Book Review: “Western Lane” by Chetna Maroo
A Short Book(er)
When the Booker Prize is awarded later in November 2023, it may go to a fairly short book. Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience can be read in a sitting or so, and If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery runs, if memory serves correctly, roughly 250 pages. Add to this mix is Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane, which clocks in at a scant 150 pages and can be consumed in a couple of hours. This trend bodes well for those who are time-deprived but want to read quality, award-nominated fiction. And I would imagine that many may clutch this book to their chests and pronounce it a favourite. Me? Well, this book wasn’t my proverbial cup of java, but I can see why it has been nominated for one of the literary world’s most prestigious prizes. It is — to use a cliché — well-written. However, I think some of the book’s appeal will depend on how much you know of the game of squash, as it is a major plot point of the novel. So, if you’re a sports buff, and are looking for a book about a game that’s close to chess in its strategic planning, you may get a lot of mileage out of Western Lane. To be charitable, I can say that I suppose I’m happy to have read it — if only to satisfy my curiosity.
The novel is about a young 13-year-old girl, Gopi, who comes of age just as her mother dies. Her father, Pa, and two older sisters come to terms with their grief by burying it in games of squash held at a facility that shares the name of this book. The novel is set in England and Scotland in the 1980s, but this period is inferred as The Oregon Trail educational computer game is mentioned as being played in the classroom. In any event, Gopi gets good enough at squash that she is encouraged to participate in a tournament, but her aunt — who is childless and may want to adopt Gopi while her father struggles to afford to take care of teenage daughters on his own — has different ideas and puts a spanner in the works by refusing to let her play. Will Gopi be able to compete in the tournament? Will Gopi and her father be able to finally assuage their grief? Will the family still be able to be unified in the wake of the untimely death of Gopi’s mother? To find out, you will need to read this book!
That said, I found things to be lacking about Western Lane. We never know what Gopi’s mother died of or what her name was; however, I can understand that perhaps the author does this to illustrate that the presence of Gopi’s mother has been completely wiped out and exterminated, even if one of the sisters is so lost in her grief that she holds imaginary conversations with her mom. Still, one is curious to know more, and the backstory isn’t provided. The other thing I noticed was that all the characters appear to be speaking at angles to one another. This, too, may signify that communications within the family structure and dynamic have been eroded. Once again, though, this makes the novel tough to follow and it is hard to get invested in the plight of these characters. While one is eager to see Gopi triumph both on and off the squash court, it’s hard for the reader to invest in her because she’s a bit of a cipher and one is kept at hands-length from getting to know her. Even the climatic tournament feels deflated, as though its outcome doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things — the sport is only there for Gopi to work through and process the lack that has entered her life.
Overall, this novel’s brevity is both an asset and a liability. Maybe I’m missing the point of the entire thing, but I found that the work just doesn’t go anywhere and fizzles out near the end (but at least it’s a quick read!). Still, there’s probably a reason why this work has made it to the Booker Prize shortlist — and wouldn’t it be rich that a book that is, in part, about a competition win a literary awards competition? While I found this work to have more weaknesses than strengths, I am reminded that some are going to embrace this work and enjoy it far more than I did. Me? I would prefer to re-read Walter Tevis’ excellent The Queen’s Gambit again, for it covers a lot of the same ground as this (but is just set in the chess world). However, that is only my subjective opinion. Here’s the deal: if you’re looking for a short book to tide you over while you’re, say, waiting on a library book or something you’ve back-ordered at a bookstore, this might work. You may find something to enjoy about this that I didn’t. Still, if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t enjoy reading a book without knowing a little bit about the characters you’re introduced to, you might want to skip this. It does have something to say, even when it doesn’t come out and say it, but the subtlety was muted for me. I’m not suggesting that the Booker got it wrong by bringing this to the shortlist, but — at the end of the day — this just wasn’t the book I thought I’d get. This is a way of saying again that I was probably not the intended audience for this. But don’t let that fact dissuade you if you like your fiction to be literary and deemed worthy enough by others for a major book award. This is worth a (quick) look for the curious. Need I say more?
Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane will be published in trade paperback by Picador on November 21, 2023.
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