Tag Archives: vacation read

Book Review – Platform – Where are you going on vacation?

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Kenyan national elections take place on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

May wisdom and peace prevail!

I have a lot of respect for Michel Houellebecq as one of today’s foremost practitioners of literary fiction. I’d put Paul Auster in that category, as well. I’ve reviewed other novels by both of them in this blog. Another reason to read Platform was that its premise seemed comparable to my Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner – that is, an older, single, middle-class white man sets off on a vacation to an exotic resort where he expects he will find hookups and parties.

Houellebecq’s novel in French and English editions

There the similarity mostly ends. Platform’s protagonist, Michel Renault, is in his mid-forties. Harry Gardner is at least twenty years older. Both are men of comfortable means with time on their hands. Michel travels to Thailand, Gardner to the south coast of Kenya. Both places are widely known to provide the kinds of recreation these men seek.

But while Renault dives in up to his ears, Gardner holds back. Renault is a cynical, self-seeking libertine. Gardner is a well-meaning couch potato.

Houellebecq’s descriptions are raw and explicit, and his point of view is deliberately cynical. Both Michels – the author and the character – detest Western hypocrisy, arrogance, and exploitive capitalist drive. Harry and I focus more on the obvious corruption here and there – but with the hope that Kenya’s startlingly rapid emergence into the information age will ultimately be a better model of sustainability for the rest of the world.

Both characters become much more involved in the business enterprises of those countries than they had planned. Both stay. And both develop serious relationships.

It won’t be much of a spoiler to disclose that Platform’s view of the world is not hopeful. Houellebecq rants and scolds, and perhaps by being honest about his discontents he intends to drive the reader to at least question our geopolitical goals and methods. In Harry’s case, his new friends bestow on him a new surname – Harambee – which is the Kenyan national motto, meaning “We are one.” The meaning is much the same as our E Pluribus Unum, “One from many.” For Kenyans it represents the unification of 43 different tribes (ethnic societies) into one nation. (As of a few weeks ago, there are now 44. Kenyan-born Asians, mostly of Indian heritage, are now regarded as indigenous.)

Harry doesn’t know whether his friends are teasing him with this title, or honoring his newfound commitment to join their community.

Michel Renault plays the game to suit only himself. Later in the book, he says he’s learned to care for at least one other person, but then that illusion ends abruptly. Renault was never fated to find anything like happiness.

Harry’s outlook is ultimately hopeful. Eventually he has to ask, “Am I being played?” And then, “Do I mind?”

Bonnes vacances!

Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is a captivating, witty read that explores the sociopolitical climate in Kenya in an honest way that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. This is a clear and compelling outlook that realistically paints Kenya while exploring glaring issues that are a bane to the country. When Harry decides to stop being a bystander who lets other people decide his fate, it’s noteworthy. This can be equated to Kenyans finally deciding to take responsibility rather than just going with the flow, waiting for decisions that affect their lives to be made for them. And it can be done without selling one’s soul in the process and leave a legacy and a better country worthy of its name. – Desmond Boi, Editorial Writer, The Standard and Citizen TV, Nairobi

Thinking About Thinking #27 – A Delicate Truth – The Reader As Close Observer

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In telling stories about spies as close observers, John Le Carré taught me how to read – more closely.

Le Carré’s spy novel A Delicate Truth is the behind-the-scenes story of a small anti-terrorist black op  – secretly sponsored by a Member of Parliament – that might or might not have happened. Problem is, its very existence – even as a plan – is so politically incorrect as to be a profound embarrassment if anyone involved decides to break silence and go public with the few facts they know. So the trendy topic of whistle-blowing is very much at issue.

I find two things remarkable about this novel.

First, the dialogue is almost entirely and deliberately off-point – more than in any other Le Carré book I’ve read. The words are about everything but the topic at hand. Everyone speaks, not just in trade jargon and code, but in hints and innuendo and metaphors. It’s annoying. And real. And perhaps an angry commentary on a societal lack of not only frankness and honesty but also an unwillingness to face any real facts at all.

They might be discussing murder, but all you hear are acronyms.

Second, you won’t have a clear idea of who the main character is until fairly far along. He will grow on you, as he will become bolder in his own estimation of himself. But he’s a bureaucrat (as are most of the rest of them) and in many respects lackluster. Totally absent are the mythic proportions of James Bond. And he has nothing like the cunning wit or the cleverness of George Smiley.

He does, however, eventually realize he has a conscience and a loyalty to ideals that are both naive and reckless.

Master spy novelist Le Carré often refers to intelligence operatives as close observers. Of course, that’s just what a reader is. His narrative technique is to immerse you in detail, much of which may be irrelevant to the plot – just the way we experience reality every day, from one perception to the next.

In training you to think like a spy – like a close observer – Le Carré makes you a better reader and a more critical thinker.

A Delicate Truth is very much about today. And there is much to learn, if in those cryptic conversations you also learn to listen between the lines.

Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner – Intrigue on the white sands of East Africa for fans of Graham Greene and John Le Carré.