A Week in December, Sebastian Faulks (auth)

As an increasingly popular and revered author, with his latest release Sebastian Faulks has a lot to live up to. With his previous novels, from his First World War bound 'Birdsong' to 'Engleby', a novel set mainly in rural Cambridgeshire, Faulks has shown versatility and diligence. One really senses that before even sitting down to pen the title of his books, Faulks has made sure to know every detail about the context in which he is writing.

'A Week In December' is no different. In this book the reader sees Faulk's writing range from what he knows (i.e the literary world as presented by the character of Ralph Tranter, a reviewer) to what he presumably knew very little about beforehand. I refer particularly to the character of John Veals, a hedge fund manager, who is arguably the chief protaganist albeit the most dislikable character in the book. From the offset, every paragraph concerning Veals is filled with language that to many readers (myself included) will make very little sense to begin with. Perhaps using language that the common reader has difficulty relating to could be seen as a weakness, but in fact throughout the novel Faulks shows this to be his major strength. So long as you stick with it, I can assure any reader that you will finish the book not only knowing a little more about hedge funds but finding yourself caring about what effect they have in our society - and it is our society that Faulks deals with in this novel.


We read about a young man who gets involved in terrorism, a woman who escapes her own reality to a virtual one, and a teenage boy who finds himself slipping away from reality altogether thanks to the effects of a seemingly harmless drug. What is perhaps most interesting and gripping about this book is that all the characters are people we see around us, and are likely to encounter, every day. In fact, many readers will be able to draw direct comparisons with a character or two.


Faulks' understanding of modern, british society is masterful, and although he parodies it at times (most significantly with a reality show where the contestants are all mad) he shows that even though, for many, escaping reality can seem much easier than tackling it, in the end we all have to face up to the real world. Faulks shows that life isn't fair but it is certainly worth living.


As far as I am concerned this is Faulks' best book to date.


Etep