Vanishing

by Gerard Woodward

From London's Soho underworld and the 1930s art scene to the battlegrounds of North Africa, a literary thriller following the exploits of an enigmatic camouflage officer—and brilliant painter—before and after World War II, by Booker Prize-nominated novelist Gerard Woodward.

Toward the end of the World War II, young British artist Kenneth Brill is arrested for painting landscapes near Heathrow Village; the authorities suspect his paintings contain coded information about the new military airfield that is being built. Brill protests that he is merely recording a landscape that will soon disappear.

Under interrogation a more complicated picture emerges as Brill tells the story of his life—of growing up among the market gardens of The Heath and of his life on the London art scene of the 1930s. But a darker picture also comes to light, of dealings with the prostitutes and pimps of the Soho underworld, of a break-in at a royal residence, and of connections with well-known fascist sympathizers at home and abroad.

So who is the real Kenneth Brill? The hero of El Alamein who, as a camouflage officer, helped pull off one of the greatest acts of military deception in the history of warfare, or the lover of Italian futurist painter and fascist sympathizer Arturo Somarco? Why was he expelled from the Slade School of Fine Art? And what was he doing at Hillmead, the rural community run by Rufus Quayle, a friend of Hitler himself? Vanishing sees the world through the eyes of one of the forgotten geniuses of modern art, a man whose artistic vision is so piercing he has trouble seeing what is right in front of him.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

497 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2014

About the author

Gerard Woodward (born 1961) is a British novelist, poet and short story writer, best known for his trilogy of novels concerning the troubled Jones family, the second of which, I'll Go To Bed at Noon, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man-Booker Prize.[1] He was born in London and briefly studied painting at Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall. He later attended the London School of Economics, where he studied Social Anthropology, and Manchester University, where he studied for an MA in the same subject. In 1989 he won a major Eric Gregory Award for poets under thirty and his first collection of poetry, Householder, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1991. His first novel, August, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. In 2011 he was writer in residence at Columbia College, Chicago. He is currently Professor of Fiction at Bath Spa University.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanishing – A Master of Storytelling

Gerard Woodward returns with a meandering story of war, art, betrayal that has black humour and at times moving, Vanishing is a huge and complex novel. If you are looking for a fast paced spy thriller that bowls straight in to espionage then you will be disappointed, but this book is very clever, subtle and by the time you have finished quite rewarding. At all times you are questioning yourself about the central character, his actions, his thoughts and at times his sheer stupidity, but at no time in the book is the ending telegraphed, you have to read Vanishing to find out that answer.

Lieutenant Kenneth Brill is on trial for espionage, he is accused of spying for the enemy through his art, and that he is an accomplished artist and the army had used him as a camouflage expert at El Alamein and was successful at his job. He is being court marshalled for painting on the Heath that is about to become a new wartime aerodrome, the Heath where he grew up, attended school and his family lived. Today we know this aerodrome as Heathrow Airport, and through the book we get a picture of old Heathrow with very few landmarks left other than The Three Magpies on the Bath Road.

As a central character Kenneth Brill is probably one of the most exasperating characters I have read in a long time, there are times you feel like screaming at him, or at least his defence counsel ought too! Brill has no or little understanding of himself, his nature or the world about him, at times he comes across as quite innocent, sometimes quite stupid. Throughout the book Brill comes across as not understanding his own motives so the motives of others are completely lost on him. This would be one way of explaining some of the situations he finds himself.

One of the interesting tricks that Woodward does throughout the book to break up the story is the mixing of times, from the present of the court martial to his childhood, university and life after. So going backwards then back to the court martial gives you the depth of the character of Brill and his associates who seem to get him in various troubled situations.

This is an excellent book written by a wonderful storyteller who draws you in and leaves you guessing all the way to the end. The story is well researched and brings up the lost world of Heathrow before the airport, like a lot of places in England, the lost old England now covered in concrete. A different and much welcome take on how to tell both a war and spy story where even the clues are in the text but you really do have to work it out yourself.

[Rod Raglin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gerard Woodward’s novels (six counting this one) have been shortlisted for major literary prizes, including the prestigious Man Booker Prize, as have his volumes (five) of poetry. As well, he is a professor of Creative Writing in England. He knows the rules of fiction and, one would assume, is talented enough to be able to break them.

But an author, even one apparently as accomplished as Woodward, must remember there are reasons for these rules and we break them at our own peril.

