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Courage-ensemblet
Det verdensberømte a cappella-kor Courage-Ensemblet opholder sig i to uger på et belgisk landsted for at indøve et uhyre kompliceret og fysisk krævende klassisk avantgarde-stykke, Partium Mutante. Men lader stykket sig i det hele taget opføre?
Spiller det nogen rolle at komponisten viser sig at være en ren galning?
Kan ensemblets fem medlemmer styre deres indbyrdes seksuelle spændinger og vidt forskellige temperamenter?
Og hvad er det for skingre skrig der lyder i skoven om natten.
Spiller det nogen rolle at komponisten viser sig at være en ren galning?
Kan ensemblets fem medlemmer styre deres indbyrdes seksuelle spændinger og vidt forskellige temperamenter?
Og hvad er det for skingre skrig der lyder i skoven om natten.
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First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Michel Faber
78 books2,141 followersMichel Faber (born 13 April 1960) is a Dutch writer of English-language fiction.
Faber was born in The Hague, The Netherlands. He and his parents emigrated to Australia in 1967. He attended primary and secondary school in the Melbourne suburbs of Boronia and Bayswater, then attended the University of Melbourne, studying Dutch, philosophy, rhetoric, English language (a course involving translation and criticism of Anglo-Saxon and Middle English texts) and English literature. He graduated in 1980. He worked as a cleaner and at various other casual jobs, before training as a nurse at Marrickville and Western Suburbs hospitals in Sydney. He nursed until the mid-1990s. In 1993 he, his second wife and family emigrated to Scotland, where they still reside.
Faber was born in The Hague, The Netherlands. He and his parents emigrated to Australia in 1967. He attended primary and secondary school in the Melbourne suburbs of Boronia and Bayswater, then attended the University of Melbourne, studying Dutch, philosophy, rhetoric, English language (a course involving translation and criticism of Anglo-Saxon and Middle English texts) and English literature. He graduated in 1980. He worked as a cleaner and at various other casual jobs, before training as a nurse at Marrickville and Western Suburbs hospitals in Sydney. He nursed until the mid-1990s. In 1993 he, his second wife and family emigrated to Scotland, where they still reside.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
March 13, 2017
This was a volume of three short stories that make you muse on many things. I especially enjoyed how Faber used element of Gothic Fiction in the stories.
Of the three stories the one I enjoyed the most was "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps".
Each of these stories also has an aspect of horror that will stick with you after the story is over.
It is a perfect read for a snowy or rainy day.
Of the three stories the one I enjoyed the most was "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps".
Each of these stories also has an aspect of horror that will stick with you after the story is over.
It is a perfect read for a snowy or rainy day.
September 30, 2015
Turns out The Book of Strange New Things wasn't a one off. Faber really is that good of a writer. This collection of three novellas certainly attests to it and, in fact, was a book of strange (very, but mesmerizingly so) new (to me) things. Meditative, pensive tales, even depressing at times, depending on one's mood. wasn't quite sure how to review, until the last story, which was just a work of sheer beauty and wonder. The author stated that he has now retired from storytelling, which is sort of impressive, to get out while the going was good is a talent as well certainly. Recommended.
January 9, 2014
full review: http://wp.me/p42FJU-cP
I've come to realize that Michel Faber is really ****ing weird, and I love it. My third Faber adventure, after The Crimson Petal and the White and The Fire Gospel is his collection of three novellas entitled The Courage Consort. I liked it much better than The Fire Gospel and can see how his wit and his sense of the strange and surreal influenced the writing of Crimson Petal. These three novellas are witty, ironic, sometimes downright ridiculous, and unexpectedly poignant at times. The three are "The Courage Consort," "The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps," and "The Fahrenheit Twins."
The Courage Consort Review"The Courage Consort" begins this collection. It tells the story of an a cappella group named, appropriately, The Courage Consort. Their group is christened such both because their founder's surname is Courage and also for the old Wesleyan adage, "sing lustily and with much courage." Roger and Catherine Courage are a married couple in the Consort who live for weeks in the Chateau de Luth, practicing a modern piece for a concert. The dynamic of the five members of the consort figure prominently in the narrative, as does the mental state of Kate, who suffers from depression. Kate has fantasies of suicide and is unhappy in her marriage. She also hears an ethereal, anguish-filled child's cry every night during her sleep. Kate is the main protagonist of this story, as she navigates her awkward, sexless marriage; her relationship with the only other woman in the consort, a sexual, confident mother named Dagmar; and the kinship she feels with bulky, overweight Ben Lamb. It's an interesting story of character development and the way these very different people manage not to rip each others' hair out. When tragedy strikes the consort, they must examine their principles and begin new lives.
