by Alexander McCall Smith
This is the fifth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. These books are delightful for their depiction of Botswana and their folksy approach to solving cases and problems.
In this book Mma Ramotswe's fiance J.L.B Matekoni has two challenges he is facing. One, the Matron of the Orphanage has announced that he will do a parachute jump as a fundraiser for the Orphanage - he didn't really agree to this and is sure he will die, but she published the announcement in the local paper. Secondly, he has discovered that a competing garage has done a fraudulent job maintaining a car. His fiancee insists that he should confront the garage owner and insist that the customer be issued a refund.
Mma Ramotswe saves him from both trials, she convinces one of his apprentices that doing a parachute jump will attract attention of young women, so he agrees to do the jump instead of J.L.B. Matekoni. And, she seeks the assistance of the Orphanage Matron to rescue her fiance from the browbeating he is receiving from the other garage owner. The Matron pretends to know his family and chastises him for his pratices and for bringing shame on his family.
Mma Ramotswe has only one client in this story, a rich business woman who wants to marry and is considering four possible suitors. Mma Ramotswe investigates two of the four and doesn't think either will be suitable but the client decides she is going to marry one of them anyway because his desire to save girls from a life or prostitution appeals to her and she is willing to invest some of her wealth for this cause. Mma Ramotswe is somewhat taken aback that her client wants to go against her opinion.
Mma Ramotswe is also troubled by the fact that while J.L.B Matekoni has proposed to her, he seems reluctant to plan a wedding. The Matron comes to her aid there as well. She organizes a party around the parachuting event and has everything in place, including a Minister and a dress for the bride and suit for the groom, should J.L.B Maketkoni wish to get married that day. He of course agrees that there is no need to wait. So, the wedding finally occurs.
Smith has created a humourous, touching, warm story yet again.
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Thursday, 19 December 2013
The Lost Years
by Mary Higgins Clark
This is the first book I have read by this author. The mystery revolves around the death of a retired scholar who thinks he has discovered an ancient treasure, the only known letter from Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea.
He has been shot in his home, all the doors were locked, and his wife who has Alzheimer's is suspected as the perpetrator.
The man's daughter is distraught at the death of her father. She had been having difficulty dealing with him since she found out that his father was having an affair with a young woman who accompanied him on some of his digs. She is shocked that he betrayed her mother.
He had told some of his close colleagues about his discovery but none of them had the chance to see it. No one admits to knowing where the parchment is now.
While the murder is being investigated her parent's next door neighbours return from a trip to discover millions of dollars of jewellry have been stolen, despite a supposedly state-of-the-art security system. The husband of the couple is an attorney and eagerly takes on the mother's defense.
First the girl's mother's caregiver (who turns out to be an ex-con) disappears, then the girl's father's lover disappears and finally the girl herself disappears.
As the hunt for the killer continues the police find the thief who robbed the neighbour's home. He claims to have seen someone running from the house of the night of the murder and says he got a good look at the person.... he can provide a sketch, in return for a deal on his punishment.
It is actually a friend of the family, an amateur sleuth who finds the clues that lead to the murderer, not the police.
It was a light, entertaining read. I think I still like Rankin and Robinson and others murder series better. They seem to have more character development and interesting plots.
This is the first book I have read by this author. The mystery revolves around the death of a retired scholar who thinks he has discovered an ancient treasure, the only known letter from Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea.
He has been shot in his home, all the doors were locked, and his wife who has Alzheimer's is suspected as the perpetrator.
The man's daughter is distraught at the death of her father. She had been having difficulty dealing with him since she found out that his father was having an affair with a young woman who accompanied him on some of his digs. She is shocked that he betrayed her mother.
He had told some of his close colleagues about his discovery but none of them had the chance to see it. No one admits to knowing where the parchment is now.
While the murder is being investigated her parent's next door neighbours return from a trip to discover millions of dollars of jewellry have been stolen, despite a supposedly state-of-the-art security system. The husband of the couple is an attorney and eagerly takes on the mother's defense.
First the girl's mother's caregiver (who turns out to be an ex-con) disappears, then the girl's father's lover disappears and finally the girl herself disappears.
As the hunt for the killer continues the police find the thief who robbed the neighbour's home. He claims to have seen someone running from the house of the night of the murder and says he got a good look at the person.... he can provide a sketch, in return for a deal on his punishment.
It is actually a friend of the family, an amateur sleuth who finds the clues that lead to the murderer, not the police.
It was a light, entertaining read. I think I still like Rankin and Robinson and others murder series better. They seem to have more character development and interesting plots.
I am Malala
by Malala Yousafzai
This is the autobiography of Malala. The story is as much about her father and her family as about her. She tells the story of her father and how he manages to set up a school in Pakistan. She talks about her love of the countryside where she lives and about Muslim cultural practices. She is a young girl, who enjoys school, watching dvd's, listening to music, gossiping with her friends. She then details the history of Pakistan and how life changed in her lovely valley with the invasion of the Taliban. At one point they fled the country to escape the fighting between the military and Taliban. A lot of the time they felt the governemt wasn't doing enough, she even suggests some people may have been secretly in league with the Taliban
I wasn't aware of it but her father was an advocate for fighting the Taliban and did a lot of media interviews and presentations urging the goverment to take action against the Taliban. Later, Malala became involved in media events promoting education and the rights of girls. As well as political leaders many of their acquaintances are murdered or threatened, including her father. He fears for his own safety but doesn't think she will be targeted.
The latter part of the book chronicles the attack on her and her recovery. She is initially cared for by the Pakistani military but when British doctors realize that her post surgery care is not adequate they urge her parents to let her be taken to Britain for medical care.
It was an interesting read. It will be interesting to see how her life and advocay efforts develop in the future.
This is the autobiography of Malala. The story is as much about her father and her family as about her. She tells the story of her father and how he manages to set up a school in Pakistan. She talks about her love of the countryside where she lives and about Muslim cultural practices. She is a young girl, who enjoys school, watching dvd's, listening to music, gossiping with her friends. She then details the history of Pakistan and how life changed in her lovely valley with the invasion of the Taliban. At one point they fled the country to escape the fighting between the military and Taliban. A lot of the time they felt the governemt wasn't doing enough, she even suggests some people may have been secretly in league with the Taliban
I wasn't aware of it but her father was an advocate for fighting the Taliban and did a lot of media interviews and presentations urging the goverment to take action against the Taliban. Later, Malala became involved in media events promoting education and the rights of girls. As well as political leaders many of their acquaintances are murdered or threatened, including her father. He fears for his own safety but doesn't think she will be targeted.
The latter part of the book chronicles the attack on her and her recovery. She is initially cared for by the Pakistani military but when British doctors realize that her post surgery care is not adequate they urge her parents to let her be taken to Britain for medical care.
It was an interesting read. It will be interesting to see how her life and advocay efforts develop in the future.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed
This memoir is about a young woman whose family has fallen apart with the death of her mother and whose marriage collapsed partly as a result of her grief at the death of her mother.
She and her brother and sister were raised by their single mother who left her abusive husband when the children were quite young. Then, in her mid forties, in a relationsihip with a loving man and a man her children like, she discovers she has breast cancer. She dies a few months later.
The author, Cheryl is angry at her father who was abusive and then not in her life. She is angry at her mother for dying when Cheryl is only 22. Her sister and brother can't face the pending death of their mother but Cheryl is a devoted caregiver for her mother along with the mother's boyfriend. After her mother's death the family seems to disintegrate, everyone goes their own way. Cheryl starts having affairs, doing drugs including heroin. She is lost and troubled and her marriage falls apart.
While she is a store she notices a copy of a book about the Pacific Crest Trail in the west coast of the U.S.
She thumbs through it and later goes back to purchase a copy. She and her husband decide to divorce. On the divorce papers she is given the opportunity to give herself a new name. Rather than keep her maiden name, she decides on a new last name "Strayed". She thinks that is an appropriate name for herself.
She decides to hike 1100 miles of the trail which actually runs from the Mexico border to Canada. She has never hiked in her life, she does no preparation in terms of training to condition her body. She does have the good sense to organize boxes with clean clothes, food, and money which a friend mails to her at stops along the way.
She buys basic supplies and loads them into her pack, including books to read. People are amazed at how huge and heavy her pack is, half her weight. One of the hiker's helps her to lighten her load mid-way along the trail. The pack feels so ":light" she wants to jump.
The book is the story of her experiences along the route. She is very weak at first and wants to give up but keeps on. Throughout the trip she is tormented by blistering and sore feet, partly because the boots she got are too small. At one point she accidentally loses one of the boots, in frustation she tosses the other away. She walks for several days with duct taped feet until she gets to a point where a replacement (correct size) pair of boots awaits her.
The trip is tough, exhausting and dangerous but she makes it. She has encounters with wildlife including snakes, bears and deer. She has some terrifying times when she is out of water or out of money. A lot of the time she is very hungery but it seems that people come through for her when she needs help. Some of her fellow trekkers nickname her the Queen of the PCT because so many people offer her assistance along her way.
She is alone most of the time along the hike, and she enjoys that. But she meets and does share some time with groups of hikers. She enjoys her time with them but likes ot get back to her solo path.
As she struggles along the path, she also struggles with her sadness and anger. She completes her planned walk. By the end of the walk she has come to terms with her father's absence and her mother's death.
It was an interesting book, you never knew what would happen. It was told with honesty and great detail in terms of the geography. Fortunately nothing really bad befell her.
This memoir is about a young woman whose family has fallen apart with the death of her mother and whose marriage collapsed partly as a result of her grief at the death of her mother.
She and her brother and sister were raised by their single mother who left her abusive husband when the children were quite young. Then, in her mid forties, in a relationsihip with a loving man and a man her children like, she discovers she has breast cancer. She dies a few months later.
The author, Cheryl is angry at her father who was abusive and then not in her life. She is angry at her mother for dying when Cheryl is only 22. Her sister and brother can't face the pending death of their mother but Cheryl is a devoted caregiver for her mother along with the mother's boyfriend. After her mother's death the family seems to disintegrate, everyone goes their own way. Cheryl starts having affairs, doing drugs including heroin. She is lost and troubled and her marriage falls apart.
While she is a store she notices a copy of a book about the Pacific Crest Trail in the west coast of the U.S.
She thumbs through it and later goes back to purchase a copy. She and her husband decide to divorce. On the divorce papers she is given the opportunity to give herself a new name. Rather than keep her maiden name, she decides on a new last name "Strayed". She thinks that is an appropriate name for herself.
She decides to hike 1100 miles of the trail which actually runs from the Mexico border to Canada. She has never hiked in her life, she does no preparation in terms of training to condition her body. She does have the good sense to organize boxes with clean clothes, food, and money which a friend mails to her at stops along the way.
She buys basic supplies and loads them into her pack, including books to read. People are amazed at how huge and heavy her pack is, half her weight. One of the hiker's helps her to lighten her load mid-way along the trail. The pack feels so ":light" she wants to jump.
The book is the story of her experiences along the route. She is very weak at first and wants to give up but keeps on. Throughout the trip she is tormented by blistering and sore feet, partly because the boots she got are too small. At one point she accidentally loses one of the boots, in frustation she tosses the other away. She walks for several days with duct taped feet until she gets to a point where a replacement (correct size) pair of boots awaits her.
The trip is tough, exhausting and dangerous but she makes it. She has encounters with wildlife including snakes, bears and deer. She has some terrifying times when she is out of water or out of money. A lot of the time she is very hungery but it seems that people come through for her when she needs help. Some of her fellow trekkers nickname her the Queen of the PCT because so many people offer her assistance along her way.
She is alone most of the time along the hike, and she enjoys that. But she meets and does share some time with groups of hikers. She enjoys her time with them but likes ot get back to her solo path.
As she struggles along the path, she also struggles with her sadness and anger. She completes her planned walk. By the end of the walk she has come to terms with her father's absence and her mother's death.
It was an interesting book, you never knew what would happen. It was told with honesty and great detail in terms of the geography. Fortunately nothing really bad befell her.
Standing in Another Man's Grave
by Ian Rankin
This is, I think, the second book in the Rebus series that I have read. In this book Rebus has retired, but couldn't stay away so he is working on some cold cases. Then, the mother of a girl who was reported missing years ago contacts Rebus and convinces him that a number of girls have disapppeared along the A9 highway in northern Scotland and she thinks her daughter is one of the victims. Rebus is estranged from his daughter, this is probably what interests him about her claims.
Rebus believes her and starts looking at some of the other cases, plus a recent disappearance and gets his superiors to agree that they may be connected. Rebus is then reassigned to a team working on the current murder plus the others,
While Rebus is working on the story he is being "pursued" by Malcolm Fox of the "Complaints" department. Fox doesn't like Rebus's methods nor the company he keeps (a criminal whose life he saved). He is trying to pin something on Rebus and prevent him from reapplying to the force now that the retirement age has been raised. He is concerned that Rebus is a bad influence on young officers and warns one young woman that associating with Rebus could harm her advancement.
Rebus is passionate, even obsessive when he is working on a case. He also has street smarts and good instincts. It is is grunt work and suggestions that eventually leads to the discovery of 5 bodies and it is he who figures out who the serial killer is. However he is hard smoking, hard drinking and doesn't think anything about ignoring police procedures to get crimes solved. He meets with three different criminals and tries to get the assistance of one of them to get a confession out of the murderer. He gets his superiors and his colleagues very upset because of his bravado and behaviour. However, not all of his colleagues can be trusted. Some of them inform on him or leak news to the media when they shouldn't. A good portion of the book is spent on the conflicts between police officers themselves. Rebus never does what he is told, often ignoring direct orders. The superiors are not portrayed in a very positve manner. They are portrayed as more interested in their career advancement than in actual police work.
Most detectives in mystery novels are renegades but I don't know of anyone that is as undisciplined as Rebus. However, having only read one other in the series perhaps this is only manifest to this extent in this novel. Rebus does a great job of portraying the Scottish pubs and locals in the story. The settings, including the pub scenes add colour to the story. He does a great job of describing the vast open spaces in the north of Scotland.
There is a new Rankin novel out which involves Rebus and Fox working together. I think I will have to read it, to see how that works out.
This is, I think, the second book in the Rebus series that I have read. In this book Rebus has retired, but couldn't stay away so he is working on some cold cases. Then, the mother of a girl who was reported missing years ago contacts Rebus and convinces him that a number of girls have disapppeared along the A9 highway in northern Scotland and she thinks her daughter is one of the victims. Rebus is estranged from his daughter, this is probably what interests him about her claims.
Rebus believes her and starts looking at some of the other cases, plus a recent disappearance and gets his superiors to agree that they may be connected. Rebus is then reassigned to a team working on the current murder plus the others,
While Rebus is working on the story he is being "pursued" by Malcolm Fox of the "Complaints" department. Fox doesn't like Rebus's methods nor the company he keeps (a criminal whose life he saved). He is trying to pin something on Rebus and prevent him from reapplying to the force now that the retirement age has been raised. He is concerned that Rebus is a bad influence on young officers and warns one young woman that associating with Rebus could harm her advancement.
Rebus is passionate, even obsessive when he is working on a case. He also has street smarts and good instincts. It is is grunt work and suggestions that eventually leads to the discovery of 5 bodies and it is he who figures out who the serial killer is. However he is hard smoking, hard drinking and doesn't think anything about ignoring police procedures to get crimes solved. He meets with three different criminals and tries to get the assistance of one of them to get a confession out of the murderer. He gets his superiors and his colleagues very upset because of his bravado and behaviour. However, not all of his colleagues can be trusted. Some of them inform on him or leak news to the media when they shouldn't. A good portion of the book is spent on the conflicts between police officers themselves. Rebus never does what he is told, often ignoring direct orders. The superiors are not portrayed in a very positve manner. They are portrayed as more interested in their career advancement than in actual police work.
Most detectives in mystery novels are renegades but I don't know of anyone that is as undisciplined as Rebus. However, having only read one other in the series perhaps this is only manifest to this extent in this novel. Rebus does a great job of portraying the Scottish pubs and locals in the story. The settings, including the pub scenes add colour to the story. He does a great job of describing the vast open spaces in the north of Scotland.
There is a new Rankin novel out which involves Rebus and Fox working together. I think I will have to read it, to see how that works out.
Friday, 6 December 2013
The Woman Upstairs
by Claire Messud
This book has received very positive reviews. It was an interesting book about a very crazy woman. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for her or want to "shake her" and say get real!
"Nora Eldrdige, an elementary school teacher, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the 'wonan upstairs' a reliable friend and neighbour always on the fringe of others' achievements" (from the dust jacket).
The book opens with a Christmas memory where Norah's mother tells her there won't be any Christmas presents because her husband hasn't given her enough household money to allow for presents. Her mother, a housewife, at times, takes off on strange craft projects etc. She seems a profoundly unhappy person and eventually dies of ALS. Only once does she protest against this fate.
Norah sacrifices her dream of being an artist when her parents urge her to be more practical. She spent a number of years looking after her mother as she dies of ALS. She becomes a teacher and occasionally visits her aged father in a senior's residence. She visits him from obligation not from love. Norah feels that her mother feels that her life was out of her control Norah's father feels that the mother controlled them all. Norah is very dissatisfied with her life. She expected by now to be a successful wife and mother and perhaps artist (princess myth?)
