The Man Who Saw Everything
Written by Deborah Levy
Narrated by George Blagden
4/5
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About this audiobook
Deborah Levy
Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays, and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, broadcast on the BBC, and widely translated. She is the author of several highly praised novels, including The Man Who Saw Everything (long-listed for the Booker Prize), Hot Milk and Swimming Home (both Man Booker Prize finalists), The Unloved, and Billy and Girl; the acclaimed story collection Black Vodka; and a three-part autobiography, Things I Don’t Want to Know, The Cost of Living, and Real Estate. She lives in London and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Reviews for The Man Who Saw Everything
117 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A short, quirky book that grabbed me - I couldn't put it down.The central character is a young academic historian from a working class family and is set in 1988 and 2016. The book tells of some of his romantic relationships, both serious and casual, and thire various outcomes. But nothing in the book is as simple as that last sentence. First, the protagonist is confused by time. In 1988 he 'knows' the fall of the Berlin wall, while for much of the time in 2016, he thinks he's in 1988.Second, The book is intentionally ambiguous. The ending, like much of the book, leaves the reader to fill in the possible details. This could be annoying, but it isn't. The author is in total control, and brings the reader along. I loved it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unusual and creative literary fiction that explores memory, identity, and time. This book contains two starkly different sections. It starts with a seemingly direct tale of a man that gets grazed by a car while crossing Abbey Road, and travels to Germany, but very quickly the reader senses all is not what it seems. Protagonist Saul Adler, a British historian, will be visiting East Berlin in 1988 for academic purposes. Before he leaves, his photographer girlfriend recreates the famous Beatles Abbey Road album cover for him to take a gift to his translator’s sister, a huge Beatles fan. At the zebra crossing, he is hit by a car and injured. While in Germany he engages in relationships with both the translator and the translator’s sister and finds out that the Stasi is using him. In this first portion of the novel, I was fairly interested but kept wondering where it was headed.
In the second portion the scene shifts to 2016 London. The pieces that had previously been puzzling begin to form into a different story entirely. It appears something serious has happened to Saul Adler, causing him to confuse reality and fantasy, and current times with the past. We wonder if he is mentally unstable, suffers from amnesia or depression, is more severely injured in the accident than it first appeared, is engaged in an elaborate self-deception, or something else. The reader gradually gains knowledge of Saul’s life, but this book is going to be interpreted differently by each person that reads it.
I found it wonderfully creative, but at the same time a bit perplexing. It would definitely merit a re-read to glean more from all the hints that are placed throughout the narrative. I can see why it was nominated for awards, but it is not a book for those that prefer a straight-forward or chronological story. It will appeal to those that enjoy piecing together an elaborate puzzle that leaves lots of room for interpretation. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On the Enigma of Life and Memory
Deborah Levy’s The Man Who Saw Everything is vague, slippery, fractured, often frustrating, but never boring as you plow on trying to figure out what Saul Adler is all about as Saul himself tries to piece together the reality of his own life. Even if you sometimes find yourself lost in her prose, she has a style that compels you to read her.
This short novel comes in two parts. Both begin with Saul being hit by a car driven by a man named Wolfgang while cross Abbey Road. In the first, Jennifer Moreau and Saul are seeing each other. She is a graduating art student photographer with bright career prospects and she often uses Saul as a subject. One of her photos of him plays a central role in the novel. He is dressed in a white suit crossing Abbey Road in 1988, as the Beatles did for the photo on the cover of The White Album in 1969. They breakup when Saul says he might like to marry her, because she claims he knows knowing about her, he doesn’t really see her. She heads off to New York to pursue her career, while he heads to East Germany to research a fluff article on the GDR, after seeing his friend Jack. In Germany, Saul meets Walter, with whom he falls in love, as well as Walter’s sister Luna, with whom he has sex, and friend Rainer, who may be a spy for the Stasi, as well as Wolfgang, who Saul thinks might be the very same who hit him on Abbey Road. In the end, he and Walter break up and Saul returns to England, suspecting that maybe he had betrayed Walter inadvertently to the Stasi via Rainer.
Then the novel jumps to 2016 where we find Saul again crossing Abbey Road, but this time being severely injured by a car driven again by Wolfgang. This lands him in hospital where pretty much all the characters of the first part reappear as Saul drifts between current reality and memory of both 1988 and subsequent years, never knowing exactly where he is, his age, his life over the years, until finally he understands his circumstances after piecing together events as best he can. In the end he seems able to see everything he had been unable to see as he lived his life, the nature of his relationships with Jennifer, Walter, Luna, and Jack, who was his lover, but he only gains this understanding as he makes his exit once again back at Abbey Road.
