Mark Watson's new novel Eleven is about how connected our lives are — how an action by one person has consequences all down the line for lots of other people. In this story the chain reaction of events starts with a young boy getting beat up by neighborhood toughs. He goes home bruised and bloodied. His mother, a journalist and food critic, upset about what happened to her son, gives a poor review to a new restaurant. The owner and chef, frustrated about the review, which he considers singularly unfair, vents his anger by firing a lowly kitchen worker. Etc., etc., etc. The main character is Xavier Ireland, a lonely host of a late-night radio show in London, who gives out advice to his listeners about how to fix up their lives. His own life is pretty pathetic, stemming in part from a regrettable mishap in his own past. But his life starts to perk up a bit when he meets Pippa at a speed-dating event and, discovering that she is a housecleaner, decides to hire her to clean his own miserable flat. As things develop, she turns into a more important person in his life, improving not only his flat but everything else in his life. It's an appealing story and — another plus! — Watson knows how to end a novel in a satisfying way.
I liked this book. As Susannah Meadows noted in her short comment about it in the New York Times:
The surprises come in the language. Leicester Square is said to be “sulky with drizzle.” A film director has “a gut which imposes itself through an inadequate tuxedo like somebody mooning through a gap in curtains.” And at a party, people take out their BlackBerrys each time they shuffle to another conversation “as if the gadgets contain instructions on how to move.” Which is all to say that in the telling of this story, Mr. Watson, a British comedian and writer, can be rather charming . . .
I agree. In the first paragraph, Watson describes snowflakes in London settling "in scarves around the necks of parked cars." I knew immediately that I was in for some interesting writing. Fortunately, I got a good story, too. ★★★☆☆
Sense and Nonsense 