by Ian Rankin
This is the latest Rankin book.
It sees Rebus return to work in a temporary capacity. He has been brought in because a gangster Rebus had tried to jail previously now seems to have had his life threatened (a shot was aimed at him in his house). He has received a threatening letter also. Interestingly a London lawyer has been murdered and has received the same letter. How could the two be connected.
While Rebus, Clark and Malcolm Fox are trying to work on these crimes (who would have thought Fox would willingly be working with Rebus??) there is a team from Headquarters working on tracking the activities of a major crime boss who seems to be seeking an associate who ran off with some of their drugs. The two investigations seem to be tripping over each other.
Rebus uses his skills/history to be able to talk to the threatened gangster and another young man who longs to take over the territory. They seem to be united in trying to keep the third criminal out of their territory, or are they making overtures to work with the third guy to push one of the others out.
Then the son of the third gangster is killed and it is feared an all out turf war will occur.
Rebus, Clark and Fox solve the crimes much to the chagrin of the HQ team. It turns out there might be a cop imbedded in the criminal gang. They are not sure who he is, and also wonder if they might be dealing with a cop who has turned to the dark side.
This was a good book. It provides great character development. It was interesting, perhaps puzzling to find that from going to investigate and try to take Rebus down Fox now willingly works with Rebus and vice versa. I am not sure either of them would so readily adapt to this new relationship.
Saturday, 19 December 2015
An Unmarked Grave
by Charles Todd
This is the fourth Bess Crawford Mystery about a young woman who is working as a nurse during WWI.
Bess is at a field station near the front in France. Many wounded are being treated but also the infamous flu is also decimating the soldiers and the staff. Bess is summoned to a storage area where the dead are being held until they can be transported for burial. The young man who supervises this area points out that one of the bodies has not died of wounds nor of the flu but appears to have a broken neck.
Bess recognizes him as a young man, an officer, she knew and sets off to tell the Matron about this suspicious death. However, before she can do so she falls seriously ill to the flu and ends up being returned to England to recuperate. She thinks she might have dreamed of the death but then hears that the young man who summoned her was found hanged. It is assumed he committed suicide.
Bess confides in her father and the family friend Simon and they try to investigate from their end (as intelligence officers). She returns to France to try to find out more but before she can do so she is attacked. The camp thinks all women are in danger. Her father arranges to have a young American who had joined the Canadian army come to her location and be an unofficial guard for her. Suddenly she receives orders to go to a new medical location. She travels to another city awaiting the transfer vehicle but it never arrives. When she reports to a nursing station the head nurse accuses her of partying on the town and missing her transport. She prepares paperwork to return her to England in disgrace.
Bess meets the families of the two dead men and it confirms her feeling that the one man did not commit suicide. She also meets the family of the other man but cannot figure out who would want to murder him. Could it be because he refused to share anything from the family estate because she tran away with an actor? Bess learns that a letter was sent to the Officer's wife by an Official, who does not appear to exist. Bess is shocked to learn that the nurse who so unceremoniously returned her to England has also died/been murdered in mysterious circumstances.
Bess returns to England and is attacked on the ship by a man in a British uniform.
It turns out that the murderer is really out to get revenge on Bess and her family because her father did not promote him.
This was by far the best of the books. The others have been okay. This was kept my interest more, perhaps because the crime actually involved the main character.
Bess
This is the fourth Bess Crawford Mystery about a young woman who is working as a nurse during WWI.
Bess is at a field station near the front in France. Many wounded are being treated but also the infamous flu is also decimating the soldiers and the staff. Bess is summoned to a storage area where the dead are being held until they can be transported for burial. The young man who supervises this area points out that one of the bodies has not died of wounds nor of the flu but appears to have a broken neck.
Bess recognizes him as a young man, an officer, she knew and sets off to tell the Matron about this suspicious death. However, before she can do so she falls seriously ill to the flu and ends up being returned to England to recuperate. She thinks she might have dreamed of the death but then hears that the young man who summoned her was found hanged. It is assumed he committed suicide.
Bess confides in her father and the family friend Simon and they try to investigate from their end (as intelligence officers). She returns to France to try to find out more but before she can do so she is attacked. The camp thinks all women are in danger. Her father arranges to have a young American who had joined the Canadian army come to her location and be an unofficial guard for her. Suddenly she receives orders to go to a new medical location. She travels to another city awaiting the transfer vehicle but it never arrives. When she reports to a nursing station the head nurse accuses her of partying on the town and missing her transport. She prepares paperwork to return her to England in disgrace.
Bess meets the families of the two dead men and it confirms her feeling that the one man did not commit suicide. She also meets the family of the other man but cannot figure out who would want to murder him. Could it be because he refused to share anything from the family estate because she tran away with an actor? Bess learns that a letter was sent to the Officer's wife by an Official, who does not appear to exist. Bess is shocked to learn that the nurse who so unceremoniously returned her to England has also died/been murdered in mysterious circumstances.
Bess returns to England and is attacked on the ship by a man in a British uniform.
It turns out that the murderer is really out to get revenge on Bess and her family because her father did not promote him.
This was by far the best of the books. The others have been okay. This was kept my interest more, perhaps because the crime actually involved the main character.
Bess
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Little Paris Bookshop
by Nina George
What a lovely life affirming book. It was truly uplifting.
The book starts out with a sad old Parisian man being asked to provide some furniture for a woman who has left her husband and who has nothing. He has little left, he has discarded most possessions but opens up a room he had closed off 20+ years before after the love of his life left him.
He finds a table and chair to give to the woman but finds opening the room brings back memories he had been trying to avoid of a woman he had an affair with.
He is now the owner of a floating barge on the seine, a bookshop. He seems to know the right kind of books to give people.
One of his neighbours is a quirky young man who recently wrote a very successful book and who seems to be hiding from his success and fans.
He visits the neighbour he gave the table to and she gives him a letter, an unopened letter that she found in the table. It is from the man's lover. He received it 20 years ago but never had the courage to open it. He has been living in grief and despair since she left him.
He is reluctant to open it but when he does he is devastated to find that his lover's letter tells him she is dying and asking him to come to see her before he dies. Now he feels worse than ever as he has failed her.
He decides to cut his boat free and sail to where his lover lived/was engaged to another man. He also is seeking to find out a who the author is of a book he particulary liked. His young author friend leaps on board as he is leaving, losing his wallet and ID in the leap. The men sail along the rivers of France making money by selling books or bartering books for food and other supplies. They meet another man who is seeking a woman he met years before.
While travelling Monsier Perdu ("lost') sends postcards to his lady neighbour and eventually invites her to join him in southern France. Both his male friends also find romantic attachments.
While the start of the book is sad the book is a touching affirmation of love and life. I really felt energized and inspired by it.
What a lovely life affirming book. It was truly uplifting.
The book starts out with a sad old Parisian man being asked to provide some furniture for a woman who has left her husband and who has nothing. He has little left, he has discarded most possessions but opens up a room he had closed off 20+ years before after the love of his life left him.
He finds a table and chair to give to the woman but finds opening the room brings back memories he had been trying to avoid of a woman he had an affair with.
He is now the owner of a floating barge on the seine, a bookshop. He seems to know the right kind of books to give people.
One of his neighbours is a quirky young man who recently wrote a very successful book and who seems to be hiding from his success and fans.
He visits the neighbour he gave the table to and she gives him a letter, an unopened letter that she found in the table. It is from the man's lover. He received it 20 years ago but never had the courage to open it. He has been living in grief and despair since she left him.
He is reluctant to open it but when he does he is devastated to find that his lover's letter tells him she is dying and asking him to come to see her before he dies. Now he feels worse than ever as he has failed her.
He decides to cut his boat free and sail to where his lover lived/was engaged to another man. He also is seeking to find out a who the author is of a book he particulary liked. His young author friend leaps on board as he is leaving, losing his wallet and ID in the leap. The men sail along the rivers of France making money by selling books or bartering books for food and other supplies. They meet another man who is seeking a woman he met years before.
While travelling Monsier Perdu ("lost') sends postcards to his lady neighbour and eventually invites her to join him in southern France. Both his male friends also find romantic attachments.
While the start of the book is sad the book is a touching affirmation of love and life. I really felt energized and inspired by it.
Monday, 16 November 2015
Circling the Sun
Paula McLain
I read a previous book by this author, the Paris Wife. I think I enjoyed that one.
I did not enjoy this book. I forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy the story and had no sympathy for the main character, Beryl Markham.
Beryl's father brought the family to Kenya in 1904. His wife hated it and went back to England with the son, leaving the daughter and father behind. A psychologist would have a field day with this, leaving your daughter but taking your son...
Beryl's father struggles to build a farm and a horse training business and is not successful. He brings a woman to the farm, a housekeeper/lover. Beryl learns horse training from her father. When her father sells the farm with plans to move to South Africa Beryl decides to marry a local farmer. She is only 16. They don't really know each other and the marriage is a disaster.
