Psalm 119 (Book)

My book group is currently reading this book, and I thought it was fascinating - seeing the lives of people who actually grew up after 9/11, and realising how much of an effect that must have had even on young otherwise-apathetic westerners. 

I agree with a lot of what the reviewer says about the characterisation - not nearly as strong as the lyrical language, and it's probably the place where Heather McRobie's youth shows. But I think Psalm 119 actually gets better towards the end: once the students are out of Oxford, you can see them starting to make very real choices about whether to join or reject the 'establishments' of their time, and also see how an Oxford education impacts on the choices young people make afterwards. The writing is really very beautiful, and I hope she has more books to come. Oxford needs a Zadie Smith equivalent for the 2000s!

plumtree (Unverified), 24/08/08

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Psalm 119 is the story of Anne-Marie, David and Mohammed, three young Oxford students trying to make sense of the world against a background of Oxford student life, Palestine, Israel and the Balkans. Interspersed with their story is another narrative, which draws on the Song of Songs and the Persian poet Rumi; a narrative which helps draw out questions of love, betrayal and identity experienced by the characters. The notion that the Song of Songs is thought by some to be an allegorical representation of the relationship of God and Israel as husband and wife, conflates the character’s love triangles with the spiritual and political climates they are living in nicely – McRobie is to be applauded for such a bold move. Likewise the love poetry Rumi is famed for helps afford her characters a more spiritual edge, combining with the tale of Samson and Delilah here to lend them a depth that McRobie’s characterization is in need of.

This is a novel full of ideas – political as well as individual. Psalm 119 is Heather McRobie’s first novel and was the recipient of the Helene Du Coudray Undergraduate Novel Prize - it’s easy to see why. Her prose is beautiful; phrases like ‘As lovers spend their nights without consonants, so the praying man spends his without vowels’ abound and she clearly has both the imagination and a more than deft touch to build upon this very strong first foray into the literary arena. Her novel throws up questions about youthful idealism contrasted with youthful apathy or naivete, and its treatment of the conflicts at play in Palestine and Tel Aviv is sensitively handled, conveying a strong understanding of complex political issues. The fact that issues of identity politics and war are so high on McRobie’s agenda do not make this book an easy read, but nor is it dry or overearnest. It an incredibly well researched tale and I learned a lot about the Middle East through reading it. I enjoyed McRobie’s challenging content and sat in awe of her sparkling metaphors, which seem to flow very easily from her and give the book a real sense of personality.

However, I suspect that there is perhaps too much ground covered in this book and my only criticism is that the characterisation seems to suffer at the expense of an array of ideas. Only Anne-Marie is drawn in any degree of detail and she is hardly the most likeable of the trio, which doesn’t help the reader engage with the text as easily as they need to given its complex themes. Spoilt and selfish, she leaves Oxford to help boyfriend David give aid to Palestinians, but her heart doesn’t appear to be in it and she comes across as utterly self-absorbed for a good portion of the book. David himself, we find out, has betrayed Anne-Marie, as she has him, and the resulting emotional conflicts which eventually draw in Mohammed seem like they are plucked from a scene in Anne-Marie’s favourite show The OC. Add to this a dubious Professor who sleeps with two of the three characters and you have a series of love triangles which are often less skilfully handled than the larger ideas McRobie is playing with – not in the execution but more in the planning. Things are revealed as if from nowhere; perhaps if some of the ideas had been pruned back a bit, there would have been more space for the protagonists to breathe.

This should not stop anyone reading this unique novel though – it is still a marvellous accomplishment: a compelling, intelligent and at times sensual read. McRobie has a natural talent and has produced a book which could easily hold its own among more seasoned writers' works. Recommended.

Lindsey Davis (Unverified), 11/08/08

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