I very much enjoyed this, the writing, of course is superb. The story is one of a man searching to find the ground beneath his feet, which is odd, considering his journey is not planned on land! Aside from the inner growth and slow uncovering of why Fennel feels he needs to seek out answers on the other end of the world, this is a book about a place so far removed from life as I would know it (Africa, the pandemic etc) - I lost myself in this book, the otherness of it, more so perhaps than the personal journey, rather the world view and of course Mc Cann's writing kept me rapt.
Very happy to recommend and post on GR (doesn't seem to be there yet?!) and amazon, when published.
thanks to Bloomsbury for an absorbing read.

I love Colum McCann's writing and in this respect, the book didn't disappoint. His observations about Africa, lockdown and London life will stay with me. The book has in my view a lot in common with Orbital, a forensic insight into a world that is alien to everyday life as we know it, yet vital to it. In this case that world is a ship that repairs undersea internet cables on missions that can last months at a time. I found the characters in Twist much more engaging than those in Orbital and for that reason have give 4 stars instead of 3. But like Orbital, I found myself disappointed by the lack of plot, and there was so much here that could have made the story gripping. Instead, the book often reads like long-form journalism. Perhaps this is intentional given the protagonist's trade. But a novel of this length, I think, needs more story. And a better 'twist' would have jumped it up to 5 stars! Nevertheless, do read it.

Colum McCann’s previous novel “Apeirogon” (the first I have read) was an outstanding treatment of the Israel-Palestinian conflict in both its deeply empathetic content and innovative literary form. He previously with his novel “Let The Great World Spin” won both the US National Book Award and later the Dublin Literary Award.

Of this novel he has said “For me it's a new sort of book in the sense that it's quite straightforward and chronological. Often I write in a kaleidoscopic way and use several different narrators, but this one takes place with only one narrator.” – a narrator he has also said was inspired by Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby “a straightforward earnest voice of someone trying to make sense of the world, who has a penchant and desire to tell a story that is bigger than himself and yet at the same time trying to work out some of his own inner demons.”

The narrator is Anthony Fennell – an Irish writer, self-described struggling-novelist and occasional playwright, his own demons (we find out over time) being a descent into alcoholism after his wife Irenea (a Chilean choreographer) left him and returned to Chile with their a year and a half old son Joli, resisting any attempts at reconciliation and forging a new relationship (his son happy to call another man his father).

Fennell resolves sometime late 2018 that “What I needed was a story about connection, about grace, about repair.” and accepts an online magazine commission to write about the undersea tubes that carry the world’s internet traffic

Specifically, he is to join the Georges Lecointe – one of the world’s leading cable repair vessels and in early 2019 he travels to Cape Town to join up with the ship.

It has to be said that the seemingly incidental period Fennell spends in Cape Town before joining the vessel contains some outstanding writing. Fennell is alarmed at the gaping inequality he sees there and much as he wants to play as an Irishman the “colonial-victim not coloniser card” he realises that the racial underpinnings of the inequality: “After apartheid, I had thought Cape Town might be ashamed of itself, in the choke hold of history, riven still by all it had seen and heard and done. Maybe it was, but it hid that side well, or maybe I hid myself from it. There was a nod to the past just about everywhere—statues of Nelson Mandela, Miriam Makeba songs blasted out over intercoms, memory museums, rows of colorful banners—but apartheid’s successor was quite obviously itself.” make that impossible and there is a simply brilliant line when he becomes uncomfortably aware of his colour privilege in a hotel bar:

"At the bar I had a Jameson to rebalance myself, but even the giant ice cube was an accusation: all the straight edges, Sykes-Picot in a glass."

One of those lines so good, in my view, that it justifies the novel in and of itself.

He is in the bar to meet the person that we know from the first page is the other real heart of the novel – John A Conway (we also know his fate given the first page says “I am not here to make an elegy for …” and discusses the wreckage of his life.

Conway is the quietly charismatic chief of mission on the George Lecointe – also Irish (although vague about his origins), not entirely keen on the distraction of Fennell joining his ship on its next repair, and keener that Fennell writers about his partner – Zanele an actress from township origins who is quickly gaining an internet following, and who is about to take an all-female climate change interpretation of “Waiting for Godot” (she cleverly quotes lines from the play which fit her theme) to Brighton. She is travelling there with her young children and Fennell senses not everything is right in her relationship with Conway.

When a tumultuous Congo River flood (the Congo parallels with “Heart of Darkness” are deliberate and also drawn in the novel) triggers offshore mudslides, a number of calamitous breeches occur in the underground cables causing internet outages across the African coast, and the Georges Lecointe sets out for a number of repairs – two off the DRC coast, the other closer to shore in Ghana.