She eventually leaves her husband on the pretext of getting training to be a professional horse trainer. She has an affair with a black man. Her behaviour and her affair cause a scandal and she fights with her husband but he won't give her a divorce.
The book portrays lives of the rich/party scene in Kenya. Beryl meets Karen Blixen who is married but having an affair with a man who takes rich people on game hunts, Denys Finch Hutton. Beryl has an affair with him and gets pregnant, she aborts the baby.
She later is a kept woman, then goes on to remarry and have a disabled son whom she leaves in England with her husband and his family.
This woman seemed to have a sad life but you have to wonder how much she brought on herself with her wilfulness. I would have liked to have heard other people's impressions of her in addition to the author's sympathetic tone.
The book drones on over the first few years of her life and then covers her aviation career and the rest of her life in 50 pages. It was like the author herself had enough and wanted to get the book over with.
This book is a best seller but I can't say I agree with its popularity. I guess it is the appeal of the strongly independent woman.
I read a previous book by this author, the Paris Wife. I think I enjoyed that one.
I did not enjoy this book. I forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy the story and had no sympathy for the main character, Beryl Markham.
Beryl's father brought the family to Kenya in 1904. His wife hated it and went back to England with the son, leaving the daughter and father behind. A psychologist would have a field day with this, leaving your daughter but taking your son...
Beryl's father struggles to build a farm and a horse training business and is not successful. He brings a woman to the farm, a housekeeper/lover. Beryl learns horse training from her father. When her father sells the farm with plans to move to South Africa Beryl decides to marry a local farmer. She is only 16. They don't really know each other and the marriage is a disaster.
She eventually leaves her husband on the pretext of getting training to be a professional horse trainer. She has an affair with a black man. Her behaviour and her affair cause a scandal and she fights with her husband but he won't give her a divorce.
The book portrays lives of the rich/party scene in Kenya. Beryl meets Karen Blixen who is married but having an affair with a man who takes rich people on game hunts, Denys Finch Hutton. Beryl has an affair with him and gets pregnant, she aborts the baby.
She later is a kept woman, then goes on to remarry and have a disabled son whom she leaves in England with her husband and his family.
This woman seemed to have a sad life but you have to wonder how much she brought on herself with her wilfulness. I would have liked to have heard other people's impressions of her in addition to the author's sympathetic tone.
The book drones on over the first few years of her life and then covers her aviation career and the rest of her life in 50 pages. It was like the author herself had enough and wanted to get the book over with.
This book is a best seller but I can't say I agree with its popularity. I guess it is the appeal of the strongly independent woman.
Monday, 9 November 2015
The Nightengale
by Kristin Hannah
This book is the story of two French sisters and their resistance activities during WWII.
The girls' father returns from WWI a broken man. When his wife dies he sends his daughters off to be cared for by another woman. The girls are both devastated at the loss of their mother and the abandonment of their father.
When one of the daughters, Vianne, gets pregnant he is furious. She marries her boyfriend and he sends his other daughter, Isabelle, to live with them. The girls don't get along and the second daughter is sent to various boarding schools from which she gets expelled or runs away.
When the French surrender to the Germans the French hope things won't change much but pretty soon the Germans are taking over Paris, claiming homes, goods, and food. The father sends Isabelle, who has once again been sent home from school, to live with her sister.
Soon the German presence is felt in the small village. Vianne's husband is off fighting. Her priority is to lie low and keep her daughter safe. Isabelle wants to resist and starts distributing French resistance newsletters in the area. Later she goes on to lead airmen who have been shot down over the Pyrenees and back to safety/freedom. The Germans know she is called the Nightengale but don't realize she is a woman. They are trying to track her down.
Meantime Vianne is forced to let a German officer board with her. The first one is a kind man. He even tries to help her out by getting food and other items for her. Vianne is asked to report jews and communists in the area and she is forced by her houseguest to name her neighbour. The woman is rounded up a short time later and Vianne takes on the woman's son, giving him a new Christian name.
When the German accidentally sees that Isabelle has attempted to save an allied pilot Vianne and Isabelle kill him.
The next German houseguest is a brute, he forces Vianne to have sex and threatens to hurt her children if she does not cooperate.
In the end Isabelle is reunited with her father and is surprised to find out he is preparing forged documents for jews.
Isabelle and her father are eventually captured. Her father says he is the Nightengale and is executed. Isabelle is sent to a concentration camp. She survives the camp but contracts TB or pneumonia and dies shortly after she returns home.
Isabelle's son has just moved her into a senior's home. He wants her to be safe. He is shocked when he finds out she is going to France for a reunion. He joins her on her trip. The book ends with Isabelle telling her son (who is actually the product of the German's rape of her)
the story of her life... but not all of it.
This book was superb. It was a great story and really gave you a sense of what life was like for the French during the war.
This book is the story of two French sisters and their resistance activities during WWII.
The girls' father returns from WWI a broken man. When his wife dies he sends his daughters off to be cared for by another woman. The girls are both devastated at the loss of their mother and the abandonment of their father.
When one of the daughters, Vianne, gets pregnant he is furious. She marries her boyfriend and he sends his other daughter, Isabelle, to live with them. The girls don't get along and the second daughter is sent to various boarding schools from which she gets expelled or runs away.
When the French surrender to the Germans the French hope things won't change much but pretty soon the Germans are taking over Paris, claiming homes, goods, and food. The father sends Isabelle, who has once again been sent home from school, to live with her sister.
Soon the German presence is felt in the small village. Vianne's husband is off fighting. Her priority is to lie low and keep her daughter safe. Isabelle wants to resist and starts distributing French resistance newsletters in the area. Later she goes on to lead airmen who have been shot down over the Pyrenees and back to safety/freedom. The Germans know she is called the Nightengale but don't realize she is a woman. They are trying to track her down.
Meantime Vianne is forced to let a German officer board with her. The first one is a kind man. He even tries to help her out by getting food and other items for her. Vianne is asked to report jews and communists in the area and she is forced by her houseguest to name her neighbour. The woman is rounded up a short time later and Vianne takes on the woman's son, giving him a new Christian name.
When the German accidentally sees that Isabelle has attempted to save an allied pilot Vianne and Isabelle kill him.
The next German houseguest is a brute, he forces Vianne to have sex and threatens to hurt her children if she does not cooperate.
In the end Isabelle is reunited with her father and is surprised to find out he is preparing forged documents for jews.
Isabelle and her father are eventually captured. Her father says he is the Nightengale and is executed. Isabelle is sent to a concentration camp. She survives the camp but contracts TB or pneumonia and dies shortly after she returns home.
Isabelle's son has just moved her into a senior's home. He wants her to be safe. He is shocked when he finds out she is going to France for a reunion. He joins her on her trip. The book ends with Isabelle telling her son (who is actually the product of the German's rape of her)
the story of her life... but not all of it.
This book was superb. It was a great story and really gave you a sense of what life was like for the French during the war.
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
At the Water's Edge
by Sara Gruen
This book is the story of three rich/spoiled Americans who head to Scotland to try to prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster.
Maddie and her husband Ellis are cut off from his father after a scandalous New Year's Eve party in 1944. Ellis and his best friend Hank decide the only way to redeem him in his father's eyes is go to Scotland and prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster. His father had tried to do this year before but was proved a a fraud.
Maddie comes from a very unhappy home. Her mother was a bit psycho and only doted on her daughter to make her husband jealous and to have someone to confide in and dump her troubles on. She runs away with a married man but comes back in shame when the man returns to his wife. She accidentally kills herself, taking pills while having a bath. She had expected someone to find her before her demise. Maddie's father had sent her away to a boarding school after a fight with her mother and after seeing the negative impact the woman was having on her daughter. He doesn't seem to have any affection for Maddie.
Maddie meets Ellis and Hank when she sneaks off to one of the family homes. She parties wildly with all the local rich kids and doesn't hesitate when Ellis asks her to marry him.
Despite the war the men find a way to get them on a freighter and they make their way to Scotland where they find accommodation in a small hotel Ellis has registered them in Maddie's family name because he fears a negative reaction to his own family, and he is right, eventually someone sees him and recognizes the resemblance.
As the men cruise the lake, the lakeshore and interview locals Ellis's behaviour to Maddie becomes more rude and dismissive. She had been diagnosed as having a nervous disposition but it is Ellis who is consuming all her pills. Maddie overhears a conversation between the two men indicating that Ellis married her as a result of a coin toss.
The people in town resent the two men not being in the war, both apparently have medical excuses, Hank has flat feet and Ellis is supposedly colour blind. She later realizes that Ellis has faked his colour blindness and threatens to out her. His behaviour to her becomes even more aggressive and he threatens to have her hosptitalized for her nerves. She is terrified that he will do this and she telegraphs her father asking her to help her get out of Scotland. Her father basically responds saying that she has made her bed....