Of course, readers will see that Saul has suffered significant head trauma in part two, so as you might expect, this has had an impact on his episodic memory. Perhaps Levy was thinking of how memories get stored, retrieved, and overwritten, sometimes distorted, as she wrote The Man Who Saw Everything. Readers who enjoy this novel might like to catch up with something called the New Theory in memory research just for the fun of contemplating how this might apply to Saul Adler if at all. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/53.5 stars
Definitely a book of two halves. The first it all seems linear and makes sense, with the odd moment that makes you question the solidity of it all. The second half is a crazy dream with a man lost in time and space, lying in a hospital bed, over-medicated and trying to grasp his own personal history. Beautifully written, but I can't say I truly cared for any of the characters. Very interesting but one of those books which leaves you with a bit of an unsatisfied feeling, and more questions than answers. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a strange, unsettling little novel. Moving back and forth between the GDR/East Berlin and London, back and forth between 1988 and 2016, the story centers around Saul Adler, a "minor historian" whose girlfriend photographs him walking across the zebra crossing of Beatles Abbey Road fame. His plan for the photo: to take it (along with a tin of pineapple) to the younger sister of his German interpreter when he visits East Berlin for his research. There is also an accident at same zebra crossing, many delightful references to elements of Beatles music now permanently imbedded in our culture, and themes of love, death, passion, loneliness, and fear. That may seem like a lot for such a short novel, but it's all there. Initially strange but straightforward, the novel becomes downright weird in the second half. Levy explores time and space and memory, independence and interconnectedness. Still, as weird as it is, it's also absolutely readable and engaging. It just requires a certain mental release, giving the author permission to wander as she sees fit, and allowing the emotional impact to land. I was surprised by the poignancy of the last few chapters. Pleasantly so.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saul Adler is a twenty something young man who's girlfriend is taking his picture as he crosses the zebra crosswalk on Abbey Road in 1988. Yes the same one that the Beatles crossed in 1969 for their White Album. Afterwards, he is hit by a car and then all semblance of sense goes out the window. He appears to not be badly hurt and he goes ahead with a planned trip to East Germany for further study of that country as he is an historian.As soon as part two opens we know something is not quite right. Deborah Levy has written quite the unique novel that dwells on memory and experience and the things that hold our lives together and make sense for us. I found it incredibly dreamlike and entertaining.I dare anyone who reads this novel to not play Penny Lane on your phone when it ends. I bet you will.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was an interesting book. Part 1 set the stage and Part 2 was the morphine induced take on Part 1 but with more detail. Saul Adler, a confused beautiful man struggles to be happy. He always searches for happiness but it eludes him. This is one of those books that is hard to put down and well written so easy to read. But in the end, it's rather unsatisfying and there are unanswered questions.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is not an easy book. The first half appears to be a fairly straightforward telling of young love and loss, careerism, and, of course, a minor accident at the famous Abby Road zebra crossing. But the second half becomes much more unsettling. Things are not what they seem, the timeline shifts back and forth, people come and go, characters you thought had died appear, etc. The reader learns details in snippets and never quite trusts the narrator's grasp of reality. One may be tempted to quit at this point, but that would be a mistake because Levy is masterfully evoking the kind of reality that one experiences in a morphine fog in an ICU. Saul Adler has had a second accident 28 years later and this time it was not minor. Friends and family visit, he slips in and out, and especially, his mind wanders, conjuring dreamlike memories in no particular order and with a surreal quality. Through it all, Saul struggles with feelings of guilt and regret.Levy sets her novel in Europe during the 28 years (1988-2016) following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of Brexit. She brings us from the East German Stasi and the Beatles to digital cameras and alternative lifestyles. Not unlike the Beatles tune, Penny Lane, there is a lot going on here. Much of it is mundane but some is "very strange."
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5“ I smiled at his careful reconstruction of history, blatantly told in his favour …”“I’m trying to cross the road …. Yes, she said, you’ve been trying to cross the road for thirty years but stuff happened on the way.”In 1988, Saul Adler, a young, Jewish historian, is getting photographed, crossing Abbey Road, like the famous Beatles album cover. His girlfriend, who just broke up with him, is taking the photo. He is then struck by a car. This is where the novel gets trippy, and timelines collapse and the narrative shifts to 2016, where Saul also finds himself recovering from an auto accident. He becomes a man in pieces, as he attempts to reconstruct his life and his past. There is a lot going on here and I am sure I have missed a metaphor or two, but I think the primary theme here, is how difficult it is examining and understanding our own lives and the lives of the people closest to us. The writing is excellent and Levy gives the reader plenty to chew on here. This is my introduction to her work and I was left quite impressed.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is The Man Who Saw Everything about a young man who nearly gets run over by a car?Is The Man Who Saw Everything about a Beatles' conspiracy theory?Is The Man Who Saw Everything about the British withdrawal from the European Union?Is The Man Who Saw Everything about gender roles?Is The Man Who Saw Everything about Socialism and the Berlin Wall?Is The Man Who Saw Everything about an artist's representation of reality?I don't have an answer to any of these questions. And unless Deborah Levy herself says what The Man Who Saw Everything is about, I'm not sure I'll ever know.Strangely, it seems possible that all of these theories (and more) could be true. The Man Who Saw Everything is one of those books that only supplies more questions the deeper one looks. In fact, to best understand this book, it may be best to not think at all (though I don't think that would make for as enjoyable a read). Undoubtedly, Levy is playing with perceptions of time and reality in this story. What is established as fact early on grows blurred in later chapters. Reader, you may not know what is going on in this novel.That may dissuade some readers from reading this novel, and that's probably okay. Some readers will never enjoy a book that doesn't provide clear answers. For those who find thrill in trying to piece everything together (whether or not they ever finish the puzzle) this book is a wild ride and well worth the experience.It's difficult to say much more about this novel—perhaps I've already said too much. The Man Who Saw Everything is clever and mysterious. It's a stylish novel, even if many of its allusions may be elusive. It's every part entertaining as it is intelligent. Perhaps the puzzle could've been a little easier to solve—personally, I like to feel like I have a solution, even if that answer is wrong—but the pleasure in trying to fit the pieces together still provided considerable entertainment.Advanced copy received from the publisher through Edelweiss