Twisted Ties That Bind
Another Deep Dive from Colum McCann
What I needed was a story about connection,,, about grace, about repair.
TWIST, the new novel from Colum McCann, features a down and out journalist who heads to the west coast of Africa to research an article about the underwater fiber-optic tubes that transmit nearly all the bits and bytes for the internet worldwide. In other words, the synapses of cybercommunications. Turns out these eyelash thin cables are as vulnerable to the roiling of the sea as human malevolence and rely on free diving engineers for maintenance.
Satellites are puny and expensive compared to cables. It’s so much more than a simple repair. The new geography is placed upon the old.
Our middle-aged, frequently drunken anti-hero has a history of strained relationships, and is consumed with guilt, uncertain how he might repair what matters or where he belongs. He also may have stepped out of Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS into a modern technology context, the novel’s structure mirrors that classic.
Colum McCann, one of my most favorite writers, lauded deservedly over the years with awards like the National Book Award for LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, frequently writes fiction with infrastructure at the core, both tangible and intangible. A metaphor having to do with what holds us and binds us – architectural, cultural, political and emotional.
It is, I suppose, the job of the teller to rearrange the scattered pieces of a story so that they conform to some sort of coherence. Between fact and fiction lie memory and imagination. Within memory and imagination lies our desire to capture at least some essence of the truth, which is, at best, messy.
Our narrator meets a fellow Irishman charged with the delicate repair and care for these razor thin cables as much as 2.5 miles below sea level. On the repair ship far from land, he discovers the secrets of the sea and secrets of the heart. He also finds himself immersed in the repairman and his wife’s personal mysteries. She, a charismatic actress with her own secrets, is about to stage a post-modern version of Waiting for Godot, the iconic theater of the absurd play by Samuel Beckett that explores themes of destiny, faith, and the frailty of human relations.
I used to presume that I knew a thing or two about love. My sister almost died, quite literally, of a broken heart. She suffered a stress-induced cardiomyopathy caused by a condition known as takotsubo syndrome… common among women who had suffered a trauma: her heart surrendered.
Can we repair the damage we’ve wrought to the planet or our relationships? McCann seems to say. Perhaps humans must learn to make peace with doubt and helplessness. [Yes] In the end, once again, he challenges us to ponder what it means to be human and how we might better repair the harm we’ve done and reset our priorities.
Back then I didn’t bank the happiness. I wish now that I had. Stupid to think our wine will never turn.
TWIST is spellbinding. Told largely in staccato prose punctuated with great insights, McCann, once again, brings a range of well-researched expertise to his descriptions, from sailing to underwater diving, journalism and theatre, and fiberoptic data transmission, as well as the fragile ties that bind. Late in the novel, he dives a bit too deep into engineering detail, belaboring the nature of the sea and its dangers, however the novel overall is a page-turner with profound perspective on our times.
If you’ve somehow missed reading the great Colum McCann, go back to a metaphysical tale of the twin towers in LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN or the slaves and immigrants who built the NYC subway system in THIS SIDE OF BRIGHTNESS, or the extraordinary reading experience of APEIROGON* based on the true story of an Israeli and a Palestinian who band together in their grief to forge a better path. Or, read THIRTEEN WAY OF LOOKING, a collection of shorter fiction not about eyesight, but vision. He’s an original and a gem.
*A polygon with an observably infinite number of sides. Fascinating concept.
Learn more about McCann and his writing process on this recent interview with Marrie Stone, writer/literary advocate, and host of the podcast, Writers on Writing.
Cheers. I’m soon headed back to backlist. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading.