After the success of All That Man Is, I had high hopes for Turbulence. However it was a big disappointment; not just a borrowed concept (lives the same yet different), but also a rip-off. 120 pages, of which probably only 90 had words on. I read it in less than two hours. Turbulence was originally scripted for radio, and it probably would have worked best in this medium. Szalay says his writing — of interlinked lives — is indicative of how the modern world is; multiple perspectives are needed to understand any situation. Turbulence is certainly “modern” (and works for those with short attention spans), but I felt a little contrived and reliant on coincidence. Some of the vignettes are narrated beautifully, but I wish Szalay had made more of them, turned them into longer narratives rather than just leaving them hanging. To the charity shop, 5/10.
By David Szalay