Book Review: The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

I’m not entirely sure what the hell I’ve just read, but this managed to absolutely blow me away in terms of twists and turns very early on. Without giving too much away, what starts as an immigration test decends into something far more realistic, and terrifyingly possible. 

It’s an examination on a future Britain that seems at once incredibly believable and tangible. A way to test and justify fairly who can enter the country in a near-technologically advanced universe. It’s fast paced, morally ambiguous with a lead character in Idir who’s amiable, polite and family orientated. I can’t quite believe what Neuvel has managed to get down in just over 100 pages, but it really managed to make me re-examine my own beliefs and the Subconscious acts of discrimination that I wasn’t aware of. There’s a tight evaluation on human psychology, social prejudice, even sexual discrimination all brilliantly shown via Idir’s thinking process. The feelings of intense stress, pressure and anxiety that Idir goes through are really well done, and PTSD is described in a sensitive yet deeply emotive and powerful way. It’s incredibly thought provoking, and raises a lot of issues relevant to the current climate around what it is to be British, and who ‘deserves’ to live here. 

If anything, I wanted more engagement from Deep etc as I felt his character was largely underused and underdeveloped, but this doesn’t detract from what is otherwise a really good novella. One to read in one sitting and ponder for days later.

Book Review: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

I get where this novella was going - it’s a short but sharp examination of xenophobia and it’s ridiculously nonsensical commentaries from those who insist Britain must remain ‘British’. We follow family unit of mum, Iron Age obsessed dad and Sylvie as they join a group of university students on an ‘experimental anthropology’ expedition that sees them reenacting life in the Iron Ages on the Northumberland moors. Except this is more than just an experiment for Sylvie’s dad, who believes that this is how Britain should be, at its best. 

I just couldn’t engage at all with the writing style. It’s almost stream of conscious-like, and at times I had to reread sentences multiple times to understand what was going and who said what. It disrupted the flow of the story significantly for me, and I struggled a lot trying to connect with what was going on. I really think this would have benefitted from reading it all in one go, as there was never really a good point at which the story comes to a natural lull before the end and perhaps I might have gained more insight reading it this way. 

I liked Sylvie, and I felt sympathy for her situation as she comes across as desperately sad and scared, without anyway out of her situation because of a man who likes to hold all the power without any opposition (her father). At time’s we see her fight this, giving backhanded comments to get a rise from her father when surrounded by the university students, but it’s always comes with a later punishment. Her father comes across as extremely bitter, misogynistic and xenophobic. He clearly sees himself as a proper ‘man’s man’ who believes that women should stay in the kitchen while men go hunting, and Britain has been in decline since the introduction of other nationalities. He’s very black and white, and I think this lack of any subtle depth really didn’t help me warm to the story. 

A different read for me, that carries an interesting message, but the writing style was very off putting.