On April 2, 2024 member Janet H. gave her 6th excellent presentation to the club on author Tom Rachman. Rachman is a former journalist known for books that are often a mosaic of vignettes from different times and places, knitting together the lives of characters to make a complete story. Janet was introduced to Mr. Rachman’s work through a December 2023 review of The Imposters (2023).
Through a number of readings, Janet showed how Rachman covers the range of human emotional experience using a cast of ordinary characters who yet have fascinating lives. The Imposters is not chronological and some chapters have challenging subject matter (“The Man Who Took The Books Away”). When you put it all together, a picture of a novelist’s life is formed. Are writers the imposters?
Next, Janet gave readings from The Imperfectionists (2010), about the rise and decline of a Roman newspaper from the mid 1950’s to the late 1970’s. Each chapter revolves around a character. The flavour of old school journalism lives in the novel.
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (2014) is reportedly the favourite of the author and the least favourite of the presenter. In this novel, the jump back and forth in time between chapters made the threads of the book challenging to knit together. A young woman travels the world, putting her past together.
In 2016, Rachman’s wrote a book of short stories set during the Trump vs. Clinton campaign, Basket of Deplorables. Janet and the group discussed whether these snapshots of an era will be meaningful moving forward.
In The Italian Teacher (2018), Rachman sticks to a straight chronology. The novel is divided into the four phases of the protagonists life: childhood, youth, adulthood and old age. Once again, Janet was drawn into the complex story by the characters. Without spoilers, she told the group that the climax of the story was excellent.
In conclusion, Tom Rachman’s puzzles are worth putting together. Janet loved his ordinary characters that grow as the pieces fit together. She also loved that he tells stories that show the impact that writers can have on the world.
Next week, member Anna Q. will give her first presentation to the club on author Madeline Miller.
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