Falling Animals: A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick

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Armstrong’s work is filled with the physical act of existing – bodies that fly, that fall, that are suspended in paroxysms of grief and loss and disbelief. The novel is anchored by a pair of bodies that linger on in the minds of the residents, firstly the mysterious body on the beach, and then the past mooring of a ship whose metaphorical corpse lingers below the surface of the bay. Even the title of the work is filled with the connotations of bodies succumbing to natural forces – the opening salvo highlights a ‘collector’ whose job is to remove the bodies of dead animals and recalls an incident of a spooked horse that plunged from a cliff, “[jumping] so high it had almost, almost flown”. Writing a book from multiple perspectives means you have to learn to juggle. When I began writing my novel, Falling Animals, I knew from the very beginning that I wanted each chapter to be from a different point of view. I can’t say exactly how I knew, just that it felt like the best way to tell the story. It’s possible that I fell into this form because I had only written short stories before, and sustaining a single vantage point across a whole novel felt too intimidating. On good days, I tell myself it was a conscious creative decision. On dark days, I tell myself it’s because I’m an idiot who bit off about ten banquets more than she could chew. The sky is torn like and ancient sail, and a dusting of stars appears through the rip. Day will not break, but the darkness will slowly ease and lighten. For now, they are alive. Forum for spirited and convivial discussion of fiction from around the world, with particular though not exclusive focus on 20th and 21st century fict Forum for spirited and convivial discussion of fiction from around the world, with particular though not exclusive focus on 20th and 21st century fiction recognized in US, UK, international, and other nation-specific prizes. Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including:

Aan de Ierse kust, bij het dorpje Darragh, wordt een dode man aangetroffen. Geen identiteitsbewijs, geen persoonlijke bezittingen, geen enkele aanwijzing over zijn afkomst. Hij komt niet uit het dorpje, hij is geen vermiste toerist. Een man die blijkbaar onbekend wilde blijven. Het verhaal sluit mooi af, in verbondenheid. Boeiend om te lezen hoe verhalen ontstaan! Wat we écht hebben gezien is soms een andere werkelijkheid dan dat we ervaren. We associëren een voorval met een gebeurtenissen of herinneringen uit ons eigen leven. Eenzelfde gebeurtenis heeft zo op iedereen een andere invloed. Zoveel mensen dragen zoveel verhalen in zich. En toch zijn er raakpunten en verbintenissen. Sheila Armstrong brengt dit zo mooi! Vanaf de eerste zinnen voel je dat dit een verhaal is om langzaam te lezen… en soms stukjes te herlezen. Geniet ervan!Whatever the reason, I began with a few balls – one point of view to introduce the story, a second for the inciting incident, a third, a fourth – and, for a while, everything stayed airborne. I added more balls, and more, faster and faster, until I got up to twenty, twenty-five voices – and it all fell apart. The balls tumbled down and I hit myself in the face more times than I can count.

As will come as no surprise to anyone who read Armstrong’s well-regarded short-story collection, How to Gut a Fish, she’s a writer of notable talents. There’s a lot of loneliness in this book, a lot of people who’ve found themselves a long way from home, many of them full of a sadness that’s “heavy, like hot tar”. But Armstrong imbues their stories with both dignity and beauty. What I’m less convinced about is whether Falling Animals quite qualifies as a novel. The final chapter – a lyrical choir of voices of “the dead” – is an attempt to tie everything together; instead, I longed for something as mundane as a resolution. With a narrative that eddies and swirls, the chapters like flotsam and jetsam washed up on the sand, this feels more like a collection of loosely-interlinked pieces.The disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong’s debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspenseful. She had fallen in love with this small place, where the sunsets smear themselves across the sky and drown themselves in the temperamental sea, where the clouds skate across her windows like a stopmotion film." A good storm is a storm you sail out of. And they do sail out of it, while Manoy is sleeping, strapped to his bunk again. The next morning, the sea is flat and cool, like a drunk embarrassed by his antics the night before.

She is proud of him, fiercely, maddeningly proud; her love throbs beside him at night and he feels the heat of it every morning, even after all these years."A man is discovered on a lonely stretch of isolated shore. He appears to be looking serenely out to sea, but he is quite dead. He carries no identification, nobody knows him, he apparently hasn't drowned. A months long investigation turns up nothing about who he was or came from, but the community have taken him into their hearts, claiming him as one of their own. I totally appreciated what Sheila was trying to do here, but I really started to lose momentum half way through the book, right through to what I found to be an unsatisfying conclusion. Falling Animals is staggeringly beautiful, both inside and out, with a most striking cover, a work of art in its own right. It is a novel of rare artistry and elegance, a really unique and sublime experience, one not to be missed!