanity is not all sadness and despair, it does not have to be our ultimate fear, it does not extinguish all hope and joy.
But since this was the first “serious” book by Mark Haddon, I could not see how he may continue. All right, the guy has had some experience with autistic sufferers, apparently he understands them well, he can write and he has succeeded to produce a great book. “More of the same” would not be as interesting. So, when his second book appeared, I told myself not to expect too much.
“A Spot of Bother” turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. George, a healthy boring man of about 60, retires from his boring office work to a comfortable life with his wife and quietly goes mad. Well, the process is gradual and George is a quiet man, but the consequent action is not quiet at all. Again, when viewed from inside, there is a lot of sense in his madness. At times we are almost convinced that his thinking is perfectly rational in the circumstances. The power of this effect is scary. The comforting idea that the insane are not like us goes out of the window - there are no boundaries, perhaps we all are insane (or, at least, they all are).
A long time ago, armed with a teenage snobbish maximalism, I had a vague idea for a novel. People are well understood, I thought, and all their emotions have been described well in a few great books. Literature as we know it is basically dead - how many ways are there to tell the same tale? So, why not open a new direction - write about the insane. Not about the insanity, but about interaction between people, one of which has a psychiatric disorder. It would require a new level of perceptiveness from the novelist, but conceptually it opens up a wide new field.
Well, this is one such book. George’s family members and friends are real people with their own life complexities, and George’s little problem is just one component of the overall mess. The characters are shown with detached precision but also with compassion and humor. I believe that this is the right way to write about people. George’s insanity is almost comfortable, perhaps we all are slightly insane, (or, at least, all except the dull people).
I had a steadily growing sense of joy from reading this book and Mark Haddon has gone straight to my pantheon.