Hayley's Recommendations: 5 Short Books for if You’re Short of Concentration
Reading is usually my go-to way to pass the time, but recently with everything going on I have been finding it hard to concentrate on one thing for any extended period of time. I know a few other people who are struggling with this as well, so I thought I would share some of my favourite short(er) reads in case you are feeling the same.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata – 163 pages
Bizarre and outcast as a child, Keiko finds solace at 18 in a job at a convenience store. Now 36, while her friends have all moved on to have husbands, families and high-paced jobs, Keiko finds no greater pleasure in life than the predictable and mundane running of the shop. In order to subdue the mounting pressure from her friends and family to live up to societal expectations of a ‘normal’ life, Keiko begins to copy the way her co-workers speak and dress with varying degrees of success. Murata’s novel is a sharp look at Japanese life and Keiko’s deadpan, almost child-like narration gives the novel an eerie undertone.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – 124 pages
Wide Sargasso Sea is a sweltering and claustrophobic response to Jane Eyre, exploring the rich life of heiress Antoinette Cosway and her relationship with Rochester before Thornfield Hall. Rhys’s descriptions of the Jamaican heat are heavy and uncomfortable, reflecting the growing unease between Rochester and his newly dubbed ‘Bertha’. Even if you haven’t read Jane Eyre (which I would also highly recommend) this novel is a brilliant and dramatic response to colonialism and patriarchal pressures.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – 146 pages
Arguably one of the best opening paragraphs I have ever read, Jackson flips the haunted house tale on its head. The novel is narrated by 18-year old Merricat Blackwood, who lives on her family’s historic New England estate with her sister and her uncle. The three are the only survivors of a mysterious tragedy that occurred six years earlier, and has subsequently left them almost completely cut off from the fearful and suspicious surrounding townsfolk. Reminiscent of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber (also an excellent short read at 149 pages), Jackson tells a twisted and humorous tale of family rivalry and suspense.
The Atom Station by Halldór Laxness – 180 pages
I came across Laxness’ Nordic satire while I was studying literature from the North Atlantic for my degree and I absolutely loved it. It was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955 and the initial print run sold out the day it was published, which was an Icelandic first. Ugla is a farm girl from rural Iceland who moves to a town just outside of post-war Reykjavik to work for a politician. Politicians and the military are prominent figures in the town, which is completely alien to Ugla who comes from an area where the majority of conversations are about Icelandic Sagas, which are considered more important than reality. The novel is littered with eccentric characters from Organistinn who teaches Ugla to play the organ, the self-conscious Policeman and the Unselfconscious Policeman, snobbish city residents and a Prime Minister who is selling Iceland to America.
The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark – 103 pages
The Driver’s Seat follows Lise, a maybe-delusionary spinster from somewhere in Northern Europe. After working at the same office for sixteen years, she promptly walks out of her job, purchases some garish new clothes and travels to Rome in search of new experiences and her potentially fictitious boyfriend. Lise is abrupt and confronting with everyone she encounters, from the delighted to the disturbed. Like many of Spark’s characters, she is larger than life in almost an unnerving way. Described by Spark as a ‘whydunnit’, the novel follows Lise as she thunders towards the day when she will finally meet her fate.