G by John Berger

This book was initially quite promising and I was intrigued by the unusual title. Also, there was something quite modern about the tone of the writing which resulted in my surprise when I realised that the plot was actually set in the 19^th Century, progressing into the 20^th.  It made me realize that I, in fact, knew very little about the history of Italy and its politics, both domestic and foreign, interacting with neighbouring countries.

However, it dwelled a great deal on the philandering of the protagonist G – but in such a lackadaisical way – that it was just slightly boring.  Bearing in mind that G is the protagonist and the entire book is centred around his life – his character is poorly portrayed and his motivations in life, despite attempting to give context and background through depiction of his childhood, are just so unsatisfying.  He just seems to drift through life from woman to woman– so shallow and devoid of conviction. 

I found G to be so flaccid that he was upstaged by the various events surrounding him, which were so much more interesting that I actually would have just preferred to read a history book about the period instead – it would have been infinitely more compelling.  For example, the account of Chavez achieving the first flight across the Alps is dramatic and thrilling, but Berger decides that during the flight is when G seduces yet another woman, distracting from a much more interesting character and occurrence! 

And, perhaps equally annoying were the author’s rambling reflections about how best to write about things, such as sex or actually stating that he would not describe the riots as it wouldn’t do justice to the atrocities.  I suppose he does have a point, but surely that is the point of writing – and the skill of a writer – to attempt to convey emotions, events through the written word – otherwise why bother at all?!

So I wasn’t a particular fan of this book and actually it wasn’t even particularly bad enough to induce dislike, just indifference and a motivation to definitely do some research about the various historical events that were touched on by this mediocre novel – which unlike the protagonist appear fascinating!