A Definite Don't-Read

Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulks

Why? Why? Why did I read this book? It's taken me about a month or so to get through it purely because I had no motivation to get to the end. And, exactly as I expected, I gained nothing from actually getting to the 497th page.

This book supposedly follows the epic 'odessey' of Charlotte Gray, a Scottish girl sent on an errand in occupied France for an under-cover agency. It is the peak of World War Two, and Charlotte is not only on a mission on behalf of the allies, she is also on her own mission to find her lover, Peter Gregory, a pilot missing in action.

There are many things wrong with this book. The most prominent is the number of characters - there are so many that a) you can't remember who each of them are b) you don't care enough about the outcome of any of their lives and c) even by the end of the book , even Charlotte seems to have a forgotten about half of them.

The second thing that wound me up is the lack of action. This novel is the journey of one woman but really, it's just about her survival, her ordinary day-to-day life, which in a fictional novel tends to wear on you a bit. After all, I don't read a book to satisfy my need for the mundane. Yes, it's about WWII and yes, she undercover in France. There is, of course, a sub-plot following three jews who are taken into the extreme and awful conditions and in theory it seems disrespectful to find the story uninteresting. However, there really is nothing exceptional about these particular sub-plots and because the characters are so undeveloped, sympathy for them specifically is limited.

Finally, there is just so much of this book. So many long, long pages of Faulks' style - journalistic, unemotional writing. Even where there is potential for excitement (a suppressed childhood memory that led to Charlotte's teenage depression, Charlotte nearly exposing herself at the public baths) it is completely brushed over and ignored as the author moves onto another sub-plot soon to be forgotten.

I know I'm being very negative about this novel but I really couldn't justify anything positive. Not only was I dissatisfied at the end but I was dissatisfied and frustrated throughout the entire book. I made no connection to any character, including the eponymous protagonist and I guess I just got nothing from Charlotte Gray whatsoever. I was bored, and this review is the only good (?) thing to have come from reading this one. Sorry Faulks.

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