The manifesto for Jesse Ball’s uncategorisable hybrid novel Silence Once Begun shows up unexpectedly about two-thirds of the way through this brisk but mysterious work. It is diverted to his narrator – also named Jesse Ball – and his memories of a book about an Austrian huntsman and his miraculous ability to find any and all lost objects “because he would not look for them”: “He did not permit the previously drawn categories of objects that had been set before him in the world to stop up his eyes and halt his discoveries.”
Ball the author operates on similar principles, and so we have this novel that reads like a true-crime paperback, and is structured like an instructional manual. The book’s main character is shattered when his wife unexpectedly ceases speaking to him and travels to Japan to seek consolation and insight, from a decades-old case involving a man named Oda Sotatsu, who was arrested and sentenced to death after confessing to a rash of disappearances of elderly men and women. Oda is innocent, yet refuses to speak up in his own defence.
Jesse pores through transcripts and interviews witnesses and family members in the hopes of understanding Oda’s perverse stance. “If it was a joke,” a journalist who covered the case observes, “it was the strangest joke in the world.”
Ball’s novel is hardly a joke, but it is something of a dare, seeking to slather its compelling central mystery in intentionally banal quasi-official language.
We are never free to fully enter the story of the silent man on death row, restrained as we are by the presence of the narrator, simultaneously the author and not. Storytelling is an escape from our own lives and the most effective means yet found of tunnelling more deeply into those lives, in the hopes of coming out the other side, purified. “In searching for a way out of my own troubles, I had found my way into the troubles of others, some long gone, and now I was trying to find my way back out, through their troubles, as if we human beings can ever learn from one another.”
“Silence,” ambivalent as it is about communication, embraces a style we might call “official reportese”. Language is flattened, its vigour and wit intentionally compressed, as if to assure readers that we were merely receiving a witness statement. But in reaching beyond the “previously drawn categories of objects,” Ball compresses – intentionally or otherwise – his book’s effect. There is simply too much banality, intentional or otherwise, to wade through before Ball begins to lay out the book’s intricate puzzle in detail.
The narrator apologises for wanting “again and again, to intercede and explain things”, but, if anything, there is not enough intercession and explanation in the book’s first half, which drags unnecessarily with the litany of testimony and interview. Ball interrupts his narrative repeatedly to offer carefully categorised lists and sub-lists, as if to subtly mock the dutifulness of his namesake and narrator’s investigation. But boredom is boredom, whether it is unintentional or deliberate.
Silence’s witnesses contradict each other, dawdle, dissemble and insist that others are not to be trusted. Oda’s father only articulates most clearly what each of the book’s characters implicitly argues: “You shouldn’t listen to the others. This is what we are saying, that I am telling you the things now that you can use. We are talking about that.” Was Oda’s sister close with her brother or did she disdain his company? Was a love affair between Oda and a mysterious stranger a genuine romance?
The intellectual and emotional conflict between witnesses underscores the dictum, offered up late in the book, “that we as humans believe we see things we do not see”. And silence itself becomes a response to the dullness and heartache of mundane life. The less we say, the more we transcend the pettiness of blame and guilt and regret. Ball trusts silence where words have grown stale and unprofitable. But can a novel ever embrace silence as a strategy? A clutch of photographs midway through the book hints at a path through the impasse. In Sebaldian fashion, a series of still images hints mutely at Oda’s destiny. The gates to a seemingly endless driveway are thrown open, an eternity of calm about to commence. Where words no longer suffice, silence must serve instead.
Saul Austerlitz is the author of Sitcom: A History in 24 Episodes from I Love Lucy to Community.
GYAN’S ASIAN OUTPUT
2011-2015: Al Ain – 123 apps, 128 goals
2015-2017: Shanghai SIPG – 20 apps, 7 goals
2016-2017: Al Ahli (loan) – 25 apps, 11 goals
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
'Lost in Space'
Creators: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Irwin Allen
Stars: Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Maxwell Jenkins
Rating: 4/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
