Forethoughts: a Leap by Anna Enquist

The next book up for my reading delight and delectation is the newly translated a Leap by Dutch author Anna Enquist. Translated into English for the first time by Jeanette K. Ringold, a Leap is a collection of five theme-related monologues.

From the outset I’ve got to say that I like monologues, I really do. There’s something about the uninterrupted narrative flow of a monologue that fully engages me and holds my interest. I seem to get a lot out of this form so I was really excited when Toby Press saw fit to send over an advanced copy for my reading pleasure. I got even more excited when I discovered that a Leap was also work in translation, which anyone who reads RobAroundBooks will know, is always going to pique my interest.

I’ve never read anything from Enquist before but from what I can gather she’s rather accomplished, having already published three best-selling novels to date (The Masterpiece, The Secret and The Ice Carriers), and all of them translated in multiple languages. She also appears to be one of these annoyingly talented people who has many strings to her bow – novelist, musician, psychoanalyst, poet. Is there no end to this woman’s talents? Probably but that’s more than enough to validate her.

Still, as talented as Enquist may be, a book is only as good as its content right? So let’s have a look at the official blurb for a Leap:

The characters in the monologues that make up A Leap seek a home, some kind of anchorage or self-realization, but circumstances or fate ensure that their goal remains elusive.

Cato and Leendert are a pair of young lovers in Rotterdam during the spring of 1940. As bombs rain down on the city, Cato roams the streets in desperation, searching for Leendert, who didn’t show up for their meeting…

In the next monologue, a doctor amid the same bombs and chaos finds himself faced with a dilemma when a wounded German general enters his O.R. The general’s fate is in his hands…

Thirty years before this, Jewish dressmaker Mendel Bronstein decides to try his chances in the new world, but the journey from Rotterdam proves too much for his disintegrating mind.

In her home in Vienna, Alma Mahler reflects on her past with her husband Gustav, the famous composer. Having given up her own musical ambitions and borne his children, she is torn between her husband and the man who was once her lover…

In the final monologue, a young woman, Sara, spends a night in her parents’ home—which she enjoys only because they are away. She has come through a difficult year, both romantically and socially, and now a period of vibrant happiness seems to be dawning.

Emmmm……a literary exploration of self-realisation penned by a writer who is also a qualified psychoanalyst. That’s got to be a ‘recipe’ for a good read, right? I’m loving the sound of some of these monologues too – a doctor (I’m assuming Dutch) faced with the dilemma of treating a German general (nice!). A ‘set in his ways’ dressmaker fails with relocating himself (interesting!). Two lovers searching for each other during a bombing raid (panicky!).

What about the cover? Ambiguous but wholly relevant it would seem. A (wood)worm’s eye view of an anonymous woman in period garb, standing in what looks like an attic or storage room, surrounded by allegorical(?) features (well the pram certainly looks like it may be). I love the design treatment for the title too; lime green lettering set off against the monochromatic background, with a lowercase ‘a’ at the beginning (and I bet you thought I’d been making grammatical errors with the title throughout these forethoughts )).

So an accomplished author with a promising set of monologues, topped off with an intriguing cover. Am I interested? You bet! I’ll be back soon to let you know how it all went!!

NOTE: My afterthought’s HAVE NOW BEEN POSTED!

Book Details
Publisher: Toby Press
Published: April 2009 (US)
Format: Paperback
Pages: circa 100 pages
ISBN: 978-1-59264-258-8

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A note about Forethoughts

Forethoughts offer an insight into my initial thoughts and impressions of a book before I read it. Informal and largely written as a stream-of-consciousness exercise in a single sitting, my ‘forethoughts’ capture an important stage of the reading experience for me – that anticipatory period before the book is first opened, when excitement is piqued for the literary ‘journey’ which lies ahead.

Captured with an undertone of blissful ignorance, at a time when the book has yet to begin its transition from being an unknown entity in my mind to eventually being something I’m wholly familiar with, my ‘forethoughts’ uniquely record my first impressions, my expectations and my preconceptions of a book. Combine my ‘forethoughts’ with my ‘afterthoughts’ (review) and the result is a record of a very personal journey through a book.