Alix
Rebick is brought home to Liverpool on hearing the news that her ailing mother
is on her deathbed. She stays with her brother Sam, who has just bought
an apartment overlooking the renovated Albert Dock, where bare bricks and
excruciatingly uncomfortable chairs mix with Rothko's. The flat is
evidence of the financial reward that Alix and Sam have received from selling
the family cosmetics business to the American giant Rose Rosen. Despite
all the odds, and the pain, Alix's mother lives on. Despite all the odds
and the pain, Alix's home place, Liverpool hangs on. Whilst Sam and Alix
philosophise about their mother's death (much to the fury of Sam's wife,
Melanie), Joseph Shields works on the revival of Liverpool as he builds an art
hotel. Alix regards Liverpool as a dying city, and is amused to see her
youth revivified in museums (like The Beatles Experience), whilst she travels
around the world, in her mission to restore synagogues that have been
abandoned by Jewish communities in flight. Meanwhile, the community of
Liverpool is uncertain of its own future, having taking on the powers that be
in a Red Revolution that failed. The Rebicks have been trying to make the
crossing to America for decades, but they are "Still Here" in
Liverpool. If they cannot go to the mountain, then America comes
to them in the form of tourists and Joseph Shields. When Alix and Sam
finally make their fatal choice, their mother surprises them all by leaving
them one final, enigmatic imperative. Sam and Alix have also been
left their father's legacy of being Liverpool's "good
guys", the people that you go to when you are in trouble. Sam works
as a solicitor on behalf on the city's lowlifes, and Alix also provides
redemption, despite her scepticism regarding the "talking cure".
This is also a novel about passion and lust. Alix gleefully played her
part in the sexual revolution, but is now disconsolate to discover that she is
running out of suitable partners, and craves the intimacy of a long-standing
relationship. Sam, meanwhile, toys with the idea of having an affair, despite
the fact that to most appearances, he has the perfect marriage. Joseph
Shields believes that he has the perfect marriage, despite the fact that he has
not seen his wife for months, at her request. Alix's lust centres on this
modern model of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, despite the fact that he has only a
little of the spark and energy of Brunel. Joseph has been driven to
build, after having witnessed at first hand the destructiveness of war.
While flirting with the idea of building in Liverpool, Joseph is given all the
spiel by the city council about how many Americans are flocking to Liverpool
because it was where many of them embarked on their voyage to the New World
(and where many were fleeced and so could not make the final trip - just how
old is the trade of "people smuggling"?). When he wanders
around the streets, Joseph has a moment of perfect serendipity - he finds the
first Modernist building in the world, the work of one Peter Ellis, a
nineteenth century architect who was derided because the world was not ready to
take on his ideas until decades later, when the concept of skyscrapers
was exported to America too.
I've heard it said recently that modern writers are not tackling modern themes,
events, and issues, but it seems that Linda Grant can't help but be topical,
especially at the moment that I'm writing this review. Linda Grant
was completing this novel around the time of September 11, when, of course, one
of the world's most prominent buildings was destroyed. This event
increased the tension between the Israelis and Palestinians, and Joseph Shields
is a survivor of an earlier battle for Israel. Pervading throughout the
novel is a discussion of the nature of evil, something that Alix had to
confront several times in her previous career as a sociologist specialising in
criminology, especially when some of her students try to resurrect a child
killer as a feminist hero. The factory that originally made the cleansing
cream was in Dresden, and Alix finds herself visiting the "flood plains"
of Saxony in a search for what is left following the great conflagration of
those two notorious bombing raids (with what was once threatened by fire now
currently being threatened by water).
At points during the novel, Alix and Joseph contemplate the effects of
ageing. Since the novel is narrated by both of them, they cannot help but
be introspective. Joseph ponders the question of whether he is shallow,
and Alix wonders if she is all surface. Joseph believes that his wife is
in the process of throwing away an invaluable intimacy, when he cannot bring
himself to tell his family what he really saw in his war, choosing instead to
enclose them in a glass cage of his own design. Alix sees herself in the
process of becoming a woody and veined woman, metamorphosing like the women
punished by Bacchus for attacking Orpheus in Ovid's famous work. This is
a world where bodies, like buildings, can be repaired and resculptured, just as
long as the scars are skilfully hidden. This is a world where old models
can be swapped for new, both in terms of buildings and people. And this
is also a world where there are inexplicable survivals and tales of
endurance. It would have been better if the world's greatest football
team had got more of a mention, but that's a personal bias, and does not
detract from a truly brilliant novel. You will find yourself totally
immersed in this loquacious text, but will ultimately be buoyed by its
vital and uplifting tone. "Still Here" is a novel that deserves
to live up to its name by having a long shelf life. It's one of the
best books that I have read this year, and I recommend it to you unreservedly.
Authortrek
Rating:10/10
Kevin
Patrick Mahoney
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