A young boy, Reza, arrives in her class from Lebanon via Paris. Norah really likes him and stands up for him when he is bullied by other students. Norah meets the boy's mother, Sirena. She is on the verge of being a world recognized artist. Sirena invites Nora to share a studio space with her. Norah is elated to have the opportunity to pursue her artistic dream again. As the two of them work in the space Norah does a lot to help Sirena's large "Wonderland" installation. In the meantime Norah is working on some miniature rooms of famous women. Sirena, is a big thinker, dramatic, shocking. Norah, who feels invisible, unrecognized, is working on tiny, busywork miniatures of unhappy women. As part of her dioramas her only "creative" or personal part is a tiny gold "joy" she "hides" in the dioramas. These dioramas, the hiding of this unique joy just confirms, I think, her feelings of insignifigance. While Norah is working on these tiny rooms representing the famous but sad women, Sirena is doing a big, boisterous art installation which will include huge fabric screen images of women from youth to old age. Much more vibrant, in your face and bold than anything Norah is doing.
Sirena eventually asks Norah to babysit Reza. This is something a teacher would/should never do but she agrees to do so because she is so enamoured with them. She meets the father and is attracted to him also. He recognizes that she is an "insatiable hungry wolf" and encourages her to free him from his cage. She is truly wacko about these people, daydreaming about them, replaying interactions with them over and over. She assumes she is as important to them as they are to her. She seems to imagine she is the boy's psuedo mother. But she is wrong.
When Sirena is finishing her project she doesn't tell or invite Norah to be part of the film portion. Eventually the family moves back to France and they don't contact her. She occasionally emails them. However, she is always followng their accomplishments via the web. The father visits Boston at one point and doesn't contact her, she is sad about this, but seems to accept it.
"I felt as though in any given instant, anything might happen, all wonder and all possibility... I felt brilliantly alive. And I thought, somehow, still, that she -- that they-- had given that to me. I couldn't be angry, not wholly angry, at someone or something that could fill me with such joy in life. You're bound to love such a gift, and its giver."
The family's and especially Sirena's friendship seemed to help ignite Norah's joy in life and her desire to be an artist. However, her total preoccupation with them is way over the top.
Eventually she takes a year sabbatical and as part of her travel plans visits the family in Paris. They are friendly but not warm. Reza seems little interested in her.
While she is in Paris Norah goes to a gallery to see the film portion of Sirena's Wonderland project. She is shocked to see that Sirena has included a video of her masturbating in the studio at a point where she seemed on the verge of breaking out of her shell. She feels and has been betrayed by this person she thought was her friend. Throughout the book Norah talks about her rage and anger at her life. But she seems to wallow in the role of the "woman upstairs". When Norah sees this video she is "sick" and furious.
"I'm angry enough, at last, to stop being afraid of life, and angry enough-- finally, God willing, with my mother's anger also on my shoulders , a great boil of rage like the sun's fire in me -- before I die to fucking well live.
Just watch me."
She may have been used and abused by the family, she will likely never have her dream of being a mother (she is now over 40) but maybe the anger and shock are what she needs to break her out of her shell and daydreaming. She has to let go of the blame she has towards her parents and take responsibility for her life. There is still time for change/rebirth.
A fascinating story.
This book has received very positive reviews. It was an interesting book about a very crazy woman. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for her or want to "shake her" and say get real!
"Nora Eldrdige, an elementary school teacher, long ago compromised her dream to be a successful artist, mother and lover. She has instead become the 'wonan upstairs' a reliable friend and neighbour always on the fringe of others' achievements" (from the dust jacket).
The book opens with a Christmas memory where Norah's mother tells her there won't be any Christmas presents because her husband hasn't given her enough household money to allow for presents. Her mother, a housewife, at times, takes off on strange craft projects etc. She seems a profoundly unhappy person and eventually dies of ALS. Only once does she protest against this fate.
Norah sacrifices her dream of being an artist when her parents urge her to be more practical. She spent a number of years looking after her mother as she dies of ALS. She becomes a teacher and occasionally visits her aged father in a senior's residence. She visits him from obligation not from love. Norah feels that her mother feels that her life was out of her control Norah's father feels that the mother controlled them all. Norah is very dissatisfied with her life. She expected by now to be a successful wife and mother and perhaps artist (princess myth?)
A young boy, Reza, arrives in her class from Lebanon via Paris. Norah really likes him and stands up for him when he is bullied by other students. Norah meets the boy's mother, Sirena. She is on the verge of being a world recognized artist. Sirena invites Nora to share a studio space with her. Norah is elated to have the opportunity to pursue her artistic dream again. As the two of them work in the space Norah does a lot to help Sirena's large "Wonderland" installation. In the meantime Norah is working on some miniature rooms of famous women. Sirena, is a big thinker, dramatic, shocking. Norah, who feels invisible, unrecognized, is working on tiny, busywork miniatures of unhappy women. As part of her dioramas her only "creative" or personal part is a tiny gold "joy" she "hides" in the dioramas. These dioramas, the hiding of this unique joy just confirms, I think, her feelings of insignifigance. While Norah is working on these tiny rooms representing the famous but sad women, Sirena is doing a big, boisterous art installation which will include huge fabric screen images of women from youth to old age. Much more vibrant, in your face and bold than anything Norah is doing.
Sirena eventually asks Norah to babysit Reza. This is something a teacher would/should never do but she agrees to do so because she is so enamoured with them. She meets the father and is attracted to him also. He recognizes that she is an "insatiable hungry wolf" and encourages her to free him from his cage. She is truly wacko about these people, daydreaming about them, replaying interactions with them over and over. She assumes she is as important to them as they are to her. She seems to imagine she is the boy's psuedo mother. But she is wrong.
When Sirena is finishing her project she doesn't tell or invite Norah to be part of the film portion. Eventually the family moves back to France and they don't contact her. She occasionally emails them. However, she is always followng their accomplishments via the web. The father visits Boston at one point and doesn't contact her, she is sad about this, but seems to accept it.
"I felt as though in any given instant, anything might happen, all wonder and all possibility... I felt brilliantly alive. And I thought, somehow, still, that she -- that they-- had given that to me. I couldn't be angry, not wholly angry, at someone or something that could fill me with such joy in life. You're bound to love such a gift, and its giver."
The family's and especially Sirena's friendship seemed to help ignite Norah's joy in life and her desire to be an artist. However, her total preoccupation with them is way over the top.
Eventually she takes a year sabbatical and as part of her travel plans visits the family in Paris. They are friendly but not warm. Reza seems little interested in her.
While she is in Paris Norah goes to a gallery to see the film portion of Sirena's Wonderland project. She is shocked to see that Sirena has included a video of her masturbating in the studio at a point where she seemed on the verge of breaking out of her shell. She feels and has been betrayed by this person she thought was her friend. Throughout the book Norah talks about her rage and anger at her life. But she seems to wallow in the role of the "woman upstairs". When Norah sees this video she is "sick" and furious.
"I'm angry enough, at last, to stop being afraid of life, and angry enough-- finally, God willing, with my mother's anger also on my shoulders , a great boil of rage like the sun's fire in me -- before I die to fucking well live.
Just watch me."
She may have been used and abused by the family, she will likely never have her dream of being a mother (she is now over 40) but maybe the anger and shock are what she needs to break her out of her shell and daydreaming. She has to let go of the blame she has towards her parents and take responsibility for her life. There is still time for change/rebirth.
A fascinating story.
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
A Question of Honor
by Charles Todd
Charles Todd is the pseudonym for an American mother and son team of writers. Their WWI mysteries, based in England, are generally about Inspector Ian Rutledge. However, a few years ago they started a series about a young nurse, who serves on the front lines, Bess Crawford. This is the third Bess Crawford book I have read. If I remember correctly I thought the first two were okay, but I prefer the Rutledge books. I have read several of the Rutledge series and enjoyed them all.
I have to say that I enjoyed this book, it was a nice escape from all the heavy stuff I have been reading lately
The story starts in India where Bess's father, a Colonel is told that one of his officers is accused of five murders, three in England, and his parents stationed in India. Before her father can arrest him the young man runs away. They assume he has died in Afghanista.
However, 10 years later a wounded India soldier tells her that Lt. Wade is still alive. She is skeptical at first but then sees a soldier she thinks is Wade while retrieving a wounded man from the trenches. She doesn't want to tell her father about this in case she is incorrect. She enlists a young man, who works with her father, to help her to investigate the murders and the murdered family in England. They are not welcomed warmly in the village. They do find out that the family that was murdered had been fostering "war children", children whose parents were in India, and they hear rumours that the children were not treated well. Could that be a clue as to why they were murdered?
She eventually encounters Wade, who is now using another name, in an army hospital. He recognizes her and fears she will turn him in so he tries to run away, but he is too injured to get far. She tells him she will keep his secret. However, while she doesn't think he committed the murders she can't be certain. She and her friend find a picture of children who were staying at the houe and visit a photographer to see if he can remember the names of the children in the picture. He doesn't know much more than they do. The man and his daughter are killed when their studio is set on fire, shortly after Bess's visit. Wade was not in England at the time so he could not have done it.
They eventually do find out who the guilty party is.
The story is interesting for both the plot and for the authenticity of the story. The descriptions provided about life in England and for the soldiers in WWII are very detailed and provides a lot of interesting background for the story. There is an element of "class" structure in the story, but it isn't boring and doesn't overwhelm like the Elizabeth George stories.
Charles Todd is the pseudonym for an American mother and son team of writers. Their WWI mysteries, based in England, are generally about Inspector Ian Rutledge. However, a few years ago they started a series about a young nurse, who serves on the front lines, Bess Crawford. This is the third Bess Crawford book I have read. If I remember correctly I thought the first two were okay, but I prefer the Rutledge books. I have read several of the Rutledge series and enjoyed them all.
I have to say that I enjoyed this book, it was a nice escape from all the heavy stuff I have been reading lately
The story starts in India where Bess's father, a Colonel is told that one of his officers is accused of five murders, three in England, and his parents stationed in India. Before her father can arrest him the young man runs away. They assume he has died in Afghanista.
However, 10 years later a wounded India soldier tells her that Lt. Wade is still alive. She is skeptical at first but then sees a soldier she thinks is Wade while retrieving a wounded man from the trenches. She doesn't want to tell her father about this in case she is incorrect. She enlists a young man, who works with her father, to help her to investigate the murders and the murdered family in England. They are not welcomed warmly in the village. They do find out that the family that was murdered had been fostering "war children", children whose parents were in India, and they hear rumours that the children were not treated well. Could that be a clue as to why they were murdered?
She eventually encounters Wade, who is now using another name, in an army hospital. He recognizes her and fears she will turn him in so he tries to run away, but he is too injured to get far. She tells him she will keep his secret. However, while she doesn't think he committed the murders she can't be certain. She and her friend find a picture of children who were staying at the houe and visit a photographer to see if he can remember the names of the children in the picture. He doesn't know much more than they do. The man and his daughter are killed when their studio is set on fire, shortly after Bess's visit. Wade was not in England at the time so he could not have done it.
They eventually do find out who the guilty party is.
The story is interesting for both the plot and for the authenticity of the story. The descriptions provided about life in England and for the soldiers in WWII are very detailed and provides a lot of interesting background for the story. There is an element of "class" structure in the story, but it isn't boring and doesn't overwhelm like the Elizabeth George stories.
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
The Selector of Souls
by Shauna Singh Baldwin
I had read a previous book by this author, the Tiger Claw, about an Indian woman who is a spy during WWII. I enjoyed that book so I thought I would enjoy this book.
Selector of Souls is about two women living in the Himalyan region of India. One of the women, Anu, is from a wealthy family. She is abused by her husband and wants to leave him and become a Catholic Nun. She was born Hindu but a priest saved her life and her father had her baptized Catholic. The other woman Damini, is poor. Her husband died when she was very young and she has been forced to work as a servant to survive.
Anu leaves her husband, but, before he leaves him she ships her young daughter off to her cousin in Canada so that her husband won't have custody of her.
Both women end up in the same village. Anu has trained to become a nurse and is working in a hospital. Damini has become a midwife. Damini is haunted by the fact that she killed a granddaughter of hers, a newborn baby, because neither the child's mother or father wanted her because she was a girl. Damini is taking women for ultrasounds and urging them to abort girls.
Anu meets up with Anu and is shocked at what Damini is doing.
While these two are working in the village there are a number of side stories taking place:
- Anu's cousin has been unable to have a child, despite invitro fertilization and other measures,
- A couple, children of a woman who was Damini's employer, have come to the village and have helped build a church and the hospital where Anu works, but they also want to build subdivisions for rich and tourist Indians. They want to have a son.
- Anu's husband who has been trying to find her, gets Damini's son involved in a religious movement and these zealots destroy the church and the priest is accidentally killed.
- Damini's son should be supporting her but he doesn't have enough money to do so, he rapes a local low caste woman. The daughter-in-law of Damini's former employer has a baby girl but she is so desparate for a boy that she tries to steal the boy. Damini has to arrange for this child to be given up for adoption as the mother cannot afford another child and her husband won't accept him because he is the product of rape.
After the death of the priest, for which Anu feels responsible, she leaves the convent and gets a job as a nurse in a hospital. The book ends with Anu nursing her ex-husband who had been injured in an accident. She has found out that he is beating his second wife. She decides to kill him.
This was a very difficult book to read. I was so sad and angry about the way people rejected girls and the harshness of the lives of the women. It was also difficult to see how the caste structure functions, e.g. only low caste people cut the cord on a newborn, or scrub the toilets. The Hindu's believe in reincarnation. It makes you wonder what kind of life these women will be reborn into. Anu realizes that if she kills her husband she will likely have to face him in her next life.
This is the second book I have read about the tyrannical treatment of women, I have had enough of this for now. I have to read something fun or light.
I had read a previous book by this author, the Tiger Claw, about an Indian woman who is a spy during WWII. I enjoyed that book so I thought I would enjoy this book.
Selector of Souls is about two women living in the Himalyan region of India. One of the women, Anu, is from a wealthy family. She is abused by her husband and wants to leave him and become a Catholic Nun. She was born Hindu but a priest saved her life and her father had her baptized Catholic. The other woman Damini, is poor. Her husband died when she was very young and she has been forced to work as a servant to survive.
Anu leaves her husband, but, before he leaves him she ships her young daughter off to her cousin in Canada so that her husband won't have custody of her.
Both women end up in the same village. Anu has trained to become a nurse and is working in a hospital. Damini has become a midwife. Damini is haunted by the fact that she killed a granddaughter of hers, a newborn baby, because neither the child's mother or father wanted her because she was a girl. Damini is taking women for ultrasounds and urging them to abort girls.
Anu meets up with Anu and is shocked at what Damini is doing.
While these two are working in the village there are a number of side stories taking place:
- Anu's cousin has been unable to have a child, despite invitro fertilization and other measures,
- A couple, children of a woman who was Damini's employer, have come to the village and have helped build a church and the hospital where Anu works, but they also want to build subdivisions for rich and tourist Indians. They want to have a son.
- Anu's husband who has been trying to find her, gets Damini's son involved in a religious movement and these zealots destroy the church and the priest is accidentally killed.
- Damini's son should be supporting her but he doesn't have enough money to do so, he rapes a local low caste woman. The daughter-in-law of Damini's former employer has a baby girl but she is so desparate for a boy that she tries to steal the boy. Damini has to arrange for this child to be given up for adoption as the mother cannot afford another child and her husband won't accept him because he is the product of rape.
After the death of the priest, for which Anu feels responsible, she leaves the convent and gets a job as a nurse in a hospital. The book ends with Anu nursing her ex-husband who had been injured in an accident. She has found out that he is beating his second wife. She decides to kill him.
This was a very difficult book to read. I was so sad and angry about the way people rejected girls and the harshness of the lives of the women. It was also difficult to see how the caste structure functions, e.g. only low caste people cut the cord on a newborn, or scrub the toilets. The Hindu's believe in reincarnation. It makes you wonder what kind of life these women will be reborn into. Anu realizes that if she kills her husband she will likely have to face him in her next life.
This is the second book I have read about the tyrannical treatment of women, I have had enough of this for now. I have to read something fun or light.
Monday, 11 November 2013
Ghost Bride
by Yangsze Choo
I think I had expected an unusual romance story. However, this book was much more unusual than that.
Li Lan is a young Chinese girl who is living in Malaya with her opium addicted father. He had been a successful businessman but seems to have gone to "pot" after his wife died. His money has all been wasted and they are living in poverty.
Li Lan receives an unusual request, to become the Ghost Bride for her cousin who recently died. This means she would be wed to a ghost, which would mean living in his family home, in comfort but with no prospect for love or children.
