Brian E Reynolds's Reviews > A Landing on the Sun

This 1948 novel is the second novel by Michael Frayn I have read. Several Goodreads friends had read this and enjoyed it, so I had an expectation of at least moderate enjoyment. I did not get it. That surprised me as I had enjoyed Frayn’s Towards the End of the Morning.

The story set up to be a critique, possibly satirical, of the British civil service system. The protagonist is Brian Jessel who is a bureaucrat in the British Civil Service. Jessel is assigned to go through the government archives to prepare a report on the circumstances surrounding the death, fifteen years earlier, of another civil servant, Stephen Summerchild. Summerchild had been assigned to a special unit working on a top-secret project, something that may have had something to do with his death.

The story then becomes what I would call a bureaucratic procedural about Jessel’s discoveries during his week of examining transcripts and listening to tapes of Summerfield work on the special project. The tapes consist of Summerfield’s conversations with a female special unit member Dr. Elizabeth Serafin, a philosophy professor. The tapes reveal both their growing relationship and their thoughts on the special project. Jessel’s reaction to the taped information is complicated by his previous romantic interest in Summerchild’s daughter Millie, who was his colleague in a classical orchestra.

The text consists of Summerchild’s taped musings and conversations along with Jessel’s commentaries in reaction to what he is listening. The tapes stirs up all kinds of memories for Jessel and, at times, Jessel put himself back into the time period of the taped storyline. Very gradually what Summerfield and crew were working on is revealed. The identity of the special project is both surprising and disappointing.

Some call this an intelligent engaging even philosophical thriller. I may not be intelligent enough to get this book as I never was engaged with what Summerfield was talking about or Jessel’s thoughts and reactions to what he was listening. I found the storytelling to be so tedious that my mind wandered, resulting in my failure to grasp much of what was going on in the book. I often was unsure if the narrative was about the investigative Jessel in the present day, Summerchild on tape or in Jessel’s memories.

However, the book’s clarity improved for me during the last quarter. Due to this improvement, it’s relatively clear opening story set-up, and quality writing, I will give this book 2 stars rather than one star. Additionally, my lack of clear understanding of the story text was largely due to my failure to read this with the concentration level this reading experience needed. I entered this expecting a lighter reading experience than this turned out to be.