"The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps" takes place in the UK town of Whitby, the same setting as Dracula, a gothic setting for a less-than-gothic novella. It does have touches of the dramatic, however:
She closed her eyes, longing to trust him, longing to rest her head in the pillowy crook of his arm, but at the last instant, she glimpsed sideways, and saw the knife in his other hand. Her scream was gagged by the blade slicing deep into her throat, severing everything right through to the bone of her spine, plunging her terrified soul into pitch darkness.
Thus this novella begins, with a thirty-something archaeology student named Siân on a dig of a monastery in Whitby. Since her arrival in Whitby, Siân has been plagued by the same murderous dream night after night. A shy, idealistic woman, Siân meets a fit jogger named Mack, a Londoner in town to handle his late father's affairs. The two are attracted to each other but find themselves constantly butting heads on issues of religion, antiquity, and faith. Siân believes strongly in the virtue of the medieval monks and priests, in the truth and nobility of history, in a higher power. Mack, a cynic, tries to disabuse Siân of her long-held notions and comes across, to me, as obnoxious and self-serving. When Mack discovers a message in a bottle in his father's estate, he enlists Siân's help with interpreting its contents, hoping for a grisly tale of murder. What they find plays with the readers' expectations of the gothic genre and sheds new light upon the nature, and sometimes contradictory nature, of religion and faith. A great, quick read with solid, interesting characters and a satisfying ending.
"The Fahrenheit Twins" was my favorite of the three stories. It's set on an island near the North Pole and follows the lives of young twins Marko'cain and Tainto'lilith as they make sense of their bleak, desolate world around them. The twins are the children of ethnologists who are conducting research on nearby aboriginal communities on the island. Marko'cain and Tainto'lilith, who are probably around ten years old, were born on the island, possess impressive survival skills, know nothing of the outside world, and together, piece together little bits and pieces of facts they write down in a book. Their banter and wit and they way they finish each others' sentences lend this story a touch of levity in an otherwise bleak novella. Bleak, because their ethnologist mother dies, and their alleged father (it's implied that an aboriginal man is actually the twins' biological father) sends them on a deadly expedition from which they must find their way back. Because of my love of the North, the lively little characters, and the dry humor of this piece, it was easily my favorite.
Faber is an interesting writer for the way he infuses his stories with a bit of surrealism and the fantastical without explaining anything; for example, the nightmares Siân has echo the murder she discovers in the bottle's message; and Kate in "The Courage Consort" never discovers the source of that eerie, unearthly child's cry. I liked those elements of unexplained, otherworldly events. They add a touch of surreality to the narrative and do much to explain the characters' mental states.
I've come to realize that Michel Faber is really ****ing weird, and I love it. My third Faber adventure, after The Crimson Petal and the White and The Fire Gospel is his collection of three novellas entitled The Courage Consort. I liked it much better than The Fire Gospel and can see how his wit and his sense of the strange and surreal influenced the writing of Crimson Petal. These three novellas are witty, ironic, sometimes downright ridiculous, and unexpectedly poignant at times. The three are "The Courage Consort," "The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps," and "The Fahrenheit Twins."
The Courage Consort Review"The Courage Consort" begins this collection. It tells the story of an a cappella group named, appropriately, The Courage Consort. Their group is christened such both because their founder's surname is Courage and also for the old Wesleyan adage, "sing lustily and with much courage." Roger and Catherine Courage are a married couple in the Consort who live for weeks in the Chateau de Luth, practicing a modern piece for a concert. The dynamic of the five members of the consort figure prominently in the narrative, as does the mental state of Kate, who suffers from depression. Kate has fantasies of suicide and is unhappy in her marriage. She also hears an ethereal, anguish-filled child's cry every night during her sleep. Kate is the main protagonist of this story, as she navigates her awkward, sexless marriage; her relationship with the only other woman in the consort, a sexual, confident mother named Dagmar; and the kinship she feels with bulky, overweight Ben Lamb. It's an interesting story of character development and the way these very different people manage not to rip each others' hair out. When tragedy strikes the consort, they must examine their principles and begin new lives.
"The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps" takes place in the UK town of Whitby, the same setting as Dracula, a gothic setting for a less-than-gothic novella. It does have touches of the dramatic, however:
She closed her eyes, longing to trust him, longing to rest her head in the pillowy crook of his arm, but at the last instant, she glimpsed sideways, and saw the knife in his other hand. Her scream was gagged by the blade slicing deep into her throat, severing everything right through to the bone of her spine, plunging her terrified soul into pitch darkness.
