I Am No One
Patrick Flanery
Atlantic Books
Dh85
Patrick Flanery's Absolution (2012) was a remarkably accomplished first novel which explored South Africa's brutal past through conversations between a writer and her biographer. His follow-up, Fallen Land (2013), was a tale of possession and obsession in contemporary America. In his latest novel, I Am No One, Flanery deals with the equally weighty issues of identity, memory and the fragile privacy of the individual in a modern world of blanket surveillance. And once again, Flanery ably demonstrates that fiction can be simultaneously electrifying and thought-provoking.
Jeremy O’Keefe, a professor of history, has returned to New York after a decade teaching at Oxford. Despite losing himself in work and attending the lavish parties thrown by his daughter – an art gallery owner – and her media tycoon husband, O’Keefe feels lonely and alienated, unable to fit in and settle down in his native city.
His period of readjustment is made all the more difficult by a growing sense of unease, which starts when he is stood up by a student, and worsens when he learns that it was he who cancelled the meeting – an act of which he has no recollection.
Two boxes turn up at his door containing thousands of pages of all his online activity over the last 10 years. He bumps into the same young man in unlikely places three times in one week.
After several sightings of a shadowy figure in a ski mask looking up at his apartment, and the all-clear from a neurologist dispelling fears that he is imagining everything, O’Keefe’s initial self-doubt – “Am I losing it?” – hardens into unshakeable belief: “I was being watched.”
To find out why and by whom, O’Keefe casts back, searching for evidence of his own wrongdoing that may have turned a former friend into a stalker with a grievance.
He replays his Oxford years, centring on his romance with an Egyptian student, his discovery that her brother was involved in terrorism, and his intimidation and ensnarement at the hands of a wily spook.
But as O’Keefe plunders his past, he continues to pay for previous mistakes in the present. More boxes appear, this time full of his phone records and CCTV images of him going about his business. Anonymous calls and sinister messages instil further panic.
Soon this expert on East Germany’s secret police is left wondering if he is being monitored by a slighted individual bent on revenge, or spied on by the all-seeing, all-powerful intelligence agencies for being an unwitting enemy of the state.
O’Keefe tells us we are reading an “account of my innocence”. However, thanks to his many digressions and circumlocutions, it is also so much more.
As well as charting the “strange changes pressing against the trajectory of my life”, O’Keefe dilates on marriage, film plots, the trials of acculturation and the erosion of personal freedoms. He is a garrulous narrator, prone to long, elegant sentences which loop and expand, but which also veer off and retreat from an original point. We must sift five frustrating pages of padding before we find out what is in O’Keefe’s first box.
“Paranoid I might have been,” he explains, “but delusional I was not.” And yet the reader is never completely sure how reliable a narrator O’Keefe is.
Like Clare Wald, the reclusive writer in Absolution who has penned a volume of "fictionalised memoirs", O'Keefe constantly keeps us on our toes, prompting us to sift his testimony, query why he doesn't report his persecution to the police, and guess what monstrous truth lurks beneath the mere iceberg-tip on show.
American-born Flanery lives in London, and, perhaps as a result of this, O’Keefe’s cultural dislocation rings true. In all his years at Oxford, O’Keefe is perceived as an American abroad, despite his best efforts to assimilate, while back home he is regarded as an Englishman in New York.
Flanery’s riffs on madness have bite and wit (sanity is an enclave within the larger realm of insanity, “a Vatican or San Marino of the mind”), and his meditations on observation, data collection and protection contribute new insight and convey fresh chills.
In places, the novel’s twisting tangents resemble less breathless feats than long-winded assaults. Also, the periodic asides on Anglo-American differences – “tidbit (or as the British say, titbit)” – quickly grate.
Otherwise, this account, whether of innocence or not, makes richly compelling reading.
Malcolm Forbes is a regular contributor to The Review.
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The Disaster Artist
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
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Company%20Profile
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Who are the Soroptimists?
The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
Since then the group has grown exponentially around the world and is officially affiliated with the United Nations. The organisation also counts Queen Mathilde of Belgium among its ranks.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
MATCH INFO
Delhi Daredevils 174-4 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians 163 (19.3 ovs)
Delhi won the match by 11 runs
Stage result
1. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:29.09
2. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto-Soudal
3. Rudy Barbier (FRA) Israel Start-Up Nation
4. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma
5. Luka Mezgec (SLO) Mitchelton-Scott
6. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Sunweb
7. Jakub Mareczko (ITA) CCC
8. Max Walscheid (GER) NTT
9. José Rojas (ESP) Movistar
10. Andrea Vendrame (ITA) Ag2r La Mondiale, all at same time
The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
more from Janine di Giovanni
Arsenal's pre-season fixtures
Thursday Beat Sydney 2-0 in Sydney
Saturday v Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney
Wednesday v Bayern Munich in Shanghai
July 22 v Chelsea in Beijing
July 29 v Benfica in London
July 30 v Sevilla in London
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
