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LONGLISTED FOR THE WAVERTON GOOD READ AWARD 2012
Joel Burns has always believed his father is still alive. His mother Jackie has long been glad to know Gilberto is dead.
When a sighting on a news report from Rio de Janeiro suggests Joel might be right, he travels to Brazil determined to find his long-lost father. Nelson, a down-and-out musician guided by the spirits of Jesus, Yemanjá and his late Aunt Zila, helps Joel retrace his childhood steps – and face up to the contrast between his rosy memories of Gilberto and his mother’s accounts of the man's cruelty. Back at home in Brighton, Joel’s trip stirs up Jackie’s own recollections of her life in Rio – from the beautiful early years of Gilberto trying to make it in the bossa nova scene, to the violent times following his arrest and imprisonment by the military authorities.
Invisibles spans two cities by the sea and four decades of music, torture and romance. From the streets of Brighton to the bars of Rio, Ed Siegle weaves the rhythms of Brazil and the troubles of his characters into an absorbing story of identity, love and loss. At once familiar and foreign, this sweet, sad and compulsively readable first novel throngs with visceral memory and unbreakable ordinary heroes.
grew up in Somerset and lives in Brighton with his wife and three children. A keen linguist, he spent several years in Spain and Latin America, living and working in Granada, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. His short story Nine Lives, One Life won the 2004 V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize.
Ed Siegle's moving and dynamic tale of loss and discovery is a meditation on being seen, and being unseen. Full of surprises, crackling with energy, and with characters bristling with life, Invisibles pulled me along from the first page and didn't set me down until the last.
The most surprising fact about this story of identity is that it is a debut novel. From the first chapter, the richness of Brighton-based author Ed Siegle's plot, as well as his instantly charming characters, pull you in and don't let go. Brimming with lush descriptions of the colour, tastes and sounds of Brazil, this is a satisfying and engaging story about the reality of one man's childhood memories. A fantastic read.
The true heart of this novel is Ed Siegle's beautifully crafted, intelligently structured and never less than gripping writing. I picked it up for an afternoon scan, and it never left my side for the next week.
This is an unusual story that focuses on dysfunctional relationships and the way in which unresolved issues from the past can influence the present...A promising début novel which should appeal to fans of Nick Hornby. Ed Siegle has the ability to create a vivid sense of place and Brazil, a country for which he clearly has a deep affection, is beautifully depicted.
In this riveting story, Ed Siegle does a tremendous job of transposing us to Rio de Janeiro, juxtaposing Brighton and Brazil, past and present. The dark and light sides of Brazil are brought to life - like bitter-sweet caipirinhas and lilting samba - under Ed´s command of time and place.
The book is so well plotted and put together that it has almost no signs of this being a first time effort, and looks more like the work of a highly experienced writer. There are hints of Nick Hornby in terms of style, particularly in those books where Hornby is at his least overtly lad-literature end. There's a similar balance of humour and style, and Siegle shares Hornby's passions for music and football. Siegle gives a satisfying arc to almost all of his characters, be that Joel, Jackie, Debbie, Nelson and to a lesser extent, Liam too. Each learns and changes throughout the story and their relationships change as the story unfolds. To achieve this without slowing the development of the central plot line is impressive. He also gives a nice feel of both Brighton and Rio. Rio is one of those cities that whenever it crops up in a novel acts as one of the characters, but it's a balanced view here, neither concentrating on the very rich nor the very poor, but rather more interestingly looking at those on the margins of the two worlds. There are heavy doses of humour as well as touching moments of the quest to find the long-buried truth about Joel's father. The music of Rio also informs a lot of the book – it's one of those books that really ought to come with a soundtrack. For the ultimate reading of this book, turn up the central heating, pour yourself a 'caipirinha' and put on some background samba music.
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This is an exceptionally assured debut novel (actually, sod that patronising “debut” epithet: exceptionally assured novel, full stop). The story of Joel’s search for his father is paced to perfection and cleverly interwoven with the back-story of his mother’s tempestuous marriage. The plot is intricate but, unlike some books by better-known authors I’ve read lately, doesn’t rely on outrageous coincidences to work (I’m looking at you, Kate Atkinson). The characters are well-rounded, engaging and totally believable, and the pages fairly sizzle with the heat of Rio.
I think what impressed me most about “Invisibles” was the sheer confidence of the writing. Siegle is an accomplished short-story writer and it shows. He isn’t afraid to drop you right in the middle of an exchange of street banter that a lesser writer might feel obliged to explain. And whilst this is on the surface for Joel a very middle-class search for his roots and identity, Siegle makes it abundantly clear that for Nelson it is a matter of life and death – but he also very cleverly manages to find common ground between the two men, despite their very different backgrounds.
Highly recommended.
Invisibles begins in Brighton, but it already has one eye on events in Rio de Janeiro. These two places, linked by all the distance of the ocean, are inextricably entwined in Ed Siegle’s novel of lost people and the gaps they leave in the lives of those who seek them.
It’s not simply a merry dash through lovely colourful Rio and does not present the favelas as peopled by cheerful, happy-go-lucky ragamuffins. We see the bloody consequences of corrupt leadership, from the petty gangsters who roam Rio’s streets and bars through to loathsome military leaders who think nothing of throwing people into prison without charge and torturing them for their own selfish reasons.
And perhaps more disturbingly, Siegle doesn’t shy away from the consequences of mythologizing those who no longer play any part in our lives. He shows that no matter how much you may miss an absent father, no matter how towering a figure he might be in your life, he is only as flawed and as human as the rest of us. Looking for a legend in your own lifetime is bound to end in disappointment.
Perhaps we should adopt the motto of the more sanguine Gilberto and Nelson – ate a morte, pe forte!
Siegle skillfully intertwines the narratives of a host of characters throughout which kept me happily page turning. Marginality and how our circumstances and relationships can change dramatically are themes that run throughout the book. The people of Brazil and ant racing a-go-go create a sizzling and humorous Samba rhythm to what is at times a dark story. Beautiful and accurate descriptions of Brighton kept the local in me happy. I would definitely thoroughly recommend this book.
In this original and gripping story about a man searching for his father, debut novelist Ed Siegle takes the reader on a journey across two continents and four decades – it’s certainly an entertaining and absorbing trip...What I loved best about this book is its extraordinary ability to touch on all the senses. We can taste the tangy sea of Brighton in winter, smell the zingy lime of the caipirinhas which are generously poured throughout the story, while the samba beats of Brazil and the squawking cries of Brighton’s myriad seagulls resound in the ears days after putting the book down. That the book stays with you for days after reading is just one of many reasons why it comes highly recommended.
Read an interview with Ed Siegle on the Deckchair website
