Tag Archives: copenhagen

Thomas Kennedy: Seeking Bars, Jazz, and Love in Copenhagen

Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark

Book: Beneath the Neon Egg by Thomas E. Kennedy (NEW in U.S. August 5, 2014)

In the fourth of the series of novels he calls the Copenhagen Quartet, Thomas Kennedy looks at the dark side of Copenhagen.  It is winter in this noir novel, and many of the scenes take place in the dark. After all, in winter, you don’t get a lot of hours of sunshine in Copenhagen.

 

Copenhagen Quartet
Copenhagen winter. Photo from Flickr. Click to learn more.

Each book in the quartet features a different season and a different style of writing.  For instance, Kerrigan in Copenhagen, which I reviewed here, takes place in spring and is presented as a guidebook as an aging travel writer tours the bars and clubs. It would be an oversimplification to think of it merely as a guidebook, since it is also an homage to James Joyce with its stream of consciousness autobiography of the narrator. (Happy to discover that my review is quoted on the web page for Copenhagen Quartet, linked in the first paragraph above.)

Jumping into the debate about whether it is important to know anything about the author of a book in order to fully appreciate the book, I will just say that Thomas E. Kennedy is hidden in plain sight in all of these books.

Only a dedicated jazz aficionado would go to such lengths to provide a musical score for each novel.  He obviously knows his stuff, with details of jazz musicians and their work discussed in every book.

Kennedy has Irish roots. His characters always include some ties to Ireland.

Kennedy is an American living in Copenhagen and a man fascinated with language.  So we get main characters who are working in Copenhagen as writers or translators. Characters bring a fresh eye of an outsider to the details of Danish culture. A comparison of American ways and Danish ways provides extra fascination for American readers and travelers.

In Beneath the Neon Egg: A Novel (which was called Bluett’s Blue Hours when published in Europe ten years ago) we learn that many American jazz players spent a lot of time in Copenhagen, which offers numerous jazz clubs.

CD Cover
CD Cover: A Love Supreme

The headliner for this novel is John Coltrane, whose A Love Supreme provides the  structure and symbol for a story that is basically about various kinds of love. I admit that I have not delved so deeply into literary deconstruction as to outline for you how these four movements, Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance and Psalm align with the story of Beneath the Neon Egg–but I have a vague idea. (So shoot me for laziness.)

It is the appropriateness of the title “Love Supreme” that struck me.  Beneath the Neon Egg deals with every kind of love from casual sex to parental love. The motivation for finding love of whatever type seems always to be avoiding loneliness (being alone.)

Each kind of love is challenging, but the most challenging and the one that turns the book into a mystery novel of sorts has to do with Bluett’s neighbor across the hall, a man so unlucky in love that he completely falls for a Russian prostitute and believes her attentions signify real love. It is a fatal mistake.

When Thomas Kennedy told me in an e-mail that he had adopted noir as the style for this novel, I was expecting a Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, big city detective solving a crime with gorgeous broads and  deceptive business dealings in a setting of shadows.  You get some of that in Beneath the Neon Egg. But this introspective angsty story is a far cry from the typical noir detective novel.

Bluett, the translator at the heart of the story, is not a man of action. His main motivation in life is to finish five pages of translation per day. But still, Kennedy’s writing style is unbeatable for putting the reader into the mood of the story.

What then?

Another day, another five pages, another evening, another vodka, Coltrane.  Chair at the window watching the blue hour descend like mist.  McCoy Tyner’s quiet piano chords lead into Coltrane’s moody tenor, addressing the equinox.  Ought to get some skates, glide like a shadow on the blue ice, hearing music recorded neraly forty years earlier; himself a tiny lad, his parents young and good-looking.  He has “Equinox” on repeat, vodka on his tongue, the tenor enters his ears like a sweet promise, orders his mind with sound that is a credible reality.

I think I prefer the European title, Bluett’s Blue Hours for the mere sound of the words, as well as the moodiness. But on the other hand, Beneath the Neon Egg, is puzzling and intriguing–teasing the potential reader rather than laying it all out–and so is the book. And the mere mention of “neon” surfaces a mental picture of a garish light blinking against a black sky.

Spoiler Alert:  The neon egg is part of an appropriately surreal neon depiction of a chicken laying an egg that Bluett can see from his window.

And by the way, Kennedy is still up to his little tricks. He checks to see if the reader is paying attention by putting characters from the other three novels into this one. They wander through in cameo appearances at a bar or on the street. It is this kind of playfulness that makes me think of Nabokov as I read Kennedy.

Copenhagen Quartet
Copenhagen street, winter night. Photo by Cian O’Donovan from Flickr.

The traveler looking for a guide to Copenhagen, will once again have the benefit of Kennedy’s meticulous directions for navigating the city as Bluett mostly beats a path from watering hole to watering hole.

Kennedy said in an interview: “The more you know about a place, the more your life is enriched.” Obviously I agree with that, or I wouldn’t be telling you about books that will enhance your travel! However, the tourism people in Denmark might not be thrilled by the menacing air of this novel. At least you’ll learn about a part of the city that you definitely do NOT want to visit while you’re pub crawling.

I have now read all four of the novels in the Copenhagen Quartet. You can read them in any order, but the author says on his website that reading Kerrigan in Copenhagen first gives you information that helps orient you for the other three.

Note: Links here to Amazon provide you with a convenient way of shopping. And although it costs you no more, you’ll be supporting A Traveler’s Library, since I am an Amazon Affiliate. Thanks.

Meet Our NEW Family Travel Writer–Powell Berger

Family travel expert and family
Meet Powell, Emmi and Austin in Copenhagen.

