Seven Types Of Ambiguity

Seven Types of Ambiguity - if you can read over 600 pages - is described on the blurb as a "tale of obsessive love" but I think that's too simplistic a summary. It's about an unemployed teacher briefly abducting Sam, the seven-year-old son of an ex-girlfriend, and the consequences of that one misguided incident and how it impacts on so many different lives in so many different ways. It's also a psychological thriller, a court room drama, a romance, a satire, an insightful commentary on modern day existence, morals and values, and a kind of literary juggernaut that borrows the title of a well known non-fiction book by William Empson on literary criticism. Throw in politics, big business and prostitution and pretty much every genre and theme is covered here.

The tale is told from seven different perspectives: Simon Heywood, the kidnapper; Dr Alex Klima, the psychiatrist who treats Simon but crosses a professional line to become his patient's best friend bordering on obsession; Anna Geraghty, Simon's ex-girlfriend and mother of the kidnapped child; Joe Geraghty, Anna's stockbroker husband; Angelique, the prostitute who is Simon's current girlfriend and through coincidence (and book contrivance) is also linked to Joe, one of her clients; Dennis Mitchell, an analyst and colleague of Joe's, who later hooks up with Angelique (are you following me?); and Rachael Klima, Alex's daughter, who, through another coincidence, becomes Sam's girlfriend later in life. Strangely enough the only person who does not narrate his side of the story is Sam, the central figure of the book.

As one would expect from the novel's title, the theme of ambiguity is a constant. Indeed Perlman plays many literary tricks so that upon reading each new part it takes two or three pages for the reader to figure out who the new narrator is. I initially found this annoying, but I grew to like the surprise.

Perlman also has his characters constantly misunderstand each other in conversation through the use of ambiguous language. For instance, when Anna is called to discuss Sam's misbehaviour at school as a result of the kidnapping, the teacher treads softly and then completely misunderstands everything Anna says to her.

'What's he done?' I asked. (...)
'Well, he's been calling out a lot...lately.
''What do you mean, lately?' I asked the young teacher.
'Well, since the...since the troubles.
'Since 'the troubles', she had said, not being able to even say the word 'kidnapping', so afraid, as the school had informed us in a carefully worded letter, were they of saying anything that might cause us offence and provoke litigation.
'What, he's been calling out since the beginning of inter-religious hostilities in Ireland?' It was an off-the-cuff smartarse remark of the kind Simon could've made.
(...)'Pardon me?' the young teacher asked, completely at a loss.
'I'm sorry, you said since "the troubles", which is the name given to the Catholic-Protestant conflict in Ireland. I'm sorry. I was just being flippant. Things have been--
''No, I'm sorry, for my insensitivity. Geraghty? Of course, Sam Geraghty. I have to admit I'm not always up to date with my world events. Have you lost family recently in Northern Ireland? Did Sam know the deceased directly or is it a sort of...vicarious pain? We can schedule grief counselling if you like. It can be for the whole family if you would think it would help everyone...or anyone.'

The book is littered with many, many more examples - too many to list here. But the overriding message of Seven Types of Ambiguity is the ambiguity of human relationships and how two people in a relationship can interpret that relationship in entirely different ways through the prism of their own needs, desires and maturity. For instance, we learn early on that Simon is obsessed with Anna, his ex-girlfriend, whom he is stalking. They have not been romantically involved for more than 10 years and yet he is still very much in love with her. It is creepy and skin-crawling stuff, although somewhat understandable. Later, when Anna narrates her part of the story, we get to find out exactly what she thinks of Simon.

Despite my glowing five-star review, the book isn't perfect. Sometimes the rehashing of scenes and conversations, albeit as seen from different points of view, grew tiring. The voice and tone of each character was also remarkably similar, and some of the sentences were confusing and overly clunky. I also had trouble with the first chapter, not quite being able to work out who the narrator was, much less who he was addressing.

That said, I loved this book. I found the story gripping, the characterisation impressive and the literary 'acrobatics' haunting. Each character reveals some sort of past which we never completely figure out. The scariest and most impressive feat of the author is that he gets you to relate to all of these people, as ridiculous and absurd as they are, and allows us to see that in similar circumstances, we are all very close to these characters.

A-