As the men roam about Maddie is bored so she offers to help around the hotel. She becomes friends with the local women who work at the hotel and in the bar/kitchen. She is attracted to the mysterious man, a wounded soldier, who is running the hotel. He had been severely injured in the war but there is a bigger tragedy hanging over him. While he was at war his wife gave birth to a baby girl who only survived a few hours, shortly after his wife receives word that he is believed killed in the war... she is so distraught a the loss of her daughter and the news about her husband that she drowns herself in the loch. A tombstone in the cemetery has the date of the babies death, the death of the wife, though she is not buried there, and the month and year of her husband's assumed death, though he did not die.
Maddie finds out her father has died. She does not tell her husband. She is trying to get instructions on how to get access to the money and leave her husband, but then her husband receives word that his father-in-law has died. He is furious that he was not told. The book ends with the three Americans being at the loch and Maddie's husband tries to drown her. Angus, the soldier, rescues Maddie. The act has been caught on camera but her husband has destroyed the evidence. When Hank finds out all that Ellis has done, the drugs, the attempted murder he is furious and they have a fight. Maddie then learns that her husband has been found dead, having drowned in two inches of water. The officials deem in accidental and Maddie becomes, Lady of the Estate when she marries Angus and finds true happiness.
This was an engaging story, at first I was totally disgusted with the three spoiled and totally self-centered Americans but gradually came to have some little sympathy for Maddie. The book kept you guessing til the end, hoping for a happy outcome.
This book is the story of three rich/spoiled Americans who head to Scotland to try to prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster.
Maddie and her husband Ellis are cut off from his father after a scandalous New Year's Eve party in 1944. Ellis and his best friend Hank decide the only way to redeem him in his father's eyes is go to Scotland and prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster. His father had tried to do this year before but was proved a a fraud.
Maddie comes from a very unhappy home. Her mother was a bit psycho and only doted on her daughter to make her husband jealous and to have someone to confide in and dump her troubles on. She runs away with a married man but comes back in shame when the man returns to his wife. She accidentally kills herself, taking pills while having a bath. She had expected someone to find her before her demise. Maddie's father had sent her away to a boarding school after a fight with her mother and after seeing the negative impact the woman was having on her daughter. He doesn't seem to have any affection for Maddie.
Maddie meets Ellis and Hank when she sneaks off to one of the family homes. She parties wildly with all the local rich kids and doesn't hesitate when Ellis asks her to marry him.
Despite the war the men find a way to get them on a freighter and they make their way to Scotland where they find accommodation in a small hotel Ellis has registered them in Maddie's family name because he fears a negative reaction to his own family, and he is right, eventually someone sees him and recognizes the resemblance.
As the men cruise the lake, the lakeshore and interview locals Ellis's behaviour to Maddie becomes more rude and dismissive. She had been diagnosed as having a nervous disposition but it is Ellis who is consuming all her pills. Maddie overhears a conversation between the two men indicating that Ellis married her as a result of a coin toss.
The people in town resent the two men not being in the war, both apparently have medical excuses, Hank has flat feet and Ellis is supposedly colour blind. She later realizes that Ellis has faked his colour blindness and threatens to out her. His behaviour to her becomes even more aggressive and he threatens to have her hosptitalized for her nerves. She is terrified that he will do this and she telegraphs her father asking her to help her get out of Scotland. Her father basically responds saying that she has made her bed....
As the men roam about Maddie is bored so she offers to help around the hotel. She becomes friends with the local women who work at the hotel and in the bar/kitchen. She is attracted to the mysterious man, a wounded soldier, who is running the hotel. He had been severely injured in the war but there is a bigger tragedy hanging over him. While he was at war his wife gave birth to a baby girl who only survived a few hours, shortly after his wife receives word that he is believed killed in the war... she is so distraught a the loss of her daughter and the news about her husband that she drowns herself in the loch. A tombstone in the cemetery has the date of the babies death, the death of the wife, though she is not buried there, and the month and year of her husband's assumed death, though he did not die.
Maddie finds out her father has died. She does not tell her husband. She is trying to get instructions on how to get access to the money and leave her husband, but then her husband receives word that his father-in-law has died. He is furious that he was not told. The book ends with the three Americans being at the loch and Maddie's husband tries to drown her. Angus, the soldier, rescues Maddie. The act has been caught on camera but her husband has destroyed the evidence. When Hank finds out all that Ellis has done, the drugs, the attempted murder he is furious and they have a fight. Maddie then learns that her husband has been found dead, having drowned in two inches of water. The officials deem in accidental and Maddie becomes, Lady of the Estate when she marries Angus and finds true happiness.
This was an engaging story, at first I was totally disgusted with the three spoiled and totally self-centered Americans but gradually came to have some little sympathy for Maddie. The book kept you guessing til the end, hoping for a happy outcome.
Saturday, 3 October 2015
A Beauty
by Connie Gault
This is another of the books nominated for the Giller Prize this year.
In some ways it reminds me of the book "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" in that it is about a young girl that influences life in a small town(s), However, unlike the girl in Broken Wheel the main character in A Beauty seems to leave dissatisfaction and sadness in her wake.
Elena Huhtala has been abandoned by her father on a failing farm on the Canadian prairies. She is starving because there is no food and no money. She doesn't know that her father left her all the money he had but that one of her "friends" dropped into the house and stole it. A note the father leaves seems to imply that he is going to commit suicide.
Elena is swinging on a swing in the yard, so hungry she doesn't even feel it anymore. Neighbours pass by on their way to a town dance and invite her to come along. She agrees to do so. Elena seems to captivate men. Every man who sees her seems to want to marry her, or carry her off, even married men. A stranger arrives at the dance and takes many of the girls for a twirl on the dance floor. He dances with Elena and eventually invites her to leave with him and leave town. She agrees and he takes her to the farm to gather a few clothes. The young man is driving a fancy car. He lies to her and tells her he is a trader. In truth he is the son of a rich man who recently graduated. His father gave him the car as a graduation present.
They drive from town to town, she loses her virginity, he pays for all the accommodations, meals and even buys her some clothes. People they meet along the way and the people she meets later in the story all seem to be affected by her... realizing their lives are not what they had hoped for.
As they are driving across the prairies they come to a sign for a town called Gilroy. For some reason Elena asks him to stop the car and she walks off. He doesn't come after her. If he had she probably would have returned to the car. But he drives off. She arrives in town with no belongings and no money and starts telling fortunes for a dime per person. Again all the men in town are smitten with her. A young girl notices Elena arrive and even thinks Elena saw the girl walking along the tracks looking very lonely. The young girl is frustrated because her father isn't much of a provider and her mother insists that she carry a lot of the burden for caring for the many children in the family. Elena is given accommodation at a local widow's house. She eventually runs off with the young girl's father leaving the family even more destitute.
Some time later Elena's father returns and finds out that she left with a stranger. We find that he left hopefully that would be the impetus for her to leave town and find a better life.... it didn't work out that way. He sets out to search for her and makes his way to several of the towns she visited but he loses the trail. The young girl knows that her father and Elena took a train to Toronto but she doesn't divulge this. She does keep up a written correspondence with the father and also the man who originally carry Elena off. The young man married and had a family but his wife died recently.
Then one day Elena returns to Gilroy. We find out that she dropped the girl's father some time ago and has several relationships since. Elena learns that her father was alive and tried to find her. She decides to return to the farm where she finds him alive and well. The young girl contacts the man who took Elena away and he drives to the farm to see her. She doesn't want to see him but he decides to sit on the porch til she comes out and talks to him.... he doesn't have anything else to do.
This was a very unusual story. You wonder if anyone would really have this overwhelming power over people, you never really hear what Elena is thinking, you are only told what she does so you don't get any idea of her true feelings and motivation. The author did a wonderful job of portraying small town life, the gossiping, the relationships, the busybodies, the despair over the depression and the droughts, the infestation of grasshoppers. Some of the scenes seem to be magical realism, the storms, the sunsets, carriganna pods popping when Elena arrives at the widow's house. etc. What would have happened if the father's money hadn't been stolen? Would Elena have had a happier life and disrupted other people's lives less?
This is another of the books nominated for the Giller Prize this year.
In some ways it reminds me of the book "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" in that it is about a young girl that influences life in a small town(s), However, unlike the girl in Broken Wheel the main character in A Beauty seems to leave dissatisfaction and sadness in her wake.
Elena Huhtala has been abandoned by her father on a failing farm on the Canadian prairies. She is starving because there is no food and no money. She doesn't know that her father left her all the money he had but that one of her "friends" dropped into the house and stole it. A note the father leaves seems to imply that he is going to commit suicide.
Elena is swinging on a swing in the yard, so hungry she doesn't even feel it anymore. Neighbours pass by on their way to a town dance and invite her to come along. She agrees to do so. Elena seems to captivate men. Every man who sees her seems to want to marry her, or carry her off, even married men. A stranger arrives at the dance and takes many of the girls for a twirl on the dance floor. He dances with Elena and eventually invites her to leave with him and leave town. She agrees and he takes her to the farm to gather a few clothes. The young man is driving a fancy car. He lies to her and tells her he is a trader. In truth he is the son of a rich man who recently graduated. His father gave him the car as a graduation present.