As I sifted through the stack of names of family travel writers, and checked out their websites, one stood out immediately. I am so excited to introduce to you our new Family Travel Expert, Powell Berger. The reasons Powell caught my eye were personal as well as professional.  The professional–I loved the lively writing style Powell shows on her own family travel site: Family Vagabonding and the depth of family travel experience she has. The personal has to do with many parallels in our past history that would be of no interest to you whatsover.  Powell now lives in Hawaii, but for many years she has traveled the world with her daughter, Emmi, and son, Austin, “road-schooling” them along the way. They still go to Paris every summer and travel is still a big part of their lives. But let’s see what Powell has to say.

A Traveler’s Library: Which came first–the travel or the writing?

Powell Berger: Both I guess! I’ve been writing since I was a kid – first creative writing and poems and heartfelt stories of life-gone-wrong as a teen, then on to papers and client documents and “grown up stuff” in my career. When we started our road-school gig, I wanted to capture it in some meaningful way, so the creative writer came out of hiding after all those years.

Like writing, I’ve been traveling since I was a kid, mostly road trips in the family Cadillac, then eventually on planes to exotic places like LA and Boston, where we had family. I didn’t travel internationally, though, until I was in my thirties, a business trip to Paris and London. I saw Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, and I knew instantly. If the little girl from Mississippi could see those places – places she’d only heard about – then she could see the world.

Family Travel Expert in Scotland
Austin and Powell leaning on a canon — Edinburgh Scotland.

ATL: How does your family travel style differ from the way your parents (and siblings?) traveled when you were young?

PB: Our family travel was all domestic, and was almost all to see family. We did a lot of road trips in the family Cadillac, and my mom always said “swimming pool” were among my first words, my announcement that I’d seen a Holiday Inn sign along the highway and that it was time to stop for the night. My mother’s wanderlust was passed on to me, though, without me even realizing it. She left the farm in Mississippi to work as a civilian during WW II, riveting airplanes just like Rosie the Riveter, and eventually landed at Hickham Air Field in Hawaii. Like so many of that generation, her eyes were opened to a much larger world, and while she returned to Mississippi after the war, her love of place and people in the world never diminished. It’s no coincidence that both of her children now live in Hawaii, some sixty years after she returned to Mississippi to continue her life.

Family travel expert and family
The three of us on the back of a boat in wetsuits and flippers at Exmouth Australia where we swam with whale sharks.

ATL: Have you made the travel plans and decisions, or has it been a democratic process?

PB: I believe travel works when everyone is vested in it, so we all get involved. Once we settle on a region, everyone picks something special they want to see or do while we’re there, and we build the itinerary accordingly. On a family trip to Paris once, my now-grown son really wanted to see the D-Day beaches. I was slightly irritated since that’s not exactly Paris and took some Houdini work to make it happen in our already over-packed schedule. But we did it, and you know what? It was everyone’s favorite part of the trip!

We’ve discovered the beauty of Western Australia because Austin (16 year old son) wanted to swim with whale sharks. We know the ends and outs of Germany’s King Ludwig’s and his distant cousin, Austria’s Empress Sissi because Emmi (13 year old daughter) became fascinated with their royal lives and castles and antics.

The kids and I also create a “Trip Book” for every adventure, where they dig into each destination and write about it – what to see, where to go, what’s cool and what’s not. In doing that homework, they become experts of sorts on the destination and become the de facto family tour guide once we get there.

ATL: Where would you like to go WITHOUT your kids?

PB: I’ve never done any of the great wine tours, since there’s not much fun in that for them. I figure I’ll get that done with girlfriends one day.

I do believe in solo travel, too, though. I try to do something solo every year. It’s my ‘me” time, where I read, meditate, make long term business plans and goals. Last fall, I spent five days on Lanai at the glorious Four Seasons there and loved it. I’ve also done a couple of cruises solo, including a Pacific crossing where I had no conversations with another human being – other than “yes, I’ll have a glass of wine,” or “yes, please turn the room down for the evening” – for six glorious days.

ATL: What do you wish someone had told you about family travel before you went on a trip with your kids?

PB: I think I bought into the mainstream media hype that traveling with kids was difficult, that they need constant entertainment, and that I was restricted to “kid friendly” destinations. We’ve done our share of Disney and kid friendly, but I had to learn on my own how to really travel with kids and broaden their world view in the process. Treat kids like partners in the experience, vest them in the itinerary, and set guidelines and expectations for everyone, and the experience is a much more rewarding one.

Americans share a belief that travel is difficult and expensive. We find it exactly the opposite. There are places in the world where we live much more cheaply than we do at home, and once you have a grasp on DIY travel logistics, it’s all pretty simple.

Family travel writer Sardinia
Emmi and Powell in front of the grafiti wall — Calgieri, Sardinia (Italy)

ATL: What have your kids taught YOU about travel?

PB: My kids have taught me that we can find home anywhere in the world. They’ve taught me to slow down and enjoy playgrounds and fountains and street art just because it’s there. They’ve reminded me again and again that meals don’t have to be in restaurants, and that every experience doesn’t have to be guidebook perfect.

ATL: How has “book-larnin'” fit into your vagabonding life?

PB: Our roadschool curriculum is pretty similar to a standard school’s, just with our travel experiences layered on top. [Note: Powell wrote about her home schooled family in this magazine article.]They have their standard grammar, math, literature, etc and are expected to do their work every day, regardless of where we are. That doesn’t mean we don’t have days where the books are tossed aside for some magical experience, but the time is made up later. (Long plane trips are great for that.) We then build their curriculum around where we’re going. Literature might come from the region, or be steeped in the history of the culture. History and Global Studies bubbles up organically based on our travels, and the curious learner in all of us is sparked when we come upon a new place.

See more about Powell Berger and her traveling family at this page of Family Vagabonding, and at A Traveler’s Library Contributors Page.