Guy Mankowski’s latest novel ‘You Complete the Masterpiece’ pulls off a delicate balancing act. On one level it’s an intimate portrait of the main characters and their challenges yet the plot is dynamic with intrigue and crime stretched over a broad geographical canvas. A literary puzzle, satire and some important contemporary themes (#MeToo and inter-generational inequality) further elevate the novel.
This is accessible literary fiction at its finest. The author’s assured handling of prose works as an invitation, not a barrier, to the general reader. From the intriguing title onwards, everything is multi-layered. The book’s blurb refers to a ‘literary puzzle’ and this set me thinking. Was this an escape room style challenge or something else? In the end, I hit on the idea it was like a Matryoshka with each new plot point concealed inside the last like those intricate wooden dolls, harbouring secrets and reveals.
The story opens in Barcelona where aspiring millennial writer, Jude Green, has been catapulted from obscurity to centre stage after winning an award. His prize is connected to the estate of Spanish literary giant, Valdez, who has recently disappeared, believed dead. Jude has received 8,000 euros thinking he has only to spend a month as a writer in residence and deliver a lecture, with a similar amount payable on completion. Instead he’s handed a poisoned chalice linked to Valdez’s final collection of work.
Francine, Jude’s not-quite-girlfriend and co-author on a new project, has travelled with him to Spain but when Jude meets Valdez’s granddaughter, Maria, jealousies fracture their relationship before it briefly reignites.
The vice-chancellor of the university, Marco Velasco, is executor of Valdez’s estate and set to profit financially and professionally from the publication of his friend’s posthumous collection. While one strand of the narrative is a quest to discover whether Valdez is really dead, another focuses on rot and manipulation at the heart of this prestigious university. Privilege is embedded in the establishment. Institutions close ranks to protect their own. It’s staggering that in the post-#MeToo world, an entitled few believe they are bulletproof against allegations of sexual misconduct. On a quest to explain and expose the corruption, Jude’s journey takes him to Marrakesh and Casablanca where he collaborates with Rosalie, Velasco’s granddaughter to find the truth. It’s not a coincidence that granddaughters of two powerful literary and academic figures feature in this novel as they illustrate the theme of inter-generational inequality in different ways.
A scene in Casablanca takes place in Rick’s bar, famous from the Bogart/Bergman film. I’ve been to Casablanca but not to the bar. Despite the cliché of Play It Again Sam ‘oozing through the speakers’, Mankowski’s description and one character’s meditation on Casablanca being:
‘the place everyone gets stuck. The place everyone wants to escape from’
For me it had the opposite effect - I’m now super-keen to revisit!
The novel’s social commentary on the imbalance of life security between boomers and millennials is savage but handled with a light touch. There’s a literary puzzle, too, on the theme of ‘where is the author?’ Does an author exist in their work or in their possessions? Is Valdez dead or just missing? Does an author exist only when readers bring their own experience to ‘complete the masterpiece’. Mankowski empowers his characters, Jude and Rosalie, to come up with their best conclusion. In the case of Valdez they decide, ‘He didn’t find himself but he spent a lifetime looking.’
With Mankowski’s inside track on the culture of academia, students of English Lit and Creative Writing will devour this novel but I’m confident a general readership will enjoy it too. I loved it. Highly recommended.
Review by Helen Matthews, prize-winning author of 'Girl Out of Sight'