They drive from town to town, she loses her virginity, he pays for all the accommodations, meals and even buys her some clothes. People they meet along the way and the people she meets later in the story all seem to be affected by her... realizing their lives are not what they had hoped for.
As they are driving across the prairies they come to a sign for a town called Gilroy. For some reason Elena asks him to stop the car and she walks off. He doesn't come after her. If he had she probably would have returned to the car. But he drives off. She arrives in town with no belongings and no money and starts telling fortunes for a dime per person. Again all the men in town are smitten with her. A young girl notices Elena arrive and even thinks Elena saw the girl walking along the tracks looking very lonely. The young girl is frustrated because her father isn't much of a provider and her mother insists that she carry a lot of the burden for caring for the many children in the family. Elena is given accommodation at a local widow's house. She eventually runs off with the young girl's father leaving the family even more destitute.
Some time later Elena's father returns and finds out that she left with a stranger. We find that he left hopefully that would be the impetus for her to leave town and find a better life.... it didn't work out that way. He sets out to search for her and makes his way to several of the towns she visited but he loses the trail. The young girl knows that her father and Elena took a train to Toronto but she doesn't divulge this. She does keep up a written correspondence with the father and also the man who originally carry Elena off. The young man married and had a family but his wife died recently.
Then one day Elena returns to Gilroy. We find out that she dropped the girl's father some time ago and has several relationships since. Elena learns that her father was alive and tried to find her. She decides to return to the farm where she finds him alive and well. The young girl contacts the man who took Elena away and he drives to the farm to see her. She doesn't want to see him but he decides to sit on the porch til she comes out and talks to him.... he doesn't have anything else to do.
This was a very unusual story. You wonder if anyone would really have this overwhelming power over people, you never really hear what Elena is thinking, you are only told what she does so you don't get any idea of her true feelings and motivation. The author did a wonderful job of portraying small town life, the gossiping, the relationships, the busybodies, the despair over the depression and the droughts, the infestation of grasshoppers. Some of the scenes seem to be magical realism, the storms, the sunsets, carriganna pods popping when Elena arrives at the widow's house. etc. What would have happened if the father's money hadn't been stolen? Would Elena have had a happier life and disrupted other people's lives less?
Monday, 28 September 2015
All True Not a Lie in It
by Alix Hawley
This book is by a Kelowna Author. It has been getting a lot of acclaim and is on the Giller Prize longlist this year, deservedly so.
The book is about Daniel Boone, told in the first person. It is about his early life as a young man, then on into the years where he marries and tries to settle down. But he is always restless to be out on the land and hunting. So even when he and his wife get settled he often moves her on.
He like many other adventurers at the time are trying to encroach further into Indian territory in the west. Boone wants to settle down in Kentucky. It seems to beckon him. The Indians of course are fighting back, at one point they capture his daughter and some other girls and Boone and others have to go rescue them.
In the latter part of the book Boone and others have set up a rickety fort. They leave their wives and families behind and head off hunting but are captured by some Shawnee. Most of the men are treated as slaves but for some reason the chief adopts Boone as his replacement son. Although he attaches a guard to him so he won't escape. Boone's people consider him their leader and are angry at him for not figuring out how they can escape. At one point Boone's "father" takes Boone and some of his friends to a British general. The others are sold but Boone's father refuses to sell him. They bartered the me for goods. Boone doesn't seem to feel much if any remorse for the loss/possible death of these people that looked up to him.
A black man living with the Indian's urges Boone to escape with him. But Boone chooses not to do this. The black man then tells the chief that Boone was thinking of escaping and he is imprisoned for a time. He eventually is wed to an Indian woman.
He is haunted by the thoughts of dead family members, and thinks of his first wife and family sometimes but not enough to want to escape. He does live in fear that he will be asked to lead the Indians to the fort and that will result in a massacre. Only at the end of the book does he attempt to return. But we do not find out what has happened to his wife and daughters.
This is an incredible book, the level of detail of the life and conditions is amazing. An incredible amount of research must have gone into it. The author gives so much detail you can see, feel and smell everything about what life would have been like at the time.
This book is by a Kelowna Author. It has been getting a lot of acclaim and is on the Giller Prize longlist this year, deservedly so.
The book is about Daniel Boone, told in the first person. It is about his early life as a young man, then on into the years where he marries and tries to settle down. But he is always restless to be out on the land and hunting. So even when he and his wife get settled he often moves her on.
He like many other adventurers at the time are trying to encroach further into Indian territory in the west. Boone wants to settle down in Kentucky. It seems to beckon him. The Indians of course are fighting back, at one point they capture his daughter and some other girls and Boone and others have to go rescue them.
In the latter part of the book Boone and others have set up a rickety fort. They leave their wives and families behind and head off hunting but are captured by some Shawnee. Most of the men are treated as slaves but for some reason the chief adopts Boone as his replacement son. Although he attaches a guard to him so he won't escape. Boone's people consider him their leader and are angry at him for not figuring out how they can escape. At one point Boone's "father" takes Boone and some of his friends to a British general. The others are sold but Boone's father refuses to sell him. They bartered the me for goods. Boone doesn't seem to feel much if any remorse for the loss/possible death of these people that looked up to him.
A black man living with the Indian's urges Boone to escape with him. But Boone chooses not to do this. The black man then tells the chief that Boone was thinking of escaping and he is imprisoned for a time. He eventually is wed to an Indian woman.
He is haunted by the thoughts of dead family members, and thinks of his first wife and family sometimes but not enough to want to escape. He does live in fear that he will be asked to lead the Indians to the fort and that will result in a massacre. Only at the end of the book does he attempt to return. But we do not find out what has happened to his wife and daughters.
This is an incredible book, the level of detail of the life and conditions is amazing. An incredible amount of research must have gone into it. The author gives so much detail you can see, feel and smell everything about what life would have been like at the time.
Monday, 7 September 2015
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
by Katarina Bivald
This book is a gem. It is the debut novel by a Swedish author.
The story is about a 28 year old Swedish woman, a bookworm, who has lost her job at a bookstore when it went out of business. Sara had been sharing letters with an elderly book lover, Amy, in Broken Wheel Iowa. The letters were largely about books but Amy but also tells Sara about the town. She invites Sara to come for a visit and Sara decides to take her up on the offer. What does she have to lose, she has no job and she is a disappointment to her parents.
However, when she arrives in the U.S. Amy isn't there to greet her. Amy has died. A neighbour comes to pick her up and she arrives at Amy's house as the funeral gathering is occuring. She thinks she should leave but the town's people encourage her to stay on, staying at Amy's place.
She agrees to do this and gets to know the half deserted town and its quirky residents. She is bored just reading and decides to take Amy's large collection of books and set up a bookshop in the store that was once Amy's husband's unsuccessful hardware store. The husband predeceased Amy. Sara is convinced that the people in the town aren't readers and she is committed to changing that. At first people just stand outside and watch her reading inside. But gradually they come in to talk and eventually borrow or buy a book.
Word of the bookstore spreads to the nearest town Hope and soon the unimaginable happens, people from Hope come to visit/shop in Broken Wheel. Sara's spunk seems to inspire the who town. The decide to have a fair and a town dance. They realized that Sara is the reason the town has been reinvigorated and the town's people conspire to have one of the few bachelors in town marry Sara so she can stay in the U.S. Sara and the young man actually love each other but are afraid to admit it and soon the immigration people arrive in town to investigate whether a marriage of convenience is being planned.
Things all work out well in the end. A lovely, quirky story. The author did an amazing job of portraying a down and out American small town and the petty politics, scheming, gossiping, etc. that occurs.
This book is a gem. It is the debut novel by a Swedish author.
The story is about a 28 year old Swedish woman, a bookworm, who has lost her job at a bookstore when it went out of business. Sara had been sharing letters with an elderly book lover, Amy, in Broken Wheel Iowa. The letters were largely about books but Amy but also tells Sara about the town. She invites Sara to come for a visit and Sara decides to take her up on the offer. What does she have to lose, she has no job and she is a disappointment to her parents.
However, when she arrives in the U.S. Amy isn't there to greet her. Amy has died. A neighbour comes to pick her up and she arrives at Amy's house as the funeral gathering is occuring. She thinks she should leave but the town's people encourage her to stay on, staying at Amy's place.
She agrees to do this and gets to know the half deserted town and its quirky residents. She is bored just reading and decides to take Amy's large collection of books and set up a bookshop in the store that was once Amy's husband's unsuccessful hardware store. The husband predeceased Amy. Sara is convinced that the people in the town aren't readers and she is committed to changing that. At first people just stand outside and watch her reading inside. But gradually they come in to talk and eventually borrow or buy a book.
Word of the bookstore spreads to the nearest town Hope and soon the unimaginable happens, people from Hope come to visit/shop in Broken Wheel. Sara's spunk seems to inspire the who town. The decide to have a fair and a town dance. They realized that Sara is the reason the town has been reinvigorated and the town's people conspire to have one of the few bachelors in town marry Sara so she can stay in the U.S. Sara and the young man actually love each other but are afraid to admit it and soon the immigration people arrive in town to investigate whether a marriage of convenience is being planned.
