Fantastic book. I thought the parts from Doc's perspective while he was having his stroke were really well done, very intense, although sometimes hard to follow (I think that was the point, though). I also thought Anna's response was very realistic, feeling trapped in the situation and cut off and overwhelmed. She's also a bit of an odd duck herself, what with often not understanding context or appropriate responses, but I liked it, she was interesting. ( )

A real gem of a book: such sensitive and loving writing, applying a sculpted, concise style. Sometimes you get fooled by book recommendations – Screaming recommendations in parenthesis by famous writers, which then turn out to be duds, making you doubt the sanity of that famous author. But this novel about a man and his wife, dealing with the aftermath of a stroke, is simply ‘beautiful’ as Hilary Mantel apparently said.

The novel consists of three distinct parts. First there is Lean – which describes an accident (sudden storm) befalling an Antarctic expedition team of three men: Doc Wright, the experienced technical hand, and Luke and Thomas, the two young novices. When shooting a picture, Doc climbs a cliff edge, to provide perspective for Thomas’ picture. Once the snow storm has hit, we witness three POVs, allowing the reader to try and make sense of what happens – Thomas drifts away on an ice floe that broke loose; Luke tries to establish contact over the radio and ultimately manages to claw back to the hut; Doc struggles for his life on top of the cliff, starts thinking like flocculated milk, and somehow manages to get back to the hut before Luke. What follows is a fatal misunderstanding: Doc losing it and trying to cover for self-inflicted mistakes (did not charge satellite phones, and he fails to raise the general alarm over the radio, wanting to solve the situation without their help). Luke notices that Doc is losing it, but does not dare to stand up to him. Hence the botched rescue operation and loss of Thomas’ life.

The second part, called Fall, engages with Anna’s POV (Doc’s wife) and follows Doc’s painful and slow recovery of some form of speech in the hospital. The final part, Stand, encompasses many POVs (Liz the speech recovery therapist; Sara, Doc and Anna’s daughter; and occasionally Anna still). By now the lives of many have changed – Anna’s career is put on the back burner in her work at the University; Doc is slowly recovering but not quite coming back to his old self, mourning for the loss of his old life as an Arctic explorer; feeling frustrated about his limited, impaired role at the inquest about Thomas’ death; and Amira, who got funds for experimenting with a new approach for patients recovering from Aphasia (involving dancers and a group performance around each patient’s story).

What makes this book really good is the sparse, almost clipped, style of writing and the meticulous and compassionate understanding of the main characters’ lives, motives, drives and doubts. The three parts also cover different genres and phases of the process of recovery from a stroke. Indeed as one critic observes – the book provides a ‘bold and masterful investigation into the weather system of the human mind’. ( )

Are authors better off writing from experience or relying solely on their imagination? It’s a thorny issue, and there’s a lot to say in favour of writers not being constrained by the parameters of what they’ve lived through. However, I’ve always felt that sensations and events are important to provide raw material for artists to work upon.

Jon McGregor’s latest novel, Lean, Fall, Stand takes its inspiration from two real-life experiences – a trip to Antarctica as part of a writers and artists programme run by the British Antarctic Survey and supported by the Arts Council, and a spell attending a self-help group for aphasia sufferers as part of the research for this novel. These two subjects may appear unrelated, but McGregor masterfully weaves them together into a work about communication, or the lack of it.

The title refers to the tripartite structure of the novel. Lean, the first part, is set in Antarctica. Newby geographers Luke and Thomas are out on the ice with their guide Robert “Doc” Wright when they are suddenly overcome by a storm. They are driven apart and desperately try to contact each other by radio. In the second part, Fall, the protagonist is Doc, now recovering from a stroke which has affected his speech. He tries to express his memories of the Antarctic but finds it close to impossible to do so. In the third part, Stand, Doc remains one of the main characters, but the narrative takes a wider angle as it describes therapy sessions for aphasia sufferers which Doc attends.

In an interview for The Guardian, McGregor admits that in Lean, Fall, Stand, he knowingly upends the readers’ expectations by creating a sort of genre-crossing hybrid. The first part of the book skirts thriller territory, with its staccato delivery and Boys-Own-style action. But, as McGregor declares somewhat condescendingly in the interview, he is no Lee Child and has no intention to be. This is evident in the second and third parts of the book, where there is a noticeable gear-change.

Perhaps McGregor succeeded too well in his endeavour to create the anti-thriller. The scenes set in Antarctica are nail-biting and gripping; the second part less so, but it still holds the reader’s attention with its innovative ways of portraying the challenges faced by an aphasia sufferer (and his carers). The third part, however, I found terribly boring. Or rather, let me rephrase that. It is interesting enough, but only if read as the equivalent of a “true story” magazine article on aphasia patients – one of those articles with the disclaimer at the bottom that “names have been changed for privacy”. There’s no denying the sense of authenticity throughout the novel, and in the right mood it is probably a moving read. In my case, I couldn’t wait to move on to my next book.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/05/lean-fall-stand-by-jon-mcgregor.html ( )

Una expedición a la Antártida acaba en tragedia tras una fuerte tormenta. Uno de los miembros del equipo ha desaparecido y otro, Robert Wright, un veterano del trabajo de campo en el continente antártico que tiene las claves de lo ocurrido, sufre un ictus que lo deja incapacitado. De vuelta en casa, las consecuencias del accidente tienen efectos profundos en él y su entorno: su mujer Anna, una apasionada científica, se convierte que emplearse a fondo para recuperar el lenguaje y la movilidad.

La aclamada nueva novela de Jon McGregor, uno de los grandes autores de la literatura inglesa actual, nos habla de la valentía y del indómito impulso de contar que tenemos los seres humanos, incluso cuando faltan las palabras. Una aventura conmovedora sobre la fina línea que separa el sacrificio del egoísmo y sobre el infravalorado e inadvertido coraje que se necesita para llegar hasta el final del día.

The book starts as an adventure story, set in the Antarctic, comprised of three explorers using a base where they will stay for a few months. A sudden storm separates them, and the most experienced member suffers a stroke. The latter part of the book focuses on his recovery and the difficulties he and his family and friends experience.
The language Jon McGregor utilises to describe the disjointed thoughts of the protagonist are poignant and moving. A shimmer of hope coming to terms with a devastating debilitating illness, learning new ways to communicate and to find a new fulfilment in life. ( )