The Birthday Boys (Bainbridge, Beryl) Review

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(More customer reviews)This woman is one of my favorite writers. I have just finished her "Watson's Apology" and found it wonderful as well. But I always use a caveat with Ms. Bainbridge, as I do with Ian McEwan: she is an acquired taste. "The Birthday Boys" is no exception to the rule.
To begin with, as with many of Ms. Bainbridge's novels, this is based on true events. In this case the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott expedition to the South Pole in 1912. Scott and four of his crew died on their way back from the Pole itself which had already been reached by the intrepid Roald Amundsen two weeks prior. What Bainbriddge does is invite herself and us into the minds of the five men who died, and each of the interior glimpses and monologues takes place on the event of each one's own birthday, and reviews various aspects of his life including how he is feeling that day. Scott, who died last we must suppose, is saved for last.
It is a bold and marvelous literary concoction of fact, fantasy, and intellectual probing coupled with an almost uncanny peek into the hearts and minds of the men who cannot, of course, be interviewed and what they truly thought can never be truly known. Yet I have accepted these portraits as actual "interviews." Each of the men is given a full literary treatment, a complete characterization. It takes a lot of courage to do what Bainbridge does (she does it in "Watson's Apology" as well): she tells us things she cannot possibly know for sure and leaves it at that. Many people try to do that today, they pretend they are writing history when in fact, they are writing fantasy. Bainbridge doesn't pretend to be doing anything but writing about people and what she thinks or imagines they might have been thinking at any one time. She is the best at this conceit that I have ever read.
I had the advantage of already having read Cherry-Garrard's rather lengthy tomb: The Worst Journey In The World, so I was aware of the characters, of who they really were and what their various jobs were. That may or may not be essential. I will have to let the reader figure that out. They may stand on their own as literary concoctions, fanciful imaginaries floating at the margins of consciousness, or, as in my own case, rock-solid portrayals of real people I had already read about extensively.
She's a bold writer, and, I think, it might require a bold reader to take this on. But it's wonderful if you just go with it and accept what's there.
Four Stars from me is the same as Five Stars. I always save that fifth star for something I have yet to see. So consider this a Big Pick from yours truly.

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