Much of the middle of the book is set on the ship – and we learn of the crew onboard the vessel and the methods used to repair the cables. Fennell meanwhile becomes a little obsessed with seeming inconsistencies in Conway’s past and in his relationship with Zanele and the latter takes a twist when Zanele is subject to an acid attack while performing in Britain (her profile inadvertently growing as a result).

I enjoyed the shipbound sections – the back stories of the crew, Fennell’s tentative attempts to recontact his son, his researches into Conway and Zanele, all alongside the ongoing repair work is sufficiently varied to maintain interest and also fits what again is acknowledged explicitly as the themes both of the article Fennell is striving to write and McCann’s novel: the ideas of repair and communication, the contradiction in that the internet has if anything lead to greater isolation and loneliness and so that in trying to repair a breach in global communication the crew may be achieving the opposite in terms of personal relationships.

He also reflects on both the past of the wires – in colonial telegraphic communication, and the future in how they are increasingly owned by the new colonialists – internet monopolists.

As they approach their easier near shore repair off Accra, Conway suddenly disappears and I have to say the novel took a couple of turns that did not work for me. Firstly there is an extended set of references to a scene in Apocalypse Now which I have to say were 100% lost on me (in simple terms I don’t watch films at all so am always lost by cinematic references – and this one persists for a good chunk of the novel).

I enjoyed Fennell’s time in Accra trying to craft his article (see opening quote) – he has a series of ambiguous communications with Zanele (who seems to know more of Conway’s fate than she is prepared to let on and who explains more of his and her complex pasts) and some equally ambiguous exchanges with someone that comes to cook in the residence he rents while he finalises his writing

The penultimate part of the novel (before an epilogue which pulls things together) takes a more dramatic turn as a series of sabotage events occur against the undersea cables – and it becomes clear over time that Conway is the likely perpetuator.

While there was a lot to like in the concept of Conway turning to sabotage this part of the book took on for me too much of a thriller aspect as Fennell tries to recreate in his writing Conway’s actions – here for someone like me who has never had any interest in scuba or any other form of diving or hearing other people talk about it (there is nothing like a diver for boring you with their hobby) and who is also, as a reader, rather averse to sections which contain little other than physical descriptions – this part was the worst of both worlds and exactly what I was fearing but did not really occur in the earlier sections on the Georges Lecointe.

I would say in remediation though that much of the action takes place in lockdown and there are some brilliant passages on the temporal phenomenon of that time: “The days come and go. They bird themselves against the window and end up at our feet, stunned.” And “The clocks fell in upon themselves. Everything went fast and everything went slow at the same time. Months leapfrogged one another. Even whole years seemed to disappear. Time stepped up behind us and delivered a blow to the back of our heads. Logic was mangled. The times were concussed.”

Overall, therefore and despite my reservations when the book strays too close to filmic or thriller territory, this is a novel which packs huge amounts into its only 250 or so pages, contains some memorable characters and ideas and some stunning sentences.

McCann has twice been Booker longlisted (the first time for Transatlantic, the second Apeirogon whose failure to make the shortlist was decidedly to the demerit of the prize) and I would not be surprised and far from disappointed to see a third longlisting here.

I was completely intrigued by the premise of Twist and it’s unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s a novel that not only draws you in but also makes you stop and think with a plot that moves along at pace. Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury api Publishing and the author for the chance to review.

In Twist, Anthony Fennell embarks on a journey to Cape Town with a singular objective: to locate and board the Georges Lecointe, a cable repair vessel captained by the enigmatic and charismatic Chief of Mission, John Conway. As the boat navigates the west coast of Africa, Fennell immerses himself in the routines and rituals of life at sea, anticipating an adventure that soon takes a dark turn.

As the mission begins to falter, it becomes evident that Conway is grappling with a personal crisis, and a tragic, violent event looms in his past on land. When Conway suddenly disappears, Fennell is propelled into a quest to find him. His search unravels the profound complexities of human nature, forcing him to confront the unsettling reality that some bonds may be better severed than preserved.

Twist is a tightly woven narrative that skillfully balances suspense with introspective prose. The author’s writing shines, revealing the emotional depth and moral contradictions that lie within the human heart. This compelling exploration of relationships and the human condition makes Twist a thought-provoking and engaging read.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

We follow an Irish journalist and writer, Anthony.
He is writing a piece on the underwater cables, and through these cables and the characters he meets, such as Conway, the chief of the cable repair ship, his love interest, and we read a meditation on life via Anthony’s words.
I found the idea of the underwater cable networks as the setting and carrier of human stories, both the physical and metaphorical aspects of them extremely intriguing.
I also enjoyed Anthony’s observations, most of his arc, and ruminations.
Prose and characterisation 3.5
Premise 3
Setting and themes 4
Certainly a worthy read.