Book review: The Elephant And The Polish Question

Published on Friday 20 November 2009 18:44

THE ELEPHANT AND THE POLISH QUESTION AND OTHER STORIES BY HELEN LYNCH Bluechrome Publishing, 350pp, £10.99

TWO decades after the collapse of the Berlin Wall Helen Lynch takes us behind the Iron Curtain to re-experience Poland's first, tentative steps towards the West. Her book is a series of episodes from her time living in Poland between 1987 and 1993 in which she looks at the changes happening in the country through the prism of everyday life.

The early stories focus on the confusion of a newcomer in a strange land and Lynch brilliantly captures her sense of unease and her limited grasp of basic Polish when she arrives. Each chapter opens with a new, unfamiliar scenario, forcing the reader to share her sense of displacement. These episodes showcase Lynch's flair for description, giving the reader an intimate view of the country.

In the later stories she experiments with multiple narration. Acting as a ventriloquist for her boyfriend and her child, she alternates between three perspectives within the same chapter by altering the text font. The gimmick is unsuccessful as it waters down the visceral portrayal of Poland of the earlier stories.

Even 15 years after her time in Poland, Lynch restrains herself from any rose-tinted nostalgia and her rants against babushkas, bribes and anti-semitism provide some of the most insightful writing in the book.

Although the book features narrow misses aplenty, the description of Lynch's pregnancy is truly harrowing. The attitude of the doctors and the superstition of the Polish women are so alien that Lynch soon flees for no-nonsense NHS advice and western medicine, only to find a British doctor even more unfeeling and less helpful. This kind of irony peppers the book as the author finds herself caught between East and West but wanting neither. In contrast with lighter stories, which feature characters like Marczak the dwarf, the compilation as a whole offers a colourful mosaic of the virtues and flaws of the newly empowered country.

The mass immigration of Poles may have abated due to the recession, but they are still a significant presence in modern Britain and we can learn much from their culture. Lynch is an honest guide with a great talent for description. It is a pity she dilutes her own voice towards the end of the book.