Thus this novella begins, with a thirty-something archaeology student named Siân on a dig of a monastery in Whitby. Since her arrival in Whitby, Siân has been plagued by the same murderous dream night after night. A shy, idealistic woman, Siân meets a fit jogger named Mack, a Londoner in town to handle his late father's affairs. The two are attracted to each other but find themselves constantly butting heads on issues of religion, antiquity, and faith. Siân believes strongly in the virtue of the medieval monks and priests, in the truth and nobility of history, in a higher power. Mack, a cynic, tries to disabuse Siân of her long-held notions and comes across, to me, as obnoxious and self-serving. When Mack discovers a message in a bottle in his father's estate, he enlists Siân's help with interpreting its contents, hoping for a grisly tale of murder. What they find plays with the readers' expectations of the gothic genre and sheds new light upon the nature, and sometimes contradictory nature, of religion and faith. A great, quick read with solid, interesting characters and a satisfying ending.
"The Fahrenheit Twins" was my favorite of the three stories. It's set on an island near the North Pole and follows the lives of young twins Marko'cain and Tainto'lilith as they make sense of their bleak, desolate world around them. The twins are the children of ethnologists who are conducting research on nearby aboriginal communities on the island. Marko'cain and Tainto'lilith, who are probably around ten years old, were born on the island, possess impressive survival skills, know nothing of the outside world, and together, piece together little bits and pieces of facts they write down in a book. Their banter and wit and they way they finish each others' sentences lend this story a touch of levity in an otherwise bleak novella. Bleak, because their ethnologist mother dies, and their alleged father (it's implied that an aboriginal man is actually the twins' biological father) sends them on a deadly expedition from which they must find their way back. Because of my love of the North, the lively little characters, and the dry humor of this piece, it was easily my favorite.
Faber is an interesting writer for the way he infuses his stories with a bit of surrealism and the fantastical without explaining anything; for example, the nightmares Siân has echo the murder she discovers in the bottle's message; and Kate in "The Courage Consort" never discovers the source of that eerie, unearthly child's cry. I liked those elements of unexplained, otherworldly events. They add a touch of surreality to the narrative and do much to explain the characters' mental states.
September 5, 2008
Faber's first novel The Crimson Petal and the White was so magnificent that I leaped at the chance to read something else by this literary badass.
IT WAS SO GOOD--three goodnesses, actually. The first, self-titled novella is a story about an English choral group retreating to the Belgian chateau for rehearsals on a modern piece. The second, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps, is about a paper conservator on work holiday who discovers a grisly 1788 murder. Third, the Fahreinheit Twins, is the most out-there of all three, the journey tale of two neglected children living in the Arctic wilderness.
In all three, Faber balances the surreal and fantastical with active plot movement. All three are about corrupted innocence, sexual drive, and the challenges of facing life as it is presented to us: imperfect, sometimes scary, often weird. I now must read all his books. He is worth a small obsession.
IT WAS SO GOOD--three goodnesses, actually. The first, self-titled novella is a story about an English choral group retreating to the Belgian chateau for rehearsals on a modern piece. The second, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps, is about a paper conservator on work holiday who discovers a grisly 1788 murder. Third, the Fahreinheit Twins, is the most out-there of all three, the journey tale of two neglected children living in the Arctic wilderness.
In all three, Faber balances the surreal and fantastical with active plot movement. All three are about corrupted innocence, sexual drive, and the challenges of facing life as it is presented to us: imperfect, sometimes scary, often weird. I now must read all his books. He is worth a small obsession.
June 28, 2012
An accapella quintet, performers of difficult modern compositions. They have a date in a European modern music festival in Belgium. They are housed in a chateau in the middle of a forest in order to rehearse. They are called 'Courage' not for their ambition in tackling difficult works, but because it is the surname of Roger the group's leader and driving force. The book is narrated by his
wife Catherine, whose mind has been unravelling for some years now, but she still possesses the voice of an angel. A mentally unstable artist, she reminded me of Patrick Gayle's heroine from "Notes From An Exhibition", but unlike that character whom I found frustratingly opaque and exclusionary of the reader, Catherine's manias and paranoia are well rendered and credible. This was a far better portrait of the artist struggling with their sanity.
The book is slight but for all that a pitch-perfectly scored orchestration of the five characters moving round one another in what is almost a prison. The two female members Dagmar and Catherine are the ones who venture out into the forest, even though for Catherine it threatens a creature whose wails unhinge her during her sleepless nights. Very quickly little routines in a foreign space are established for each character, the inter-relationship each ritual invites or excludes so that the whole is a rather wonderful tapestry of the group dynamics of a collaborative band of artists. When they are visited in turn by the festival director, the composer of the willfully difficult piece they are performing, the designer of their backdrop visuals and a Luxembourg journalist, the subtle changes in the dynamics through the intromission of each of these is fascinating to plot. Almost like particles in a collider, Faber demonstrates wonderful control over the nuanced changes and subtle changes of state.
