“If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things”

By: Kali Lamparelli
Posted In: Entertainment

In Jon McGregor’s If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things he takes an ordinary day and poetically advises his reader about what life is. One could find an ordinary day symbolic of an ordinary life. There is a mystery at the center of this prose poem novel. The reader is asked to take a journey into the lives of an urban street in England.

This novel takes place over the span of a single day. There is a diverse community on the urban street.

The reader is taken through the tragedies, the dreams, and splendor of several characters lives. The names of the characters are not revealed to the reader. The reader has to identify with the man who has scarred hands who tried to save his wife from a fire. We meet young club goers after their all-night rave, who see the streets as newly paved.

Their joy becomes our joy. We meet and delight with a guy who lives at number 18; he collects junk. Each of these characters have tiny traits that weave them together in the tapestry of the miracles and fate of life. A terrible accident happens at the end of this long and beautiful day in the life of people who have lived and loved and survived tragic and beautiful lives.

McGregor captures the humanness of people and leaves his readers awestruck.