Psychological thriller set in Berlin
A novel set mainly in Trieste (and Gloucestershire)
28th September 2018
A Perfect Mother by Katri Skala, a novel set mainly in Trieste (and Gloucestershire).
Jacob is writing a travel piece in the city of Trieste. He is a rather mournful character searching for his great grandfather, last heard of in 1938, when a postcard was sent in the December.
Trieste is beautifully captured and Katri talks to us about her research experience in the city on this link. Trieste had the only death camp in Italy during WW2 at San Sabba; she extols the beautiful views to be had from Opacina; James Joyce spent time in the city and Lucia Joyce, his daughter, also gets quite a mention in the novel. This is a city that really deserves a visit, the author conjures it up so well!
Jacob happens upon Jane and Charlotte, who are involved in a book group and they settle into an amicable interchange. It transpires that Jane and Charlotte have had a client/therapist relationship since the day Charlotte lost her small baby in a cot death.
Jane spends time with Jacob in a quasi vetting capacity (as he suspects in retrospect) assessing him as a potential suitable match for Charlotte to loosen her up and disengage her from her old and traumatic history – at least that is his interpretation. She has had an abusive mother, she was abandoned thrice by her husband Alex and, then, once she lost her own child, she slipped into Post Natal Depression. Charlotte has now found some solace in working for a charity in Bosnia.
Jane elucidates Charlotte’s story, describing intimate details to Jacob, recounting in great detail her psychological past and her present psychological demeanour. The symbiotic relationship Jane seems to have with Charlotte is described as though “… she was earthed to her friend by a live wire. Every slight shift in Charlotte’s behaviour was felt by Jane“. We are, however, in no doubt of the enmeshed relationship that has developed ever since Jane took it upon herself to take on the cause that is Charlotte. This is projection and projective identification, coupled with a real Karpman Drama Triangle, for anyone minded to explore the deeper psychological fit between the three – and yes, they seem to be reworking mother issues.
It is clear that the author is interested in psychology, and particularly the Freudian hypothesis that early trauma will manifest in the present.
For me, the relationship between Jane and Charlotte, and with the ultimately hapless Jacob just doesn’t ring true. A professional therapist – who attended as a witness at court – simply wouldn’t relate a client’s history to someone they have just encountered (it is clearly a device to get Charlotte’s history on the page). She would have been thrown out of the profession for doing this.
They all meet up back in England and Jacob is once again hankering after a sexual encounter with the inimitable Charlotte. Of course, there are consequences…..
This is a beautifully presented novel, with a striking cover and a lovely and warm yellow on the inside covers. In many ways it is an ambitious novel and the writing is good. The ending works quite well. I do think, however, that overall there were too many themes explored in just over 200 pages – Trieste as a place, the hunt for a great grandfather who came to Trieste from Vienna (where he ran a Fez-making factory), Nazi death camps, psychology (in terms of childhood trauma, loss, abandonment, abuse, couple relationships), death, James Joyce and co – plus a smattering of typos and occasional odd use of words (treaded for example should probably have been trod). The book had a lot of potential that to my mind wasn’t fully realised.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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I like the reviewer’s candor and perspective, sounds like more than glass half full but not entirely. Trieste a wonderful rich city, never knew there was a death camp there. Thanks for intriguing review.