Dave's Book Blog: "We Begin At The End" by Chris Whitaker

Wednesday, 21 June 2023

"We Begin At The End" by Chris Whitaker

This book is brilliant in no fewer than four ways.

Firstly, it is an American crime novel written by an English novelist. It is written in the vernacular, it is set in small town American with a deep understanding of that way of life, it is thoroughly immersed in the American style, and I had to look up the novelist before I could believe that he wasn't American. This showed incredible skill.

Secondly, it uses an almost impressionistic mode of description. It does this by using sentence fragments and adjectives that are out of place, resulting in something akin to poetry:

"They moved through dusk streets, the lull of picket fences and fairy lights. Above the moon rose, guided and mocked, as it had for thirty years. Past grand houses, glass and steel that fought the nature, a vista of such terrible beauty." (Ch 1): "dusk" and "lull" and "the nature" are words that don't fit properly ... and as a consequence draw your attention to them.
"a factory that smoked away dreams" (Ch 3)
"Walk watched the slow wake of Main." (Ch 15)
"He made the drive from day to night, high beams, blinking wildflower, Mojave nothing but morphing shapes." (Ch 28)
"Rising billboards, styled magicians with eyebrows arched and aging starlets taking their back catalog all the way to the bank." (Ch 28)

Thirdly, although for most of the novel you think this is a rather run-of-the-mill thriller with a very obvious outcome, it accelerates towards the end and finishes with a twist that was not just audacious but brilliantly breadcrumbed. Aristotle, in his Poetics, said that a drama should have an ending that follows as a necessary consequence from the set-up, and from the characters, and yet should surprise the audience; the twist in this novel was exactly right.

Fourthly, the portrait of Duchess Day Radley, outlaw, a thirteen year old girl, neglected by her wayward mother, who will fight the whole world to care for and protect her little brother, was a wonderful creation. She was the epitome of vulnerable kids who have been brutalised by life. Throughout the book, the reader is rooting for this little tearway whilst being fearful that her story will end up as another tragedy. She's an unforgettable character. She alone raises this book to the level of outstanding.

Perfectly paced, the inciting incident happens almost exactly at the 25% mark, there is a key turning point at the 50% mark and an important breadcrumb shortly afterwards, and we enter the end-game three-quarters of the way through.

I read it in one day less than I had allocated: towards the end it was literally unputdownable. Towards the end I was pacing my apartment, book in hand, unable to relax even while I was reading it. Towards the end I wept.

Selected quotes:

"Milton was hairy. Thick swirls sprouted from every inch of him, the kind of man who had to shave his eyeline three times a day in case a passing zookeeper shot him with a tranquilizer dart." (Ch 3)
"He wore his size like an ill-fitting suit." (Ch 4)
"I am the outlaw, Duchess Day Radley. And you are the barstool pussy, and I'll cut your head clean off." (Ch 5)
"He was soft, jelly, pudding. Soft smile, soft body, soft way of looking at her world. She had no use for soft." (Ch 6)
"You wish for what you want, and pray for what you need." (Ch 9)
"Do I look like the kind of boy that has a light?" (Ch 23) Thomas Noble, always referred to by first name and surname, is another brilliant creation: a skinny, delicate, well-brought-up kid who is the antithesis of Duchess and yet just as determined, just as persevering.
"Ours is a small story, Chief Walker. Sad enough, but small. Let's not pretend different." (Ch 28)