Review - Claire Beermann

As every metropolis, London is considered to be a place of economy growth, media, science, culture, art, fashion, architecture; a place where ideas and innovations are born. Wikipedia explains:

A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications.

However, Wikipedia’s factual explanation does not include that a metropolis is mainly a place of huge social and ethnical diversity and contrast, a city of anonymity and all the dangers and risks that are connected to this. If one wants to learn more about those deeper facts concerning a metropolis’ social structure, I would recommend reading the book Ordinary thunderstorms, which was written by William Boyd and published in Great Britain in 2009.

In the beginning, the reader is introduced to Adam Kindred, the story’s protagonist. He is a sophisticated climatologist, aiming to be accepted at the Imperial College. Within the first chapter, his situation changes dramatically – he now is strongly suspected to be Philip Wang’s murderer, an Immunologist at the pharmaceutical company CALENTURE-DEUTZ. Adam Kindred has to disappear immediately and decides to start a new life to smear his traces – although he is innocent. The author’s very first sentence in the book says: Let us start with the river – he wants to imply that everything in life flows, that things can change from one second to another, that things never stop somewhere, that good and bad development is a main aspect of our lives. The first scene takes place at Chelsea, a noble district of London – only some chapters later Adam Kindred will find himself at one of the city’s many problem areas, The Shaftesbury Estate. William Boyd guides the reader to almost every geographical site of London. Ingram Fryzer, the rich concern director of CALENTURE-DEUTZ, also does not only stay in his own elegant and distinguished social “territory“. He has a sex affair with a prostitute, Phyllis, whom he feels attracted to because she is so “common“: “He wasn’t a fool: he knew absolutely that on one level it was all about class. It was because they were working class – because they were ’common’ – that he was excited by them: the terrible decor of their rooms, their language, their funny names, their culture, their accents, their grammar, their language.“ (p. 131)

The author lets different social classes clash, he brings together the educated and the hopeless people, and simultaneously, he demonstrates that you can easily loose your social position – not only Adam’s life changes completely, Ingram Fryzer is in a critical situation as well: he constantly sheds his power at CALENTURE-DEUTZ, and comes down with a cerebral tumour. I think that especially those two characters, their feelings and their thoughts, are described very well in the novel: two men, who always were perfectly happy about and successful in their lives – and all of sudden, everything gets out of control for them.

So, Ordinary thunderstorms is not only a study about a metropolis’ diversity and its different social classes, but also about different people’s developing and the challenges they have to face in their lives.

Anonymity is an important theme in the novel. The protagonist Adam Kindred experiences, how easy one can disappear in the big city, and how you can adopt a completely new identity. However, I find his reaction to what happens to him concerning Philip Wang’s murder very unrealistic, or at least not comprehensible. When reading about his decision to disappear immediately, I was asking myself: how would I react? Wouldn’t I put all my effort in trying to prove my innocence? Unfortunately, Adam acts impulsively and pulls the knife from Philip Wang’s body, without thinking about his fingerprints he then leaves on it. And of course, at first sight it seems quite obvious that he, Adam, is the murderer. But does he have any reasonable motif for this depravation? If I was in a situation like Adam is, I would try to keep calm. I would not run away, since this would look even more equivocal. Only those who are guilty have a reason to run away. Everyone else would try to prove their innocence. I myself consider this important aspect of the novel - that actually gives the whole story its direction - to be very unrealistic.

Another thing I find doubtable in Ordinary thunderstorms is the affair that happens at the pharmaceutical company CALENTURE-DEUTZ. Phillip Wang is murdered because he finds out that the new drug the company wants to release, Zembla-4, actually triggered the death of 14 children. Wang is killed, the cases of death are covered up – that sounds like a very adventurous crime movie, but not at all like real life. Releasing a new drug is a very complex, costly and time-consuming matter, and the process of developing and testing the medicament sometimes can take up to a decade. Before the drug actually can be released, doctors from different countries take part in big invested surveys and non-profit laboratories make several tests. Even if anyone from the company tries to bribe the controllers – it is very unrealistic that a medicament that actually killed 14 children will ever be released.

The setting, the characterization of the different characters, the description of London’s many social classes, the way tension is build up – concerning all of this, the author William Boyd succeeds in his book Ordinary thunderstorms. But the content, and especially the two most important themes of the novel, appear to be very questionable to me. Submergence in the big city, and a scandal in a pharmaceutical company – in my opinion, that would take place differently in real life.