Things all work out well in the end. A lovely, quirky story. The author did an amazing job of portraying a down and out American small town and the petty politics, scheming, gossiping, etc. that occurs.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
The Illuminations
By Andrew O'Hagan
This book is one of the books on the Mann Booker longlist this year. It may be based partly on the life of a Canadian photographer, Margaret Watkins.
The main story is about a woman Anne, who is living in a senior's home and losing her mind to dementia. She keeps talking about her husband Harry, a war hero. Anne apparently was born in Canada, lived and work for some time in U.S. but then moved to the U.K. to look after some aged aunts. She has a pottery rabbit that she thinks is real. She also talks about Blackpool a lot. We find out that Anne never really had a husband but rather had an affair with a married man. They had a room in Blackpool where they rendez-voused. The man seems to have coached Anne to even better photographic techniques.
Anne's daughter wants to be a good daughter but is frustrated that she can never seem to be good enough for her mother, so she isn't close to her mother. Anne's son, however, is very close to his grandmother. They talked, read the same books and have a close bond. Luke's father was a soldier, killed in Ireland. Luke joins the army and is Afghanistan where he is plagued by seeing his commanding officer lose his confidence and fail his troops which results in a massacre. Luke feels guilty for what happened and thinks he should have done something about the commanding officer beforehand. He decides to leave the army but may be called on as a witness in the court martial for his superior. Possibly he too will be held accountable.
In the nursing home Ann has a friend Maureen who looks out for her, visiting her, bringing her food, writing letters to the grandson. Maureen is a puzzle, while she is so kind to her friend Anne, she is very unkind unfriendly to her own family. She is grumpy that they don't contact her or visit her but when they do visit she feels put upon and can't wait for them to leave. She is very rude to them. She pretends to others that she misses her family and appreciates them.
The family received a letter from Canada saying that a gallery wants to put on a display of Anne's photographs. Luke would like this to go ahead and for his Gran to travel to Canada for the exhibit. But it is not likely she would be able to travel.
It is decided that Anne needs to go into a facility that offers more care. The grandson tells his mother he will take his Gran to Blackpool for a holiday while her stuff is moved to the new place. He takes his grandmother to Blackpool and they stay in the room at a rooming house that she had bought. She loves the trip and he learns more about his Gran's past including the fact that she actually had twins but that the boy of the twins died in a car accident when Anne, her children and her lover were on a driving holiday. This could explain why his mother feels she was not enough or good enough.
Luke calls his mother to report on the trip. He has come to realize how important a good, honest family relationship is. He makes an effort to try to improve his relationship with her.
This was a very powerful, very well written story. The characters were very complex and their lives were depicted with honesty and sensitivity. I enjoyed it.
This book is one of the books on the Mann Booker longlist this year. It may be based partly on the life of a Canadian photographer, Margaret Watkins.
The main story is about a woman Anne, who is living in a senior's home and losing her mind to dementia. She keeps talking about her husband Harry, a war hero. Anne apparently was born in Canada, lived and work for some time in U.S. but then moved to the U.K. to look after some aged aunts. She has a pottery rabbit that she thinks is real. She also talks about Blackpool a lot. We find out that Anne never really had a husband but rather had an affair with a married man. They had a room in Blackpool where they rendez-voused. The man seems to have coached Anne to even better photographic techniques.
Anne's daughter wants to be a good daughter but is frustrated that she can never seem to be good enough for her mother, so she isn't close to her mother. Anne's son, however, is very close to his grandmother. They talked, read the same books and have a close bond. Luke's father was a soldier, killed in Ireland. Luke joins the army and is Afghanistan where he is plagued by seeing his commanding officer lose his confidence and fail his troops which results in a massacre. Luke feels guilty for what happened and thinks he should have done something about the commanding officer beforehand. He decides to leave the army but may be called on as a witness in the court martial for his superior. Possibly he too will be held accountable.
In the nursing home Ann has a friend Maureen who looks out for her, visiting her, bringing her food, writing letters to the grandson. Maureen is a puzzle, while she is so kind to her friend Anne, she is very unkind unfriendly to her own family. She is grumpy that they don't contact her or visit her but when they do visit she feels put upon and can't wait for them to leave. She is very rude to them. She pretends to others that she misses her family and appreciates them.
The family received a letter from Canada saying that a gallery wants to put on a display of Anne's photographs. Luke would like this to go ahead and for his Gran to travel to Canada for the exhibit. But it is not likely she would be able to travel.
It is decided that Anne needs to go into a facility that offers more care. The grandson tells his mother he will take his Gran to Blackpool for a holiday while her stuff is moved to the new place. He takes his grandmother to Blackpool and they stay in the room at a rooming house that she had bought. She loves the trip and he learns more about his Gran's past including the fact that she actually had twins but that the boy of the twins died in a car accident when Anne, her children and her lover were on a driving holiday. This could explain why his mother feels she was not enough or good enough.
Luke calls his mother to report on the trip. He has come to realize how important a good, honest family relationship is. He makes an effort to try to improve his relationship with her.
This was a very powerful, very well written story. The characters were very complex and their lives were depicted with honesty and sensitivity. I enjoyed it.
Friday, 21 August 2015
The Museum of Extraordinary Things
by Alice Hoffman
out
This is the second book I have read by this author, the other was the Dovekeepers. I enjoyed this book but think the other book was more powerful both in the story line and the writing.
This book is set in New York at the start of the 20th century. It focuses on two young people, Coralie Sardie and Eddie (Ezeckiel Cohen).
Coralie's father runs a museum of unusual items, living and dead. He hires misfits for the season, fire eaters, a wolfman, etc. Coralie is a misfit herself, she has webbed hands. Her father teaches Coralie to swim and to hold her breath under water. He gets her to swim in the river to try to develop a myth of a river creature, he dresses her as a mermaid and has her swim in a tank in the museum, using an air tube for breathing.
Coralie has no mother but is very close to the family's housekeeper, a woman who has scars from an acid burn. She appreciates the kindness of the woman, it helps her cope with her controlling father who will not even let her leave the house. The woman has fallen in love with the wolfman, who no longer works for her father. She is touched by the affection between the two as she has no love in her life.
Eddie and his father escaped from Europe and settled in New York. They are very traditional Jews.
Eddie's father gets a job as a tailor and Eddie accompanies him to work. On one day there is an altercation down near the docks and Eddie's father dives/fall into the water. Eddie thinks his father has tried to commit suicide and he is disgusted at his father "abandoning" him in this way. His father survives but Eddie leaves his father and hooks up with a shady character who has him follow people and spy on them. He learns how to be "invisible". He doesn't really like the work. He meets a photographer and becomes his apprentice. A job he enjoys much more. When his mentor dies Eddie continues as a photographer taking pictures of crime scenes. One of the events he photographs is a horrific fire at a clothing factory where many young people are killed, or jumped from the building because the doors where locked.
One day Coralie is swimming and finds a dead girl on the edge of the river. The girl's mouth is sewn closed with blue thread. She tells her father and instead of telling the authorities the father scoops up the body and plans to make the body part of a display in his museum, converting the girl to a mermaid with fish scales. Coralie is disgusted by this and by the fact that her father is now having her swim nude in the tank to make money for the financially struggling museum.
At the same time Eddie is approached by a friend of his father. The man knows of Eddie's previous work and asks him to find out what happened to his daughter. Eddie's sleuthing unearth's the truth, that the dead girl Coralie found is the missing daughter and she was killed because of her pro-union activities.
Eddie finds out that he was mistaken about his father. His father had not attempted suicide. He was pushed into the water. He also finds out that his father has been keeping track on him over the years. He wants to reconcile with his father but isn't able to, instead he leaves money under his father's door.
Coralie and Eddie meet and it is love at first sight. Coralie decides to run away but before she can do this her father imprisons her in the basement. Coralie finds out that her father has lied to her all along. He had told her mother was french. In fact Coralie was an orphan left on his doorstep. The housekeeper showed up seeking work shortly after Coralie arrived, is she Coralie's mother?? Coralie also finds out that it was her father who disfigured the housekeeper.
As the book ends Dreamland, a big amusement park across the street from the museum, and big competition for the museum has caught on fire. The fire is spreading to the neighbouring buildings including the museum. Eddie and the housekeeper are able to save Coralie.
It was an interesting story and certainly portrayed a detailed picture of life in New York at the turn of the century and how the city was changing and growing.
out
This is the second book I have read by this author, the other was the Dovekeepers. I enjoyed this book but think the other book was more powerful both in the story line and the writing.
This book is set in New York at the start of the 20th century. It focuses on two young people, Coralie Sardie and Eddie (Ezeckiel Cohen).
