The High House by Jessie Greengrass - March 2024 Fetch Book Group discussion thread
9 watchers
4 Mar
11:16am, 4 Mar 2024
66,996 posts
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LindsD
The other thing I thought was missing was sex. No one is a sexual being in this book. But I guess that's part of the bleakness. No future generations because why would you?
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5 Mar
5:29pm, 5 Mar 2024
21,194 posts
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Chrisull
The short story book was highly recommended on Backlisted too "An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It". They read a section out on the "Against Nature" episode (which I also must read) and it was pretty jawdropping.
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11 Mar
9:37pm, 11 Mar 2024
22,454 posts
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Columba
It was a relief to finish this book. Thoroughly depressing; not the least depressing thing about it is that it is probably accurate as regards the way the climate and environment are headed. Not even a glimmer of hope which there might have been if (for eample) Pauly could decide to set out on an extended exploration. But no; he seems resigned to being the last living member of the trio, and to die in or near the High House. Not that I managed to believe in the characters, really, hence I didn't feel involved or concerned in their fates. It seems far more likely, to me, that there would have been friction to the point of destruction within a little group in those circumstances. Grandy's death didn't seem to change the dynamics of the group at all, but surely it would have; he was an anchor, and without him they would have drifted or deteriorated at best, and fought among themselves at worst. |
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11 Mar
9:45pm, 11 Mar 2024
22,455 posts
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Columba
(Having read back) Linds, I too wondered about Caro's mother, the first wife of Pauly's father. Quite a bad omission, I think. |
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12 Mar
3:03pm, 12 Mar 2024
21,224 posts
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Chrisull
One problem I have with "political art" is that good art/literature/music should not be in hock to its political message. Jessie Greengrass is obviously a skilled prose writer, and the descriptions and dreamlike atmosphere put me in mind of J G Ballard's wonderful "The Drowned world", without quite the luscious, overripe feeling of the latter. Of course though when prose is subordinate to a greater cause, no matter how worthy, in my eyes it tends to tarnish the work. In this case, as others have remarked, firstly it seemed to be at the expense of the characters. Whether the characters were off stage (Francesca) or on (Sal, Caro, Pauly), they never quite breathed the same rarified air as ourselves. I wasn't convinced a toddler/teenage boy/young man would accept life in a tiny and diminishing commune uncritically, egrets or not. Francesca spent her late years setting up this haven, but never actually bothered mothering the boy while abandoning him to a, at best, uncertain and lingering fate. The conflict between Sal and Caro would only have grown over time, without contact from the outside world, but seems to reach an odd, unexplained inertia. In fact it became infuriatingly unclear if the outside world was there after the floods. Were they the only ones in the final church Xmas service, what had the vicar been doing the rest of the time? Did no-one one ever call? Also secondly, as Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror often shows, if your entire piece is centred around one idea, then this constricts any kind of plot development and you feel the characters swirling around the plughole of their inextricable fate. In Black Mirror often characters end up just having to kill other characters as no other logical route exists. It's the mirror of a chess game, where trapped by a greater opponent, you can only play out a limited set of moves, all of which lurch towards defeat. Perhaps plot isn't the right word, as here the characters are haunted by death and possible infirm, whose dwindling medical supplies and self-inflicted alienation can only lead one way, but still even a lack of hope can be coloured in varying shades of grey. That said, it was pleasant to spend time in this house, and feel the real tug of climate change, kept at arms length by the impressionistic tone. I've read this back to back with Rachel Cusk's Second place, which shares some similarities - impressionistic text, the story is taking place in "cabin in the woods out of a horror story" as one character remarks unkindly. However, in contrast the characters are live in vivid and broadly painted brushstrokes, the taciturn Tony, the scheming and opaque L, and the larger than life super modelish Brett. So I'm torn, I liked the writing, I buy the message, I was haunted by it afterwards, but somehow it never really escaped its own premise to become something more than what was promised. |
26 Apr
8:53pm, 26 Apr 2024
14,621 posts
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Little Nemo
A different take on the post-apocalyptic genre. I found this a melancholy read, a lament to what has been lost. I guess it poses the question of what is survival worth? Is it worth a mother giving up having a normal life with her son to guarantee his future when the world ends? I'm not a parent but to me it didn't seem a fair trade. I know that Francesca probably thought she'd get to live there with them when it all went wrong but instead the others live on in an aimless way. As the book says it's not an ark and there doesn't appear to be any useful future for them. It leaves lots of questions unanswered which is frustrating as a reader but probably realistic for the story. It seems as though the 3 of them are trapped as they have enough to survive but they'll be nothing left once they've died. Will they ever leave to find out what has happened in the rest of the world or is their home a prison? Will anyone else find them and threaten their way of living? How long can you try and live on a small piece of land when you have to grow almost everything you need? I liked the longer stretches of writing when there was enough to get into the rhythm of it. I wasn't so keen on the short, choppy sections. I found them difficult to read as there wasn't enough to keep hold of - this may be a me problem as I tend to read too fast. I mostly enjoyed this book but I feel I have reached my tolerance level for post-apocalyptic books. I'm not sure it's good for my mental health so I'm definitely making this the last one for the next year or two! Thanks to Chrisull for choosing it as it's not one I would have chosen myself. I gave this book a 7. |
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3:11am
3:11am, 27 Apr 2024
67,672 posts
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LindsD
I didn't think she was v interested in staying with him. She seemed to approach parenting as a 'project'. Absolutely no judgement intended.
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8:08am
8:08am, 27 Apr 2024
14,622 posts
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Little Nemo
Yes, maybe that was part of it. She didn't or couldn't bond with Pauly so maybe it was easier to do all the practical stuff instead. I can see the comparison with The Road but this book isn't as good. That was a modern masterpiece imo. Thankfully this book was also not as horrific or disturbing! Anyway, my mind is made up - in the event of an apocalypse I'm not going to be a survivor 
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1:04pm
1:04pm, 27 Apr 2024
67,673 posts
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LindsD
I can definitely see why you would decide that
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1:21pm
1:21pm, 27 Apr 2024
85,739 posts
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Diogenes
I’m all post-apocalypsed and dystopian futured out. My favourite genres currently are 60/70s Americana (esp. California/LA) and, as always, English inter-war upper middle-class sagas.
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