She turns down the request but is then haunted by dreams from the ghostly bridegroom. She and her nurse go to see a sorcerer who gives her medicine to take a bedtime to avoid the dreams. In the meantime she seem to be falling for the cousin of the dead man, heir to the family fortune. However she fears he may be responsible for his cousins death, Somehow she takes too much and finds herself separated from her body. She likes the freedom of being able to slink around, go through walls. She then meets an unusual man who asks her to go into the Land of the Dead to find some information for her. She decides to do it but also wants to go to find her mother. People gain goods and power in this world based on the offerings their family members make for them in the real world. No offerings, no goods, no power. She offers to be a servant in the dead man's family home, some kind of replica of the real world, in the purgatory land of the dead and is caught out. While there she meets her mothers ghost, she also is working as a servant to the household. She escapes from the house and the nether world with the help of a wandering spirit, but then realizes that the spirit has tricked her and taken over her body.
She is eventually able to get her body back and is proposed to both by the strange otherwordly creature/dragon and by the cousin of the dead man. She eventually finds out who killed the young man, it is not her prospective fiancee. One of his uncle comes to offer to send her to England for an education --- he doesn't want the marriage to take place. Her potential "mother-in-law" tries to kill her and one of the other wives of the family. She realizes if she marries the young man she will hav lots of interpersonal conflict to deal with in that family and she doesn't really love the young man, she wants him to have a chance at love. She decides she would rather have a life with her otherworldy lover than the cousin of the dead man.
This was an interesting story, you weren't sure what to expect or what direction things would go in.
It was different, but kept you engaged.
I think I had expected an unusual romance story. However, this book was much more unusual than that.
Li Lan is a young Chinese girl who is living in Malaya with her opium addicted father. He had been a successful businessman but seems to have gone to "pot" after his wife died. His money has all been wasted and they are living in poverty.
Li Lan receives an unusual request, to become the Ghost Bride for her cousin who recently died. This means she would be wed to a ghost, which would mean living in his family home, in comfort but with no prospect for love or children.
She turns down the request but is then haunted by dreams from the ghostly bridegroom. She and her nurse go to see a sorcerer who gives her medicine to take a bedtime to avoid the dreams. In the meantime she seem to be falling for the cousin of the dead man, heir to the family fortune. However she fears he may be responsible for his cousins death, Somehow she takes too much and finds herself separated from her body. She likes the freedom of being able to slink around, go through walls. She then meets an unusual man who asks her to go into the Land of the Dead to find some information for her. She decides to do it but also wants to go to find her mother. People gain goods and power in this world based on the offerings their family members make for them in the real world. No offerings, no goods, no power. She offers to be a servant in the dead man's family home, some kind of replica of the real world, in the purgatory land of the dead and is caught out. While there she meets her mothers ghost, she also is working as a servant to the household. She escapes from the house and the nether world with the help of a wandering spirit, but then realizes that the spirit has tricked her and taken over her body.
She is eventually able to get her body back and is proposed to both by the strange otherwordly creature/dragon and by the cousin of the dead man. She eventually finds out who killed the young man, it is not her prospective fiancee. One of his uncle comes to offer to send her to England for an education --- he doesn't want the marriage to take place. Her potential "mother-in-law" tries to kill her and one of the other wives of the family. She realizes if she marries the young man she will hav lots of interpersonal conflict to deal with in that family and she doesn't really love the young man, she wants him to have a chance at love. She decides she would rather have a life with her otherworldy lover than the cousin of the dead man.
This was an interesting story, you weren't sure what to expect or what direction things would go in.
It was different, but kept you engaged.
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
Children of the Revolution
by Peter Robinson,
I thought it was time to take a break from the powerful fiction to read a mystery. I have read several of Peter Robinson's books. This one was a typical Robinson story.
The story starts with the murder of a poor, disgraced prof. His body is found on the bottom of a cliff, below a bridge. He had 5000 lbs. in his pocket.
As Banks and his crew investigate the story they are trying to figure out if the explanation dates from the dismissal of the prof four years ago, or from things that happened in the man's youth at univeristy in the 1970's. One of the people who turns up as a person of interest is a woman, the wife of a Lord whose nephew is thought to have potential for the position of Home Secretary.
Banks is warned by his superiors to satay away from the Lord's wife but he keeps working on that angle discreetly and eventually learns the truth. The perpetrator, the woman's brother-in-law, has tried to kill her so the truth doesn't get out, and commits sucide. Banks decides, and is encouraged by his superiors to let the case die, and he does so. I guess this is realistic but it is a bit disappointing that because the "rich and famous" are involved the truth gets hushed. It is ironic in that part of the story involved the main characters being involved in pro-communist activities (children of the revolution)in their youth, railing against the fact that the wealthy had all the options and opportunities. This confirms what they were complaining about.
I can't remember if Banks had compromised his principals like this before. Not one of my favourite Robinson books.
I thought it was time to take a break from the powerful fiction to read a mystery. I have read several of Peter Robinson's books. This one was a typical Robinson story.
The story starts with the murder of a poor, disgraced prof. His body is found on the bottom of a cliff, below a bridge. He had 5000 lbs. in his pocket.
As Banks and his crew investigate the story they are trying to figure out if the explanation dates from the dismissal of the prof four years ago, or from things that happened in the man's youth at univeristy in the 1970's. One of the people who turns up as a person of interest is a woman, the wife of a Lord whose nephew is thought to have potential for the position of Home Secretary.
Banks is warned by his superiors to satay away from the Lord's wife but he keeps working on that angle discreetly and eventually learns the truth. The perpetrator, the woman's brother-in-law, has tried to kill her so the truth doesn't get out, and commits sucide. Banks decides, and is encouraged by his superiors to let the case die, and he does so. I guess this is realistic but it is a bit disappointing that because the "rich and famous" are involved the truth gets hushed. It is ironic in that part of the story involved the main characters being involved in pro-communist activities (children of the revolution)in their youth, railing against the fact that the wealthy had all the options and opportunities. This confirms what they were complaining about.
I can't remember if Banks had compromised his principals like this before. Not one of my favourite Robinson books.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri
This is another Mann Booker nominee I wanted to read the Namesake by this author, but never got around to it. This book makes me want to read it in the future.
This is the story of two brothers in India. The oldes one, fifteen months older, is the more quiet, reserved one, his younger brother is the energetic, trouble-maker. The brothers are very close, they both start school at the same time because the younger brother did not want his brother to go to school without them. They are similar in build and as the younger brother's wife says, their voices are very similar.
The lowland is an area near to where they live, which used to flood and then drain with the weather. But the lowland becomes plugged with garbage and litter and developers plan to plug it up to build developments in the future.
The book discusses the 20th century history of India, the British control, how India gained its independence and the politics of the mind 1900's . As the two brothers go to university the younger one gets involved with pro-communist individuals and becomes a revolutionary/terrorist. In making a homemade bomb he blows off the fingers of one hand, which of course will be an obvious sign to police of his activities. The younger brothers activities worry his parents and brother but they don't realize how serious things are and how much danger he is in. The parents are upset more when he elopes and brings a girl home as his wife.
While all this is happening the older brother has moved to the United States, to Rhode Island. He has a brief affair with a woman who is separated from her husband. He is very disappointed when she tells him she plans to reconcile with her husband. The older brother probably would have gone along with an arranged marriage by his parents but this does not happen.
He learns that his brother has been killed by the police. He had been hiding in the lowland marsh. His parents and wife witness his execution by the police from the roof of their house. The older brother returns to India to console his parents (no hope of that.. they cannot let go of their grief). He meets his sister-in-law who is pregnant (her husband didn't know this whe he died). Her inlaws do not like her, they do not speak to her and treat her like a servant. He learns that they plan to keep the child and send her back to her parents (who disowned her when she eloped). He asks her to marry him telling her that she is in danger because of activities her husband had her engage in to support the cause. She agrees to marry him and she joins him in the U.S. She keeps thinking about her first husband, she loved him by she also feels betrayed by how he got her involved with the communist activities.
While she is relieved to be away from her inlaws the bride shows no affection for her new husband. After her baby is born they have sex but it seems passionless. Even more sad, she doesn't seem to have any affection for her child, wanting to have as little contact with her as possible. Her second husband loves the child and the child loves him.
Eventually the woman resumes her studies in philosopy and works on her masters and doctoral degrees. One day her husband comes home to find a note telling him she has been offered a job in California and she is leaving the child to him. Through all the years she makes no attempt to contact her husband nor daughter.
The man is sad, but probably not surprised. He and the girl have a decent life but the young girl is very troubled by her mother leaving.. Her father pays for therapy for her but she never tells him what is bothering her. When the girl finishes university she leaves home and wanders around the country doing various jobs, in some cases just working for room and board. Her father never knows where she is or when she might drop in to visit. Then she returns one day telling him she is pregnant. He is glad to see her and is willing to have her and the baby live with him. He then tells her that he is not her biological father. She is shocked and distraught at this news and leaves his house. But she returns in a few days and asks to stay with him. He of course agrees.
The man is getting older, he contacts his wife and asks for a divorce, he says he wants to leave his house to his daugther. The wife decides to travel to Rhode Island, to see her husband and daughter, perhaps to reconcile with them. When she arrives she meets her dauther and young granddaughter. Her daughter is furious that she has shown up and kicks her out of the house. She leaves, leaving the signed divorce papers behind.
As the book ends, it appears that the father and daughter will be in relationships, the father has married an American woman.
There was a comment in a post on Amazon that sums up the book very well...
"Bela, first appears as a child, and in her toddler's mind "yesterday" means any part of the past, even if it was years ago. In emotional terms, she's not wrong-- forty years ago might as well be yesterday, if what's being remembered matters enough. Our minds are like the lowland, quick to flood but slow to drain. We suffer, we cause suffering, we regret... and yet we go on".
I really had trouble with the behaviour of the boy's parents-- their unabated grieving, the way they treated their daughter-in-law, the disregard for their older son; and especially for the daughter-in-law. I didn't necessarily expect her to love her new husband, although in countries with arranged marriages they claim that couples often grown to like each other. She wallows in her sadness, is unloving, neglectful and walks away from her daughter. I keep trying to justify her behaviour as PTSD, post partum depression, but rather it just seems like selfishness. Lots of people witness and have terrible things done to them and they overcome these difficulties. In this story, the younger brother wants to change the world for he better but his activiites destroy the lives of his entire family. This is not to say one should not fight for justice and freedom, but demonstrates the collateral damage that can occur from "good causes'. I am not sure that the "Mother" regrets the sorrow she inflicted on her daughter and second husband. I was glad her second husband was going to get some degree of affection and a healthy relationship at the end.
I do understand the message the author is giving us, about carrying around negative baggage for years, and I have seen that happen in people and families for smaller "sins' and you hear so much about all the discord within families. I would have liked a bit more from the mother's perspective. We see her actions but learn very little about her feelings, why is she unable to lover her daughter, be more kind to her second husband.
Lots of food for thought!
Notes from the book...
Pp 252-3
"He recognized the house at once. It was the rooming house he'd lived in with Richard...The effect was disquieting. He felt his presence on earth being denied, even as he stood there. He was forbidden access; the past refused to admit him. It only reminded him that this arbitrary place, where he landed and made hsi life, was not his. Like Bela, it had accepted him, while at the same time keeping a distance. Among its people, its trees, its particular geography he had studied and grown to love, he was still a visitor. Perhaps the worst form of visito: one how had refused to leave".
Pp.258-9
"Bella will never marry, she knows this about herself. The unhappiness between her parents: this was the most basic awareness of her life.
When she was younger she'd been angry at her father, more angry than she'd been at her mother. She'd blamed him for driving her mother away, and for not figuring out how to bring her back.... She craves a different pace sometimes, but doesn't know what else she might do".
Pp.268-9 (Bella has learned about her real father)
"When her mother had left Rhode Island, she'd taken her unhappiness with her, no longer sharing it, leaving Bela with a lack of access to that signal instead. What had seemed impossible had happened, the mountain was gone.
In its place was a heavy stone, like certain stones imbedded deep in the sand when she dug on the beach. Too large to unearth, its surface partly visible, but its contours unknown.
She taughter herself to ignore it, to walk away. And yet the hole remained her hollow point of origin, the cold crosshairs of her existence.
She returned to it now. At last the sand gave way, and she was able to pry out what was buried, to raise it from its enclosure. She felt its dimensions, its heft in her hands. She felt the strain it sent through her body, before hurtling it once and for all into the sea".
If her father had told her the truth sooner, would she have adjusted better to her mother leaving?
P. 322
"I can't become a father Gauri. After a moment he added. Not after what I've done (accomplice to murder of a policeman)... Whatever happened he only regretted one thing, that he had not met her sooner, that he had not known her everday of his life".
P 323
"She recalled the thrill of meeting him, of being adored by him. The moment of losing him. The fury of how he'd implicated her. The ache of bringing Bela into the world after he was gone".
This is another Mann Booker nominee I wanted to read the Namesake by this author, but never got around to it. This book makes me want to read it in the future.
This is the story of two brothers in India. The oldes one, fifteen months older, is the more quiet, reserved one, his younger brother is the energetic, trouble-maker. The brothers are very close, they both start school at the same time because the younger brother did not want his brother to go to school without them. They are similar in build and as the younger brother's wife says, their voices are very similar.
The lowland is an area near to where they live, which used to flood and then drain with the weather. But the lowland becomes plugged with garbage and litter and developers plan to plug it up to build developments in the future.
The book discusses the 20th century history of India, the British control, how India gained its independence and the politics of the mind 1900's . As the two brothers go to university the younger one gets involved with pro-communist individuals and becomes a revolutionary/terrorist. In making a homemade bomb he blows off the fingers of one hand, which of course will be an obvious sign to police of his activities. The younger brothers activities worry his parents and brother but they don't realize how serious things are and how much danger he is in. The parents are upset more when he elopes and brings a girl home as his wife.
While all this is happening the older brother has moved to the United States, to Rhode Island. He has a brief affair with a woman who is separated from her husband. He is very disappointed when she tells him she plans to reconcile with her husband. The older brother probably would have gone along with an arranged marriage by his parents but this does not happen.
He learns that his brother has been killed by the police. He had been hiding in the lowland marsh. His parents and wife witness his execution by the police from the roof of their house. The older brother returns to India to console his parents (no hope of that.. they cannot let go of their grief). He meets his sister-in-law who is pregnant (her husband didn't know this whe he died). Her inlaws do not like her, they do not speak to her and treat her like a servant. He learns that they plan to keep the child and send her back to her parents (who disowned her when she eloped). He asks her to marry him telling her that she is in danger because of activities her husband had her engage in to support the cause. She agrees to marry him and she joins him in the U.S. She keeps thinking about her first husband, she loved him by she also feels betrayed by how he got her involved with the communist activities.
While she is relieved to be away from her inlaws the bride shows no affection for her new husband. After her baby is born they have sex but it seems passionless. Even more sad, she doesn't seem to have any affection for her child, wanting to have as little contact with her as possible. Her second husband loves the child and the child loves him.
Eventually the woman resumes her studies in philosopy and works on her masters and doctoral degrees. One day her husband comes home to find a note telling him she has been offered a job in California and she is leaving the child to him. Through all the years she makes no attempt to contact her husband nor daughter.
The man is sad, but probably not surprised. He and the girl have a decent life but the young girl is very troubled by her mother leaving.. Her father pays for therapy for her but she never tells him what is bothering her. When the girl finishes university she leaves home and wanders around the country doing various jobs, in some cases just working for room and board. Her father never knows where she is or when she might drop in to visit. Then she returns one day telling him she is pregnant. He is glad to see her and is willing to have her and the baby live with him. He then tells her that he is not her biological father. She is shocked and distraught at this news and leaves his house. But she returns in a few days and asks to stay with him. He of course agrees.
The man is getting older, he contacts his wife and asks for a divorce, he says he wants to leave his house to his daugther. The wife decides to travel to Rhode Island, to see her husband and daughter, perhaps to reconcile with them. When she arrives she meets her dauther and young granddaughter. Her daughter is furious that she has shown up and kicks her out of the house. She leaves, leaving the signed divorce papers behind.
As the book ends, it appears that the father and daughter will be in relationships, the father has married an American woman.
There was a comment in a post on Amazon that sums up the book very well...
"Bela, first appears as a child, and in her toddler's mind "yesterday" means any part of the past, even if it was years ago. In emotional terms, she's not wrong-- forty years ago might as well be yesterday, if what's being remembered matters enough. Our minds are like the lowland, quick to flood but slow to drain. We suffer, we cause suffering, we regret... and yet we go on".
I really had trouble with the behaviour of the boy's parents-- their unabated grieving, the way they treated their daughter-in-law, the disregard for their older son; and especially for the daughter-in-law. I didn't necessarily expect her to love her new husband, although in countries with arranged marriages they claim that couples often grown to like each other. She wallows in her sadness, is unloving, neglectful and walks away from her daughter. I keep trying to justify her behaviour as PTSD, post partum depression, but rather it just seems like selfishness. Lots of people witness and have terrible things done to them and they overcome these difficulties. In this story, the younger brother wants to change the world for he better but his activiites destroy the lives of his entire family. This is not to say one should not fight for justice and freedom, but demonstrates the collateral damage that can occur from "good causes'. I am not sure that the "Mother" regrets the sorrow she inflicted on her daughter and second husband. I was glad her second husband was going to get some degree of affection and a healthy relationship at the end.