Coralie's father runs a museum of unusual items, living and dead. He hires misfits for the season, fire eaters, a wolfman, etc. Coralie is a misfit herself, she has webbed hands. Her father teaches Coralie to swim and to hold her breath under water. He gets her to swim in the river to try to develop a myth of a river creature, he dresses her as a mermaid and has her swim in a tank in the museum, using an air tube for breathing.
Coralie has no mother but is very close to the family's housekeeper, a woman who has scars from an acid burn. She appreciates the kindness of the woman, it helps her cope with her controlling father who will not even let her leave the house. The woman has fallen in love with the wolfman, who no longer works for her father. She is touched by the affection between the two as she has no love in her life.
Eddie and his father escaped from Europe and settled in New York. They are very traditional Jews.
Eddie's father gets a job as a tailor and Eddie accompanies him to work. On one day there is an altercation down near the docks and Eddie's father dives/fall into the water. Eddie thinks his father has tried to commit suicide and he is disgusted at his father "abandoning" him in this way. His father survives but Eddie leaves his father and hooks up with a shady character who has him follow people and spy on them. He learns how to be "invisible". He doesn't really like the work. He meets a photographer and becomes his apprentice. A job he enjoys much more. When his mentor dies Eddie continues as a photographer taking pictures of crime scenes. One of the events he photographs is a horrific fire at a clothing factory where many young people are killed, or jumped from the building because the doors where locked.
One day Coralie is swimming and finds a dead girl on the edge of the river. The girl's mouth is sewn closed with blue thread. She tells her father and instead of telling the authorities the father scoops up the body and plans to make the body part of a display in his museum, converting the girl to a mermaid with fish scales. Coralie is disgusted by this and by the fact that her father is now having her swim nude in the tank to make money for the financially struggling museum.
At the same time Eddie is approached by a friend of his father. The man knows of Eddie's previous work and asks him to find out what happened to his daughter. Eddie's sleuthing unearth's the truth, that the dead girl Coralie found is the missing daughter and she was killed because of her pro-union activities.
Eddie finds out that he was mistaken about his father. His father had not attempted suicide. He was pushed into the water. He also finds out that his father has been keeping track on him over the years. He wants to reconcile with his father but isn't able to, instead he leaves money under his father's door.
Coralie and Eddie meet and it is love at first sight. Coralie decides to run away but before she can do this her father imprisons her in the basement. Coralie finds out that her father has lied to her all along. He had told her mother was french. In fact Coralie was an orphan left on his doorstep. The housekeeper showed up seeking work shortly after Coralie arrived, is she Coralie's mother?? Coralie also finds out that it was her father who disfigured the housekeeper.
As the book ends Dreamland, a big amusement park across the street from the museum, and big competition for the museum has caught on fire. The fire is spreading to the neighbouring buildings including the museum. Eddie and the housekeeper are able to save Coralie.
It was an interesting story and certainly portrayed a detailed picture of life in New York at the turn of the century and how the city was changing and growing.
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
The Moor's Account
by Laila Lalami
This book is on the Mann Booker longlist this year. The author, born in Morocco, now lives in the U.S.
The story takes place in the 1500's. The story is told by a Muslim man Mustafa ibn Muhhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamri, of the city of Azemmur in Morocco. Mustafa's father is a successful Notary and hopes his son will follow in the same career but Mustafa does not want a boring clerical career. He routinely skips school to spend time in the markets and eventually gets a job as a trader. He is quite successful at this. Then the Portugese come and insist that taxes be paid to them. The town refuses and the city is held seige by the Portugese. Mustafa's father becomes despondent/ill and eventually dies. Mustafa is left to support his mother, sister and twin brother's. But with the seige he loses his job. Desperate to provide money for his family he sells himself into slavery.
He finds himself chained with other slaves and shipped to Spain. He is bought as a household slave and is roughly treated by his master. This master eventually sells him to a man who plans to sail to the new world to make his fortune. Mustafa has been renamed Esteban by his owners. He is very sad for his loss of freedom and dreams about regaining his freedom and returning to his home some day.
The expedition land in "La Florida". The leader, Narveaz, decides to land some of the travellers on the shore and have the ships meet them further on at a large port they believe exists. This is the first of many bad decisions which ultimately result in the deaths of all but four of the expedition people.
The people do not find any gold, they find a few trinkets with turquoise and gold. They encounter some small indian setttlements which they loot for food and other tools. They live lives of hardship, at times being treated like slaves of the indians in return for meagre rations, some resort to cannibalism.
Mustafa and his fellow survivors eventually learn the local languages and combine some of their knowledge of medical treatment and some of the things that they have learned from the natives into a travelling healing business. They are fed by their guests and receive lots of guests. Some of them take native wives. They end up having a group of over a thousand natives who travel with them. Eventually Mustafa reconciles himself to life in North America. But then one day they come upon a Spaniard who is seeking riches and slaves. The Spaniard takes them back to Mexico where they are welcomed back. The Spaniards want them to tell their story so that they, the Spaniards can conquer the lands and the people. Mustafa's group are loathe to see the natives they have come to love and who trust them enslaved so they don't cooperate.
Mustafa's owner had promised to grant him his freedom but then he keeps stalling. He is being offered money to sell Mustafa as a guide and interpreter. Mustafa is shattered that he will likely never get his freedom. He and his pregnant wife set off on an exploratory mission. He eventually convinces a native group to send back word that he has been murdered by the natives. This is the only way he will gain his freedom, he and his wife will return to her people.
He decides to write his own account of his travels as he feels the Spaniards version is not really the truth but is meant to make them appear in the best possible light, and not admit to the bad things they did.
I found the book very interesting and engaging. The author told a great adventure story, based on a real expedition, she did a wonderful job of portraying life at that time and the trials the group would have faced.
This book is on the Mann Booker longlist this year. The author, born in Morocco, now lives in the U.S.
The story takes place in the 1500's. The story is told by a Muslim man Mustafa ibn Muhhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamri, of the city of Azemmur in Morocco. Mustafa's father is a successful Notary and hopes his son will follow in the same career but Mustafa does not want a boring clerical career. He routinely skips school to spend time in the markets and eventually gets a job as a trader. He is quite successful at this. Then the Portugese come and insist that taxes be paid to them. The town refuses and the city is held seige by the Portugese. Mustafa's father becomes despondent/ill and eventually dies. Mustafa is left to support his mother, sister and twin brother's. But with the seige he loses his job. Desperate to provide money for his family he sells himself into slavery.
He finds himself chained with other slaves and shipped to Spain. He is bought as a household slave and is roughly treated by his master. This master eventually sells him to a man who plans to sail to the new world to make his fortune. Mustafa has been renamed Esteban by his owners. He is very sad for his loss of freedom and dreams about regaining his freedom and returning to his home some day.
The expedition land in "La Florida". The leader, Narveaz, decides to land some of the travellers on the shore and have the ships meet them further on at a large port they believe exists. This is the first of many bad decisions which ultimately result in the deaths of all but four of the expedition people.
The people do not find any gold, they find a few trinkets with turquoise and gold. They encounter some small indian setttlements which they loot for food and other tools. They live lives of hardship, at times being treated like slaves of the indians in return for meagre rations, some resort to cannibalism.
Mustafa and his fellow survivors eventually learn the local languages and combine some of their knowledge of medical treatment and some of the things that they have learned from the natives into a travelling healing business. They are fed by their guests and receive lots of guests. Some of them take native wives. They end up having a group of over a thousand natives who travel with them. Eventually Mustafa reconciles himself to life in North America. But then one day they come upon a Spaniard who is seeking riches and slaves. The Spaniard takes them back to Mexico where they are welcomed back. The Spaniards want them to tell their story so that they, the Spaniards can conquer the lands and the people. Mustafa's group are loathe to see the natives they have come to love and who trust them enslaved so they don't cooperate.
Mustafa's owner had promised to grant him his freedom but then he keeps stalling. He is being offered money to sell Mustafa as a guide and interpreter. Mustafa is shattered that he will likely never get his freedom. He and his pregnant wife set off on an exploratory mission. He eventually convinces a native group to send back word that he has been murdered by the natives. This is the only way he will gain his freedom, he and his wife will return to her people.
He decides to write his own account of his travels as he feels the Spaniards version is not really the truth but is meant to make them appear in the best possible light, and not admit to the bad things they did.
I found the book very interesting and engaging. The author told a great adventure story, based on a real expedition, she did a wonderful job of portraying life at that time and the trials the group would have faced.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
The Paris Architect
This book takes place in WwII France A young architect, hungry for work and money is approached by a wealthy businessman to build a hiding spot in an apartment to hide a Jehw who is being sought by thr Germans. The deal is sweetened with the offer of a factory design contract. The young man is reluctant but eventually agrees.
He goes on to design more hiding spots and to get a factory design contract. He is surprised to meet one German officer who is interested in architecture and art.
Because the architect is so busy, he hires an assistant. The assistant is the nephew of a German officer. The assistant becomes suspicious of his boss when he sees some unusual drawings on the boss's desk. He starts to follow his boss tries to break into his desk.