"Vanishing" takes place in Britain near the send of the Second World War. Kenneth Brill is a serviceman who is arrested for painting landscapes near a sensitive air force installation. He's suspected of espionage. At first the charge seems preposterous but the more we find out about Brill through a series of interrogations, the more the reader becomes suspicious.

Sounds okay, right? The hooks in, but after three short chapters Woodward inflicts pages upon pages of back-story about Brill and the area that neither advances the plot nor develops the character.

Unmotivated info dumps are the stuff of amateurs of which Woodward is not. One can only assume he decided to break a basic rule and felt he was accomplished enough to get away with it. Or, perhaps, it was just plain arrogance, he being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Readers are ultimately who you're writing for, not academics. Rules aren't made by writer's, they're made by readers, who have again and again rejected books that have bent, broken or ignored them.

I abandoned this one on page 60.

[Mary H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea how this came to be on my shelf of borrowed library books, but there it was. I picked it up, not feeling particularly enamoured by the cover or the blurb. It just goes to show the benefits of not judging by appearances.

I loved this book, despite the story being so particular. A very original story, with humour and sensitivity. I spent most of the book being reminded of Dickens, it was almost as if the closer the character got to London, the more that Dickens rubbed off on Woodward's writing, with all the quirkiness, the detail and oddity of so many characters, the humour - albeit with more adult themes.

The sadness of the central character's continual naivety throughout his life moved me. The interesting facts I learned will stay with me- not least the history of Heathrow before it was an airport.

Will be looking for more to read by Woodward.

Thank you to my shelf of borrowed library books!

[Judah Kosterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s possible to sustain a narrative featuring an unlikable main character, so long as that character has some talent or intelligence the reader can admire and the plot keeps moving toward a climax or resolution. And then there’s Lt. Kenneth Brill, the most gullible, semi-closeted homosexual ever to run through all the favors relatives and friends try to do him before blundering his way into a court martial.

Kenny’s history of bad decisions begins early, from playing dangerous games to repeatedly offering to work for relatives his parents are feuding with. These kid-level bad decisions lead to kid-level consequences: lost friendships, hospitalization, expulsion from school. The 200 pages “Vanishing” spends exploring Kenny’s childhood on the Heath – a farming community outside London – builds texture and character into the flat landscape. In the time between the World Wars, the horse-based agriculture of the Heath is vanishing, the Heath’s WWI vet vanishes from view and then from life. Eventually the Heath itself vanishes, land appropriated by the government during WWII and turned into Heathrow Airport. Kenny’s attempt to immortalize the farming landscape in paintings is a mystery (and possibly a threat) to the British military, but it’s perfectly understandable to the reader.

Not so understandable is why young-adult Kenny never met a bad idea he couldn’t be talked into. From getting caught with female prostitutes he’s sketching nude (after being overwhelmed by the naked male models at art school) to breaking into the palace grounds (where he’s caught because he stopped to fondle a statue’s genitalia) to putting the moves on a grown-up childhood crush (which results in Kenny being shot) . . . Most of his horrible decisions combine sexuality and an innocence bordering on stupidity, and about three out of every five have something to do with Kenny’s former art school teacher, an openly gay, half-Italian Nazi sympathizer (who, despite being described with a lot of words, is still a mystery as to motivation).

Kenny describes himself as a failed artist, not just because of a lack of commercial success but for a lack of vision. His greatest artistic achievements are the dozens of nude self-portraits he does throughout the story (which always seem to vanish) and his work in the Camouflage Corps during the war (where he mostly follows others’ directions and does administrative work). After 500 pages of this character, my interest in the outcome of his trial had vanished, also.

[Anne Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book full of ideas, insightful thinking, beautifully written and so so funny! I rarely read a book with laugh-out-loud moments, but this had more than a dozen.
Fascinating quirky story about a man who is quite an enigma - but although his naivete seems infuriating at times, he very much had my support against the military police and court-martial lawyers.
I learnt so much too - about the uses of camouflage during World War 11, especially as part of the N Africa campaign; about the disgraceful compulsory purchasing of all the market gardens, houses and villages around what is now Heathrow airport, ostensibly to make a "larger airstrip so as to fly big enough planes to reach the Far East", thus enabling planning laws to be circumvented 'for the war effort' - and minimal compensation paid to the residents ousted from their homes. And all along it was a cynical plan to create a large civilian airport as it was never used for warplanes.
So many themes running through the story - connected with 'vanishing', 'disguise/camouflage' and clothing/nakedness.
I would recommend this to anyone - all 600 pages of it! And dont be misled by the strange image on the cover - its completely irrelevant!

