Book Review: "On the Calculation of Volume: 1" by Solvej Balle

I have been seeing this book everywhere and charging what Kindle was charging for it, it felt like I would never actually get to read the thing. Of course, until one day where the price came shooting down and 'Best Price in 30 Days' read '£0.99' and I was very quick to buy. With the language being a mix of minimalism and philosophy, the themes being that of entropy and realisation, this book definitely deserves all the hype it has been getting. If I am lucky I might be able to read the second part. I just have to hope that it is still on sale.

Tara is a bookseller in Northern France who wakes up of the 18th of November every single day for 122 days - she's trapped in a loop. However the twist is that only she remembers that the day is the same, everyone else around her experiences the day as if it is brand new. The days are not identical though they do mess with the psyche of the main character a lot. Movements, healings, soft and subtle changes - all of these add to the experience of being trapped. The author writes this as something that is almost matter of fact rather than a huge moment of realisation. The opening is creeping and honestly, it definitely shows us how being trapped in a loop can feel both normal and abnormal at the same time.

The character though is not taking this lying down. She writes diary entries which are surprisingly self-aware and more than this, aware of her situation. She approaches the nature of the time loop as a scientific experiment in which tests out hypotheses knowing that she is going to live the same day again. The fragmentation of the narrative definitely adds to the authenticity of the character's voice and thoughts. This is heightened by the fact that she starts by confiding in her husband until the next day wipes that from his thoughts. I cannot help but think that this too, was part of that experiment. The marriage ultimately disintegrates because of the loop.

During these experiments, she tests certain limits. She stays up really late and at one point she burns her hand. Her hand heals very quickly and when she buys some groceries, they disappear. As we move through the book, she notes these limits down and also notices her body is not ageing normally. As time keeps reseting itself, she begins to notice routines more as well - something she can use to avoid her husband as she sleeps in the living room. She learns his routines as to not get in his way.

One thing I found quite strange is that the character makes no attempt to escape her position but instead tries to learn about it, watching it carefully and noticing how she and her husband once had shared experiences that now only one person remembers. She offers up explanations, runs more scientific experiments and yet, never actually attempts to get out of her life. She is not presented as strong-willed but rather as accepting of her fate. She often has these philosophical narratives with herself concerning memory and human connection.

The writer definitely displays November very well. It was quite interesting that the month of November was chosen in particular. It is not really a month where anything good is happening in nature. Frozen in time, our character experiences muddy grounds and depletion. The decay of nature is definitely something we have to realise because instead of coming out at the other side, having something like the rejuvination of spring to look forward to, our character is stuck in this atmosphere of death and dying in the climate.

All in all, this was a wonderfully in-depth look at how we ourselves relate to time and how routine and the development of strategic routines can help our being but also destroy our soul without us even realising it. Though the writing is poetic and the character often uses it as a means of therapy and escape - we have to also look at the reason why they would need it. They are, like us, frozen in their relation to time - just in a far more obvious way.