1950s Nigeria - a completely unknown world to me. In fact, by the end of the book, I understood more about its history than I ever had done (which, admittedly, was nothing). Nigeria is related as a vibrant country, rich in culture and of course, for Evie, sounds. Evie recounts her life with vivid use of sounds - the people's voices, the market, the insects even. To hone in on the one sense makes for a noisy read. However, as Evie grows up she is made to realise the colonial and racial barriers that keep her from the cooks, onion sellers, and their sons. A young white girl living in Nigeria doesn't have much place for friendship, and it's in her loneliness that Evie really recognises her skills.
As a young woman, Evie works at a theatre in Edinburgh and becomes friends and lovers with a wilful actress. Together they tour across America where Evie travels to capture sounds on a tape recorder. But between hearing and not hearing, Evie struggles to reconcile a life with friendships with her need to record and experiment with sound. Essentially, it becomes an obsession that begins to eat away at her, whether she recognises this or not.
The Echo Chamber is Evie's attempt to set down her history, and her father's and her grandfather's, in words. She is set on relating stories, but is honest in narrative: there are days when can't write, and times when she's aware that she might not be getting some details quite right, because she is so focused on the sounds. In order to tell her story properly, she visits her grandfather; a man of many personalities, kept in care. The result is a book so full of story, of many threads of narrative and characters. So much of it is so closely interwoven, that it's impossible not to flick back through the book at points to try and figure out where you heard that phrase before, what connection a postcard has with who and where and why.
Williams has written an impressive debut. Seriously, this book is magic. It's about Evie, about her hearing, about her family life, about the history of Nigeria, about America, about lovers, about loneliness. It fits together in a big clump that somehow fits together. Too many reviews use that word 'moving', but The Echo Chamber is, and it tugs the reader every which way. A good storyteller will make the reader/listener feel for all the characters mentioned, and a good writer will understand how important it is to maintain this on the page. Williams does both, and The Echo Chamber is a must for readers curious about stories.
The Echo Chamber was this month's Scottish Book Talk read. If you want to take part, then click here for more info and tos ee what books are coming up soon.
