A couple of weeks ago a friend and I were discussing our book groups and she asked me which books stayed in my mind as most memorable. Of course my mind immediately went blank. (I wish I'd kept a list of the books we've read in the two years of the group - I've noted many of them here but there've been some gaps.)
The book which first came to mind was Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel. At the group meeting to discuss it, last year, we had an invigorating discussion - two women disliked it (one of them described it as "horrible"), one said she had initially enjoyed it but then was very disappointed, whereas two of us liked it very much. Very much indeed: I thought it was brilliant.
It made the Booker shortlist (or was it longlist?) for 2005, which is what brought it to our attention. I've subsequently read an early novel by Hilary Mantel about university life for women in the 60s - it wasn't as good, though did have a certain horror element which reminded me of Beyond Black. BB is about a psychologically damaged psychic (is there any other kind?) - I don't know if Mantel has any interest in or knowledge of psychoanalysis but to me the denouement was like a long projective hallucination - it was quite remarkable. It was the kind of novel which is about people who I've never met and would never want to meet and yet I was completely fascinated and persuaded by the characterisations.
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