Journey by Jae Watson

‘There are journeys that take us miles from home, broadening our minds, widening our horizons, and then there are journeys that take us into lost or undiscovered regions of ourselves, into the landscape of the mind and the contours of the soul.’

So begins Jae Watson’s ‘Journey’ – a tale of two friends in their twenties who decide to take a year out from their lives and travel the world. Marianne the narrator is escaping from a broken relationship. Her new friend, Sara, beautiful and mysterious, who Marianne met in ‘unexpected circumstances’ has her own reasons for travelling that only become clear later in the story.

Marianne and Sara actually know very little about each other. They go to London University but on different sides of the river. They come from different milieus and there is no reason why their paths should cross, – until one summer’s day Marianne is passing a house in Islington and hears Sara’s voice. Then she hears a thud and a scream and takes the risky decision to intervene, stepping through the sash window into Sara’s life. From that moment the girls’ lives become entwined.

From the beginning Sara is an ambiguous character – Marianne is fascinated by her but also distrusts her. The situation where they first meet, a man with his head cut open, unconscious, Sara’s allegation of rape which she does not wish to pursue, invites suspicion. Marianne is concerned that her new friend has gone home with an unknown man and made herself vulnerable. She is also shocked by Sara’s lack of responsibility – did she really call an ambulance?

The encounter between the two girls occurs at the time of the London bombings when the city is torn apart by fear and tension and life seems uncertain. It is a very good time to get away although, in a twist of fate, the friends are plunged into a terrorist attack in Delhi and witness the horrors they think they have left behind at close quarters.

‘Journey’ is an ambitious novel that can work on various levels, a journey of self discovery, a murder mystery and also a tale of contemporary life that seeks to make sense of an uncertain and dangerous world.

Nothing is as it seems. The main character, Marianne, is self absorbed and sees everything in relation to her own issues. This is natural and possibly true to life but disconcerting to the reader who expects to find the heroine sympathetic at all times. It sets up a certain tension within the story – we expect Marianne to tell Sara’s story and yet Marianne remains centre stage at all times – everything is filtered through her consciousness and we are occasionally repelled and bemused by her somewhat childlike determination to see everything in relation to herself.

At one point she engages in a casual sexual encounter that is described exclusively from her viewpoint – we are invited to believe that her partner is entirely passive as she takes her pleasure. There are other instances when her imagery is so wide of the mark that we are jerked out of the story – in the bombing in Delhi those caught in the blast are described as being frozen by the Queen of Narnia which jars with the heat and tension of the scene.

Marianne is damaged by her mother’s abandonment of her as a child and this affects her ability to make and sustain relationships but because she is telling the story this affects the author’s depiction of the other characters within the tale, some of which lack credibility.

Following Sara’s death, her body recovered from the Ganges in the Holy City of Varanasi, her mother arrives with private detective in tow and from then on the story becomes a modern Christie tale of murder mystery in an exotic setting. I had huge problems with the character of Mrs Fitzgerald, she did not convince and this is possibly because she is filtered though Marianne’s impression of her.

There are places where the writing flies and we are drawn in and others that challenge suspension of disbelief – that people would really behave like this. Although the locations are well described the view of India does not go beyond travellers’ impression – Marianne and Sara, despite their good intentions to depart from the tourist norm, remain outsiders.

For me ‘Journey’ was a fascinating read that kept me intrigued to the end. It is a novel that defies expectation and provides no cosy solutions. It is certainly a ‘Journey’ that challenges assumptions and makes you think – an interlude from ‘real life’. One is left wondering about Marianne and what will happen when finally she goes home.

Great review, Sarah.

JB

Yeah, fab review.

Nik.

Thank you

Sarah