Th architect is shocked when his wife tells him he is a traitor and is leaving him for another man.
The architect is asked to shelter a young jewish boy, despite the danger he agrees to do so and brings the young man on as a helper. This young man discovers what the other assistant is doing and eventually murders him to save his boss.
The book describes the brutal behavior of the Germans in their torture of people and methods to instill fear in the French. In the end the Architect is captured by the Resistance who enlist his help to destroy his precious factory, pointing out that the few lives he is saving in Paris will not make up for the many lives that will be lost if the factory is completed.
Eventually life becomes to dangerous for the architect and his German official helps him escape with his young boy, his lover, and the two Jewish children she has been sheltering. The book did an excellent job of portaying life in occupied France. It was suspenseful til the end.
He goes on to design more hiding spots and to get a factory design contract. He is surprised to meet one German officer who is interested in architecture and art.
Because the architect is so busy, he hires an assistant. The assistant is the nephew of a German officer. The assistant becomes suspicious of his boss when he sees some unusual drawings on the boss's desk. He starts to follow his boss tries to break into his desk.
Th architect is shocked when his wife tells him he is a traitor and is leaving him for another man.
The architect is asked to shelter a young jewish boy, despite the danger he agrees to do so and brings the young man on as a helper. This young man discovers what the other assistant is doing and eventually murders him to save his boss.
The book describes the brutal behavior of the Germans in their torture of people and methods to instill fear in the French. In the end the Architect is captured by the Resistance who enlist his help to destroy his precious factory, pointing out that the few lives he is saving in Paris will not make up for the many lives that will be lost if the factory is completed.
Eventually life becomes to dangerous for the architect and his German official helps him escape with his young boy, his lover, and the two Jewish children she has been sheltering. The book did an excellent job of portaying life in occupied France. It was suspenseful til the end.
Friday, 5 June 2015
The Night Stages
by Jane Urquhart
I have read and enjoyed other books by Urquhart but I did not enjoy this one as much as the others. It seemed a bit disjointed.
The author has a beautiful way for writing and for conveying the atmosphere of Ireland where most of the story takes place.
The story is basically about a two women and two brothers and a dysfunctional family.
Niall and Kieran are brothers. Their mother has a difficult tie delivering Kieran the younger boy and seems to be depressed, self-absorbed after the birth. She has an affair with the local chemist and they commit suicide jumping over a cliff into the sea. The boys father is devastated at the death of his wife and at the fact that she was unfaithful. He keeps praising his older son and ignoring the younger one though both boys are also suffering. The older brother becomes a successful student, athlete and a meteorologist like his father. The younger boy begins acting out and is eventually taken on by the family's housekeeper, he goes to live with her and she is the mother he never had. The younger boy is of course jealous of all he attention his older brother gets and also of his lovely girlfriend.
The younger boy becomes and avid bicyclist and loves riding the rugged landscape. He meets a man who encourages him to enter an Irish bicycle race and puts the boy on a rigid training regime. There is some magical realism involved in some of his adventures.
The older brother has married his girlfriend but is having an affair with a woman from London who has moved to the area. The woman had been a pilot during the war, ferrying planes. Niall is now obsessed with finding out what happened to his brother. This is surprising considering how horribly he treated him. As the book opens she has decided to leave Niall by leaving Ireland for Canada. She arrives at the Gander International Airport for the plane to be refuelled but ends up stranded at the airport for several days because of fog. While she sits in the airport she thinks about her life and studies the famous, huge mural by Kenneth Lockhead. The story includes some background (real or fiction??) about his life.
When the race occurs we learn that Niall is competing as part of a team. He is shocked to learn that his brother is also competing, as an independent. He does not want to be bettered by his brother but Kieran wins many of the legs and becomes almost legendary, a crowd favourite. Near the end of the race Kieran crashes and Niall's wife runs to Kieran. Niall is shocked to realize there was something between them.
I found Kieran interesting, he was so passionate, so primal, so injured. I couldn't really see the value of the story of the painter of the mural, as part of the novel. I couldn't understand why Niall would all of a sudden be so interested in his brother. As the book ends the woman, Tam has decided to return to Ireland. Will she go back to Niall, or will she just live out her life there? Not sure, but don't really care.
Maybe things would hang together better on a second reading.
I have read and enjoyed other books by Urquhart but I did not enjoy this one as much as the others. It seemed a bit disjointed.
The author has a beautiful way for writing and for conveying the atmosphere of Ireland where most of the story takes place.
The story is basically about a two women and two brothers and a dysfunctional family.
Niall and Kieran are brothers. Their mother has a difficult tie delivering Kieran the younger boy and seems to be depressed, self-absorbed after the birth. She has an affair with the local chemist and they commit suicide jumping over a cliff into the sea. The boys father is devastated at the death of his wife and at the fact that she was unfaithful. He keeps praising his older son and ignoring the younger one though both boys are also suffering. The older brother becomes a successful student, athlete and a meteorologist like his father. The younger boy begins acting out and is eventually taken on by the family's housekeeper, he goes to live with her and she is the mother he never had. The younger boy is of course jealous of all he attention his older brother gets and also of his lovely girlfriend.
The younger boy becomes and avid bicyclist and loves riding the rugged landscape. He meets a man who encourages him to enter an Irish bicycle race and puts the boy on a rigid training regime. There is some magical realism involved in some of his adventures.
The older brother has married his girlfriend but is having an affair with a woman from London who has moved to the area. The woman had been a pilot during the war, ferrying planes. Niall is now obsessed with finding out what happened to his brother. This is surprising considering how horribly he treated him. As the book opens she has decided to leave Niall by leaving Ireland for Canada. She arrives at the Gander International Airport for the plane to be refuelled but ends up stranded at the airport for several days because of fog. While she sits in the airport she thinks about her life and studies the famous, huge mural by Kenneth Lockhead. The story includes some background (real or fiction??) about his life.
When the race occurs we learn that Niall is competing as part of a team. He is shocked to learn that his brother is also competing, as an independent. He does not want to be bettered by his brother but Kieran wins many of the legs and becomes almost legendary, a crowd favourite. Near the end of the race Kieran crashes and Niall's wife runs to Kieran. Niall is shocked to realize there was something between them.
I found Kieran interesting, he was so passionate, so primal, so injured. I couldn't really see the value of the story of the painter of the mural, as part of the novel. I couldn't understand why Niall would all of a sudden be so interested in his brother. As the book ends the woman, Tam has decided to return to Ireland. Will she go back to Niall, or will she just live out her life there? Not sure, but don't really care.
Maybe things would hang together better on a second reading.
An Evil Eye
by Jason Goodwin
This is one of a series of mysteries set in Turkey. The new Sultan is taking over and the women of the deceased Sultan are bundled off to another palace. Yashim feels that he is lucky, he is not entombed in the life of the palace. He is asked to investigate the report of a body being found in the well of a monastery. There is some unrest as some people feel the dead person might be a muslim.
Yashim goes to examine the body and comes to the conclusion that the dead person must be Russian, partly based on a tatoo he finds on the body. He slices off the skin with the tattoo.
While this is going one we learn about the power struggles going on among the women in the harem.
Yashim is friends with a former Diplomat from Poland. The country no longer exist because of re-configuring of Europe but the gentleman is allowed to stay in Istanbul and receive a small living allowance from the Government of Turkey. The two men are drinking buddies and share other interests. One of the young boys being raised to be a scholar/soldier in the harem runs away, Yashim finds him and asks the Pole to take him in.
As Yashim is proceeding with his investigations he is shocked and saddened to meet a man who was formerly a mentor but whom he now despises for his brutality. The man has done a treacherous act, as leader of the fleet he has taken all the Turkish fleet and surrendered them to Egypt. The man asks Yashim's help in getting his daughter out of the Harem and Yashim agrees to help him. He is evenutally able to figure out why the original murder occured.
As a work of historical fiction and a mystery this was a nice read. The historical details and the descriptions of Turkey are interesting and colourful.
This is one of a series of mysteries set in Turkey. The new Sultan is taking over and the women of the deceased Sultan are bundled off to another palace. Yashim feels that he is lucky, he is not entombed in the life of the palace. He is asked to investigate the report of a body being found in the well of a monastery. There is some unrest as some people feel the dead person might be a muslim.
Yashim goes to examine the body and comes to the conclusion that the dead person must be Russian, partly based on a tatoo he finds on the body. He slices off the skin with the tattoo.
While this is going one we learn about the power struggles going on among the women in the harem.
Yashim is friends with a former Diplomat from Poland. The country no longer exist because of re-configuring of Europe but the gentleman is allowed to stay in Istanbul and receive a small living allowance from the Government of Turkey. The two men are drinking buddies and share other interests. One of the young boys being raised to be a scholar/soldier in the harem runs away, Yashim finds him and asks the Pole to take him in.
