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He wrote his first two published novels before graduating from college, and was published in nearly 10 languages before he fulfilled the "writing requirement" classes required for his diploma. Personally, this was a first for me from Michael Koryta, but I will have to go back and read his other books and make sure to look out for his future novels. In Ben Fergusson’s An Honest Man our narrator Ralf revi sits a particularly significant year in his life. If you enjoy coming of ages, books by John Boyne, or stories set in times of political divide (such as Confession with Blue Horses and Swimming in the Dark), chances are you will like this book.
His narrative is sensuous, as he always seem to loose himself in the bodies of those around him (noting the way the light illuminates someone’s hair or face).
One exception that kept me reading him was THE PROPHET, and AN HONEST MAN is the first since that 2012 novel to approach that book’s standard of a sting sense of place combined with a good plot combined with what is usually Koryta’s weakness: emotionally compelling, relatable characters that inspire the reader’s empathy because they inspire the creator’s. Ben Fergusson’s An Honest Man, is an absolutely multilayered, multi themed, provocative narrative set in 1989 at one of the most pivotal period’s in the modern history of Berlin, Germany, Europe and indeed the world. That fact is certainly not lost on his Uncles Sterling, brother to his late father, who wants nothing more than to put Israel back behind bars and out of his sight at any cost necessary.
Lyman likes hiding from his father in some of the abandoned homes around their depressed part of the island.
I found myself so invested and cheering on the good guys and wanting to take down each bad guy and not missing a single word because I was looking for clues and trying to figure it all out myself.
An Honest Man is Michael at his apex: finely wrought characters dealing with real human pain seamlessly interwoven into a twisty, suspenseful narrative that focuses on the corrosive forces of class and violence in a coastal Maine town.Until then they spend their days and nights relaxing: they go to the swimming pool, on nature excursions, drink together etc. One thing I can assure is the good writing in this novel, the setting in Berlin and its theme is something new to me. But this is a novel as much about the end of innocence, the limits of ideology and the pain of realising the people we love are far from perfect – in this case very far indeed. Ultimately, Ralf is very courageous, and there is a resolve that is realised as the wall succumbs, symbolic of the breakthroughs in Ralf’s own life.
Growing up in a bilingual household (his mother is English), Ralf has always felt like a bit of an outsider. Lyman, the 12 year old boy, is particularly interesting and well fleshed out boy and will pull at your heartstrings. Israel learned the photography trade while in prison and claims that the photos are completely innocent with no ill intent. It is the story of the last school year of Ralf Dorsam who lives in the same old apartment building in West Berlin used as a setting for Fergusson’s two prior novels.A divided city where the Wall was not only physical, but psychological, where its citizens didn't really belong to their own city: living on the line, in fear, where they couldn't even trust their own neighbours. At the same time, he becomes aware of a green Mercedes Benz (see the cover) that is regularly acting suspiciously in his neighbourhood.
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