Book Review 2014: Capital
Book #6
John Lanchester’s Capital is one of those books that features multiple stories that intertwine with one another to some extent. The majority of characters live on Pepys Road, which was once part of a working class neighborhood, but over time has done pretty well for itself. Now the homes there sell in the millions of pounds, which makes for an interesting mix of neighbors.
We have the elderly woman who discovers she has a brain tumor, her family who realize they have to make the journey from Essex to watch over her, the grandson who may just be the city’s next Banksy, and all the other fun folk in town. The book jumps from high finance types, a rising soccer (er..football) player, Polish painters, Hungarian nannies, refugees working illegally just to have something to pass the time, and Indian shopkeepers who find themselves fighting battles with a crazy mother-in-law and the British government. There are also the side characters who are somehow related to the Pepys Road folk.
It took a while to get into this book but once I was about a hundred pages in, it was a lot of fun. It made me want to throw the book down (or at least put my Kindle in my purse) and hop on a plane to LHR ASAP. Luckily, I should be headed that way in a couple month’s time.
There is an overarching mystery of sorts. Someone keeps slipping postcards into the neighbors’ mail slots with the slogan, “We want want you have.” Over time, the campaign becomes more agressive and disconcerting.
Although we want to discover who’s responsible for the postcards, it starts to get fairly obvious by the end. What’s a lot cooler, is how the parties lives are affected by the mystery, as well as other factors, such as a declining economy and interpersonal relationships. Lanchester does a fantastic job of capturing the different moods, characters, and dialogu. It also feels very real, at least in its own way. Simply put, it’s fun. I’d say the only real bad thing is that it’s not spectacular. It’s not the best book I’ve read all year (hello, an officer and a spy, anyone?) and it’s not going to go down as one of the greatest of all time. However, it is better than most of the crap out there and is certainly a fine read for anyone at least partially familiar with London life.
