Twist by Colum McCann

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

 

I have loved Colum McCann’s writing since I first experienced it in Let The Great World Spin, which I listened to on an excellent multi-cast audiobook back in 2017. Since then, I have read (in paper form), Trans Atlantic, and Thirteen Ways of Looking. 

 

McCann was born in Ireland, but later moved to New York. This “trans Atlantic” identity runs through all of his books that I have read, in some way or another. Twist is no exception. In fact, I would say that it is in a thematic way a spinoff from Trans Atlantic, examining another way the world is connected across oceans. 

 

In this case, the book is all about the transoceanic cable system, which carries far more of our international communications than satellites, even today. In researching for the book, McCann spent time aboard a cable repair ship, and this shows in his detailed and fascinating descriptions of life on board the ship. 

 

To be clear, this is a work of fiction - it is a story of a man who goes from a repair expert to a saboteur, a musing on connectedness and loss of connection, and quite a contemplative book. And a good story. McCann plotted this one tightly, with a great narrative arc and use of distinct sections that balance and echo each other. 

 

This particular audiobook was narrated by McCann himself, and he is actually an excellent reader. Since the book is written in the first person, and the narrator is a bit like the author, this works really well, and feels like a natural storytelling device. 

 

The narrator is Anthony Fennell, a playwright who hasn’t been successful, so he takes on journalistic assignments to pay the bills. He ends up going along as a passenger on an undersea cable repair ship based in South Africa, the guest of the head of the repair crew (as opposed to the captain and the ship’s crew), a man named John Conway. But is that really who he is? He comes from a remote Irish island, has some years missing (as do other characters), and seems to have a past. 

 

His partner is Zanele, a South African actress. Apparently, they met many years ago in Florida, and have had an on and off relationship for a long time - she has children from another relationship. 

 

Both of them are “free divers.” For those not familiar with the term, these are divers who do not use SCUBA equipment, but simply hold their breath for an insane amount of time, swim to absurd depths, and treat the whole thing as both a competition and a source of euphoria. 

 

To give an idea of this, an average person like me - or perhaps you as well - can hold a breath for at most a minute and a half. 

 

The current record for a free dive without oxygen is over 11 minutes. 

With the use of pure oxygen before the dive, the record is 29 minutes. Which is insanity. 

 

Free divers can either go down with “constant weight” - meaning they are essentially neutrally buoyant and propel themselves up or down, or with weights they jettison. For the former, the record depth is nearly 400 feet. Again, insanity. Recreational SCUBA divers are limited to 130 feet. 

 

I mention this, because free diving is a big part of the plot. Here too, McCann did his research and got the details right, even though I don’t see any indication he did more than a modest dive to research it - he and I are about the same in stamina, I would guess. 

 

The first part of the book is all about the preparation to go out to sea - Fennell meets Conway in South Africa, is invited to meet Zanele. And then they wait. After all, there needs to be a cable break first. This does eventually happen, off the west coast of Africa, and the ship embarks with a very seasick Fennell. (Who is also struggling with going cold turkey from his alcohol problem - no booze is allowed on board.) 

 

The cable is eventually found, repaired, and the ship is off to the next break - there are several caused by the same underwater event. 

 

But before things can be completed, Conway disappears from the ship just off the coast of Ghana, leaving Fennell without a host - or a ticket back. 

 

Is this connected to other happenings? 

 

Before the ship embarks, Zanele leaves for London, to direct a run of Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot, with a climate change metaphor. During the run, a disturbed young man throws acid in her face, and the whole thing blows up on media, which reaches the ship via their slow satellite connection. 

 

This clearly shakes Conway, and is perhaps a reason he abandons the ship. 

 

From there, Fennell has to reconstruct events after the fact. It is a bit of a spoiler, but Conway is alive, although not living openly. And no one knows what his ultimate plan will be, or how it will end. 

 

The later sections of the book reveal as much as the narrator will eventually know, along with his speculation about other details. These are entirely plausible, and in line with the characters, but ultimately, we never get full answers.

 

The book is interesting in that the climax occurs about seven-eighths through the book, leaving a fairly long wind-down. It isn’t exactly a tying up of ends either, but a continuing exploration of the aftermath as it affects Fennell and Zanele. One might call this a bit old-school, a slow unfolding followed by a gentle letdown. I thought it was effective. 

The prose flows smoothly, the descriptions are clear but not overdone, the dialogue believable. I really do like McCann’s writing. 

 

I am still thinking about the various layers of meaning. There is definitely the modern issue of the problems that our mass media, including our internet connectedness raise. Is it better that we know so much? While we also do so poorly in discerning truth from propaganda? 

 

But also very personal things. Can relationships survive two people being drawn in different directions by their calling? How are our connections severed, and can we repair them? What is the cost of repair? 

 

When one loses a single connection, what other connections are compromised? In such an interconnected world - which we have always been - how do we maintain positive connections? 

 

There is also the role of alcohol in the book. Is it a source of connection? Of disconnection? Does it cloud one’s thinking, or enable a kind of clarity. And the book considers all of these as possible correct answers too. 

 

And that is before you get to the more global problems of colonialism and climate poisoning. Again, connections, whether we want them or not. 

 

As with all of McCann’s books, there is a lot to think about. This one is a compelling story, but so much more than that. I have enjoyed every one of his books that I have read, including this one.