re:mote voices

Title: Voyage To The End Of The Room
Author: Tibor Fischer
Publisher:Chatto and Windus

i came across fischer's latest novel on one of my explorations of publisher's pages, unfortunately there wasn't an extract of this book for me to read, but the idea seemed like it had some potential. reviews were mixed but not off putting to a great degree, so i was still interested. oceane has become rich by accident, not stinking rich, but enough to get by - enough that she owns two flats in a building in london. when she asked for dancing lessons as a child her father insisted that she took something "useful" at the same time. the result was that when her career as a dancer failed her she had her design qualifications to fall back on, and with those she was in the right place at the right time. this has allowed her to come to the decision that she doesn't like going out very much, so she pretends that she is travelling with an elaborate set up in the flat downstairs - tourists are delivered to her along with food from their country and they pretend she is visiting her country. however when she starts receiving letters from an ex-boyfriend, who died ten years ago, she feels the need to investigate.


voyage to the end of the room is written in several parts, narrated by oceane in a reasonably chatty/readable manner that keeps the narrative light hearted and humourous. overall the plot might wander some, so that it comes across as random observations at times, but for me it works well enough anyway. the first section introduces oceane and her altered reality, with the provision of some idea of how she got there. this also introduces the debt collector audley, who she uses as a remote investigator, joining him through an internet connection and mobile rig to investigate the mysterious letters. the other sections deal with a track back to time spent by oceane in barcelona as a sex worker, the revelations of audley's time in yugoslavia and the attempts to solve the mystery of the letters. all providing us with an insight into the curious mind of oceane, her observations of the world, and attempts to escape from it.