The Last Hundred Days - Patrick McGuinness

It is always difficult to create a work of fiction around real events.  Notable examples include 'The Day of the Jackal', where we know that Jackal can't possibly achieve his goal, but the tale is so gripping that becomes totally unimportant. I started reading this on a tiny plane hopping between an archipelago in the Taiwan strait and Taiwan proper, so the opening could not have been better.

McGuinness here is describing the last days of the Ceaucescu regime in Romania as 1989 comes to a close.  Anyone with a passing knowledge of recent history knows the bare bones of what happened there and this novel fleshes out events through a variety of characters. Romania in the late 80's was not a very nice place for many reasons and this work gets to the heart of the problems there.

Our narrator, and perhaps the least successful of these characters, is a young Englishman who has ended up teaching English in Bucharest by mistake.  The reason that I say least successful is that the traits, tropes and abilities of this character who must be at best in his early twenties are quite remarkable.  He has insight into language and culture alongside an uncanny ability to seduce Romanian women from very different backgrounds.

There are a few clanging errors that set me off course a little (truckers on the hard shoulder of the U-Bahn?), but overall it was a fascinating romp through a time I remember vividly from the BBC reports. The pacing was excellent, but ultimately the plot (such as it was) petered out by the end, overtaken by events.

The events of winter 1989 in Romania are murky to say the least and this book describes one of the strangest interluded - the mystery of the 'broken' leg.  Some of the characters felt more convincing than others, but overall it was that curious beast, a literary novel with a certain Ruritanian flair.

Highly recommended - I know that I have enjoyed a book when I find myself trying to visualise and cast the film or BBC miniseries as I read.

On the 'To Read' pile

There is an always growing number of books on my 'must read' pile.  Usual routes to that stack are recommendations from friends, reviews from newspapers, radio programmes or blogs and almost never the Amazon 'people who bought this also bought this' link.

So, here follow the next candidates;

i) Bella Bathurst - The Lighthouse Stevensons. Biography of a family that would have been remarkable enough for their tenacity in building lighthouses in the face of enormous difficulties.  That one member of the family decided against the family business and instead gave us 'Kidnapped', 'Treasure Island' and more is an even more fascinating tale.  This should be a great read.

ii) Giles Foden - Zanzibar.  This is around a decade old now and I have to admit it was an impulse buy in HMV on Oxford Street, the two quid price sticker drawing me in.  I have something of a 'problem' with GIles Foden. I love 'The Last King of Scotland', but found both that and 'Ladysmith' terribly difficult to read, despite the end result being ultimately rewarding.  With 'Zanzibar', I suspect that I will find out whether it is him or me!

iii) Patrick McGuinness - The Last Hundred Days.  I've been saving this, hoping that I can really savour it. It is a book that I really want to enjoy. The unfolding drama of Christmas 1989 in Romania, the bloody conclusion and mindboggling aftermath of events like the Mineriad protests with legions of workers propping up a government that looked remarkably similar to what came before. I've always wanted to know more and I'm hoping that this will be the book to tell me.  I'm also delighted to see that there is more to Mr McGuinness than his appearances as sidekick to Peter Kay and a shouty Cilla for the new generation on ITV1.

iv) Simon Winder - Germania.  ''Don't Lets Be Beastly to the Germans'' sang Noel Coward, yet so often we are,  This was a purchase as part of that most heinous of offers, 3 for 2 in an airport branch of WHSmith.  The companion volumes in this unholy triumvirate were 'Blood River' by Tim Butcher, which was exceptional, and 'The Last Englishman' a biography of Arthur Ransome which has been so dry that reading it is redolent of those competitions to scoff cream crackers without water.  What am I expecting from 'Germania'?  A well-written introduction to Germany would be good and a few jokes too.  A greater understanding of a fascinating and somewhat alien (to a Brit at least) culture would be a bonus.  We shall see.