Adopting a philosophical stance on life and relationships and dealing with "the suffering that comes with knowledge of the world", The Missing Shade of Blue inevitably takes an elevated literary view of its subject, but that doesn't mean that it is in any way detached from the reality of day-to-day matters or lacking in any sense of real human characteristics. Rather it is in the conflict between living through the complicated matters of life, relationships and marriage - particularly one that is breaking up - and the idea that we can make sense of it all as being part of some grander scheme, that Jennie Erdal's novel engages with the reader, attempting to reconcile those complex thoughts and feelings herself through the less than precise form of language.
These conflicting viewpoints in the novel come in the form of two figures - Sanderson and Edgar - but each of them, in a very human way, face a struggle within themselves to maintain their own position and, in some ways, they want to believe that there can be a truthful medium, and consequently a form of happiness or contentment that can be found. It's Sanderson who is the philosopher, a University lecturer in Edinburgh, while Edgar, significantly, is a translator, from France but of Scottish heritage, who has come to the city to work on a new translation of the works of the philosopher David Hume. It's through Edgar however that the reader witnesses the breakdown of the Sanderson's marriage and the unravelling of his friend and colleague and his beliefs.
It's far from an impassive and distanced perspective however, and far from straightforward. As Eddie observes, "there are mysterious forces at work" in the act of translation and in the relationship of the translator with their subject. And can one really know or write about something without having experienced it oneself? Edgar's work on Hume, as well as his reaction to the Sanderson's marriage, leads him to question his own identity and sense of purpose, not least in what their situation reveals about his relationship with his own parents. It's a subject that Jennie Erdal has approached before in the form of a ghost-writer in her memoir Ghosting, and here in The Missing Shade of Blue she brings out other fascinating insights and resonances on the theme.
Here, the author finds a variety of interesting ways and metaphors to describe the experience, the mystery and the ambiguity, Edgar observing while fishing at one point that "the delight [of the river] was partly to do with my incomplete understanding of it, as well as the sense of possibility that it held out". This all sounds very literary, trying to find a sense of understanding of life, relationships, happiness and a sense of identity - and, yes it these questions are considered seriously - but the author also manages to brings a lightness to it all in the writing, never forgetting that her characters are human and that life can be absurd, enlivening the mild philosophising with little behavioural quirks and a delightful sense of humour.
At heart, The Missing Shade of Blue is a simple little story, but it's beautifully and thoughtfully told and it raises a lot of interesting questions about life, love and happiness that will be relevant on some level to just about everyone.