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenneth Brill experiences several vanishings in the course of this immensely enjoyable and strange book; as an expert in the art of camouflage he finds an ideal niche in the army during the North African campaign making whole airfields and railheads disappear, but he also loses his liberty (more than once), his friends and quite often, it seems, his senses. But most affectingly, his childhood home and the countryside around it, vanish under the concrete of the new Heathrow airbase, the land compulsorily seized under wartime emergency powers. Brill's story is a tragicomedy of looking but not seeing: 'I've been such a bloody idiot, Mother. I've spent my life looking at things so closely I can't see what's going on in the wider world' he says at a crucial moment in the book. Vanishing is an enervating, odd, gripping read - definitely recommended.

[Clint Rizzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A flowing and breezy read, which is rather surprising given its length. Woodward's prose is rich and his colourful use of language reveal that we are in the hands of a poet as much as in the hands of a novelist (perhaps even more so).
A dark sense of humour and a penchant for vividly realised characters make 'Vanishing' a good novel to lose oneself into. Ultimately, however, perhaps the novel does bite off more than it can chew and the last 100 pages became for me a bit of a chore towards an uncertain resolution. 'Vanishing' remains, however, a delicate exploration of sexuality, political ideology and artistry set in a time when attitudes towards each were changing and setting the landscape of modern life.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason this got two stars instead of zero is the beautiful descriptive writing and the childhood stories—they made me snort with laughter at 4 am, which is not an easy feat.
The author is a pompous windbag who tries to grab you mid-life, mid-story and deposit you mid-adolescence, mid-college only to yank you away and deposit you mid-war. Mid-childhood. Mid-sexual experience. Over and over again. Seriously, I have headache and sore neck right now. Why couldn’t it have been a single timeline? Because this “Booker Prize-Nominated Novelist” thought his writing was above such trivialities. Rubbish.

[Janellyn51 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did really like this book. It was pretty amusing in parts, and I even enjoyed reading about the camouflage stuff in Egypt.
Kenny Kenny Kenny. He made me think of what my boyfriend said about my brother once.....your brother is a nice guy, but you wouldn't want to stand too close to him or a piano might fall on your head! Poor Kenneth just couldn't get out of his own way. And while outwardly it seemed his friends would help him out, they invariably left him to dangle. Art. I don't believe in art experts, they merely like the sound of their own voices. Either you like it or you don't, even with abstract art, you can discern skill....or that it wasn't done by a 3 year old.

[Barbara Guest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follows the life of British artist,Kenneth Brill as he is charged with spying. Through flashbacks, we learn of his rather naive and funny life. Childhood stories are entertaining. Good humour, but not much plot.

[Gary Burlage · Rating 2 out of 5]

He was more interested in making statements than writing a good book.

[Christine Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this writer. Well worth a read.

[Jane]

DNF

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenneth Brill, the main character in British author Gerard Woodward's new novel, "Vanishing", is not a figure readers might accept as worthy of being the subject of a novel. Brill, who begins the book as the defendant in a WW2 British army court-martial, has lived a life that looks pretty bad on paper - arrested for various offenses, both military and civilian. But those offenses seem to change in the telling of the circumstances behind them. And Kenneth Brill seems more like a Zelig-like character - one who pops up in different places in 1930's and 40's England. He was always sort of "there", but not quite as expected.

Brill's family are long-time settlers in an area due west of London, called "Heath". The land of his parents and other residents is being taken over by the British government during the war, to form an airstrip. That airstrip was eventually known as "Heathrow" and is today London's main airport. Brill, an artist, is arrested for possible treasonous acts after being found drawing pictures of the soon-to-be developed area. The court martial tells the story of Brill's life up to this point.

Okay, Kenneth Brill is a misunderstood figure. He's been in trouble for minor acts of vandalism, personal injury, recklessness, and going over-the-wall at Buckingham Palace to "plant German grass". He doesn't really understand his own sexuality (and neither do the readers)and the poor man goes from situation to situation. He doesn't go from "adventure to adventure"; he goes from situation to situation. This wandering through life is made possible by the people - family and friends - who in some cases cause his downfalls and in other cases help him recover. Kenneth Brill is an enigma, and I ended "Vanishing" with as little understanding of Brill and his life as when I began the book.

But even if I didn't understand Kenneth Brill, I enjoyed reading about him. He was an artist - though kicked out of London's prestigious Slade School of Fine Art - and his artist's sensibility accompanied him throughout his life. We see his life - as much as we can - through that sensibility. The book's title "Vanishing" can refer to a WW2 camouflage exercise in the African desert that Brill took part in, or, I think, his Zelig-like path through life. Please read all the reviews about the book before buying it. It's not a book for everyone, but it may be your cup of tea.