I do understand the message the author is giving us, about carrying around negative baggage for years, and I have seen that happen in people and families for smaller "sins' and you hear so much about all the discord within families. I would have liked a bit more from the mother's perspective. We see her actions but learn very little about her feelings, why is she unable to lover her daughter, be more kind to her second husband.
Lots of food for thought!
Notes from the book...
Pp 252-3
"He recognized the house at once. It was the rooming house he'd lived in with Richard...The effect was disquieting. He felt his presence on earth being denied, even as he stood there. He was forbidden access; the past refused to admit him. It only reminded him that this arbitrary place, where he landed and made hsi life, was not his. Like Bela, it had accepted him, while at the same time keeping a distance. Among its people, its trees, its particular geography he had studied and grown to love, he was still a visitor. Perhaps the worst form of visito: one how had refused to leave".
Pp.258-9
"Bella will never marry, she knows this about herself. The unhappiness between her parents: this was the most basic awareness of her life.
When she was younger she'd been angry at her father, more angry than she'd been at her mother. She'd blamed him for driving her mother away, and for not figuring out how to bring her back.... She craves a different pace sometimes, but doesn't know what else she might do".
Pp.268-9 (Bella has learned about her real father)
"When her mother had left Rhode Island, she'd taken her unhappiness with her, no longer sharing it, leaving Bela with a lack of access to that signal instead. What had seemed impossible had happened, the mountain was gone.
In its place was a heavy stone, like certain stones imbedded deep in the sand when she dug on the beach. Too large to unearth, its surface partly visible, but its contours unknown.
She taughter herself to ignore it, to walk away. And yet the hole remained her hollow point of origin, the cold crosshairs of her existence.
She returned to it now. At last the sand gave way, and she was able to pry out what was buried, to raise it from its enclosure. She felt its dimensions, its heft in her hands. She felt the strain it sent through her body, before hurtling it once and for all into the sea".
If her father had told her the truth sooner, would she have adjusted better to her mother leaving?
P. 322
"I can't become a father Gauri. After a moment he added. Not after what I've done (accomplice to murder of a policeman)... Whatever happened he only regretted one thing, that he had not met her sooner, that he had not known her everday of his life".
P 323
"She recalled the thrill of meeting him, of being adored by him. The moment of losing him. The fury of how he'd implicated her. The ache of bringing Bela into the world after he was gone".
Friday, 1 November 2013
A Tale for the Time Being
by Ruth Ozeki,
This was one of the book's nominate for the Mann Booker Prize this year. Again, I have to ask, why did they choose the Luminaries as the winner????
This was a fascinating book, I found it hard to put down. I have never read anything by this author but I think I will want to read more of her work.
“A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about a courageous young woman, riven by loneliness, by time, and (ultimately) by tsunami. Nao is an inspired narrator and her quest to tell her great grandmother’s story, to connect with her past, with the world, is both aching and true. Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists and here she is at her absolute best—bewitching, intelligent, hilarious, and heartbreaking, often on the same page. A Tale for the Time Being is one of those novels that will renew your faith in literature.” - Junot DÃaz, National Book Award finalist and author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
How to explain this book and its appeal? The story is about a woman on an island on the west coast of BC who finds a package washed up on the shore. She opens it to find an Hello Kitty lunchbox with some letters in French, a strange book, it bears the cover of a Marcel Proust book but the contents have been replaced with blank pages and the book has been used as a diary by a Japanese girl. The main character Ruth is Japanese (a reflection of the author???) so she can read the diary. She is a writer, but seems to be suffering from writer's block (like the author??).
The diary desribes the life of a teenage Japanese girl who is the victim of vicious abuse by her classmates and whose father is unemployed and suicidal. The young girl, Nao (Now) is also thinking of suicide. As the author reads the diary she tries to track down the girl and her family on the Internet but she is unsuccessful.
Nao's parents send her to spend the summer with her great-grandmother, a buddhist nun who is 104 years old. The grandmother tries to teach Nao some Supapowas (superpowers). Nao also learns about her father's uncle who was forced to be a kamikaze pilot. He was a philosophy student nad pacifist. He was brutalized in his military training. He wrote his true experiences in the military in French so that the officials would not know what he was saying. As the story proceeds the truth about him is revealed and Nao is happy to share the truth about her uncle with her father, who was named after him.
As the main characters struggles with her own life and goals, weather troubles and her strange artist husband she becomes obsessessed with the story, even dreaming part of the story, and at one point even seems to intercede in the story to save the father's life.
I think the story explores understanding who you are, peace, truth versus assumptions that can harm relationships between people, the importance of being "in time" living in the now and liking it rather than living in the past or the future.
It was an engrossing story, it plays with the ideas of time, role of writer and reader. I really enjoyed it.
This was one of the book's nominate for the Mann Booker Prize this year. Again, I have to ask, why did they choose the Luminaries as the winner????
This was a fascinating book, I found it hard to put down. I have never read anything by this author but I think I will want to read more of her work.
“A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about a courageous young woman, riven by loneliness, by time, and (ultimately) by tsunami. Nao is an inspired narrator and her quest to tell her great grandmother’s story, to connect with her past, with the world, is both aching and true. Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists and here she is at her absolute best—bewitching, intelligent, hilarious, and heartbreaking, often on the same page. A Tale for the Time Being is one of those novels that will renew your faith in literature.” - Junot DÃaz, National Book Award finalist and author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
How to explain this book and its appeal? The story is about a woman on an island on the west coast of BC who finds a package washed up on the shore. She opens it to find an Hello Kitty lunchbox with some letters in French, a strange book, it bears the cover of a Marcel Proust book but the contents have been replaced with blank pages and the book has been used as a diary by a Japanese girl. The main character Ruth is Japanese (a reflection of the author???) so she can read the diary. She is a writer, but seems to be suffering from writer's block (like the author??).
The diary desribes the life of a teenage Japanese girl who is the victim of vicious abuse by her classmates and whose father is unemployed and suicidal. The young girl, Nao (Now) is also thinking of suicide. As the author reads the diary she tries to track down the girl and her family on the Internet but she is unsuccessful.
Nao's parents send her to spend the summer with her great-grandmother, a buddhist nun who is 104 years old. The grandmother tries to teach Nao some Supapowas (superpowers). Nao also learns about her father's uncle who was forced to be a kamikaze pilot. He was a philosophy student nad pacifist. He was brutalized in his military training. He wrote his true experiences in the military in French so that the officials would not know what he was saying. As the story proceeds the truth about him is revealed and Nao is happy to share the truth about her uncle with her father, who was named after him.
As the main characters struggles with her own life and goals, weather troubles and her strange artist husband she becomes obsessessed with the story, even dreaming part of the story, and at one point even seems to intercede in the story to save the father's life.
I think the story explores understanding who you are, peace, truth versus assumptions that can harm relationships between people, the importance of being "in time" living in the now and liking it rather than living in the past or the future.
It was an engrossing story, it plays with the ideas of time, role of writer and reader. I really enjoyed it.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
MaddAddam
by Margaret Atwood
This is the third book in Marget Atwood's futuristic trilogy. It ties together all the stories and moves the story forward.
In this story most of the remaining humans have gathered together and have the Crakers with them for their protection. They are hiding from the two remaining paintballers who were accidentally released by the innocent Crakers. They found Jimmy the Snowman and nursed him back to health. Some of the humans are pregnant, they fear the babies might be progeny of the paintballers.
We find out that Zeb, the brother of Adam One, killed their father, the crooked Reverend, with the dangerous capsules that they had taken from the labs. We learn a bit more about Crake's life and how he got others working on his plans for new creatures and a disease that would wipe out humans to cleanse the world of bad people.
When the babies are born all are relieved that they appear to be Craker/human.
Toby has become a storyteller to the Crakes, she starts making a diary and also teaches one of the Crakers (Blackbeard) to write and read.
The humans make a pact with the pigoons (not to kill each other) and they set off to find the painballers. They locate them in the egg (where the Crakers were created) and shoot them but one of the pigoons, Jimmy and Adam are killed in the battle.
As the story ends Zeb has gone off to check on smoke that looks like a fire. He does not return. Toby grieves for his loss and goes off into the forest never to return. At the end of the story Blackbeard is now telling the story, and it sounds like they will manage okay.
This was a good conclusion to the series, but I did find it was a bit slow with the amount of time spent on the life and exploits of Zeb. It seems that the two races, the human and craker will be able to live/mate and they will now have the ability to read and write. Will they gain the ability to invent? make things? And, what about the smoke on the horizon?
This is the third book in Marget Atwood's futuristic trilogy. It ties together all the stories and moves the story forward.
In this story most of the remaining humans have gathered together and have the Crakers with them for their protection. They are hiding from the two remaining paintballers who were accidentally released by the innocent Crakers. They found Jimmy the Snowman and nursed him back to health. Some of the humans are pregnant, they fear the babies might be progeny of the paintballers.
We find out that Zeb, the brother of Adam One, killed their father, the crooked Reverend, with the dangerous capsules that they had taken from the labs. We learn a bit more about Crake's life and how he got others working on his plans for new creatures and a disease that would wipe out humans to cleanse the world of bad people.
When the babies are born all are relieved that they appear to be Craker/human.
Toby has become a storyteller to the Crakes, she starts making a diary and also teaches one of the Crakers (Blackbeard) to write and read.
The humans make a pact with the pigoons (not to kill each other) and they set off to find the painballers. They locate them in the egg (where the Crakers were created) and shoot them but one of the pigoons, Jimmy and Adam are killed in the battle.
As the story ends Zeb has gone off to check on smoke that looks like a fire. He does not return. Toby grieves for his loss and goes off into the forest never to return. At the end of the story Blackbeard is now telling the story, and it sounds like they will manage okay.
This was a good conclusion to the series, but I did find it was a bit slow with the amount of time spent on the life and exploits of Zeb. It seems that the two races, the human and craker will be able to live/mate and they will now have the ability to read and write. Will they gain the ability to invent? make things? And, what about the smoke on the horizon?
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Unexploded
by Alison Macleod
This book was one of the books on the Mann Booker list for 2013. I tried to read the Luminaries by Catton, which won the prize but hated it and couldn't finish it -- 800 pages, way to many characters...Never can figure out the judges in these awards.
Anyway, after that rant I will get back to this book. It is set in Brighton during the second world war. Brighton is on high alert as it is so close to Europe and likely to be the site for a German invasion. A young married woman, with a young son, is upset by all the tension in the war. However, she is more upset and despondent when her husband says he may have to leave her for a time to escort some money to London. He has also buried a box in their garden with some money and, cyanide pills. He doesn't tell her about the pills. She discoveers then when she digs up the box She feels devastated by her husband's potential abandonment of her and her son.
She starts to visit a local camp where Germans and Jews are being held, on the outskirts of town. She starts reading to an old man who is very ill. There is another man in the infirmary, a painter, possibly a counterfitter.
As the woman draws away from her husband he has a performance issue once when they try to have sex. He decides to test his mettle by going to a prostitute. But his experiment turns into an affair. His wife evenutally finds out but he assures her he is done with the lover.
The old prisoner dies, the woman then goes to read to the other prisoner but he is soon removed from the infirmary. The woman urges her husband to get him employment and he arranges for the man to paint a mural in a local church. She finds him living in the cold church and gives him a key to a neighbour's house that is not occupied so that he will have a warmer place to stay,
Her son stumbles on the man and befriends him until he sees the man comforting his mother. He and his friends had found the "pills" and leave them with candy in the man's house. The women enjoys the work of Virginia Woolf and is devastated when she learns that Woolf has committed suicide. She seeks comfort with the painter rather than her husband. Her husband stumbles upon them when he is looking for her.
The husband wants their relationship to be repaired, he even seems to think he can accept her love for the painter as long as she loves him too.
The woman had urged her husband to get the man more employment so he is hired by the military to help clear bombs. The man is clearing bombs on his first day of work, he also has the candy/pills in his pocket
All we learn is that a bomb went off and the man was buried by rubble from the cliff. Did he take a pill and did that affect him, or was it a tragic misjudgement with an armament. The book ends with the woman feeling alone, having lost the painter but it appears she is pregnant.
I found this story very engaging. The author did a great job of portaying what life would likely be like during the war, how people were acting/reacting to all the tension --- frightened, perhaps reckless.
The boys play war games, they include one of the boy's war damaged brothers. Some of their actions upset him but they don't seem to realize they are likely bringing painful memories back to him. I think she has likely captured the bravado, passion and insensitivity of youth.
I thought it was a great novel, a very compelling story, well written, thought provoking.... All the things Luminaries was NOT.
This book was one of the books on the Mann Booker list for 2013. I tried to read the Luminaries by Catton, which won the prize but hated it and couldn't finish it -- 800 pages, way to many characters...Never can figure out the judges in these awards.
Anyway, after that rant I will get back to this book. It is set in Brighton during the second world war. Brighton is on high alert as it is so close to Europe and likely to be the site for a German invasion. A young married woman, with a young son, is upset by all the tension in the war. However, she is more upset and despondent when her husband says he may have to leave her for a time to escort some money to London. He has also buried a box in their garden with some money and, cyanide pills. He doesn't tell her about the pills. She discoveers then when she digs up the box She feels devastated by her husband's potential abandonment of her and her son.
She starts to visit a local camp where Germans and Jews are being held, on the outskirts of town. She starts reading to an old man who is very ill. There is another man in the infirmary, a painter, possibly a counterfitter.
As the woman draws away from her husband he has a performance issue once when they try to have sex. He decides to test his mettle by going to a prostitute. But his experiment turns into an affair. His wife evenutally finds out but he assures her he is done with the lover.
The old prisoner dies, the woman then goes to read to the other prisoner but he is soon removed from the infirmary. The woman urges her husband to get him employment and he arranges for the man to paint a mural in a local church. She finds him living in the cold church and gives him a key to a neighbour's house that is not occupied so that he will have a warmer place to stay,
Her son stumbles on the man and befriends him until he sees the man comforting his mother. He and his friends had found the "pills" and leave them with candy in the man's house. The women enjoys the work of Virginia Woolf and is devastated when she learns that Woolf has committed suicide. She seeks comfort with the painter rather than her husband. Her husband stumbles upon them when he is looking for her.
The husband wants their relationship to be repaired, he even seems to think he can accept her love for the painter as long as she loves him too.
The woman had urged her husband to get the man more employment so he is hired by the military to help clear bombs. The man is clearing bombs on his first day of work, he also has the candy/pills in his pocket
All we learn is that a bomb went off and the man was buried by rubble from the cliff. Did he take a pill and did that affect him, or was it a tragic misjudgement with an armament. The book ends with the woman feeling alone, having lost the painter but it appears she is pregnant.
I found this story very engaging. The author did a great job of portaying what life would likely be like during the war, how people were acting/reacting to all the tension --- frightened, perhaps reckless.
The boys play war games, they include one of the boy's war damaged brothers. Some of their actions upset him but they don't seem to realize they are likely bringing painful memories back to him. I think she has likely captured the bravado, passion and insensitivity of youth.
I thought it was a great novel, a very compelling story, well written, thought provoking.... All the things Luminaries was NOT.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Harvest
by Jim Crace
"Happy the man, whose wish andd care
A few paternal acres bound.
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground"
Alexander Pope "Ode on Solitude"
This is one of the books shortlisted for the Mann Booker this year. I found it a fascinating book. Quote from bookjacket "On the mornign after harvest, the inhabitants of a remote English village awaken looking forward to a hardearned day of rest and feasting at their landlord's table. but the sky is marred by two conspicuous columns of smoke, replacing pleasurable anticipation with alarm and suspicion".
The story is told by one character, a person who is not from the area but had settled there. He describes life in detailed and affectionate terms. Life is tough but there is tenderness among the hardship. The Master is kind to his serfs and they seem to be content with their lot.
The main character is not from here. He has worked as an Assistant to the Master but is now one of the regular workers on the property. Idon't recall if he says why he is no longer working for the master, is it because the Master's wife died and his services were no longer needed? Or, was it because he fell in love with and married one of the local girls and gave up his position in the master's house.?
His wife has died, he has an occasional night with one of the local widows but does not think about marrying her.
I found the characters description of life at this time very interesting. He talks about everyday things including the fact that few if any people have access to mirrors so no one knows what they really look like. The people lead simple lives and seem contented with there lot, working hard to eke out a living, looking forward to the harvest celebration. I enjoyed the author's use of language:
"So she and I make love again. And I'm sure we're not alone in that. The dark is stifling its cries in other cottages than hers. Their beds are creaking. There is whispering... On niights like this, when there's anxiety about, there is a glut of lovemaing. Then the moon is our dance master. He has us move in unison. He has us trill and carol in each ohers' ears until the strars themselves have swollen and have ripened to our cries. As ever, we find our consolations sowing seed."
Initially the narrator seems to describe himself as one with the others, but as the tension builds he seems to start to separate himself from the others.
Two fires, one in the master's barn and one lit by three strangers indicating their intention to squat on the land are what precipitates the start of the destruction of the village life. The interlopers are blamed for the fire in the barn and the two males are pilloried. Another stranger has come to draw a map of the lands because it turns out the Master's wife was the owner of the property and since she is dead it now reverts to a male relative. This relative wants to switch from farming to sheep and graciously agrees to let the master stay on the land. The Narrator has heard of the plans for the property and starts to think he should become invaluable to the surveyor to get out of the place, he can see the future will not be good for the locals.
