Mercury Pictures Presents

I was highly disappointed by Mercury Pictures Presents, particularly after the success of Marra's two previous novels. Indeed, his A Constellation of Love and Techno had been a prior top read of the year of mine. I felt almost as if Mercury Pictures Presents had been mis-sold to me, since it ‘broke frame’ (per Lodge) on too many occasions: at the outset, I had the impression it was a novel concerned with cinema. We then slipped into Mussolini's Italy. Much of it focused on World War II, the sacrifices of some and the hypocrisy of others. It was unclear to me, too, if Marra intended for Maria, Art, or Vincenzo to be the central character around whose story the others revolved. I get the idea of writing a good all-encompassing novel, but felt Marra was on firmer ground writing on Russia/Chechnya than 1940s Los Angeles and Italy. None of the characters was convincing enough for me to care about them either. To the charity shop: four out of ten.

By Anthony Marra