Turbulence
A Novel
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3.7 • 46 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the Booker Prize-winning author of Flesh, a “masterful” (The Washington Post), “cathartic” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), novel about twelve people, mostly strangers, and the surprising ripple effect each one has on the life of the next as they cross paths while in transit around the world
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Szalay's latest, after the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted All That Man Is, two air travelers' lives briefly intersect in the opening chapter on a flight from London to Madrid. A diabetic English woman returning to her home in Madrid from London, where she was visiting her son, who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, faints in her seat during a bout of turbulence, and the Ghanaian businessman next to her finds help. This encounter stays with Cheikh, the businessman, as he arrives home in Dakar to news of a tragic car accident in his family. The book continues with a collection of 12 such fleeting encounters, each, relay-like, linked to the previous by a tangential point of intersection, and each driven and inspired by the liminality of air travel. A witness to the accident in Dakar lands in S o Paulo, where he sleeps with a journalist who must catch a flight to Toronto the next morning to interview a writer. The writer flies to Seattle for her grandchild's birth, where by chance she meets a woman from Hong Kong who is caught at a marital crossroads. Szalay is a pithy writer, capable of startling insights into the nature of loneliness and the human desire for companionship, though there is something thin and underdeveloped to the conceit of this novel. This is a somewhat disappointing effort from a talented writer.
Customer Reviews
Turbulence
I thought this book was boring. I kept waiting for the characters’ stories to weave and connect to each other’s lives. I was disappointed when that never happened. Am I missing something?
Somewhat plain and needs some more editing
After reading the newest book of David Szalay, Flesh, I was eager to read a second book from the same author. Turbulence turned out to be written in a much less intricate way than Flesh. On top of this, either the original text or the translation are not well written. There are many repetitions - giving the impression that the author or translator should have proofread the book a bit more carefully. Quite impressive how the writing improved between Turbulence and Flesh. Can’t wait to see what the author will write in his next book.