Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (Translation by Angela Rodel)

When I first read about the Booker Prize this year and looked at the shortlist, one book stood out. Time Shelter, the eventual winner, was instantly appealing in its central idea of whole countries having referenda to decide which decade of the 20th century they wanted to return to. As you will have noticed on this blog, I would probably quite like to return to the 70s! When I started reading it, however, it was clear that the ideas driving this book were far more wide ranging. It was a reflection, ageing, mortality, nostalgia, dementia, national characteristics and a feeling of wanting safety in an unsafe world. Georgi Gospodinov juggled all these ideas with verve, wit, humour and occasional tragedy in a densely plotted, but never overwhelming, book. He was aided in this by the excellent translation by Angela Rodel which helped the book’s momentum and appeal. At times, it was as if the author was speaking directly to me and reading my thoughts. As I read, I considered all the ideas that were coming at me thick and fast, and every time I put the book down, those ideas stayed with me, forcing me to consider ‘What if?’ as I reflected on what my own approach may be in the situation the protagonist found himself in.

The Plot

As far as the plot is concerned, and as ever no spoilers, the narrator sets up dementia clinics with the mysterious, enigmatic Gaustine. In these clinics, each floor is designed to perfectly reflect a particular decade complete with items from the time, music, newspapers, entertainment, food and even smells. The idea is to give sufferers a safe space in which to immerse themselves in a decade that allows themselves to connect with part of the person the disease has taken away. The details are correct in every respect, and the staff and visitors all dress and act appropriately within that decade, allowing the patients to retain that sense of their own time shelter. These time shelters become ever more popular as the idea is replicated in countries across the world, and younger people who are not suffering from dementia start to visit these clinics to escape from the stresses of modern life. (Doesn’t that sound absolutely amazing in these awful times?) Eventually, the decision is made that across Europe there will be referenda to decide which decade each country will return to. One very short chapter that made me laugh reflected the situation of the UK, but I will leave you to read that for yourself! Anyway, it turns out that returning to these decades may not be the panacea that everyone hoped.

My reflections

When you read a book like this, you can’t help but think where you might want to go back to and why. One very minor character, when asked where she would return to, replies that she would just like to be 12 in whichever decade she was living, reflecting on that age as one without responsibility and open to new experiences day after day. It reminded me of the marvellous BBC series, Back in Time for the Weekend, featuring the Ashby-Hawkins family where it was twelve year old Seth who had a fantastic time in every decade whilst his parents Rob and Steph found the social requirements of the time more restrictive, especially Steph who was pretty much chained to the kitchen, and his sixteen year old sister Daisy found the restrictions of the 1950s gradually loosen throughout subsequent decades. The idea that twelve is the age to be in every decade seemed to hold true if that programme was anything to go by. I wondered where the Ashby-Hawkins might vote to live, and decided that like me it would be a toss-up between the 70s and 80s. For my part, I would want to be nine or ten in every decade with secondary school always in the future and never in the present.

For the story the referenda are reflected through the prism of the national situations that existed in each decade, and it’s a very interesting whistle-stop tour through 20th century history. A large section of this middle part of the book quite naturally takes place in Gospodinov’s own Bulgaria, but the way that he brings the country to life means that you are captivated and immersed within the borders of a place that I have never visited and know very little about. The research for the time zones and the individual nations felt integral to the book but at no point did it feel like a historical or cultural lesson to me, merely an unfolding of the narrative. I have never read a book like this, and it is definitely one I will return to in the future – or perhaps in the past!