I am ever so slowly working my way through Faber's entire catalogue, not an honour I bestow readily. I think some Faber fans feel this novella to be too slight and maybe it was my circumstances that demanded a one-day read, but I am so admiring of his economy, his easy insight into human beings and group dynamics on show in this book, that I simply cannot agree with his critics here. And I don't even like accapella music, but I fell in love with this book. Maestro! Encore!
wife Catherine, whose mind has been unravelling for some years now, but she still possesses the voice of an angel. A mentally unstable artist, she reminded me of Patrick Gayle's heroine from "Notes From An Exhibition", but unlike that character whom I found frustratingly opaque and exclusionary of the reader, Catherine's manias and paranoia are well rendered and credible. This was a far better portrait of the artist struggling with their sanity.
The book is slight but for all that a pitch-perfectly scored orchestration of the five characters moving round one another in what is almost a prison. The two female members Dagmar and Catherine are the ones who venture out into the forest, even though for Catherine it threatens a creature whose wails unhinge her during her sleepless nights. Very quickly little routines in a foreign space are established for each character, the inter-relationship each ritual invites or excludes so that the whole is a rather wonderful tapestry of the group dynamics of a collaborative band of artists. When they are visited in turn by the festival director, the composer of the willfully difficult piece they are performing, the designer of their backdrop visuals and a Luxembourg journalist, the subtle changes in the dynamics through the intromission of each of these is fascinating to plot. Almost like particles in a collider, Faber demonstrates wonderful control over the nuanced changes and subtle changes of state.
I am ever so slowly working my way through Faber's entire catalogue, not an honour I bestow readily. I think some Faber fans feel this novella to be too slight and maybe it was my circumstances that demanded a one-day read, but I am so admiring of his economy, his easy insight into human beings and group dynamics on show in this book, that I simply cannot agree with his critics here. And I don't even like accapella music, but I fell in love with this book. Maestro! Encore!
August 23, 2011
This collection of three novellas by Faber runs quickly. The first and title story, "The Courage Consort" is a wonderful story with a double meaning title. It is about a group of singers who go to the Netherlands to pratice before a performance. Part of the charm comes from Faber's brillant character painting.
The second story, "The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps" takes place in Whitby, yes that Whitby and those steps. There are no vampires here, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Faber uses the town's novel reputation and gothic feeling to his advantage and tells a rather moving story about life, faith, and struggle. It also has a dog in it.
The final story, "The Fahrenheit Twins" is Hansel and Gretel in the Russian Artic. It is a worthy successor to the Grimms.
The stories share much in common with The Crimson Petal and the White, but are also studies in the manner of the shorter work.
The second story, "The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps" takes place in Whitby, yes that Whitby and those steps. There are no vampires here, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Faber uses the town's novel reputation and gothic feeling to his advantage and tells a rather moving story about life, faith, and struggle. It also has a dog in it.
The final story, "The Fahrenheit Twins" is Hansel and Gretel in the Russian Artic. It is a worthy successor to the Grimms.
The stories share much in common with The Crimson Petal and the White, but are also studies in the manner of the shorter work.
September 19, 2025
When you finish reading a Faber book, you’re left feeling things.
You don’t know what you’re feeling, but you’re feeling things.
You feel impacted by the story, but you don’t know why it was impactful.
All in all, you don’t really know what’s going on, but you love it anyway. A sense of hope in often fantastically difficult situations.
I swear, Michel Faber’s writing is like the 8th wonder of the world or something.
You don’t know what you’re feeling, but you’re feeling things.
You feel impacted by the story, but you don’t know why it was impactful.
All in all, you don’t really know what’s going on, but you love it anyway. A sense of hope in often fantastically difficult situations.
I swear, Michel Faber’s writing is like the 8th wonder of the world or something.
March 13, 2021
A large part of the fun of finishing a book is reading other readers' opinions of it. What a wide range of impressions and takeaways at GR! I liked this novella almost as much as The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps and found that again Faber has made the woman real people while the men stayed rather murky caricatures. I enjoyed Catherine's regrowth of confidence through bicycling and was sorry when the story ended, although it all made sense and felt more like a fleshed-out short story. Glad I never have to listen to that abominable a capella monstrosity the group sang!
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September 23, 2018Verassend.
April 5, 2023
I really really enjoyed this.
December 18, 2010
This collection of three novellas actually rates a 3.5 from me; the writing is definitely above-average. I suspect that my problem is partially with the form itself: the narratives are not short enough to be short stories with a "zing" - that focus that E.A. Poe talks about - nor are they long enough to make plot complexity a necessity. So bear in mind that I may simply be a grumpy reader in not giving an out-and-out 4.
Of the three, I enjoyed the title novella, "The Courage Consort," the most. It's a character study of sorts, of a group of singers in a King's Singers-like a capella group, but one that contains women, and one that takes its mission more seriously (according to their leader), tackling atonal twentieth/twenty-first century music. There is a newbie in the otherwise long-standing circle, a young German woman named Dagmar, an individualist who brings her baby along to their rehearsal "retreat" in a European house. Faber gives this set-up considerable interest by making his POV character self-doubting and possibly unreliable - she's Catherine, the soprano and the wife of Roger Courage, the leader of the group. We get to speculate a bit about what is causing her self-doubts: she fantasizes suicide a couple of times, she rejects sexual overtures from her husband, and she hears a child's cry in the night, possibly a confirmation of local legend - possibly also triggered by the nearness of Dagmar's baby?