Then more trouble occurs, one of the men in the pillories dies while locked up, the Master's horse is killed an the surveyor disappears. Then the new master imprisons and beats some local women. The villagers decide that is time for them all to get away because they fear what will happen to them.
As the story ends the new and old master have set off with the women prisoners to another town leaving the narrator in charge of the property. He is torn between doing a good job and then having an ongoing position with the old master or sabotaging the property. He gets the assistance of the remaining interlopers to plant seeds in the fields again. He toys with the idea of burning the remaining masters property but the interlopers make the decision for him, they steal what valuable furniture and food they can from the manor and other houses and then set fire to the old masters house.
The Narrator has no choice but to leave for if he stays he will be punished for not guarding things.
This was a very powerful, well written story. You knew from the beginning that things would not end well but you never really knew what would occur along the way.
"Happy the man, whose wish andd care
A few paternal acres bound.
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground"
Alexander Pope "Ode on Solitude"
This is one of the books shortlisted for the Mann Booker this year. I found it a fascinating book. Quote from bookjacket "On the mornign after harvest, the inhabitants of a remote English village awaken looking forward to a hardearned day of rest and feasting at their landlord's table. but the sky is marred by two conspicuous columns of smoke, replacing pleasurable anticipation with alarm and suspicion".
The story is told by one character, a person who is not from the area but had settled there. He describes life in detailed and affectionate terms. Life is tough but there is tenderness among the hardship. The Master is kind to his serfs and they seem to be content with their lot.
The main character is not from here. He has worked as an Assistant to the Master but is now one of the regular workers on the property. Idon't recall if he says why he is no longer working for the master, is it because the Master's wife died and his services were no longer needed? Or, was it because he fell in love with and married one of the local girls and gave up his position in the master's house.?
His wife has died, he has an occasional night with one of the local widows but does not think about marrying her.
I found the characters description of life at this time very interesting. He talks about everyday things including the fact that few if any people have access to mirrors so no one knows what they really look like. The people lead simple lives and seem contented with there lot, working hard to eke out a living, looking forward to the harvest celebration. I enjoyed the author's use of language:
"So she and I make love again. And I'm sure we're not alone in that. The dark is stifling its cries in other cottages than hers. Their beds are creaking. There is whispering... On niights like this, when there's anxiety about, there is a glut of lovemaing. Then the moon is our dance master. He has us move in unison. He has us trill and carol in each ohers' ears until the strars themselves have swollen and have ripened to our cries. As ever, we find our consolations sowing seed."
Initially the narrator seems to describe himself as one with the others, but as the tension builds he seems to start to separate himself from the others.
Two fires, one in the master's barn and one lit by three strangers indicating their intention to squat on the land are what precipitates the start of the destruction of the village life. The interlopers are blamed for the fire in the barn and the two males are pilloried. Another stranger has come to draw a map of the lands because it turns out the Master's wife was the owner of the property and since she is dead it now reverts to a male relative. This relative wants to switch from farming to sheep and graciously agrees to let the master stay on the land. The Narrator has heard of the plans for the property and starts to think he should become invaluable to the surveyor to get out of the place, he can see the future will not be good for the locals.
Then more trouble occurs, one of the men in the pillories dies while locked up, the Master's horse is killed an the surveyor disappears. Then the new master imprisons and beats some local women. The villagers decide that is time for them all to get away because they fear what will happen to them.
As the story ends the new and old master have set off with the women prisoners to another town leaving the narrator in charge of the property. He is torn between doing a good job and then having an ongoing position with the old master or sabotaging the property. He gets the assistance of the remaining interlopers to plant seeds in the fields again. He toys with the idea of burning the remaining masters property but the interlopers make the decision for him, they steal what valuable furniture and food they can from the manor and other houses and then set fire to the old masters house.
The Narrator has no choice but to leave for if he stays he will be punished for not guarding things.
This was a very powerful, well written story. You knew from the beginning that things would not end well but you never really knew what would occur along the way.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
How the Light Gets In
This is the latest book by Louise Penny about Chief Inspector Gamache.
I really enjoy her stories, most take place in the little town of Three Pines Quebec with a cast of very strange but loveable characters. Reading one of her books is like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Having said that, however, I have to say I was a little surprised and disappointed by the subjects of this story.
In one part of the story the last of the "famous five Quebec quints" is murdered. They eventually figure out who probably did it but that case isn't really closed.
The majority of the story is about a conspiracy to destroy Gamache, his former second in command Jean-Guy and a Quebec bridge and some leaders in the Surete being corrupt.. He doesn't know he can trust and he is being tailed by his colleagues and superiors. In the story he goes to see a former police Supt. who was in prison for his crimes and finds another man pretending to be him. Why would this man agree to this? That is another thing not really explained in the story.
I personally think that I enjoy her stories about personal crimes more. It was great to once again see the people of Three Pines and how they banded together to protect Gamache, his boss and Jean-Guy. At the end of the book Gamache retires and Jean-Guy goes into rehab for his drug addiction. However, there is a hint that Gamache will not be able to stay retired for long.
For now I think I will read/reread some of her earlier books.
I really enjoy her stories, most take place in the little town of Three Pines Quebec with a cast of very strange but loveable characters. Reading one of her books is like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Having said that, however, I have to say I was a little surprised and disappointed by the subjects of this story.
In one part of the story the last of the "famous five Quebec quints" is murdered. They eventually figure out who probably did it but that case isn't really closed.
The majority of the story is about a conspiracy to destroy Gamache, his former second in command Jean-Guy and a Quebec bridge and some leaders in the Surete being corrupt.. He doesn't know he can trust and he is being tailed by his colleagues and superiors. In the story he goes to see a former police Supt. who was in prison for his crimes and finds another man pretending to be him. Why would this man agree to this? That is another thing not really explained in the story.
I personally think that I enjoy her stories about personal crimes more. It was great to once again see the people of Three Pines and how they banded together to protect Gamache, his boss and Jean-Guy. At the end of the book Gamache retires and Jean-Guy goes into rehab for his drug addiction. However, there is a hint that Gamache will not be able to stay retired for long.
For now I think I will read/reread some of her earlier books.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
by Cassandra Clare
This is the first book in a YA series. After reading the Book Thief, which blew me away, this book was very disappointing. It was a boy loves girl, girl ignores boy because she falls for a guy she can't have, all wrapped up in a tale of demons, werewolfs, etc. I finished it, but I didn't really find it interesting. Enough said.... on to a new and hopefully good book.
This is the first book in a YA series. After reading the Book Thief, which blew me away, this book was very disappointing. It was a boy loves girl, girl ignores boy because she falls for a guy she can't have, all wrapped up in a tale of demons, werewolfs, etc. I finished it, but I didn't really find it interesting. Enough said.... on to a new and hopefully good book.
Monday, 19 August 2013
Where'd you go Bernadette
By Maria Semple
This book was hilarious and entertaining. It is set in Seattle and features a female architect who is suffering depression and possibly agoraphobia. She is using an Internet Online Assistant to conduct all her basic activities including ordering food. They live in a house that is being consumed by blackberry bushes and rot.
The woman rants about Seattle, people in Seattle, Microsoft, where her husband works; parents of children at her child's school (who hate her) and Canadians.
The woman's daughter is a star pupil at a yuppie school and calls in her parents promise to take her to Antarctica if she gets good grade. This of course presents a problem for the mother who is terrified of having to be in close proximity to people on a ship and the dangerous ocean they will be travelling through.
She pretends to go along with the trip but really plans to get out of going.
In the meantime she is having a fued with a neighbour, whose son attends her daughter's school The woman insists she remove the blackberry bushes as they are affecting her yard, when the Architects hires the man the woman recommends disaster occurs. While she is having a party for parents of prospective students for the school, in the hope of raising money for the school, the hill on which the Architect's house sits collapses in a big rainstorm and falls into the neighbours house, almost destroying the house. Needless to say the neighbour goes ballistic.
While all this is happening the architect's husband is being wooed by his Admin Assistant who also has her children at the same school and who is also conspiring against the architect along with the architect's woman. The neighbour ends up having a breakdown and finding out her son is a drug addict.
After the husband hears about the property damage and that the "assistant" his wife was using is acutally someone from the Russian mafia who want to steal their identity and money, he tries to get his wife institutionalized to get help. The architect's neighbour has a change of heart and helps the architect escape.
They later learn that his wife went on the antarctic trip but that she disappeared from the ship. The admin wastes no time making a move on the husband and becomes pregnant. The husband says he will look after her but refuses to move in with her.
The daughter receives a package outlining notes and emails sent by the neighbour woman , it includes notes and emails sent by the neighbour, the father, her mother, and a psychiatrist. It helps the daughter piece together what had happened to her mother and why. She tells her Dad that they should go on the Antarctica trip for "closure". But she really wanting to go to find her mother whom she is sure is there somewhere. She is right, the mother had sneaked off the ship and is working in Antarctica. She hopes to get a job designing a new building in the Antarctic. The family is reunited. It looks like the future for them will be good, not sure and don't care what happens to the admin.
This was a funny book, the author did a great job of presenting a really kooky story and portraying the snobbery and obsessiveness of the social climbers/yupppie parents. It was nice that things seemed to work out for the best in the end.
This book was hilarious and entertaining. It is set in Seattle and features a female architect who is suffering depression and possibly agoraphobia. She is using an Internet Online Assistant to conduct all her basic activities including ordering food. They live in a house that is being consumed by blackberry bushes and rot.
The woman rants about Seattle, people in Seattle, Microsoft, where her husband works; parents of children at her child's school (who hate her) and Canadians.
The woman's daughter is a star pupil at a yuppie school and calls in her parents promise to take her to Antarctica if she gets good grade. This of course presents a problem for the mother who is terrified of having to be in close proximity to people on a ship and the dangerous ocean they will be travelling through.
She pretends to go along with the trip but really plans to get out of going.
In the meantime she is having a fued with a neighbour, whose son attends her daughter's school The woman insists she remove the blackberry bushes as they are affecting her yard, when the Architects hires the man the woman recommends disaster occurs. While she is having a party for parents of prospective students for the school, in the hope of raising money for the school, the hill on which the Architect's house sits collapses in a big rainstorm and falls into the neighbours house, almost destroying the house. Needless to say the neighbour goes ballistic.
While all this is happening the architect's husband is being wooed by his Admin Assistant who also has her children at the same school and who is also conspiring against the architect along with the architect's woman. The neighbour ends up having a breakdown and finding out her son is a drug addict.
After the husband hears about the property damage and that the "assistant" his wife was using is acutally someone from the Russian mafia who want to steal their identity and money, he tries to get his wife institutionalized to get help. The architect's neighbour has a change of heart and helps the architect escape.
They later learn that his wife went on the antarctic trip but that she disappeared from the ship. The admin wastes no time making a move on the husband and becomes pregnant. The husband says he will look after her but refuses to move in with her.
The daughter receives a package outlining notes and emails sent by the neighbour woman , it includes notes and emails sent by the neighbour, the father, her mother, and a psychiatrist. It helps the daughter piece together what had happened to her mother and why. She tells her Dad that they should go on the Antarctica trip for "closure". But she really wanting to go to find her mother whom she is sure is there somewhere. She is right, the mother had sneaked off the ship and is working in Antarctica. She hopes to get a job designing a new building in the Antarctic. The family is reunited. It looks like the future for them will be good, not sure and don't care what happens to the admin.
This was a funny book, the author did a great job of presenting a really kooky story and portraying the snobbery and obsessiveness of the social climbers/yupppie parents. It was nice that things seemed to work out for the best in the end.
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Pearl of China
by Anchee Min
This is the fictional story of a friendship between Pearl Buck and a chinese girl. It starts when both girls are very young. Pearl's father is a fanatical missionary based in China. He has patience, love and persistence to try to convert the chinese people he meets but he has little time and love, it seems for his fiery daughter and his sad and neglected wife. His wife is sad because she has buried four of her sons who were born in China and she misses the U.S.
Pearl initially doesn't like Willow because Willow is a thief, she steals so that she can buy food to have something to eat. However, gradually they become the best of friends and this frienship supposedly lasts their entire lives, even though Pearl eventually returns to the U.S. where she becomes famous for her writing, even wining the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Willow's father thinks it will be expedient to get baptized by Pearl's father, at least then he can get some food when he goes to Church. Willow and her grandmother know he is being deceitful. But, eventually he does become a devoted disciple and is put in charge fo the local church while Pearl's father is travelling farther afield to seek converts.
Eventually the political climate, with the appearance of Mao, becomes dangerous for foreigners. Pearl and her family try to stay but when their lives are threatened they decide to leave. Pearl's father however decides to stay in China despite the danger.
The book then goes on to tell of the difficult conditions in China, Willow is imprisoned because of her ongoing contact with Pearl Buck and her refusal to renounce her. Willow's husband is a close advisor to Mao and manages to stay out of trouble but eventually he to is sent to a prison where he dies.
The book does a great job of portraying the lives of and the relationship between Pearl and Willow.
It was a very engaging book, did a great job of portraying the passionate missionaries and the trials and tribulatons peasants suffered under Mao.
Pearl Buck really missed China and hoped to return to visit when Nixon visited China but she is vilified in China and is denied a visa.
Willow eventually gets permission to travel to the U.S. after Pearl's death. She wants to see her house and spinkle dirt from Pearl's mother's grave on Pearl's grave. She is amazed at the beautiful Chinese like garden that Pearl had created, this makes her realize truly how much Pearl missed China.
This is the fictional story of a friendship between Pearl Buck and a chinese girl. It starts when both girls are very young. Pearl's father is a fanatical missionary based in China. He has patience, love and persistence to try to convert the chinese people he meets but he has little time and love, it seems for his fiery daughter and his sad and neglected wife. His wife is sad because she has buried four of her sons who were born in China and she misses the U.S.
Pearl initially doesn't like Willow because Willow is a thief, she steals so that she can buy food to have something to eat. However, gradually they become the best of friends and this frienship supposedly lasts their entire lives, even though Pearl eventually returns to the U.S. where she becomes famous for her writing, even wining the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Willow's father thinks it will be expedient to get baptized by Pearl's father, at least then he can get some food when he goes to Church. Willow and her grandmother know he is being deceitful. But, eventually he does become a devoted disciple and is put in charge fo the local church while Pearl's father is travelling farther afield to seek converts.
Eventually the political climate, with the appearance of Mao, becomes dangerous for foreigners. Pearl and her family try to stay but when their lives are threatened they decide to leave. Pearl's father however decides to stay in China despite the danger.
The book then goes on to tell of the difficult conditions in China, Willow is imprisoned because of her ongoing contact with Pearl Buck and her refusal to renounce her. Willow's husband is a close advisor to Mao and manages to stay out of trouble but eventually he to is sent to a prison where he dies.
The book does a great job of portraying the lives of and the relationship between Pearl and Willow.
It was a very engaging book, did a great job of portraying the passionate missionaries and the trials and tribulatons peasants suffered under Mao.
Pearl Buck really missed China and hoped to return to visit when Nixon visited China but she is vilified in China and is denied a visa.
Willow eventually gets permission to travel to the U.S. after Pearl's death. She wants to see her house and spinkle dirt from Pearl's mother's grave on Pearl's grave. She is amazed at the beautiful Chinese like garden that Pearl had created, this makes her realize truly how much Pearl missed China.
Friday, 9 August 2013
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Wow!!!!!
This will go down as one of my all time "favourite" books. The story takes place in Germany, during the second world war, so the times are of course very disturbing, and many of the things that occur in the book.
However, I was totally captivated by this imaginative story. It was so sensitive, so affectionate, and so powerful that while I wanted to know what would happen, I didn't want it to end.
The narrator of the story is the "Grim Reaper", the main character is a little girl who has lost her father and brother and whose mother surrenders her to a foster family and then disappears. The mother in the foster family is a loud, abusive women who is also loving. Her humble husband, a painter is kind and loving to the young girl. He helps her escape some of the foster mother's wrath, takes the time to work with her to help her learn how to read. He is so kind he paints blackout paint on people's windows even those who cannot afford to pay for the cost of a shared cigarette. He honour's a promise to a world war I colleague, he hides the Jewish man's son in his house when the young man arrives on his doorstep asking for assistance. The war colleague had taught the Foster Father how to play the accordion and the family gave him one of the man's accordions after his death. Hiding the Jew of course puts the family in great danger but none of them regret the decision to help him. Even the grumpy foster mother looks after him as best they can in their poverty.
The girl likes to spend time with the man, she gives him gifts, tells him about her life, about what the weather is like outside.
The girl is a book thief, her first acquisition is a grave digger's guide she finds in a cemetery when they are burying her brother, her next book is a book she pulls from a pyre the Nazis have built to burn books and other Jewish property. The Mayor's wife, a depressed woman unable to recover from the death of her child, witnessed the girl steal the burning book and invites the girl into her house and her library. The girl spends time reading books there and eventually steals a few books (with the unspoken cooperation of the Mayor's wife). Near the end of the book the Mayor's wife give the girl a blank book so that she can write stories. She documents her life, the high and low points, also to document the reality and atrocities.
