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.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
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.
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