Zoë Jenny

Apparently, Zoe Jenny is the best ever selling writer in Switzerland of a book called the Pollen Room which has been translated into 27 languages. Frankly, I have never heard of her and therefore have to plead ignorance about her writing style or whether her previous books have been any good. Zoe Jenny has now settled in London and The Sky is Changing is her first novel written through the medium of English rather than being translated into English. I picked this novel up following a glowing introduction to the book on the press release for Legend Press comparing her to Sylvia Plath and Ernest Hemingway.

The Sky is Changing is set in London shortly a year after the bombings in London. Claire is a Swedish born, German bred, 33 year old former ballet dancer who appears now to be teaching swimming. Claire is married to Anthony who is a city analyst in a high pressured environment. Unsurprisingly with all the stress and lack of direction in their lives, the couple struggle to conceive their first child. After two years of trying, Claire starts to question the direction in her life and mulling over how she arrived in London having quit her sparkling career as a ballerina.

The couple hang out with a few other thirty something friends who also don't have any children, they sit in each other's back gardens, drinking wine and ruminating.

Very little happens in the book and what does happen feels contrived in the sense that things happen to Claire which "force" her to re-examine the past. The observations of life in London strike me as a pretty realistic depiction of a stressful job in London, how the pace of work overrides everything.

Apparently the book is meant to be thought provoking so I have decided to answer some of the book club questions.

1. How do you feel towards the central character Claire throughout and at the end of the novel? I can empathise with her frustration about not being able to conceive. However, Claire is so introspective it is strange and her befriending of Nora is sweet but a little bit contrived.
2. Claire and her group of friends are a range of mid thirties characters without children. What was your reaction to them and their depiction? The group of friends seem quite a realistic group. The depiction of them all as having fantastically exciting lives but underneath having the same hopes as everyone else brings some normality to them.
3. At the time of writing IVF is a hot topic in many countries, how do you feel about the subject now you have read The Sky is Changing? I am not sure the book made me think in any great detail about the merits of IVF. Of course, the book examines some of the pain and struggle of failure to conceive. The book is particularly good where it comments on conception, that sex becomes a choir!!
4. The book reflects on nationality and identity - do you think this led to a sense of freedom or isolation for the characters? Claire grew up in Germany but her family are scattered across Northern Europe. I didn't think the novel commented upon the identity of being German particularly although Claire has admiration and perhaps jealousy for her older sister who has settled with her husband in Germany, has a good job, a beautiful house, baby, good relationship with her mother etc. The book reminded me of the importance of family rather than specific nationality.… (altro)