The Mighty Walzer

"Up until recently those of us who admired his work were very much like a sort of cult following. He hadn’t had much serious recognition but now he has won the Booker prize for another book, The Finkler Question , he has suddenly become mainstream which has led to a bit of a crisis of identity for those of us who love his books! Get the weekly Five Books newsletter The Mighty Walzer is certainly one of his best three. It’s a novel about table tennis in the 1950s and is very autobiographical. What I love so much about it is that Jacobson has an eye for the folly of the sport but also for its grandeur. He has an ability to articulate the psychology of sport even at an amateur level. Even when it is being played at the local Allied Jam and Marmalade factory on a table in the basement where the ball keeps going behind stacked-up chairs or falling behind the stage. It was very evocative of my learning to play table tennis, and Jacobson has a rare genius for encapsulating the sociology of the thing. I fell in love with it because it had this very alluring combination of speed and strategy. The speed is obviously very visible. It is also very tactical so it felt to me like I was involved in a physical pursuit as well as an intellectual one. It felt cerebral but also dynamic. I love lots of different sports but with table tennis my love affair hasn’t ended even though I don’t play it professionally any more. I know everyone says it about their own sport but I really do think it is unique."