When there are air raids the girl reads to the people gathered in a local basement that has been designated as an air raid shelter. The jew writes two book for the girl as presents for her reflecting the present situation.
The girl is obviously captivated by words and books, but in contrast to the beauty of words and the ability to transport people there is the contrast of the Hitler and the Nazi propaganda. How can we love and worship words when they can also do so much harm. At the end of her book the girl says "I have hated the words, and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right".
The girl has a young male friend who is her partner in crime and who loves her and keeps asking her for a kiss. Sadly she never gives him one when he is alive.
The narration by the Grim Reaper, in relating the tale, in giving us hints of things to come, etc. was an ingenious aspect of the book The book gives a very detailed description of life in Nazi Germany and the risks to those who did not tow the party line. To me the best part was the beautiful way that the author portrays the relationships between the main characters, particularly the girl, her family, the Jew , the young boy and the strange affection of the Mayor's wife.. The story was told with such poignancy and there was so much affection, it was touching and lovely. When the father is sent into the army for giving a crust of bread to a Jew being marched through the town the mother sits up at night hugging his accordion and falls asleep in that position. Despite the terrible times there were aspects of gentle humour too, the young boy paints himself black and runs around a race track saying he is Jessie Owens, the black athlete, whcih of course doesn't go over well at all. The mother poors a bucket of cold water on her husband after he gets drunk.
"A last note from Your Narrator.... I am haunted by human's". This is a book that will linger in my thoughts.
Wow!!!!!
This will go down as one of my all time "favourite" books. The story takes place in Germany, during the second world war, so the times are of course very disturbing, and many of the things that occur in the book.
However, I was totally captivated by this imaginative story. It was so sensitive, so affectionate, and so powerful that while I wanted to know what would happen, I didn't want it to end.
The narrator of the story is the "Grim Reaper", the main character is a little girl who has lost her father and brother and whose mother surrenders her to a foster family and then disappears. The mother in the foster family is a loud, abusive women who is also loving. Her humble husband, a painter is kind and loving to the young girl. He helps her escape some of the foster mother's wrath, takes the time to work with her to help her learn how to read. He is so kind he paints blackout paint on people's windows even those who cannot afford to pay for the cost of a shared cigarette. He honour's a promise to a world war I colleague, he hides the Jewish man's son in his house when the young man arrives on his doorstep asking for assistance. The war colleague had taught the Foster Father how to play the accordion and the family gave him one of the man's accordions after his death. Hiding the Jew of course puts the family in great danger but none of them regret the decision to help him. Even the grumpy foster mother looks after him as best they can in their poverty.
The girl likes to spend time with the man, she gives him gifts, tells him about her life, about what the weather is like outside.
The girl is a book thief, her first acquisition is a grave digger's guide she finds in a cemetery when they are burying her brother, her next book is a book she pulls from a pyre the Nazis have built to burn books and other Jewish property. The Mayor's wife, a depressed woman unable to recover from the death of her child, witnessed the girl steal the burning book and invites the girl into her house and her library. The girl spends time reading books there and eventually steals a few books (with the unspoken cooperation of the Mayor's wife). Near the end of the book the Mayor's wife give the girl a blank book so that she can write stories. She documents her life, the high and low points, also to document the reality and atrocities.
When there are air raids the girl reads to the people gathered in a local basement that has been designated as an air raid shelter. The jew writes two book for the girl as presents for her reflecting the present situation.
The girl is obviously captivated by words and books, but in contrast to the beauty of words and the ability to transport people there is the contrast of the Hitler and the Nazi propaganda. How can we love and worship words when they can also do so much harm. At the end of her book the girl says "I have hated the words, and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right".
The girl has a young male friend who is her partner in crime and who loves her and keeps asking her for a kiss. Sadly she never gives him one when he is alive.
The narration by the Grim Reaper, in relating the tale, in giving us hints of things to come, etc. was an ingenious aspect of the book The book gives a very detailed description of life in Nazi Germany and the risks to those who did not tow the party line. To me the best part was the beautiful way that the author portrays the relationships between the main characters, particularly the girl, her family, the Jew , the young boy and the strange affection of the Mayor's wife.. The story was told with such poignancy and there was so much affection, it was touching and lovely. When the father is sent into the army for giving a crust of bread to a Jew being marched through the town the mother sits up at night hugging his accordion and falls asleep in that position. Despite the terrible times there were aspects of gentle humour too, the young boy paints himself black and runs around a race track saying he is Jessie Owens, the black athlete, whcih of course doesn't go over well at all. The mother poors a bucket of cold water on her husband after he gets drunk.
"A last note from Your Narrator.... I am haunted by human's". This is a book that will linger in my thoughts.
Monday, 5 August 2013
Knots and Crosses
By Ian Rankin
This is the first book in Rankin's Rebus series. It introduces us to Rebus a divorced, lonely police detective who is involved with trying to catch a serial killer.While he is investigating the crimes Rebus is getting some strange mail with cryptic messages and knotted threads and matches tied into the shape of a cross. Rebus cannot seem to figure out who is sending the messages. Then a tip from the piblic points out that the murdered girl's names spell Samantha, Rebus' s daughter's name.
His wife is injured , his daughter is kidnapped. But it is only when his brother hypnotizes him that Rebus recalls his partner in various rigourous SAS training. Rebus sees that his partner might have a grudge against him. With help from a fellow officer Rebus is able to find the murderer and his daughter is saved.
The story was interesting. However I think it was pretty lame that Rebus didn't figure out who was sending him the clues. Plus, Rankin threw too much into this story-- Rebus's divorce, vicious army training, his brother being a drug dealer, a reporter eager for a scoop and a new love interest for Rebus.
This is the first book in Rankin's Rebus series. It introduces us to Rebus a divorced, lonely police detective who is involved with trying to catch a serial killer.While he is investigating the crimes Rebus is getting some strange mail with cryptic messages and knotted threads and matches tied into the shape of a cross. Rebus cannot seem to figure out who is sending the messages. Then a tip from the piblic points out that the murdered girl's names spell Samantha, Rebus' s daughter's name.
His wife is injured , his daughter is kidnapped. But it is only when his brother hypnotizes him that Rebus recalls his partner in various rigourous SAS training. Rebus sees that his partner might have a grudge against him. With help from a fellow officer Rebus is able to find the murderer and his daughter is saved.
The story was interesting. However I think it was pretty lame that Rebus didn't figure out who was sending him the clues. Plus, Rankin threw too much into this story-- Rebus's divorce, vicious army training, his brother being a drug dealer, a reporter eager for a scoop and a new love interest for Rebus.
Lyrics Alley
by Leila Aboulela
This book is set primarily in Sudan, but also in Cairo in the 1950's. It is the story of a business man and the conflicts and challenges in his family. The man has an illiterate Sudanese family, with whom he has had two sons. He has a second wife, from Egypt, with whom he has had a son and a daughter. He spends most of his time with his second wife who is more modern and beautiful but when he becomes ill it is his first wife who comes to soothe and comfort him.
As the story commences there is turmoiil in Sudan as it tries to establish its independence from the influences of England and Egypt. The man Mahoummed Bey is trying to extend his business and his connections. He is disappointed by his oldest son who is an alcoholic and party animal. He has pinned his hopes on his young son -- he wants to send him for a good education in England and have him take over the family business. The young man would really like to be a poet but his family has dismissed this aspiration, so he is following his father's wishes. However, the young son is paralyzed in a swimming accident.
When the injured son is returned to Sudan, after medical treatment in England which was not successful, the tension in the family grows. The man starts spending more time in his first wifes part of the family compound. His second wife gets jealous and angry about this, and she is outraged when his first wife "kidnaps" her daughter and has a female circumcison performed on her. She insists the man divorce his first wife, when he refuses she takes her children and returns to Egypt.
While this drama is going on there are a couple side stories, the paralyzed son had a girl friend he planned to marry, eventually the engagement is called off due to his incapacity. He is devastated by this. He wants to die, but eventually finds some relief in composing poetry again. His poetry is picked up by a singer and he becomes famouns, even a cult figure. The father is at first mortified that his son is gaining fame in this way but later comes to accept it and realize that it is a good outlet for the son.
Another story is about a tutor who had been tutoring children in the family. He and his family and old father are living in a tiny apartment, he hopes to get a newer, bigger home in one of Mohammed Bey's new modern buildings. He is forced to accept a relative as a guest, while the person is looking for work. He eventually gets him a job as a nurse for the invalid. The relative ends up stealing the gold jewellery of the first wife of the Bey family and the tutor is arrested because the stolen items are found in his home. Evenutally the guilty party is caught and the man is exonerated but it takes a long time until he can show his face in the Bey family home. He had been working as a volunteer tutor/mentor for the invalid since his accident, enccouraging him with his writing.
The fiancee of the invalid has had her own challenges, she wants to progress in school and have a career but she has poor eyesight. Some family members get her glasses but she has to hide them from her father. When her father sees her wearing them he is furious with her and makes her stay home for awhile instead of going to school. Initially she is distraught at the engagement being called off, she keeps hoping her fiance will improve but he doesn't. However, eventually she does realize that being married to him would not give her the modern life she wants so she marries a friend of his. She didn't strike me as the kind of person who would want to devote herself to caring for an invalid. The invalid eventually comes to realize that her decision is for the best for her.
The second wife tries to get her husband to meet her demands but he does not give in, eventually she comes to recall some of the good things about life in Sudan and she returns.
It is interesting to read stories about places I am not familiar with. The description of life in Sudan and Egypt, the political climate, the social conventions were very interesting to learn about. I think that the way she portrayed the various characters kept you interested. I was relieved that the stories all seemed to resolve themselves in a positive way. Most stories today seem to end badly. It was refreshing to see people learn from their experiences and make positive choices (except for the alchoholic brother -- he didn't seem to change). The story reflected the tension between tradition and progress too.
However, with all the turmoil in Sudan one wonders how this family would have coped with all the national conflict in the future. I don't know if it would have affected the main cities.
This book is set primarily in Sudan, but also in Cairo in the 1950's. It is the story of a business man and the conflicts and challenges in his family. The man has an illiterate Sudanese family, with whom he has had two sons. He has a second wife, from Egypt, with whom he has had a son and a daughter. He spends most of his time with his second wife who is more modern and beautiful but when he becomes ill it is his first wife who comes to soothe and comfort him.
As the story commences there is turmoiil in Sudan as it tries to establish its independence from the influences of England and Egypt. The man Mahoummed Bey is trying to extend his business and his connections. He is disappointed by his oldest son who is an alcoholic and party animal. He has pinned his hopes on his young son -- he wants to send him for a good education in England and have him take over the family business. The young man would really like to be a poet but his family has dismissed this aspiration, so he is following his father's wishes. However, the young son is paralyzed in a swimming accident.
When the injured son is returned to Sudan, after medical treatment in England which was not successful, the tension in the family grows. The man starts spending more time in his first wifes part of the family compound. His second wife gets jealous and angry about this, and she is outraged when his first wife "kidnaps" her daughter and has a female circumcison performed on her. She insists the man divorce his first wife, when he refuses she takes her children and returns to Egypt.
While this drama is going on there are a couple side stories, the paralyzed son had a girl friend he planned to marry, eventually the engagement is called off due to his incapacity. He is devastated by this. He wants to die, but eventually finds some relief in composing poetry again. His poetry is picked up by a singer and he becomes famouns, even a cult figure. The father is at first mortified that his son is gaining fame in this way but later comes to accept it and realize that it is a good outlet for the son.
Another story is about a tutor who had been tutoring children in the family. He and his family and old father are living in a tiny apartment, he hopes to get a newer, bigger home in one of Mohammed Bey's new modern buildings. He is forced to accept a relative as a guest, while the person is looking for work. He eventually gets him a job as a nurse for the invalid. The relative ends up stealing the gold jewellery of the first wife of the Bey family and the tutor is arrested because the stolen items are found in his home. Evenutally the guilty party is caught and the man is exonerated but it takes a long time until he can show his face in the Bey family home. He had been working as a volunteer tutor/mentor for the invalid since his accident, enccouraging him with his writing.
The fiancee of the invalid has had her own challenges, she wants to progress in school and have a career but she has poor eyesight. Some family members get her glasses but she has to hide them from her father. When her father sees her wearing them he is furious with her and makes her stay home for awhile instead of going to school. Initially she is distraught at the engagement being called off, she keeps hoping her fiance will improve but he doesn't. However, eventually she does realize that being married to him would not give her the modern life she wants so she marries a friend of his. She didn't strike me as the kind of person who would want to devote herself to caring for an invalid. The invalid eventually comes to realize that her decision is for the best for her.
The second wife tries to get her husband to meet her demands but he does not give in, eventually she comes to recall some of the good things about life in Sudan and she returns.
It is interesting to read stories about places I am not familiar with. The description of life in Sudan and Egypt, the political climate, the social conventions were very interesting to learn about. I think that the way she portrayed the various characters kept you interested. I was relieved that the stories all seemed to resolve themselves in a positive way. Most stories today seem to end badly. It was refreshing to see people learn from their experiences and make positive choices (except for the alchoholic brother -- he didn't seem to change). The story reflected the tension between tradition and progress too.
However, with all the turmoil in Sudan one wonders how this family would have coped with all the national conflict in the future. I don't know if it would have affected the main cities.
Thursday, 25 July 2013
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead
by Sheryl Sandberg
Ms. Sanberg has been an exec with Google and is now at Facebook. She talks very frankly about the challenges and options women face in the workplace. She is very honest about sharing her own decisions and challenges.
As a person who worked to advance women in the workplace 30 years ago I am sad that we have made such little progress. However having said that I think she gives women a very clear picture of what they can face and what they can do to try to have things their way.
One thing I found very unfortunate, she talks about the tech workplaces where it seems to be that people will work 12 hour days or more. She admits she started leaving work at 5:30 p.m. to be able to have dinner with her kids. She worried about what people would think of her doing this, my question is, why didn't she do more to change the corporate culture and stop this nonsense. She would be in a position to do this.
Ms. Sanberg has been an exec with Google and is now at Facebook. She talks very frankly about the challenges and options women face in the workplace. She is very honest about sharing her own decisions and challenges.
As a person who worked to advance women in the workplace 30 years ago I am sad that we have made such little progress. However having said that I think she gives women a very clear picture of what they can face and what they can do to try to have things their way.
One thing I found very unfortunate, she talks about the tech workplaces where it seems to be that people will work 12 hour days or more. She admits she started leaving work at 5:30 p.m. to be able to have dinner with her kids. She worried about what people would think of her doing this, my question is, why didn't she do more to change the corporate culture and stop this nonsense. She would be in a position to do this.
Sunday, 21 July 2013
The Year of the Flood
by Margaret Atwood
This is the sequel to Oryx and Crake. This story in part takes up where the first one left off, but also includes some history parallel with the first book. I found this book read more easily than the first one but I found the numerous characters and the fact that they bounce around between being renegades and "compound inhabitants" very hard to follow at times.
As the book starts the "Waterless Flood" (the plague that has decimated humanity) has occurred and it appears that only two women have survived. One, an employee of a Spa and another a dancer/prostitute in a club who had been in regularly sactioned quarantine to make sure she was not diseased. I can't remember how it was that the Spa woman survived and her colleagues/clients didn't.
Both women are running low on supplies and fear they may starve. The second woman is able to reach a friend of hers who was out in the desert working on an art installation and her friend comes and rescues her... now there are three.
As the book proceeds we jump back in time to pre-plague earth and meet a group of people called God's Gardeners. This group is trying to live a vegan, low consumption life style and warning of the dangers of eating meat, consumption etc. Each day of the year they pray to a saint or saints for support and guidance. The presence of religion/deity is even more prevalent in this book than in the first one. The Gardeners have their feast days, rituals, songs, "sayings". Can you be environmentally conscious without turning it into a religion? Of course, they are threatening to the establishment and are attacked at times.
Toby, the Spa Lady and Ren the dancer were former members of God's Gardeners but left for separate reasons. Ren and Amanda meet some boys they knew from the Gardeners. These boys are "kidnapped" by some bad guys "painballers" who also survived. Ren and Amanda go seeking more food and also to track the boys with dire condquences for Amanda, she becomes the painballers prisoner.
Ren eventually meets up with Toby and they reunite with some of the Gardeners. Ren and Toby set off to rescue Amanada and arrive on the scene of the painballers and Amanda at the same time as Snowman. Ren is happy to see Snowman because she has been in love with him and had had a relationship with him in the past.
As this book ends we realize that the future implied in the first book may not be as bleak as we feared.
The third book is coming out next month. I will be curious to see what direction Atwood takes civilization in.
This is the sequel to Oryx and Crake. This story in part takes up where the first one left off, but also includes some history parallel with the first book. I found this book read more easily than the first one but I found the numerous characters and the fact that they bounce around between being renegades and "compound inhabitants" very hard to follow at times.
As the book starts the "Waterless Flood" (the plague that has decimated humanity) has occurred and it appears that only two women have survived. One, an employee of a Spa and another a dancer/prostitute in a club who had been in regularly sactioned quarantine to make sure she was not diseased. I can't remember how it was that the Spa woman survived and her colleagues/clients didn't.
