A review by zoemig
So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor
4.0
"These things, the way they fall into place. The people we would be if these things were otherwise."
So Many Ways To Begin by Jon McGregor's second novel, the touching and complicated story of David Carter and the lives that are tangled into his. David is a collector of things, a man who dreamed of having his own museum since he was a little boy, who carried home rejected belongings from former bomb sites in England as his own pieces of history. Every object in David's collection tells a story, and So Many Ways To Begin is a collection of these stories, with each belonging being linked to a specific incident in David's life which is recalled throughout the book. After his increasingly senile Aunt Julia lets slip a family secret David is forced to reassess the history he thought he knew as he goes digging for what really happened. The story moves non-chronologically throughout time, as David marries his long-distance Scottish girlfriend Eleanor at a young age and eventually becomes a father. The novel is the result of a specific series of events which would have produced an entirely different outcome if anything had happened differently- but if it had McGregor wouldn't have had such a beautiful story to tell.
So Many Ways To Begin manages to be complex, told in little pieces which end up connecting into a beautiful and pure story. McGregor's writing is reserved and subtle, with a lyricalness and beauty infused in it. The novel flows with an elegance that is distinct and lovely. It is extremely difficult to capture what is so wonderful about So Many Ways To Begin because it is a novel which is unique, which manages to begin again and again, each time drawing the reader into a different time and giving them a taste of it before moving on and beginning again. In the end, McGregor tells a story with wisdom and grace far beyond what you would expect of such a young writer; So Many Ways To Begin is a novel with a deep soul and so many connections you can't help but become tangled in the beauty of them.****
So Many Ways To Begin by Jon McGregor's second novel, the touching and complicated story of David Carter and the lives that are tangled into his. David is a collector of things, a man who dreamed of having his own museum since he was a little boy, who carried home rejected belongings from former bomb sites in England as his own pieces of history. Every object in David's collection tells a story, and So Many Ways To Begin is a collection of these stories, with each belonging being linked to a specific incident in David's life which is recalled throughout the book. After his increasingly senile Aunt Julia lets slip a family secret David is forced to reassess the history he thought he knew as he goes digging for what really happened. The story moves non-chronologically throughout time, as David marries his long-distance Scottish girlfriend Eleanor at a young age and eventually becomes a father. The novel is the result of a specific series of events which would have produced an entirely different outcome if anything had happened differently- but if it had McGregor wouldn't have had such a beautiful story to tell.
So Many Ways To Begin manages to be complex, told in little pieces which end up connecting into a beautiful and pure story. McGregor's writing is reserved and subtle, with a lyricalness and beauty infused in it. The novel flows with an elegance that is distinct and lovely. It is extremely difficult to capture what is so wonderful about So Many Ways To Begin because it is a novel which is unique, which manages to begin again and again, each time drawing the reader into a different time and giving them a taste of it before moving on and beginning again. In the end, McGregor tells a story with wisdom and grace far beyond what you would expect of such a young writer; So Many Ways To Begin is a novel with a deep soul and so many connections you can't help but become tangled in the beauty of them.****