Anyway, the last two members of the Consort - a rather grouchy, possibly gay tenor named Julian, and a quiet, overweight basso named Ben - seem at first glance the least interesting. But it is actually Ben's passing that produces the main movement of the plot, and we see that Catherine is not quite so incompetent as she fears, for it is she who manages to bring back the Consort from their depression, at least a little way, by finding a summer song - interestingly the most ancient possible - that they spontaneously sing. There is also a wonderfully satiric passage earlier on about the visit of the self-aggrandizing, incomprehensible composer.
The second novella, "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps", is also told from the point-of-view of a female character who is undergoing some mental disturbance. In this case it is grotesque nightmares about being murdered in her sleep. It later transpires that these mirror a story of a local (apparent) murder of a young girl by her father - he does it to prevent her from appearing to be a suicide, which she is. This story, when it emerges (from a bottle) crystallizes the differences in life philosophy between Sian and Magnus, the young man she fears she is attracted to. Sian is seriously wounded, both physically (an amputated leg) and spiritually, by a previous relationship in Bosnia. The steps of the title lead up to the archaeological dig on which Sian works, digging up bodies, but they also represent her efforts to elevate herself towards something of the emotional austerity and discipline of St. Hilda and her monastery (the site of the dig). This is another point of contention with Magnus. The imp in me adored that the resolution of the relationship was that Sian accepted and renamed Magnus' dog Hadrian (whom she adores in a thoroughly sensual manner), but she let the man go, hoping he would eventually mature to her tastes.
I did not find the third novella, "The Fahrenheit twins" much to my taste. It's very clever, bringing us to the eventual conclusion that the self-sufficient, ritual-obsessed, 10-year-old twins (Marko'cain and Tainto'lilith!), who live on a completely remote northern island, with their ethnologist parents, are actually the biological children of a nearby aboriginal father and their now-dead European mother, who has more than likely been murdered by their nominal father, Fahrenheit. But no-one in the story is remotely appealing, which is likely exactly what was intended. There's a certain humour in the kids' blunt, perceptive prattle that keeps the story from being outright bleak, but bleak it still is.
Of the three, I enjoyed the title novella, "The Courage Consort," the most. It's a character study of sorts, of a group of singers in a King's Singers-like a capella group, but one that contains women, and one that takes its mission more seriously (according to their leader), tackling atonal twentieth/twenty-first century music. There is a newbie in the otherwise long-standing circle, a young German woman named Dagmar, an individualist who brings her baby along to their rehearsal "retreat" in a European house. Faber gives this set-up considerable interest by making his POV character self-doubting and possibly unreliable - she's Catherine, the soprano and the wife of Roger Courage, the leader of the group. We get to speculate a bit about what is causing her self-doubts: she fantasizes suicide a couple of times, she rejects sexual overtures from her husband, and she hears a child's cry in the night, possibly a confirmation of local legend - possibly also triggered by the nearness of Dagmar's baby?
Anyway, the last two members of the Consort - a rather grouchy, possibly gay tenor named Julian, and a quiet, overweight basso named Ben - seem at first glance the least interesting. But it is actually Ben's passing that produces the main movement of the plot, and we see that Catherine is not quite so incompetent as she fears, for it is she who manages to bring back the Consort from their depression, at least a little way, by finding a summer song - interestingly the most ancient possible - that they spontaneously sing. There is also a wonderfully satiric passage earlier on about the visit of the self-aggrandizing, incomprehensible composer.
The second novella, "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps", is also told from the point-of-view of a female character who is undergoing some mental disturbance. In this case it is grotesque nightmares about being murdered in her sleep. It later transpires that these mirror a story of a local (apparent) murder of a young girl by her father - he does it to prevent her from appearing to be a suicide, which she is. This story, when it emerges (from a bottle) crystallizes the differences in life philosophy between Sian and Magnus, the young man she fears she is attracted to. Sian is seriously wounded, both physically (an amputated leg) and spiritually, by a previous relationship in Bosnia. The steps of the title lead up to the archaeological dig on which Sian works, digging up bodies, but they also represent her efforts to elevate herself towards something of the emotional austerity and discipline of St. Hilda and her monastery (the site of the dig). This is another point of contention with Magnus. The imp in me adored that the resolution of the relationship was that Sian accepted and renamed Magnus' dog Hadrian (whom she adores in a thoroughly sensual manner), but she let the man go, hoping he would eventually mature to her tastes.
