"Western Lane" by Chetna Maroo

An audio book. Shortlisted For The Booker Prize 2023.

The first-person narrator Gopi is an 11 y.o. girl with sisters Cush (13) and Mona (15). Their mother, who spoke little English, died a year before the main action. They're Jains. The extended family and friends check that they're still being culturally strict. They live in London. Their childless aunt and uncle who live in Edinburgh wonder about adopting them. The girls think that a single mother may be after their father. Their father (a freelance electrician) encourages them to find long-term interests. She does squash intensely. She's better than her sisters, who soon give up. She learns about the legendary Khan dynasty of players. At "Western Lane", a sports centre, she meet Ged, a 13 y.o. who's lost his stutter and is a useful playing partner (with her father's permission). She has her first period. She's entered into a 2-day tournament in Durham, encouraged by Maqsud, a businessman. She fantasises about a possible contender - someone who gave up school to focus on squash. She starts having reciprocated feelings for Ged.

Ged's mother brings food. She and Pa smoke together in the back garden. He's neglecting work. The quiet father's chances of conquering grief at times seems dependent on Gopi's success. Her sister buys her a new racket.

The squash metaphors are mostly obvious albeit relevant - shadowing (practising without a ball); identifying opponents' weaknesses. They watch a recording of a player whose shots are so perfect that you forget what you're thinking when you see them. Pa seems to communicate with her only via squash. Her mother's sometimes mentioned - used by people who want Gopi [not] to do things.

Pa plays with her - the first time in months. She hits him in the face with her racket when doing a stroke she shouldn't have tried. She'd played with Ged many times without touching him. Pa tells her to control her emotions. Ged's mother doesn't want Ged to play with her any more.

The sisters see Pa talking to mother and, worried, call their Edinburgh relatives. They come down and Gopi goes back with them. The aunt doesn't want her to continue with squash. Her uncle changes the aunt's mind. We find out little about her months in Edinburgh prior to the tournament. When they all meet up outside Durham for the tournament there's little about what the sisters discuss. Ged is there. 8 girls are in her age group and she wins (£20), playing the final with 40 spectators in a specially constructed perspex-walled court in a badminton hall.

The voice is way beyond that of an 11 y.o., both in terms of the language and the emotions - "it was as if the walls existed outside of time". She knows what people are thinking. All this gives the story the feel of fable, the realistic portrayal of people secondary. Much is missed out that surely matters to Gopi. And why wait all that time and go all the way to Durham for a tournament?

Other reviews

• Caleb Klaces (In her mother’s absence, Gopi makes herself physical on the squash court. ... With Pa, she spends hours “ghosting”, which means playing with something crucial missing – the ball ... the almost inexpressible experience of a human body negotiating a transparent box ... Pa is searching for something more than Gopi can provide, and Gopi knows that this makes him vulnerable. In order to win, she needs to remember what he has taught her, and go beyond what he can express.)
• Ivy Pochoda
• lauratfrey (this shortlisted book struck me as very “debut-y” ... Two trusted reviewers [] don’t feel that way. ... The things I found trite or formulaic, they found “accessible with hidden depths” ... I felt like I could see the plot outline underneath the finished product, like if I could go back to an earlier draft, I’d see a note: “insert squash metaphor here.” In fact, all eight chapters begin with a squash metaphor. They were well written, but to me, utterly obvious in what they were meant to convey about grief, and after the first few chapters I was sick of them. ... I gasped at a pivotal moment [] But even this moment makes me feel like I can see a ghostly Google doc comment like “put an obstacle in the character’s way before she gets to the final battle.”)