An heir to Graham Greene.
That is quite an expectation to live up to, unless it is hype. Thus, I picked up, in a manner of speaking, since it was an eBook, a copy of Joseph Kanon's latest novel - Istanbul Passage. I happen to be familiar with the writer having read his Los Alamos as well as The Good German. Both of which were outstanding novels.
Yet, when I read one of the reviewers put him on par with Graham Greene, I felt I had to read his newest novel, not as another offering from a writer who is now familiar to me - but as an upholder of a flame in a lineage lit aflame by the likes of Greene, Le Carre and Forsythe.
Istanbul Passage has the eponymous city going for it as a moody atmospheric backdrop in post WWII transition with Turkey trying to find its new place in the world post-empire.
It seems to me that a good novel needs several elements. Noteworthy characters that you care about. You want to know who they are, what they face and what becomes of them - and inter relationships. A good novelist infuses these characters with shades of gray. Not in an act of writerly conceit; but rather in a way that makes the characters more complex, yet more relatable.
A plot that carries you through 400 pages of writing. What happens next is to a novel, what spice is to food; leaves you wanting more. Istanbul passage is well plotted, complete with twists and red herrings both in situations and in characters.
Post WWII is a great time to pick. There is morality play, international intrigue, lives at stake, decisions to be made. Think Casablanca!
It is not easy to infuse a novel with morality play and not make it feel weighed down as a heavy read. Eat your spinach! Yet, the setting, characters and plot make the morality play more of the backdrop against which the events unfold.
The persecutions during WWII need resolution and the victims needs safe passage. Through Istanbul and onto Palestine. That theme gives the novel a sense of urgency.
The main character wants to do good. Had he read, Gurcharan Das' 'The Difficulty of Being Good,' he would have realized the uphill task he is against. But then again, it is probably better that he did not. He lives his live sorrounded by a morass of selfish and competing interests, brutality and plain evil, and tries to find his way through paradoxes and conundrums.
A good novel should also have a strong resolution. Not the bubble gum variety. Nor forced tragedy. The resolution should make the reader trace the arc of the plot in mind again and satisfy in the turn of events.
Joseph Kanon admirably accomplishes that in the Istanbul passage.
The only quibble, I have that I have noticed anew is that his prose is a bit clunky and staccato. And his scenes a bit talky. But small quibbles for a worthy new entry in this terrific author's growing repertoire.
That is quite an expectation to live up to, unless it is hype. Thus, I picked up, in a manner of speaking, since it was an eBook, a copy of Joseph Kanon's latest novel - Istanbul Passage. I happen to be familiar with the writer having read his Los Alamos as well as The Good German. Both of which were outstanding novels.
Yet, when I read one of the reviewers put him on par with Graham Greene, I felt I had to read his newest novel, not as another offering from a writer who is now familiar to me - but as an upholder of a flame in a lineage lit aflame by the likes of Greene, Le Carre and Forsythe.
It seems to me that a good novel needs several elements. Noteworthy characters that you care about. You want to know who they are, what they face and what becomes of them - and inter relationships. A good novelist infuses these characters with shades of gray. Not in an act of writerly conceit; but rather in a way that makes the characters more complex, yet more relatable.
A plot that carries you through 400 pages of writing. What happens next is to a novel, what spice is to food; leaves you wanting more. Istanbul passage is well plotted, complete with twists and red herrings both in situations and in characters.
Post WWII is a great time to pick. There is morality play, international intrigue, lives at stake, decisions to be made. Think Casablanca!
It is not easy to infuse a novel with morality play and not make it feel weighed down as a heavy read. Eat your spinach! Yet, the setting, characters and plot make the morality play more of the backdrop against which the events unfold.
The persecutions during WWII need resolution and the victims needs safe passage. Through Istanbul and onto Palestine. That theme gives the novel a sense of urgency.
The main character wants to do good. Had he read, Gurcharan Das' 'The Difficulty of Being Good,' he would have realized the uphill task he is against. But then again, it is probably better that he did not. He lives his live sorrounded by a morass of selfish and competing interests, brutality and plain evil, and tries to find his way through paradoxes and conundrums.
A good novel should also have a strong resolution. Not the bubble gum variety. Nor forced tragedy. The resolution should make the reader trace the arc of the plot in mind again and satisfy in the turn of events.
Joseph Kanon admirably accomplishes that in the Istanbul passage.
The only quibble, I have that I have noticed anew is that his prose is a bit clunky and staccato. And his scenes a bit talky. But small quibbles for a worthy new entry in this terrific author's growing repertoire.
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