I did not find the third novella, "The Fahrenheit twins" much to my taste. It's very clever, bringing us to the eventual conclusion that the self-sufficient, ritual-obsessed, 10-year-old twins (Marko'cain and Tainto'lilith!), who live on a completely remote northern island, with their ethnologist parents, are actually the biological children of a nearby aboriginal father and their now-dead European mother, who has more than likely been murdered by their nominal father, Fahrenheit. But no-one in the story is remotely appealing, which is likely exactly what was intended. There's a certain humour in the kids' blunt, perceptive prattle that keeps the story from being outright bleak, but bleak it still is.
August 25, 2014
A very strong four stars for this collection of three novellas. Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White ranks with Ian McEwan's Atonement as the two best novels I've read that were written this century, but I did not care for Under the Skin at all. These stories are completely unlike either work in theme and setting, but Faber's master characterization abilities in The Crimson Petal are on display here.
The Courage Consort concerns a singing group sequestered at a cottage in Benelux to practice an offbeat composer's work. This does not seem terribly interesting at first blush, but the way Faber creates very real characters very quickly turns it into a great story about individuals coalescing, or not, to form a team.
The Hundred and Ninety-Nine steps is the weakest of the three, in that's it's merely very good rather than great, as a doctor and conservator meet by happenstance on grounds that monks and nuns shared for centuries, and the 199 steps that were walked up to bury them. The ancient murder mystery is unique and the play between the two leads is very on point with reality.
The Fahrenheit Twins is a brilliant tale of two 10 year olds isolated on a Siberian island with their anthropologist parents from Germany. The twins, self-sufficient for all intents and purposes, build their own lives and quasi-religion away from their parents, one of whom may not have their best interests at heart and neither of whom has the pair as their first priority.
Faber on his game is a first tier writer and these three long stories are just that. This was an excellent read.
The Courage Consort concerns a singing group sequestered at a cottage in Benelux to practice an offbeat composer's work. This does not seem terribly interesting at first blush, but the way Faber creates very real characters very quickly turns it into a great story about individuals coalescing, or not, to form a team.
The Hundred and Ninety-Nine steps is the weakest of the three, in that's it's merely very good rather than great, as a doctor and conservator meet by happenstance on grounds that monks and nuns shared for centuries, and the 199 steps that were walked up to bury them. The ancient murder mystery is unique and the play between the two leads is very on point with reality.
The Fahrenheit Twins is a brilliant tale of two 10 year olds isolated on a Siberian island with their anthropologist parents from Germany. The twins, self-sufficient for all intents and purposes, build their own lives and quasi-religion away from their parents, one of whom may not have their best interests at heart and neither of whom has the pair as their first priority.
Faber on his game is a first tier writer and these three long stories are just that. This was an excellent read.
December 24, 2019
I just love this author. This is actually three very different novellas, all of which are intriguing and thoughtful. The Courage Consort is a solidly constructed story of a small group of musicians practicing for a concert in a chalet in the middle of the forest. The main protagonist has the best story arc, moving from helpless female dependent on her husband to someone with a promise of self-sufficiency. The same type of protagonist is more robustly the center of 199 Steps, an archeologist suffering from the trauma of the Bosnian war, finding herself while working on a dig at Whitby Abbey. Usually these types of females turn into cliches and annoy me no end, but at the ends of such a good writer, they are fully realized and easy to like.
The last story is a whimsical tale of twins raised in near isolation in an Arctic archipelago, completing a seemingly impossible task. Loved everything.
The last story is a whimsical tale of twins raised in near isolation in an Arctic archipelago, completing a seemingly impossible task. Loved everything.
May 27, 2012
Like many others, lured to read this collection by my enjoyment of his previous work. but I did not find this work as engaging. The Courage Consort is the best of the novellas, but could easily have been developed further, and probably should have. The story was too neatly wrapped up, without proper exploration or resolution of conflict. The second story was a snore and the characters irritating (maybe authors shouldn't be commissioned to write stories as publicity?). The last had potential, but Faber copped out of putting the children in genuine danger, depicting their journey closer to adventure than a struggle. He denied them insight or growth. In the end, sacrificed fairytale quality in favour of a most ordinary conclusion.
January 3, 2020
Kvintet Courage představuje pěvecké těleso, které spolu musí strávit delší čas při zkoušení jedné složité skladby. Která nejspíš ani jednoho z nich nenadchla. Na malém prostoru Faber dokázal představit jednotlivé členy skupiny a jejich různé vztahy mezi sebou. Pomocí lehkých náznaků pak gradoval napětí, které mezi nimi vznikalo a evidentně už se stupňovalo z dřívějška, o němž se čtenář také nedozví nic extra konkrétního. Což ale nevadí, autor tak dává opět prostor představivosti. Typický Faber, nechá nás dumat, co bylo a bude, kdo s kým a kdo proti. A proč vlastně. Nechala bych ho ovšem zase rozehrát Kvintet Courage ještě do větší šíře, rozmáchnout se s ním a dodat ještě na důrazu, pak by to bylo za plných 5, takto 4 a půl.