Both women are running low on supplies and fear they may starve. The second woman is able to reach a friend of hers who was out in the desert working on an art installation and her friend comes and rescues her... now there are three.
As the book proceeds we jump back in time to pre-plague earth and meet a group of people called God's Gardeners. This group is trying to live a vegan, low consumption life style and warning of the dangers of eating meat, consumption etc. Each day of the year they pray to a saint or saints for support and guidance. The presence of religion/deity is even more prevalent in this book than in the first one. The Gardeners have their feast days, rituals, songs, "sayings". Can you be environmentally conscious without turning it into a religion? Of course, they are threatening to the establishment and are attacked at times.
Toby, the Spa Lady and Ren the dancer were former members of God's Gardeners but left for separate reasons. Ren and Amanda meet some boys they knew from the Gardeners. These boys are "kidnapped" by some bad guys "painballers" who also survived. Ren and Amanda go seeking more food and also to track the boys with dire condquences for Amanda, she becomes the painballers prisoner.
Ren eventually meets up with Toby and they reunite with some of the Gardeners. Ren and Toby set off to rescue Amanada and arrive on the scene of the painballers and Amanda at the same time as Snowman. Ren is happy to see Snowman because she has been in love with him and had had a relationship with him in the past.
As this book ends we realize that the future implied in the first book may not be as bleak as we feared.
The third book is coming out next month. I will be curious to see what direction Atwood takes civilization in.
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
The thrid book in Atwood's trilogy is being published soon so I thought I would reread the first two books. This is the first book.
Review from Publishers Weekly,
"Atwood has visited the future before, in her dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. In her latest, the future is even bleaker. The triple whammy of runaway social inequality, genetic technology and catastrophic climate change, has finally culminated in some apocalyptic event. As Jimmy, apparently the last human being on earth, makes his way back to the RejoovenEsencecompound for supplies, the reader is transported backwards toward that cataclysmic event, its full dimensions gradually revealed. Jimmy grew up in a world split between corporate compounds (gated communities metastasized into city-states) and pleeblands (unsafe, populous and polluted urban centers). His best friend was "Crake," the name originally his handle in an interactive Net game, Extinctathon. Even Jimmy's mother-who ran off and joined an ecology guerrilla group when Jimmy was an adolescent-respected Crake, already a budding genius. The two friends first encountered Oryx on the Net; she was the eight-year-old star of a pedophilic film on a site called HottTotts. Oryx's story is a counterpoint to Jimmy and Crake's affluent adolescence. She was sold by her Southeast Asian parents, taken to the city and eventually made into a sex "pixie" in some distant country. Jimmy meets Oryx much later-after college, after Crake gets Jimmy a job with ReJoovenEsence. Crake is designing the Crakers-a new, multicolored placid race of human beings, smelling vaguely of citron. He's procured Oryx to be his personal assistant. She teaches the Crakers how to cope in the world and goes out on secret missions. The mystery on which this riveting, disturbing tale hinges is how Crake and Oryx and civilization vanished, and how Jimmy-who also calls himself "the Snowman," after that other rare, hunted specimen, the Abominable Snowman-survived. Chesterton once wrote of the "thousand romances that lie secreted in The Origin of Species." Atwood has extracted one of the most hair-raising of them, and one of the most brilliant."
I found this book a rather hard slog this time, I don't remember what my impressions were the first time. I knew things ended badly so maybe it was the impending doom that made it so hard to read. At the end of the book Snowman, who seems to have an affection for the Crakes, is very ill. He stumbles upon three humans is thinking about killing them.... what will he do?
The story, beside its obvious warnings about overconsumption, pollution and genetic modification gone wild, also raises questions about whether it is possible to engineer out greed, anger, lust and other negative bad emotions and what would result. The Crakes are healthy and apparently happy but can they adjust to change it need be, can they defend themselves if they have to? They seem to simple to be able to survive any physical threats. Crake is their creator and they seem to "worship" him as a result as his initial instructions/training to them came via him. Do human creatures need a creator for guidance? consolation? Why did Crake unleash the plague on the human population? Did he intend for the only survivors to be the Crakes? Did he plan to live to lead them/care for them? He was going to businesses for funds to find the answer for immortality. I am sure the business people who gave him money were assuming it would bring their own immortality, not the creation of a new race and the eradication of the human race.
The thrid book in Atwood's trilogy is being published soon so I thought I would reread the first two books. This is the first book.
Review from Publishers Weekly,
"Atwood has visited the future before, in her dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. In her latest, the future is even bleaker. The triple whammy of runaway social inequality, genetic technology and catastrophic climate change, has finally culminated in some apocalyptic event. As Jimmy, apparently the last human being on earth, makes his way back to the RejoovenEsencecompound for supplies, the reader is transported backwards toward that cataclysmic event, its full dimensions gradually revealed. Jimmy grew up in a world split between corporate compounds (gated communities metastasized into city-states) and pleeblands (unsafe, populous and polluted urban centers). His best friend was "Crake," the name originally his handle in an interactive Net game, Extinctathon. Even Jimmy's mother-who ran off and joined an ecology guerrilla group when Jimmy was an adolescent-respected Crake, already a budding genius. The two friends first encountered Oryx on the Net; she was the eight-year-old star of a pedophilic film on a site called HottTotts. Oryx's story is a counterpoint to Jimmy and Crake's affluent adolescence. She was sold by her Southeast Asian parents, taken to the city and eventually made into a sex "pixie" in some distant country. Jimmy meets Oryx much later-after college, after Crake gets Jimmy a job with ReJoovenEsence. Crake is designing the Crakers-a new, multicolored placid race of human beings, smelling vaguely of citron. He's procured Oryx to be his personal assistant. She teaches the Crakers how to cope in the world and goes out on secret missions. The mystery on which this riveting, disturbing tale hinges is how Crake and Oryx and civilization vanished, and how Jimmy-who also calls himself "the Snowman," after that other rare, hunted specimen, the Abominable Snowman-survived. Chesterton once wrote of the "thousand romances that lie secreted in The Origin of Species." Atwood has extracted one of the most hair-raising of them, and one of the most brilliant."
I found this book a rather hard slog this time, I don't remember what my impressions were the first time. I knew things ended badly so maybe it was the impending doom that made it so hard to read. At the end of the book Snowman, who seems to have an affection for the Crakes, is very ill. He stumbles upon three humans is thinking about killing them.... what will he do?
The story, beside its obvious warnings about overconsumption, pollution and genetic modification gone wild, also raises questions about whether it is possible to engineer out greed, anger, lust and other negative bad emotions and what would result. The Crakes are healthy and apparently happy but can they adjust to change it need be, can they defend themselves if they have to? They seem to simple to be able to survive any physical threats. Crake is their creator and they seem to "worship" him as a result as his initial instructions/training to them came via him. Do human creatures need a creator for guidance? consolation? Why did Crake unleash the plague on the human population? Did he intend for the only survivors to be the Crakes? Did he plan to live to lead them/care for them? He was going to businesses for funds to find the answer for immortality. I am sure the business people who gave him money were assuming it would bring their own immortality, not the creation of a new race and the eradication of the human race.
Monday, 15 July 2013
The Cruellest Month
by Louise Penny
This is the third book in the series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. The story is again set in the little town of Three Pines Quebec, with the "usual" cast of quirky characters.
In this story a woman dies while at a Seance, at a house in the village many consider evil or haunted. Her face has a look of sheer terror. Initially the "witch" who had reluctantly agreed to do the seance is suspected, especially when it turns out that she was a classmate of the murdered woman and did not disclose this.
In addition to this murder there is a side plot in which some of Gamache's colleagues appear to be plotting against him and using newspaper articles implying illegal things about Gamache and his family in an effort to discredit him.
When the news attacks on his family escalate Gamache meets with his superiors and resigns. But, then he goes back and solves the crime... so he didn't really resign, and he finds out that the person plotting against him is a man who was his best friend as a child and his supervisor. I am not really sure that I buy the reason why the supervisor turned against Gamache.
As always a great read but it was a bit heavy with the conspiracy against Gamache.
This is the third book in the series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. The story is again set in the little town of Three Pines Quebec, with the "usual" cast of quirky characters.
In this story a woman dies while at a Seance, at a house in the village many consider evil or haunted. Her face has a look of sheer terror. Initially the "witch" who had reluctantly agreed to do the seance is suspected, especially when it turns out that she was a classmate of the murdered woman and did not disclose this.
In addition to this murder there is a side plot in which some of Gamache's colleagues appear to be plotting against him and using newspaper articles implying illegal things about Gamache and his family in an effort to discredit him.
When the news attacks on his family escalate Gamache meets with his superiors and resigns. But, then he goes back and solves the crime... so he didn't really resign, and he finds out that the person plotting against him is a man who was his best friend as a child and his supervisor. I am not really sure that I buy the reason why the supervisor turned against Gamache.
As always a great read but it was a bit heavy with the conspiracy against Gamache.
Monday, 8 July 2013
The Hungry Ghosts
by Shyam Selvadurai
The author is Sri Lankan, and this story is about a Sri Lankan boy who eventually immigrates to Canada and his life and Canada and Sri Lanka.
The book does a great job of developing the characters and the complexity of their lives and ambitions. The story is about the boy, his mother and sister and his cantankerous grandmother. The grandmother, a widow, has numerous properties and she is very aggressive and even spiteful in her business dealings, doing everything she can to outsmart, even abuse people during the trouble time of the Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka.
The boy's father dies when he is young and the boy's mother moves in with her mother because she is poor and sees not option. Her mother treats her horribly, either criticizing her or ignoring her. The grandmother adores the young boy and is mentoring him to take over her business investments. He is witness to the eviction of some very poor tennants from a slum dwelling his grandmother owns by some thugs his mother is friends with. The boy is so upset by his grandmother's behaviour to his mother and her terrible business practices that he convices his mother that they should emigrate to Canada. The mother is reluctant at first but eventually agrees. The grandmother is furious about their decision.
Life in Canada is safe but very difficult for the entire family. The mother struggles in low level jobs and the boy has trouble making any friends. His problems are compounded by the fact that he is gay. He does have some temporary relationships. Then the Grandmother has a stroke and the boy goes back to Sri Lanka for a short visit to help her out. She convinces him to stay longer and he agrees because he is so unhappy in Canada. However he insists that he will run things his way, be less mean, fix up some of the poor buildings and get better tennants more likey to be able to pay their rent. He also starts a loving relationship with a former school friend. When his grandmother finds out that he is gay she gets her thugs to kidnap the young man's lover. While they were only supposed to scare him off, he is killed, we do not learn exactly howl
In Sri Lanka homosexuality is not permitted and there are severe penalties for those who are caught.
The boy is devastated by the death of his friend and furious at his grandmother. He decides to leave and return to Canada. His grandmother decides to build a temple, to achieve good Karma, and to leave all her wealth to the church, rather than her grandson.
He is having difficulty with his mother so he decides to leave Toronto for Vancouver. He starts a new life and finds a new lover, but he is still haunted by the death of his former lover. When he tells his current partner about his past life and that he still dreams of his dead friend, the partner is angry that he never told him the truth and their relationship falls apart.
As the book ends the boy is leaving for Sri Lanka to bring his Grandmother to Canada as she has had several more strokes, but as he is leaving he realizes she will never come to Canada and that his only option is to return to Sri Lanka and look after her til her death.... to appease the bad Karma his grandmother has created in her life and also to achieve some forgiveness for his role in the death of his friend.. He thinks that is the only way for the family to achieve peace.
This was a fascinating story, the disfunctional family dynamics were portrayed very well and very convincingly, the challenges the many characters face trying to live the lives they want in conflict with society roles and expectations against the backdrop of Sri Lanka in civil war, are very poignantly depicted. He also does an excellent job of portraying the struggles and frustrations of new immigrants.
This is a book that makes you think about personal responsibility, conflict and consequences of pursuing ones passions with not sufficient thought of the consequences.
The author is Sri Lankan, and this story is about a Sri Lankan boy who eventually immigrates to Canada and his life and Canada and Sri Lanka.
The book does a great job of developing the characters and the complexity of their lives and ambitions. The story is about the boy, his mother and sister and his cantankerous grandmother. The grandmother, a widow, has numerous properties and she is very aggressive and even spiteful in her business dealings, doing everything she can to outsmart, even abuse people during the trouble time of the Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka.
The boy's father dies when he is young and the boy's mother moves in with her mother because she is poor and sees not option. Her mother treats her horribly, either criticizing her or ignoring her. The grandmother adores the young boy and is mentoring him to take over her business investments. He is witness to the eviction of some very poor tennants from a slum dwelling his grandmother owns by some thugs his mother is friends with. The boy is so upset by his grandmother's behaviour to his mother and her terrible business practices that he convices his mother that they should emigrate to Canada. The mother is reluctant at first but eventually agrees. The grandmother is furious about their decision.
Life in Canada is safe but very difficult for the entire family. The mother struggles in low level jobs and the boy has trouble making any friends. His problems are compounded by the fact that he is gay. He does have some temporary relationships. Then the Grandmother has a stroke and the boy goes back to Sri Lanka for a short visit to help her out. She convinces him to stay longer and he agrees because he is so unhappy in Canada. However he insists that he will run things his way, be less mean, fix up some of the poor buildings and get better tennants more likey to be able to pay their rent. He also starts a loving relationship with a former school friend. When his grandmother finds out that he is gay she gets her thugs to kidnap the young man's lover. While they were only supposed to scare him off, he is killed, we do not learn exactly howl
In Sri Lanka homosexuality is not permitted and there are severe penalties for those who are caught.
The boy is devastated by the death of his friend and furious at his grandmother. He decides to leave and return to Canada. His grandmother decides to build a temple, to achieve good Karma, and to leave all her wealth to the church, rather than her grandson.
He is having difficulty with his mother so he decides to leave Toronto for Vancouver. He starts a new life and finds a new lover, but he is still haunted by the death of his former lover. When he tells his current partner about his past life and that he still dreams of his dead friend, the partner is angry that he never told him the truth and their relationship falls apart.
As the book ends the boy is leaving for Sri Lanka to bring his Grandmother to Canada as she has had several more strokes, but as he is leaving he realizes she will never come to Canada and that his only option is to return to Sri Lanka and look after her til her death.... to appease the bad Karma his grandmother has created in her life and also to achieve some forgiveness for his role in the death of his friend.. He thinks that is the only way for the family to achieve peace.
This was a fascinating story, the disfunctional family dynamics were portrayed very well and very convincingly, the challenges the many characters face trying to live the lives they want in conflict with society roles and expectations against the backdrop of Sri Lanka in civil war, are very poignantly depicted. He also does an excellent job of portraying the struggles and frustrations of new immigrants.
This is a book that makes you think about personal responsibility, conflict and consequences of pursuing ones passions with not sufficient thought of the consequences.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Gaudy Night
by Dorothy L. Sayers
This mystery takes place in 1930's in Oxford. A previous scholar, now a mystery book writer, comes back to Oxford to attend a Gaudy celebration. Strange, threatening things start to happen after the event. The author finds a threatening note, composed of cut out letters glued to a page, tucked into her gown sleeve. Other women also receive threatening messages and someone is defacing the buildings, burning gowns, etc.
The college wants to keep the news about these events out of the press. They ask the author to try to find out who is perpetrating the threats. She tries to figure out who the guilty party is but is not successful and the threats continue when classes resume in the summer.
The author has a tragic past, her former lover was murdered and she was almost hung for the crime. The lawyer who saved her from the gallows is now a close friend and suitor. He keeps asking her to marry him but she keeps declining.
A good part of the book involves the story of the women's college, the challenge of women getting an education at that time, debates about marriage versus a career and the value for women of getting an education. It is of course largely the story of the wealthy and privileded but some poorer women are featured including the woman who is found to be the criminal. Her husband is dead, she is working at the college and has to farm her kids out to another family to raise. She blames one of the scholars for her husband's academic demise and evenutal death.
The main character struggles with the marriage proposals because she wants to be independent and not feel beholding to any man, especially her saviour, but in the end she calls him in for help with the crimes and it is he who identifies the guilty part. In addition to the main story there are side stories about some young men scholars also, this added to the complexity of the novel and as far as I can see wasn't essential to the story.
I found the book very long winded with all the academic discussion, class and society discussions, etc. I was particularly disappointed that a book that seemed to be somewhat feminist with its subject matter ends up by having a man solve the crime and in the end she decides that she really does love him and will marry him.
So for all the talk about women's independence the book ended very traditionally.
This mystery takes place in 1930's in Oxford. A previous scholar, now a mystery book writer, comes back to Oxford to attend a Gaudy celebration. Strange, threatening things start to happen after the event. The author finds a threatening note, composed of cut out letters glued to a page, tucked into her gown sleeve. Other women also receive threatening messages and someone is defacing the buildings, burning gowns, etc.
The college wants to keep the news about these events out of the press. They ask the author to try to find out who is perpetrating the threats. She tries to figure out who the guilty party is but is not successful and the threats continue when classes resume in the summer.
