THE GUARD

Science fiction meets Samuel Beckett in this Godot-like tale of two security guards nervously biding their time in the basement of a wealthy apartment complex.            

This end-of-the-world-again satire by Flemish novelist Terrin (Monte Carlo, 2014, etc.) won the European Prize for Literature in 2010 and now makes its way to English-speaking shores courtesy of a translation from the Dutch by Colmer. It’s a strange little story that works as a disarming allegory for the conflict-ridden, anxiety-producing times we live in. Our narrator is Michel, a bit of a dim bulb who works as a security guard at the aforementioned high-rise apartment, where he's employed by a mysterious firm called only “The Organization.” The firm makes regular supply runs that terrify Michel, but they provide him and his partner with “Flock 28” handguns and ammo, corned beef and water. His partner is Harry, a paranoid conspiracy theorist who nevertheless joins Michel in staying true to their murky mission. “We keep our uniforms neatly brushed, every day, because regulations are sacred,” Michel tells us. “Harry and I are in complete agreement on that. After all, it’s the uniform that makes the guard. The uniform and the weapon.” Isolation is the purest result of their strange job, but Terrin fills in all that blank space with a rambling, back-biting dialogue between the two guards that resembles a marriage as much as a partnership. Unfortunately, we don’t see much besides these two bickering inmates. Outside the basement, residents begin leaving, dragging their suitcases behind them, while Michel and Harry wonder if the world has ended. The only person left in their tower is a mysterious man who lives alone on the 29th floor, lending the book a paranoid edge that resonates like the Tom Waits song: “What’s He Building in There?”

A spare, dystopian comedy that doesn’t bring quite enough funny to satisfy nor enough detail to terrify.