Jean Bonnin

Lines Within the Circle Jean Bonnin

This, Jean Bonnin's second novel, is a wonderfully written piece about an intriguing roadtrip. From Oxford in the UK, through France and Spain, to Portugal - and later ending up in Berlin and the former East Germany? Interesting people are discussed and met along the way: from Salvador Dali, to a self-assured Icelandic hitchhiker. In one respect this is the story about a man on a strange journey who is thinking about the life he's led, in another respect it's about something much bigger... It's about the loss of idealism, and the loss of ideology. And, here is the blurb from the book cover: If this isn't a book, possibly it's a film - if it isn't a film then possibly it's my life... Characters come and go, bizarre situations intermingle, as themes repeat and coalesce. And all the while the protagonist is attempting to distinguish memory from reality... In a roadtrip that takes him from Oxford to Portugal, via Spain and the Salvador Dali museum, he considers music and art, and the significance of the relationships he's had... Then after many adventures he travels to Berlin and Leipzig in search of employment... He finds himself in a large dusty warehouse full of objects from the former East Germany. And a combination of weltschmerz and extreme fatigue result in his realisation that all is not as it appears. And maybe he's experiencing the end of ideology, the end of idealism, or the end of history itself... And the future is merely a memory of the past - if time is but a circle... And something somewhere isn't quite right. Lines Within The Circle is somewhat reminiscent of the writing of Paul Auster, with a touch of Iain Banks, a touch of Bruno Schulz, and with an element of Hermann Hesse mixed in for good measure.