My relationship with author Anita Shreve's books is hit and miss. I either absolutely love her novels, or just don't see the point and regret spending my time waiting for 'something' to happen (yes, I give her the benefit of the doubt and read to the end). It's rarely in between. Her latest novel, A Change in Altitude, was, for me, another hit (phew).
The plot centres around photographer Margaret and Peter in the 1970s, a young newlywed couple from Boston who relocate to Kenya to concentrate on Peter's medical career. There, they meet Arthur and Diana, both British, but Diana Kenyan born, with two school age children. The older couple welcome Margaret and Peter into their lives, albeit with some reserve, renting a cottage out to them, and then letting them live in their home when the cottage's plumbing breaks down.
It's taken for granted that Margaret and Peter will join Diana and Arthur and another couple on a climb of Mount Kenya, despite Margaret not being consulted or at all enthusiastic about it. While on the climb, an accident claims a life, and the repercussions of events leading up to it introduce cracks in Peter and Margaret's new marriage, especially when she begins to work with Rafiq, a local journalist.
A Change in Altitude is about more than just a look at a marriage. Surrounding it are hints of personal and political stories of Kenya in the 1970s; women's rights, tribal affiliations, corrupt governments, tourism, nature, riches and poverty and class structure, and colonialism. Shreve somehow successfully combines all this into just 307 pages without becoming preachy or didactic. While I admit that with the exception of Rafiq, I didn't care for any of the main characters, I was intrigued by the story, interested in how or if the couple would confront their marital problems, and how their relocation to a foreign country with a vastly different history would affect them.
Thumbs up!