[Errol Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a long book at 500 pages. When I got near the end I wanted the book to go on.

It began shortly after WWI in an agricultural heath within commute of London. The primary character is a young boy whose father inherited his parents' house, while the farmland went to the father's stepbrother. The father makes a bare living selling medical supplies. His attempt to grow crops on the adjacent land is stimied because the current farmers, especially the stepbrother, have locked up all supplies of manure, which is essential on the local soil. Many carry their produce to market by horse to a London site, and return with manure produced by the many horses used for cartage in that part of the city.

The man's son. our main character, is able to enroll in an acclaimed London art school, just as the automobile is drying up the farmers' source of fertilizer. The father watches as large septic sludge pools are constructed nearby, and corners the market on hauling off the sludge after it is dried and rendered healthy.

The son, meanwhile, leads a picaresque life, kicked out of one place after another, until the beginning of WWII, when he enlists and is posted to North Africa to camouflage allied troop movements. Through all this he is struggling with his own sexuality--the cause, indirectly, of several of his forced moves.

This outline sounds pretty boring, but the characters and situations which are the stuff of the novel, are both amusing and, ultimately, moving.

The author has been shortlisted for Whitebread and Mann Booker prizes.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to give Woodward credit. He's written a substantial, wide-ranging novel which holds interest despite the fact that the protagonist is a Candide-like, out-of-control, ineffective homosexual slacker. Sounds great, doesn't it? Somehow, though, Woodward contrives to make you care about his life, at least up to a point. I'll admit his constant failings began to wear on me after a bit.
One more thing: Reading this book, engaging as it may be in parts, makes you realize how much better authors like Sebastian Faulks and Olivia Manning are at writing literary war novels. Still, full marks to Woodward for trying something totally different and bringing it off on his own terms.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An artist in 1930's England wants to paint a landscape which will soon be covered with army munitions buildings. He grew up on this land and it has many memories for him. He wants to preserve those memories before they are gone forever. He is arrested, by the military. They think he's working for the Germans and is sending coded information in his painting.

As he is interrogated, many incidents in his life, which have a perfectly good explanation, are brought forward as "proof" of his undercover and secretive German sympathies. A quirky book. Dark comedy. A fun read.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The protagonist of the book, Kenneth Brill, is a classic schlemazel, who fails to gain wisdom from his experiences but instead commits the same missteps repetitively. Never rescued from disaster by his several nemeses, but rather redeemed after the disaster has occurred, one feels a mixture of sympathy and annoyance at this hapless innocent who blunders through life. That said, the novel is well done and an excellent read.

[George Barnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A labyrinthine storyline left me ultimately uncertain what I'd just read! However it was engaging and kept the attention throughout almost 500 pages. Some of the twists and turns stretched credibility and the writer seemed to want to cram in too many big "issues". So we had the destruction of Heathrow as a site of market gardeners, we had gay love, prewar utopian crypto fascist movements, and all sorts of other matters crammed into the plot.

[Susan Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully complex story about an artist who is arrested for painting near Heath row Airport in London at the end of WWII. During interrogation the story of his life comes out. This is the complex part. You need to read the entire book to find out what type of man Kenneth Brill is. Wonderfully written!

[Stephen Hackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cracking read. Not a million miles away from William Boyd's 'life story' novels such as 'Any Human Heart' and 'The New Confessions' in (digressive) narrative form - and Pat Barker's recent novels in its account of the Slade Art School - but absolutely fascinating on landscape and belonging, and the deceptions and disguises life forces upon us.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

No brilliant insights in this book, nor is the writing style outstanding or particularly distinctive. But it is still a great illustration of highly competent novel writing. You get interested in the story, you're surprised at times with twists in the plot, the writing is consistently "professional", you enjoy the many hours you shared with the author in reading his story.

[Alex Handyside · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.
I loved the way his sidebar stories reinforced the main story.
And I learnt much about WWII camouflage that I never knew (and even a little about art).
Very entertaining. I'll seek out more by him now.

[Marianna Still · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much camouflage and deception, I'm still not sure I understood it correctly. :)

[nikkia neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really got into this book and wanted to see what would happen to this spastic man. be prepared for some male action but its not what the whole book is about. Good mystery and history

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise and some very evocative and humorous passages, but this one fizzled out looooong before the end.

[Joanna Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit difficult to place at first, but definitely worth the read for a somewhat new and unexpected storyline.