Red Lights by George Simenon. NYRB Classics 2006, first published in 1953. 154 pp.
This book is about Steve and Nancy Hogan and about a little more than a day in their lives that would change them and their future so completely.
It starts on the eve of the Labor Day weekend when they are planning to drive to Maine to pick up their two children who have been there all summer at camp. They seem to be a compatible couple, but all is not as it seems. Nancy is rather controlling and has a much better job than Steve, who is the one who gets home from work to take over from the sitter while she often works late. Steve has recognized that every once in a while he “goes into a tunnel” when he does see the consequences of his actions, and on this trip the “tunnel” happens.
He starts to secretly drink before they even leave and stops at a bar at the very beginning. He becomes increasingly drunk to the point that she leaves the car when he is in a bar, leaving a note that she is going to take a bus. It’s all downhill from there, with disastrous consequences.
Simenon lived in Paris and wrote the Inspector Maigret detective stories. He wrote nearly two hundred books and at that time (around 1953) was the bestselling author in the world. This one is an interesting book. – C.M.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. William Morrow and Company, Inc. l989. 943 pp.
This lengthy novel takes place in England during the years 1135 to 1174. At the heart of the story is the building of a great cathedral in the town of Kingsbridge. Among the key characters are Tom Builder, the master builder who first envisions this spectacular structure. The members of his family are also important characters. Then there is Phillip, prior of Kingsbridge, who oversees the building of the cathedral and the growth of the small town. There are also some very sinister characters, and three of them, a knight, a priest and a monk are seen in the background of a very disturbing scene in the book’s prologue where a hanging takes place. We do not know the identity of the man or why he is being executed, but the reader senses his innocence. And when he dies a woman appears and flings a terrible curse at those responsible.
And this is only the prologue. Much is to follow. Construction of the cathedral runs into horrific problems. Access to a nearby quarry is denied to them at first, and then the forest nearby is declared off limits. The struggle to get the stone and lumber they need is a desperate one. The little town of Kingsbridge is nearly wiped out by fire, and it is overrun by brutal warriors three times. There is also a civil war raging during the same years.
The book is enthralling and the characters are vividly drawn, both the good and the evil. A couple of the latter would fit right into our present political quandary. I have read several of Follett’s books and always enjoyed them. My favorite is Eye of the Needle, which is about World War II. –P.M.