Entanglement [Hardcover]

Another exceptional, totally engaging novel from Juliet Bressan - this time centred upon the impact of a medical crisis which exposes a web of secrecy and deception in the tangled lives and loves of a doctor and those she was closest to. The characters are intriguing - high achieving medical and legal professionals, socially concerned and with aspirations to make a difference in the world, described with insight and wit, while acknowledging their flaws, human frailty and vulnerability.
The settings are Dublin and Paris, Africa and Venice, portrayed with style and imagination - this is a worthy successor to "Snow White Turtle Doves".

Juliet Bressan: Entanglement. Dublin: Poolbeg 2009.

The story: a not very eternal triangle, fraught with entanglements that are ravelled and unravelled throughout 23 chapters. Probably the most surprising one is that the two best male friends (Dave and Jonny), have a brief sexual encounter that leads to their permanent estrangement. Kate, who has married Dave in the meanwhile, is aware of the alienation, but does not find out the reason for this until the end. Dave has also become sexually involved with Kate's close friend and colleague, Nick. Whilst in Paris, Dave, who has become a drug addict, is to meet Nick in a luxurious hotel, but takes an accidental drug overdose and dies. Nick discovers his body and flees, panic-stricken. In this context Kate and the reader have discovered the truth and the reason for the failed marriage between Kate and Dave, the pivotal theme of the novel. All is kept in the dark until the final exposé towards the very end.
Inextricable are the entanglements: Not only is Kate, in actual fact, in love with Jonny, who has married a beautiful French lawyer, Marianne, but this brilliant lawyer becomes Kate's patient at St. Xavier's Hospital, Dublin. Marianne turns out to be Jonny's wife. Kate, an obstetrician, delivers Marianne's premature baby but has to perform an emergency hysterectomy, making Marianne incapable of having more children. Despite the fact that Kate has done everything in her power to save mother and child, quite successfully, in fact, she is threatened by possible litigation. More entanglements as Kate leaves Dave and resumes her love relationship with Jonny, but refuses to make it permanent. No commitment, there are enough complications, he wisely says. Not till the end do we discover that Kate's secret admirer, another colleague, Ronan, has been passionately in love with Kate all the time, and when, after all her trials and tribulations, she decides to leave Ireland, join her on her way to Africa. New entanglements? Perhaps. But the story rounds off matters satisfactorily, avoiding the over-euphoric ending of 'Snow White Turtle Doves'.
Just as inextricable as the emotional etc. entanglements is the web of international connections: Dublin, Paris and Africa, more of this, please. There are even reminiscences of a stay in Australia, which will be a welcome addition for Aussie readers. The cultural mix is most welcome as are multiple, refreshing references to music. Unfortunately, the literary allusions, a welcome addendum in her previous novel (Synge, Pinter), are, on the whole, missing.
The story develops along logical lines and the writer has a wonderful command of character, situations and structural know-how. A novel of sheer readability. The story traces the apparently easy relationship of three medical students, their ups and downs, their jolly visits to pubs for a pint, their cheerful banter, a mixture of youngish Irish idiolect and medical in-jokes.
Characterisation is well handled. As indicated above, Marianne decides to possibly sue Kate for negligence. Kate is hauled before the whole hospital. Her boss, the calculating rationalist Professor Dennis Crowe, quizzes her and pronounces her to have been negligent, even trumping up that she never consulted anyone, after all, he himself would have been available that night. Kate sees through this. Crowe, anticipating costs to the hospital, always the economic issue here as elsewhere, engages a clever barrister, the unorthodox but quite engaging, Connell Jones Cumberton, to represent her. Connell advises her to plead guilty. Even though Kate understands the rationale (copout) of this suggestion, she stays firm to the end: no way is she going to do something that is out of character.
Marianne, an emancipated and enlightened woman, turns out to be reasonable and approachable, as are most women characters. However, the generosity of characterisation stretches to male characters, as well. Here is a sensitive young writer who does not condemn or resort to cheap stereotypes (cf. E.M.Forster's demands regarding flat and round characters). She goes into each one with psychological insight, explains their behaviour, sees actions as a consequence of situations and in the light of the modern-day pressures. This must be so truly relevant for the medical profession.
However, a few observations could be made:
Some of the situations are repetitive (cf. first novel) especially for readers who compare the book with it. The constant giggling and drunken banter...the characterisation of the central female character, emphasis on how cute, childlike and little she is... and how sexually attractive... More in-depth and complex, more memorable presentation of characterisation would be welcome (cf. Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charles Dickens etc.).
Has the theme of 'Entanglement' gone too far? Is the book a bit too close to the Mills and Boon variety of novel? Is it overdrawn at times? Would a more compact challenging presentation of story, characterisation, plot been called for? Does the novel pander to modern tastes too readily? Is there a danger of getting 'dated' too soon?
The cultural, social and political etc. background could be expanded, the many entanglements, and the book (485 pp.) could be reduced. Less would perchance be more...
All-in-all, well written and a credit to a promising young writer. Thumbs up from me and keep up the good work!

Ina