Resistance by Owen Sheers

I’m back. Or at least I should be. Earlier this week I finished a big project at work. Early next week I should know whether I’m sticking around at the same office for a few more months leading another big project or whether my job is over. In that case I might still work for the company on a project-by-project base, but no longer as a regular job. Either way, I’m pretty much free until the middle of November at least. I plan to do lots of writing and take up regular blogging again here and on my other blog. So here I am, writing my first serious review in months. Feels strange, like I have to get the hang of it again. But I’m happy to sit at a computer and write instead of work.

Two days ago I finished Owen Sheers’ Resistance. Initially, when the book first came out in 2007 and I started reading about it on blogs, I wasn’t that keen on picking it up. It didn’t speak to me, really. But the book grew on me and eventually I added a copy to my TBR-pile. And now that I’ve read Resistance, I’m glad I did. But just like wanting to read the book took some time to develop, the story itself needed some time to grow on me. But once it did, I enjoyed it a lot.

The story is set in the isolated Olchon valley on the Welsh border in 1944-1945 where only a handful of families live. One summer morning, the women wake up to find their husbands gone without saying goodbye and without leaving a trace. Germany has just invaded England and the women suspect and fear their men have retreated into the hills surrounding the valley and joined the resistance movement. Wait a second? Germany has just invaded England? Yes, you read that right. Resistance is set during the Second World War, but with an alternative outcome in which England has been invaded and occupied by the German army.

After living on their own for several weeks and trying to cope with the sudden disappearance of their husbands and with the heavy-burden farm life, one day suddenly a small patrol of five German soldiers arrives in the valley with. The patrol settles into an abandoned house. Their arrival throws the women’s routine upside down. When an especially harsh winter sets in, the two groups have to decide whether to trust and help each other survive. This is not only the story of the two groups becoming mutually dependent, but it is also the story of one of the women, Sarah Lewis, who begins a careful friendship with the patrol’s commanding officer, Albrecht Wolfram. In the course of the winter and the following spring, it becomes ever clearer that decisions have to be taken, but also that any decisions taken cannot but upset the careful balance of the valley’s inhabitants.

The copy I have, has a blurb on the cover describing Resistance as a “sometimes frightening thriller”. The book is many things, but I would not classify it as a thriller and I think people who expect a thriller based on this blurb are in for a surprise. The pace is not fast, and in fact in a way not a whole lot is happening. I think that may be why the book needed time to grow on me. Owen Sheers’ writing is beautiful, though, it makes the valley and the people come alive, the sparseness of the landscape and of the valley inhabitants’ way of communication, the isolation of the people. The title of the book is well-chosen: throughout the book I kept identifying new references to the theme of resistance, ones that go way beyond the obvious. If I have to mention one thing I didn’t like, it can only be that the reason why the German patrol comes to the valley felt contrived an unconvincing. Though in the author’s afterword it becomes apparent that this is one of the aspects of the book based on a true story. Resistance at first glance seems a quiet and somewhat unassuming book, but it leaves one with a lot to think about. Very much recommended.

Other reviews:
Caribousmom
Dovegrey Reader
Estella’s Revenge
Ready when you are, C.B.
Oklahoma Booklady
Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover
The Linguavore
Page 247
Textual Frigate
A Book a Week
Quippe
Hawkins Bizarre

If you reviewed this book on your blog as well, leave a link to your review and I will include it in the list

Another short update

In good Armenian style, things are moving and changing all the time. All of a sudden, starting from Monday, I am already working from home, though still for the same company. They suddenly had a load of work and needed to free up some computers at the office, so my boss asked me if I could work from home, because that’s fairly easy with the work I’m doing at the moment.

After putting up my previous post I realized I had forgotten to mention another of the summer’s lows: my cat Archy (the gray-white longhair) fell from the balcony and hit his head on the way down. As I live on the fifth floor, that was quite the fall. It took me about a month of nursing him back to something like his previous self and he’s still limping. But he survived and he’s doing fine.

I have another urgent writing job to finish this week, so I plan to be back in business with bookish posts here hopefully by next weekend.