Dark Diversions, by John Ralston Saul

After reading a few chapters John Ralston Saul's new novel Dark Diversions, I finally figured out that this is not really a novel.  At least not in the traditional sense.  It's better viewed as a collection of short stories with a single narrator.  Once I came to that conclusion, my mind was able to relax a bit and enjoy the stories more.

The narrator, and journalist who flits around the world and moves among the richest of the rich (without, apparently, being very rich himself), has a way of being accepted and comfortable with everyone he meets, whether a third-world dictator or a high-flying socialite.  Not only is he accepted, but he becomes people's confessor, comforter, and confidant.  As a result, he paints a revealing picture of political and social life in the late 20th century. 

In the final chapter, Saul finally reveals what he's been up to in the book.  As the narrator describes his life as a writer to a friend, his friend (who calls him scribbler) interrupts.  "Sounds sh---y to me. . . . All those bits and pieces, scribbler, of other people's lives.  You peep at them.  You write down their secrets.  'Sh---y' I think is the word."  The narrator defends his craft: "Look at it this way.  What I have is a sort of ad hoc vision in which I am the alchemist's conductor.  See?  So the sum of the parts, contrary to cliche, magically adds up to some kind of whole."

So Dark Diversions does mix these parts of stories from other people's lives, and it does add up to "some kind of whole" that is sometimes entertaining.  But as anyone who had tried alchemy can tell you, it doesn't add up to gold.

(By the way, I don't know whether to be embarrassed or annoyed by the author's habit of including French dialogue without translation. . . .)


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!