June 5, 2021
Exquisite hilarious delightful novella, not at all about a woman on the brink of madness as the back cover says but about the bodies and appetites of a choral quintet come together to rehearse in a chateau in a forest for 2 weeks. Clever, unexpected, quite enthralling.
October 5, 2014
A suberb collection of three novella's written in Michel Faber's indomitable style - wonderful!
May 31, 2023
"I didn't cast my boat out on the dangerous sea of a cappella music to sing 'Obla-di, Obla-da' to a crowd of philistines in funny hats."
A slowly ‘coming apart at the seams’ Catherine is part of a disparate group of five Capella singers who are holed up for two weeks in a Belgian forest chateau while they rehearse and attempt to fine tune a flawed ‘masterpiece’ in preparation for an avant garde festival. Catherine is the soprano whose sense of time is beginning has begun to slip. Her husband, Roger Courage is both the leader of the group and the one who is guiding her through life. What struck me from the start is the wonderful ease which Faber draws together the comedic and the serious and entertains while not letting you forget the underlying tension. The novella has received little standing in Faber’s work but I found this among his most touching. I was both moved and stunned. Please note I am only dealing with 'The Courage Consort' in this review.
A slowly ‘coming apart at the seams’ Catherine is part of a disparate group of five Capella singers who are holed up for two weeks in a Belgian forest chateau while they rehearse and attempt to fine tune a flawed ‘masterpiece’ in preparation for an avant garde festival. Catherine is the soprano whose sense of time is beginning has begun to slip. Her husband, Roger Courage is both the leader of the group and the one who is guiding her through life. What struck me from the start is the wonderful ease which Faber draws together the comedic and the serious and entertains while not letting you forget the underlying tension. The novella has received little standing in Faber’s work but I found this among his most touching. I was both moved and stunned. Please note I am only dealing with 'The Courage Consort' in this review.
July 11, 2026
The Courage Consort — 3.4/5
The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps — 3.8/5
The Fahrenheit Twins — 3/5
A very creative author, Faber did some imaginative things with the characters, settings, and themes of each novella. Ultimately, however, I wasn’t extremely impressed with where he went with the stories, nor was I terribly pleased with some lack of details and explanations in all of them. (The cry in the forest; Siǒn’s journey to Whitby and her purpose behind her current life there; the twins’ father’s true motives and their mother’s cause of death.)
Faber is obviously an extremely talented writer. There were some really cool flourishes and unique sentences throughout. Smart writing! These were definitely different than other stories I’ve come across. I enjoyed reading these and pieces of each will stick with me for a while— I just won’t be coming back to them nor recommending them to many people.
The Hundred Ninety-Nine Steps — 3.8/5
The Fahrenheit Twins — 3/5
A very creative author, Faber did some imaginative things with the characters, settings, and themes of each novella. Ultimately, however, I wasn’t extremely impressed with where he went with the stories, nor was I terribly pleased with some lack of details and explanations in all of them. (The cry in the forest; Siǒn’s journey to Whitby and her purpose behind her current life there; the twins’ father’s true motives and their mother’s cause of death.)
Faber is obviously an extremely talented writer. There were some really cool flourishes and unique sentences throughout. Smart writing! These were definitely different than other stories I’ve come across. I enjoyed reading these and pieces of each will stick with me for a while— I just won’t be coming back to them nor recommending them to many people.
May 24, 2018
The Courage Consort by Michel Faber follows the seventh best a capella group in the world as they share a house in the Netherlands, practising an almost impossible piece of music. It focuses on the awkward relationships and tensions between the group, with a bit of odd spooky cries in the forest added for good measure.
As a short story (as opposed to a novella), The Courage Consort is a pretty good example of the form. It is filled with interesting observations and a group of characters that each receive their own little arcs, their own quirks. The real joy would come with re-reads and close study, which is not something I'm up for. For anyone who enjoys a short story, there will be plenty to please in this slim volume.
Full review here: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.co....
As a short story (as opposed to a novella), The Courage Consort is a pretty good example of the form. It is filled with interesting observations and a group of characters that each receive their own little arcs, their own quirks. The real joy would come with re-reads and close study, which is not something I'm up for. For anyone who enjoys a short story, there will be plenty to please in this slim volume.
Full review here: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.co....
February 22, 2023
About the courage consort, to me it was just a boring story. It was just a bunch of people from an orchestra group (Courage consort) spend some days in the forest. They have their own problems like we all do. They do whatever activities they like. A member just heard creepy cries in the middle of the night, the other mountain biking whatever. They always had breakfast together, one of them loves havermout so much, alright.... On every single page you there's a Partitum Mutante being mentioned. Seriously in almost every page. Lord almighty....
