Harminc forint, az igen kevés.

Harminc szilvásgombóc, az kezelhető mennyiség.

Harminc teljesítendő bevetés egy bombázón, na az viszont maga a fájdalmas örökkévalóság.

Persze Yossarian óra tudjuk, mi a baj a háborúval (azon túl persze, hogy alkalmasint megöl): az abszurdot a mindennapok szervezőelvévé teszi. Az ilyen helyzetek csak azok számára elviselhetőek, akik képesek saját autonómiájukat felfüggeszteni, és kritika nélkül követni vezetőik parancsait – ám a szuverén személy, aki ragaszkodik a gondolkodás luxusához, szenved. No most Day ennek tetejében még el is követ pár taktikai hibát:
1.) Barátokat szerez egy olyan szituációban, ahol a barátok csak fogyóeszközök.
2.) Elmulaszt meghalni velük együtt.
3.) És még szerelmes is lesz.
No most én nem tudom, Yossarian járt-e pszichológushoz a háború végén, de Dayre bizonnyal ráférne. Mert mikor a háborúnak vége van, ő csak üldögél, nézi a saját szétesett életét, ami leginkább egy kupac puzzle-ra emlékeztet, ráadásul valószínűleg el is kallódott belőle egy csomó darab. Mi meg ülünk vele együtt, és próbálunk kezdeni valamit a szerző által elénk vetett szilánkokkal.

(Nem biztos, hogy Kennedy teljesen újszerű regényt írt a poszttraumás stressz szindrómáról, de amit írt, az ügyesen írta meg.) ( )

‘Day’, the title of this novel by AL Kennedy, does not refer to a period of twenty-four hours, but to Alfred Francis Day. Alfie. Rear gunner in a Lancaster in World War Two and now extra on the set of a war film. Past and present are mingled together as he starts to remember things he would rather forget. The passages in the bomber are electrifying, in their detail and understanding. The cold, the smell, the fear, how the professionalism of their training kicks in when the action starts. It is totally believable..
The timelines are mixed here as Alfred's memories are inter-mingled: when Alfred was a member of the bomber crew; his time in a prisoner-of-war camp; and as a film extra in 1949. Where the novel is not so clear, for me, is the intermingling of these three timelines, though after fifty pages everything started to clarify. If you find this, persist and everything will fall into place.
Through Alfred’s memories and his conversations with Ivor, his post-war employer at a bookshop, his bomber crew and the other film extras, we start to piece together the story of his life. It is particularly poignant when he falls in love, heavily, after a fleeting encounter during a bombing raid in London. He meets Joyce in a shelter and from then on she fills his head, when his head should be concentrating on shooting down enemy fighters as his crew drops bombs on Hamburg. ‘Turning his head and turning his head while the heath beyond him dreams, his head pressing back in his pillow and eyes closed and no clear memory he can see, only the wonder that her heartbeat was everywhere in her skin.’
Alfie is a complex character. He is a small man who reads to educate himself. He is nicknamed ‘Boss’ by his flight crew even though he is not the skipper. In flight training, he asks Sergeant Hartnell to show him how to fight and win. ‘Look, son… You’re not the first. Happens quite often in fact. Lads come along and they ask me for help… help with an argument they’ve got to settle back home…’ He tells Alfred his best bet is to hit them from behind with a bit of pipe, but when Alfred gets his chance he throws bricks.
We learn most about him as he remembers his mother and father, both of whom die during the war. In Alfred’s head, his mother and Joyce seem connected and he learns that memories are fickle, the things we would rather forget are the ones that return. ‘Some memories, the ones you’d rather keep – the more you tried to look at them, the more they wore away.’
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )

I picked this up to read while I sat at my dying mother-in-laws bedside. I soon realised that it was the wrong choice as I struggled to make sense and follow the storyline. I abandoned it for a month and when I tried again I was able to appreciate why it was awarded the Costa Book of the Year. It is a remarkable insight into the thoughts of a returned airman and prisoner of war as he struggles to readjust to civilian life. I am glad I persevered. ( )

Stream-of-conscious novels always take a little while to get into, they require more work from the reader, but in my view, offer a just return.

The ‘Day’ of the title is Alfred Day, a gunner in Lancaster airplanes (Lancs) in WW2. The novel shifts from post war, when Alfred and others have volunteered as extras on a war film being made in Germany (!), and his memories of his war experience, working with his ‘crew’ and his affair with a young married woman during that time.

So, on your toes Reading Officer’s – ATTENTION is required, as you will have to keep up with these two shifts, as well as the at least two inner voices of Alfred Day, at the beginning as he is practicing the voice of the man Alfred believes he needs to become, and his own voice, shifting between the past and present. Don’t panic, it all becomes second nature soon enough, but I would recommend starting the novel when you have a couple of hours to spare.

For me, S-o-C novels take me to places I have only ever been in my own head, right inside the thinking mind and its levels and voices. You don’t even totally experience this with your friends and family per se. Most people edit or give you only part of what they have going on inside them at any given time. But being inside a fictitious mind, allows the author to attempt to capture several things running concurrently in the mind, as well as out in the external world of the character.

With Virginia Woolf’s characters, for example, you hear what they are saying, and what they are thinking at the same time. Kennedy has written before about her admiration of the work of Woolf, and in this novel certainly, you can feel the influence.

The two things that stood out for me were the sense of what it is like to be a young man who is expected to participate in a war, and the camaraderie that evolves and is vital for survival with his fellow flyers. And what it is that a person has to hold at a distance: the good memories, experiences beyond the active life, the emotional life.

Ultimately a very satisfying read. ( )

The voice takes a bit of getting used to - its one of those books where you need to commit to reading reasonable chunks at a time or you won't get into the rhythm of the language or the stream of consciousness of the narrator. But when you do, its quite moving and the depiction of the close bonds of wartime air crews, really all acting as one organsism, is the best I've read. I thought it was a remarkable illustration of why, for some, war can create a sense of belonging and purpose and togetherness that the "real world" can struggle to match. To be honest I wasn't really convinced by the "love" component, couldn't really see what the protaganist's love interest saw in him. But none the less, I was glad that somebody saw something and there was some prospect of fulifllment and belonging outside of war
Overall, really very impressed, and I'll be trying to read some more of Kennedy's work ( )