Tomorrow in the Battle think on me. Javier Marias

This was handed to me by Gary Crabb when I had run out of good books recently. It is written by Javier Marias who is a well-known Spanish author and translator. The book follows a short period of time in the life of a man who has the misfortune of being on a date with a woman who suddenly and unexpectedly dies in his arms. The title conjures up images of war or struggle and references the man's inner struggle with having to deal with the consequences of having an affair with a woman who dies the first time they meet up for a date, a woman who he barely met.

We find out very early on that the woman is both a wife and mother and that the narrator, although invited round, is in fact almost a stranger in the house and an imposter in his place at her death bed. As the death occurs within the first few pages, the bulk of the book deals with the the way that this woman's death plays on the narrator's mind and his obsession with her and with his desire to learn more about this woman, her family. The reader follows the twists and turns of his mind and somehow Marias manages to create sensations of utter excitement but also of horror, suspense; I suppose what we are reading is the narrator's own sense of guilt and the process as he moves through this. There are dark undertones throughout the book which at times I took to be a thickening sub-plot of another side to the main character; something that certain events in the book perhaps allude to but which I think, upon finishing the book, one realises perhaps simply reflect the human mind and dark places that we all have.

In the battle certainly ranks very highly in the list of books I have read. It is simply unlike any other book I have read. Rivas' ability to write in a manner which is so like human thought, at times it is scary. We move through his thoughts and feelings and find ourselves judging him for decisions and errors he makes. The book stayed with me for some time after finishing it.