The other two stories however... are sooo soo good. The Hundred and Ninety-nine Steps is a page turner. I just don't understand why the main character idolised St.Hilda so much and why is she being mentioned in the plot that has no correlation to her at all.
The Fahrenheit Twins... My God. I love it,so intricate, so unpredictable.
The other two stories however... are sooo soo good. The Hundred and Ninety-nine Steps is a page turner. I just don't understand why the main character idolised St.Hilda so much and why is she being mentioned in the plot that has no correlation to her at all.
The Fahrenheit Twins... My God. I love it,so intricate, so unpredictable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 30, 2026
Library book: This is the kind of writing I love! It draws you in and paints a picture of a world you've never experienced, but after reading, the picture remains so clear that it lives with you. In such a short book, it's surprising how well you get to know each of the five MCs while they spend two weeks in a Belgian chateau practicing a piece for a multimedia project they are preparing for. The story is really about the one MC, Catherine, and while many books that are far longer than this one fail at showing a character's transformation, this one rocks it in 117 pages. I only read the one story in the book as I had started another book that I just HAD to get back to and the library has due dates. I read this one based on a friend's review (Hi, Paul!).
January 26, 2020
A concise story that is full of imagery, you really get a sense of the inner world of the characters as well as the world they're inhabiting. Some of the writing made me feel a little uncomfortable, especially related to the main character of the story, Catherine. There is a sense that she is subservient to her husband and just lets him dictate her life. There is a sense of this changing throughout the book but it does make for uncomfortable reading at times. As does the writes fixation on the character of Dagmar and her body. Ultimately both of these 'issues' are in aid of the story.
November 12, 2020
Instantly forgettable. I carried on to the end only because I am interested in contemporary music. In fact, that was all that kept me interested. The characters didn't do it, except for Catherine, who I found reasonably sympathetic.
Apart from the last few pages, when something of significance happened, I found the bulk of the action not much above the level of trivia.
I do accept I may have missed the point of the plot of this novella. And yes, I should have concentrated.
Michel Faber is still one of my favourite authors.
Apart from the last few pages, when something of significance happened, I found the bulk of the action not much above the level of trivia.
I do accept I may have missed the point of the plot of this novella. And yes, I should have concentrated.
Michel Faber is still one of my favourite authors.
April 25, 2025
I read one of Michel Faber's books last year and was totally blown away, so naturally I added a bunch of his crap to my TBR. Now I see that this was probably jumping the gun. I straight up didn't like the first novella at all. I thought it had a promising start, but it went absolutely nowhere. The second novella was okay, and I thought the third one had that creepy uneasiness that Faber's other book, Under the Skin, had. Short stories and novellas just aren't the best experience for me it seems and this author couldn't change that.
October 14, 2017
I wanted to like it, I truly did, but I could NOT STAND the female leads of the first two stories. I found them unsympathetic and annoying. Trust me, women do much more than worry about men all the time.
I enjoyed the "murder" in the second story and how it turned on itself and make you reconsider your own perceptions. I wish the Fareignheit Twins could have been longer and more fleshed out, it had so much potential.
I enjoyed the "murder" in the second story and how it turned on itself and make you reconsider your own perceptions. I wish the Fareignheit Twins could have been longer and more fleshed out, it had so much potential.
June 28, 2021
I only read the first of the three novellas.
I have loved Mr Faber's books mostly, but this story just didn't hold my interest.
And it's about group dynamics and I have a master's degree in group dymanics - from a long time ago.
There was nothing wrong with the writing, the characters or the story line, and all the little side line thingees to think about, it just never got me excited enough to keep reading.
And too many other books on the TBR shelf to continue with a ho-hum one..
I have loved Mr Faber's books mostly, but this story just didn't hold my interest.
And it's about group dynamics and I have a master's degree in group dymanics - from a long time ago.
There was nothing wrong with the writing, the characters or the story line, and all the little side line thingees to think about, it just never got me excited enough to keep reading.
And too many other books on the TBR shelf to continue with a ho-hum one..
December 18, 2020
I’ve liked other works of his, but after the last book I read I was in no mood for prim Englishwomen wondering if they were going mad. It’s rare that I can appreciate a dithering, unconfident female voice in literature these days, particularly ones written by men. Got two stories in and it was quits for me.
November 27, 2022
An experimental read that didn't really pan out for me. There's an air of detachment to all three novellas. The characters are unsympathetic for the most part. The first novella was dull and inward looking, the second much better with a real tale at its heart and the third read like an effort to try something new. Not for me.
June 25, 2017
I like Faber's imagination. These stories kept me interested because each was so different. I'm not a fan of the endings, hence four stars on each book of his I have read, but I am a fan now. The Crimson Petal and the White will be next, though THAT one will take me a while.
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