The author has a tragic past, her former lover was murdered and she was almost hung for the crime. The lawyer who saved her from the gallows is now a close friend and suitor. He keeps asking her to marry him but she keeps declining.
A good part of the book involves the story of the women's college, the challenge of women getting an education at that time, debates about marriage versus a career and the value for women of getting an education. It is of course largely the story of the wealthy and privileded but some poorer women are featured including the woman who is found to be the criminal. Her husband is dead, she is working at the college and has to farm her kids out to another family to raise. She blames one of the scholars for her husband's academic demise and evenutal death.
The main character struggles with the marriage proposals because she wants to be independent and not feel beholding to any man, especially her saviour, but in the end she calls him in for help with the crimes and it is he who identifies the guilty part. In addition to the main story there are side stories about some young men scholars also, this added to the complexity of the novel and as far as I can see wasn't essential to the story.
I found the book very long winded with all the academic discussion, class and society discussions, etc. I was particularly disappointed that a book that seemed to be somewhat feminist with its subject matter ends up by having a man solve the crime and in the end she decides that she really does love him and will marry him.
So for all the talk about women's independence the book ended very traditionally.
Friday, 28 June 2013
A Murderous Procession
byAriana Franklin
This is the fourth book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.
In this story, set in 1176, the King of England is sending his 11 year old sister to Palermo as a bride for the King of Sicily. Travelling with the entourage is Adriana, a trained doctor from Sicily and her Arab companion Mansur. Because English society does not accept female doctor's she has to pretend she is the assistant to the Arab.
The King of England has encouraged her support by keeping her daughter in England. Her daughter is the result of a liaison between Adriana and and English Bishop.
As they travel along mysterious deaths occur and some of the party plot against Adriana, in addition, an old enemy -- she killed his liver-- is travelliing with them and doing what he can to bring dissent against her and get her murdered. She and some of the group are captured and accused of being Cathars. They are imprisoned and on the verge of being burned at the stake, but are rescued by one of the king's officers.
The princess becomes ill with appendicitis, the English doctor is not able to save her. The Catholic Church forbids bloodletting and surgery. Adriana is forced to operate and saves the girls life.
As the book ends they all arrive in Palermo but Adriana's enemy is still after her but he is killed during an attack on her.
The historical setting for the story was interesting and included a lot of detail about life at that time. The plot kept you interested. I think I would like to read the first book in the series sometiime.
This is the fourth book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.
In this story, set in 1176, the King of England is sending his 11 year old sister to Palermo as a bride for the King of Sicily. Travelling with the entourage is Adriana, a trained doctor from Sicily and her Arab companion Mansur. Because English society does not accept female doctor's she has to pretend she is the assistant to the Arab.
The King of England has encouraged her support by keeping her daughter in England. Her daughter is the result of a liaison between Adriana and and English Bishop.
As they travel along mysterious deaths occur and some of the party plot against Adriana, in addition, an old enemy -- she killed his liver-- is travelliing with them and doing what he can to bring dissent against her and get her murdered. She and some of the group are captured and accused of being Cathars. They are imprisoned and on the verge of being burned at the stake, but are rescued by one of the king's officers.
The princess becomes ill with appendicitis, the English doctor is not able to save her. The Catholic Church forbids bloodletting and surgery. Adriana is forced to operate and saves the girls life.
As the book ends they all arrive in Palermo but Adriana's enemy is still after her but he is killed during an attack on her.
The historical setting for the story was interesting and included a lot of detail about life at that time. The plot kept you interested. I think I would like to read the first book in the series sometiime.
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Until the Night
by Giles Blunt,
This is the first book I have read by this author. The story involves a police detective John Cardinal and his colleague Lise Delorme. The story has two tales being told alternately, one is about a team of scientists floatiing on an ice island in the arctic. One of the scientists goes beserk and starts to kill his colleagues, then the ice island splits into pieces and others of the team perish because of this. Only two people survive, one scientist and the man who is having an affair with his wife (she perishes in the ordeal).
The other story line is about women being found frozen, some of them shackled, wearing some clothes that are not their own.
The lead police officer on the female deaths is a prima donna and seems to be off track, Cardinal and his partner each go off on their own investigations, she especially is violating police practices.
In the end it is Cardinal's and Delorme's efforts that solve the case.
I kept wondering how the two stories were connected. It turns out that one of the survivors of the arctic incident, wrongfully convicted of murder by the testimony of the jealous husband, is wreaking revenge on people who spotted him and his lover but chose not to rescue them.
It was a very engaging story, I liked the characters but I can't believe the female officer would end up not getting reprimanded after her behaviour even though it did help to solve a crime.
I will read more books in this series.
This is the first book I have read by this author. The story involves a police detective John Cardinal and his colleague Lise Delorme. The story has two tales being told alternately, one is about a team of scientists floatiing on an ice island in the arctic. One of the scientists goes beserk and starts to kill his colleagues, then the ice island splits into pieces and others of the team perish because of this. Only two people survive, one scientist and the man who is having an affair with his wife (she perishes in the ordeal).
The other story line is about women being found frozen, some of them shackled, wearing some clothes that are not their own.
The lead police officer on the female deaths is a prima donna and seems to be off track, Cardinal and his partner each go off on their own investigations, she especially is violating police practices.
In the end it is Cardinal's and Delorme's efforts that solve the case.
I kept wondering how the two stories were connected. It turns out that one of the survivors of the arctic incident, wrongfully convicted of murder by the testimony of the jealous husband, is wreaking revenge on people who spotted him and his lover but chose not to rescue them.
It was a very engaging story, I liked the characters but I can't believe the female officer would end up not getting reprimanded after her behaviour even though it did help to solve a crime.
I will read more books in this series.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Life After Life
Kate Atkinson,
This is a very unusual, inventive book. It is the story of a girl Ursula Todd, who seems to relive her life, with a variety of outcomes. Her family realize that she is troubled and take her to a psychiatrist. She is an unusual child, experiencing "deja vu", and at times taking steps to change outcomes, for example she trips her family's maid, to prevent her from going to VE celebrations in London and bringing back influenza which will kill her, Ursula's brother, and almost kill Ursula.
Most of the life stories take place in England prior to or during the first and second world wars. However, two of the segments take place in Germany, in one of them Ursula is married to a German and unable to escape with her child at the start of WWII so she choses to kill them both. In another story she meets the Furer in a bar and shoots him.
The book does not have a finite outcome. This is annoying to some readers. It can be confusing as it jumps back and forth through time with different details and outcomes, however, it was a fascinating read to experience the variety of stories the author develops. It of course makes you think about how things might have turned out differently in our own lives if we had acted differently at certain key points in our life.
This is the second book I have read by this author, she writes very quirky stories. This is a book I will look forward to re-reading.
This is a very unusual, inventive book. It is the story of a girl Ursula Todd, who seems to relive her life, with a variety of outcomes. Her family realize that she is troubled and take her to a psychiatrist. She is an unusual child, experiencing "deja vu", and at times taking steps to change outcomes, for example she trips her family's maid, to prevent her from going to VE celebrations in London and bringing back influenza which will kill her, Ursula's brother, and almost kill Ursula.
Most of the life stories take place in England prior to or during the first and second world wars. However, two of the segments take place in Germany, in one of them Ursula is married to a German and unable to escape with her child at the start of WWII so she choses to kill them both. In another story she meets the Furer in a bar and shoots him.
The book does not have a finite outcome. This is annoying to some readers. It can be confusing as it jumps back and forth through time with different details and outcomes, however, it was a fascinating read to experience the variety of stories the author develops. It of course makes you think about how things might have turned out differently in our own lives if we had acted differently at certain key points in our life.
This is the second book I have read by this author, she writes very quirky stories. This is a book I will look forward to re-reading.
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Murder Below Montparnasse
An Aimee Leduc Investigation
by Cara Black.
This is the thirteenth book in this series, but the first one I have read. It takes place in Paris and is the story of a young private investigator. She has inherited her grandfather's business, her father was a disgraced police officer, whom she managed to clear of charges after his death.
In this story she is contacted by an old man who wants her help to protect a valuable painting. As she is on her way to assist him she and a colleague are involved in an accident, they have hit and killed a man, or was he dead before he hit their vehicle.
Aimee discovers that the painting has been stolen, she is upset that her partner, a computer genius, has left for a profitable job in the U.S. The old man calls her to tell her he doesn't need her help, then later calls to ask her to help him again and hints that he knows where her mother (whom she hasn' seen since a child) is.
She rushes to him but finds him brutally murdered. Then an art dealer is pushed onto the metro tracks.
It seems there are many people after the painting, but who has it.
Aimee finds herself and her other partner threatened by Serb ex-cons and tries to find out the truth behind a Rusian tycoon.
She eventually manages to recover the painting, stolen by an unsuspected person, the story ends with her shocked at the news that she is pregnant. The likely father of the baby is preoccupied by his daughter who is in a coma after a school bus accident....
The story was pretty good as a mystery, much better than some others I have read. The story was engaging with lots of action, but I'm not sure why the subplot about her partner going, and then returning quickly from the U.S. I wouldn't mind reading more in the series.
by Cara Black.
This is the thirteenth book in this series, but the first one I have read. It takes place in Paris and is the story of a young private investigator. She has inherited her grandfather's business, her father was a disgraced police officer, whom she managed to clear of charges after his death.
In this story she is contacted by an old man who wants her help to protect a valuable painting. As she is on her way to assist him she and a colleague are involved in an accident, they have hit and killed a man, or was he dead before he hit their vehicle.
Aimee discovers that the painting has been stolen, she is upset that her partner, a computer genius, has left for a profitable job in the U.S. The old man calls her to tell her he doesn't need her help, then later calls to ask her to help him again and hints that he knows where her mother (whom she hasn' seen since a child) is.
She rushes to him but finds him brutally murdered. Then an art dealer is pushed onto the metro tracks.
It seems there are many people after the painting, but who has it.
Aimee finds herself and her other partner threatened by Serb ex-cons and tries to find out the truth behind a Rusian tycoon.
She eventually manages to recover the painting, stolen by an unsuspected person, the story ends with her shocked at the news that she is pregnant. The likely father of the baby is preoccupied by his daughter who is in a coma after a school bus accident....
The story was pretty good as a mystery, much better than some others I have read. The story was engaging with lots of action, but I'm not sure why the subplot about her partner going, and then returning quickly from the U.S. I wouldn't mind reading more in the series.
Sunday, 5 May 2013
The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out the Wndow and Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
This story is about a 100 year old Swede who walks away from his senior's complex on the verge of his 100th birthday party. He stumbles upon a suitcase with milliions of dollars in it and meets up with people who try to help him get away, while the thieves who owned the money try to find him. The police are also trying to find him, to save him from kidnappers, or is it to arrest him for murders??
As the story moves forward we also hear about the man's past. He has apparently been part of major world events and met/helped many famous world leaders, including General Franco, Stalin, Mao, de Gaulle, several U.S. Presidents, etc. He has helped the Americans and also worked against the Americans. He is a spy for the U.S. for the time.
The story is very much like a Forest Gump story with the man bumbling through various events, getting into trouble and then getting out. In the end the man and his friends, and the police detective who was seeking him, all end up happily in Indonesia.
This was an entertaining read, but not intellectually challenging. The author did a great job of tying various world events around this one character. It was an okay summer read.
This story is about a 100 year old Swede who walks away from his senior's complex on the verge of his 100th birthday party. He stumbles upon a suitcase with milliions of dollars in it and meets up with people who try to help him get away, while the thieves who owned the money try to find him. The police are also trying to find him, to save him from kidnappers, or is it to arrest him for murders??
As the story moves forward we also hear about the man's past. He has apparently been part of major world events and met/helped many famous world leaders, including General Franco, Stalin, Mao, de Gaulle, several U.S. Presidents, etc. He has helped the Americans and also worked against the Americans. He is a spy for the U.S. for the time.
The story is very much like a Forest Gump story with the man bumbling through various events, getting into trouble and then getting out. In the end the man and his friends, and the police detective who was seeking him, all end up happily in Indonesia.
This was an entertaining read, but not intellectually challenging. The author did a great job of tying various world events around this one character. It was an okay summer read.
Thursday, 18 April 2013
The In-between World of Vikram Lall
by M.G. Vissanji
This is the second book I have read by this author, the first being The Magic of Saida, which I found very captivating.
This book is the story of an Indian man whose family emigrated to Zambia and who has become engaged in unethical financial activities and is being villified for his behaviour.
The book tells the story of the boy's family life as he and his sister make friends with an African boy and two white children. There is racism in Africa, whites are considered top of the heap, then the Asians and lastly of course the blacks. The young man's sister develops affection, which develops into love for the African boy. The young boy really liked the white girl, and is devastated when she and all her family are murdered by black independence rebels.
As the boy grows into adulthood he has an Uncle who it turns out is in favour of the African rebels and is supporting their efforts. The uncles actions likely contribute to the African boys grandfather being imprisoned and dying in prison and the death of the white girl and her family. He doesn't tell anyone about this but it ruins his relationship with his uncle. The boys sister wants to marry the African boy but her parents won't allow it so the young black man tells her he must leave her and eventually goes off to marry another woman. She then marries a man of her parent's choice but carries her love for the black man with her into the future when she and the African man meet again.
While this is going on the young man gets an education and through the help of his African friend lands a good job in the transportation department. Life is good for him but then he is offered a job as the assistant to a key government official. His african friend warns him not to take it but he doesn't listen and eventually gets involved in money laundering for the state.
The story is structured with the main character living in a cottage in nothern Ontario and reviewing his life while he tries to decide if he should return to face his accusers. While many of the people around him, his father, his uncle, his sister, his African friend seem to be very ethical, principaled people, the main characters does not appear to be principled. He seems to present his activities as almost naive, inadvertent.
He does decide to return to admit to guilt in some areas and make restitution but that stirs up concern from the politicians and officials whom his efforts benefitted and his life is endangered.
This was another very complex story, which asks very important questions and where not everything is clearly black and white or good and bad.
Another wonderful story that will stay with me for a long time.
This is the second book I have read by this author, the first being The Magic of Saida, which I found very captivating.
This book is the story of an Indian man whose family emigrated to Zambia and who has become engaged in unethical financial activities and is being villified for his behaviour.
The book tells the story of the boy's family life as he and his sister make friends with an African boy and two white children. There is racism in Africa, whites are considered top of the heap, then the Asians and lastly of course the blacks. The young man's sister develops affection, which develops into love for the African boy. The young boy really liked the white girl, and is devastated when she and all her family are murdered by black independence rebels.
As the boy grows into adulthood he has an Uncle who it turns out is in favour of the African rebels and is supporting their efforts. The uncles actions likely contribute to the African boys grandfather being imprisoned and dying in prison and the death of the white girl and her family. He doesn't tell anyone about this but it ruins his relationship with his uncle. The boys sister wants to marry the African boy but her parents won't allow it so the young black man tells her he must leave her and eventually goes off to marry another woman. She then marries a man of her parent's choice but carries her love for the black man with her into the future when she and the African man meet again.
While this is going on the young man gets an education and through the help of his African friend lands a good job in the transportation department. Life is good for him but then he is offered a job as the assistant to a key government official. His african friend warns him not to take it but he doesn't listen and eventually gets involved in money laundering for the state.
The story is structured with the main character living in a cottage in nothern Ontario and reviewing his life while he tries to decide if he should return to face his accusers. While many of the people around him, his father, his uncle, his sister, his African friend seem to be very ethical, principaled people, the main characters does not appear to be principled. He seems to present his activities as almost naive, inadvertent.
He does decide to return to admit to guilt in some areas and make restitution but that stirs up concern from the politicians and officials whom his efforts benefitted and his life is endangered.
This was another very complex story, which asks very important questions and where not everything is clearly black and white or good and bad.
Another wonderful story that will stay with me for a long time.
The Prisoner of Heaven
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This is the third book in a loosely connected series by this author about and continues the story started in the first book Shadow of the Wind. In this book the son of the bookstore owner is happily married and has a young child, business is not great but things start to pick up. Then, an ominous stranger arrives with a threat.
The book then goes on to describe activities that happened decades before in a prison in the citadel on the hill in Barcelona. One of the prisoners is an author, another is Fermin Romero del Torres. Both of these men are friends of the bookstore owner and his son. Del Torres has been thought to have died in the prison, the story describes the details of his successful escape.
This book was an interesting read, as were the other two, but I have to admit that I got a bit mixed up with the details of the connections between the three books. I think I would have to read all three again to get a better understanding of the story.
This is the third book in a loosely connected series by this author about and continues the story started in the first book Shadow of the Wind. In this book the son of the bookstore owner is happily married and has a young child, business is not great but things start to pick up. Then, an ominous stranger arrives with a threat.
The book then goes on to describe activities that happened decades before in a prison in the citadel on the hill in Barcelona. One of the prisoners is an author, another is Fermin Romero del Torres. Both of these men are friends of the bookstore owner and his son. Del Torres has been thought to have died in the prison, the story describes the details of his successful escape.
This book was an interesting read, as were the other two, but I have to admit that I got a bit mixed up with the details of the connections between the three books. I think I would have to read all three again to get a better understanding of the story.
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