I am still feeling slightly stunned from having read Florence Knapp’s debut novel, The Names. It was an intriguing, unusual and powerful book and I recommend it very strongly.
I really enjoyed the movie Sliding Doors which follows the two paths a young woman’s life might have taken had she managed to catch a train in time. I have also always been hugely interested in names – names chosen for babies and for pets and for book characters – and so I was attracted by the title of the book and its premise that the name you choose for someone, or refuse to choose, can help determine the course of that person’s life and even their future happiness.
The book is the story of Cora, married to a man named Gordon, who has a name shared by his father and grandfather. At the start of the story Cora has been told by her highly controlling and abusive husband to go and register their baby son’s name – he is to be Gordon. From the time Cora enters the registry office, the reader is then following three separate tales. In the first, Cora takes the advice of her young daughter and names her son Bear. In the second, she chooses the name she prefers, Julian. And in the third, she obeys instructions and calls the baby Gordon, even though she hates the name. The reader meets Bear, Julian and Gordon at intervals of five or so years, learns what has happened to the boys and to their mother, and sees how the name chosen impacts on their careers, lives and relationships. It presents three different versions of a life. Its pages make you seriously consider Juliet’s question “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet”.
I read the book in less than a day, finding it impossible to put down. It was beautifully written and I’m not surprised to learn that the Sunday Times chose it as “Best Debut Novel in Years’. Critics have called it “dazzling”, “insightful”, “astonishing” and “unique”. The story lines are skilfully interwoven, the writing is wise and often surprising, and the book is utterly gripping and original. It was published last year and has already been translated into over twenty languages. I can’t wait to see what Florence Knapp comes up with next.
Have you read this book yet? Tell me what you think of it by leaving a comment.
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Gaby Meares
I also found this book incredibly well written, with an unusual premise that works extremely well. However, the scenes of domestic violence are intense and disturbing and could be very difficult for some readers.
Heather Grant
This novel, has just been added to our set books to read. There are over 120 Book Clubs on the Mid North Coast of NSW co ordinatored by one person out of the Port Macquarie Library. So I will put it on my Wish List to read.
Also I was in our local Book shop, Bookface, to pick up a book I had ordered (A Literary Cat for Every Day of the Year), when I spied your book – Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them prominently displayed on the counter – one could not miss it!!!! Just by the cash register…….
I am also in the process of helping to set up a Book Club in the Village where we now live. Our first book to read is The Truths & Triumphs of Grace Atherton by Anstey Harris..The set book list is updated every few months and there are over 180 books to choose from.
Susannah Fullerton
Isn’t that wonderful that one person is responsible for so many book clubs!
And thanks for letting me know that my book was well displayed at Dymocks. It has been selling like hot cakes and the publishers are struggling to keep up with demand, but people can always order it from me if they want one.
Good luck with the book club.
Cindy Perry
I really enjoyed this book and sped through it too!
However ultimately I thought it wasn’t having the name, Bear, Julian or Gordon that dictated the boy’s life but rather the husband’s reaction to each of those names.
The book is about domestic violence and explores three possible scenarios for the family.
Susannah Fullerton
Yes, it is hugely about the husband’s reaction and his domestic violence, but I think the name chosen is also vital. You can see Cora reacting against the baby she has been forced to call Gordon. So glad you also enjoyed the book, though of course it is also tragic in its depiction of a horrible man who makes his wife’s life a misery.