The Darling Book

Just what kind of novel is Russell Banks’ The Darling? The author is, after all, one of the most impressive writers in America today, and his work (in such books as Affliction has been marked by its refusal to deal with the parochial: Banks’ subject is always ambitious in every sense of the word, and this new book may be his most large scale yet. The Darling is a massive, multi-stranded novel about Africa today. Banks’ heroine, Hannah Musgrave, is not a woman at ease with herself. Others might be happy with supportive parents and enthusiastic lovers, but Hannah finds that their blandishments do not plug the gap in her life. She abandons her comfortable middle-class existence and plunges into the dark terrorist world of the ruthless group known as the Weather Underground. Soon she is on the run from the FBI and takes refuge in Liberia in West Africa. It seems that her life will now change forever, as she marries a youthful politician and adopts the role of wife (and even mother). In the past, Hannah's life had been at threat from her own, internal forces, but now she finds that it is her environment which is the powder keg. The ruthless and corrupt military state which is Liberia (long shored up by America) is about to be plunged into massive bloodshed, and Hannah finds that all she has come to hold dear is at risk. This is powerful and far-reaching writing, on a scale that few novelists (on either side of the Atlantic) are prepared to tackle today. The nearest modern equivalent to this epic novel of character, set against a seething backdrop is probably the work of Robert Stone, but the shade of Graham Greene is often evoked, and not to Banks' discredit. The conflicted heroine is a wonderful creation, and the turbulent dangerous world of war-torn Liberia is brilliantly evoked. -- Barry ForshawRead More