As Yashim is proceeding with his investigations he is shocked and saddened to meet a man who was formerly a mentor but whom he now despises for his brutality. The man has done a treacherous act, as leader of the fleet he has taken all the Turkish fleet and surrendered them to Egypt. The man asks Yashim's help in getting his daughter out of the Harem and Yashim agrees to help him. He is evenutally able to figure out why the original murder occured.
As a work of historical fiction and a mystery this was a nice read. The historical details and the descriptions of Turkey are interesting and colourful.
Dear Thief
by Samantha Harvey
I was enthralled with the last book I read by this author, The Wilderness, so I was looking foward to this book.
This woman is an incredible writer!! This book apparently inspired by the Leonard Cohen song "Famous Blue Raincoat", is a letter, or series of letters that a woman is writing to a friend who has had a big and devastating role in her life. "You were going to work your way into my marriage and you were going to call its new three-way shape holy". This even sounds like Leonard Cohen...
The story starts with the main character relating to being present around the time of her grandmother's death and finding some bones, probably from an animal along the river, she also meets a man there.
The woman's friend drifts into and out of her life, she is somewhat of a free spirit. The woman's son calls the friend Butterfly because of a shawl she wears. As the character writes the letter to her friend she is wondering where she is, she goes from interest to pain to anger. At one point she says she imagines having killing her friend. She is angry at the fact that her friend seduced her husband and seems to have captivated her son too. The son is now off wandering in Europe perhaps based on some things butterfly told him. The woman was devastated by the betrayal of her friend and husband. She and her husband separated but never divorced. Now the husband is back asking her to marry him again. She doesn't seem to keen on the idea. At the end of the book she looks out the window and thinks she might have seen her friend in the street but when she runs outside she cannot see her. She tells her friend that if the friend wants her husband she can have him.
The story sounds simple but the emotional turmoil of the main character is developed/displayed in such an amazing way, we get little vignettes until the story builds to the end.
I am looking forward to re-reading it.
I was enthralled with the last book I read by this author, The Wilderness, so I was looking foward to this book.
This woman is an incredible writer!! This book apparently inspired by the Leonard Cohen song "Famous Blue Raincoat", is a letter, or series of letters that a woman is writing to a friend who has had a big and devastating role in her life. "You were going to work your way into my marriage and you were going to call its new three-way shape holy". This even sounds like Leonard Cohen...
The story starts with the main character relating to being present around the time of her grandmother's death and finding some bones, probably from an animal along the river, she also meets a man there.
The woman's friend drifts into and out of her life, she is somewhat of a free spirit. The woman's son calls the friend Butterfly because of a shawl she wears. As the character writes the letter to her friend she is wondering where she is, she goes from interest to pain to anger. At one point she says she imagines having killing her friend. She is angry at the fact that her friend seduced her husband and seems to have captivated her son too. The son is now off wandering in Europe perhaps based on some things butterfly told him. The woman was devastated by the betrayal of her friend and husband. She and her husband separated but never divorced. Now the husband is back asking her to marry him again. She doesn't seem to keen on the idea. At the end of the book she looks out the window and thinks she might have seen her friend in the street but when she runs outside she cannot see her. She tells her friend that if the friend wants her husband she can have him.
The story sounds simple but the emotional turmoil of the main character is developed/displayed in such an amazing way, we get little vignettes until the story builds to the end.
I am looking forward to re-reading it.
Sunday, 24 May 2015
The Wonders
by Paddy O'Reilly
This book, by an Australian author is about three people that become part of a modern day travelling freakshow.
Leon needs a heart transplant and his life is saved by a doctor and his wife who give him a mechanical heart, if he promises never to divulge the details. The doctor dies within a year of performing the surgery.
Kathryn receives a treatment for Parkinson's the side effect of which causes lambs wool to grow all over her body.
Christos a performance artist has mechanical parts implanted in his body so that he can have wings inserted in his back.
A woman, with a background in a circus, approaches the three people to be part of an act she wants to call The Wonders. She has a large home and acreage where she rescues wild animals, e.g. monkeys, elephants, etc. Her plan is to have the three wonders do little performances to very select audiences. They become very famous and the celebrity of course leads to papparazzi and security issues. They seem to enjoy living the high life, especially Christos. Kathryn is the most troubled, religious groups seem to target her as an abomination. She had an abusive husband and is recovering from that. The group gets along reasonably well but Christos is a bit of a primadonna and causes some conflicts. Not everyone is happy with what they are doing, handicapped people feel they are exploiting and thus demeaning the handicapped.
Some private photos turn up in the media/internet and this upsets them. They later find out that their publicist has done this to fuel interest in them. They are upset with him, but don't do anything to stop or reprimand him.
Leon always felt a bit weird because of his heart and never thought he would ever be loved. He falls in love with the doctor hired to look after them and they eventually marry. He is so happy to be loved.
The group travels and gets rich over several years. They are planning to wind down the act and go their separate ways.... but they plan few more shows. They are asked to travel out into the desert in Dubai. While they are driving through the desert their vehicle hits a IUD/landmine and their vehicle overturns. They are all shaken up but Christos is quite badly injured. Was this an accident? Or an intentional attempt on their lives? Christos eventually recovers and they plan few final shows.
One day they are walking through a long hallway, in the bowels of a hotel or convention centre and Kathryn is kidnapped. They get a ransom demand and are prepared to pay up but Kathryn has been injured by her kidnappers and dies. This shocks them all to the core. The public reaction is a lot of grief but also some celebration by fundamentalists. Leon has been trying to track down the wife of the doctor who operated on him and eventually she contacts him to tell him that the battery in his chest may run down soon and it cannot be replaced. He is so upset, he assumed he would have a long life with his wife after the wonders.
The remaining wonders are upset at Kathryn's death but decide to continue with a few more performances. It becomes obvious that the fickle celebrity hungry public are losing interest in the wonders and switching their attention to other people. They are at one of their final public performances. A "fan" in the side of the red carpet has come because she is convinced that Kathryn died because Leon wanted her heart. She wants to kill Leon to avenge Kathryn. She makes an attempt to stab Christos, but Leon sees what she plans to do and jumps in the way getting wounded by her knife.
He is happy to have survived with only a minor wound. He feels glad that he has finally done something useful with his life. He and his wife settle down on their new house in Australia. He loves walking around the property and enjoys seeing all the life around him. This he decides is what life should be about. Christos has left to pursue a life of more performance art.
I think the book raises issues of what it means to be human, the meaning of life, to what lengths will we go to be alive/healthy? What will people give up to be healthy? famous? rich? What do you do after the public loses interest in you? Is it worth the loss of freedom/privacy?
This book, by an Australian author is about three people that become part of a modern day travelling freakshow.
Leon needs a heart transplant and his life is saved by a doctor and his wife who give him a mechanical heart, if he promises never to divulge the details. The doctor dies within a year of performing the surgery.
Kathryn receives a treatment for Parkinson's the side effect of which causes lambs wool to grow all over her body.
Christos a performance artist has mechanical parts implanted in his body so that he can have wings inserted in his back.
A woman, with a background in a circus, approaches the three people to be part of an act she wants to call The Wonders. She has a large home and acreage where she rescues wild animals, e.g. monkeys, elephants, etc. Her plan is to have the three wonders do little performances to very select audiences. They become very famous and the celebrity of course leads to papparazzi and security issues. They seem to enjoy living the high life, especially Christos. Kathryn is the most troubled, religious groups seem to target her as an abomination. She had an abusive husband and is recovering from that. The group gets along reasonably well but Christos is a bit of a primadonna and causes some conflicts. Not everyone is happy with what they are doing, handicapped people feel they are exploiting and thus demeaning the handicapped.
Some private photos turn up in the media/internet and this upsets them. They later find out that their publicist has done this to fuel interest in them. They are upset with him, but don't do anything to stop or reprimand him.
Leon always felt a bit weird because of his heart and never thought he would ever be loved. He falls in love with the doctor hired to look after them and they eventually marry. He is so happy to be loved.
The group travels and gets rich over several years. They are planning to wind down the act and go their separate ways.... but they plan few more shows. They are asked to travel out into the desert in Dubai. While they are driving through the desert their vehicle hits a IUD/landmine and their vehicle overturns. They are all shaken up but Christos is quite badly injured. Was this an accident? Or an intentional attempt on their lives? Christos eventually recovers and they plan few final shows.
One day they are walking through a long hallway, in the bowels of a hotel or convention centre and Kathryn is kidnapped. They get a ransom demand and are prepared to pay up but Kathryn has been injured by her kidnappers and dies. This shocks them all to the core. The public reaction is a lot of grief but also some celebration by fundamentalists. Leon has been trying to track down the wife of the doctor who operated on him and eventually she contacts him to tell him that the battery in his chest may run down soon and it cannot be replaced. He is so upset, he assumed he would have a long life with his wife after the wonders.
The remaining wonders are upset at Kathryn's death but decide to continue with a few more performances. It becomes obvious that the fickle celebrity hungry public are losing interest in the wonders and switching their attention to other people. They are at one of their final public performances. A "fan" in the side of the red carpet has come because she is convinced that Kathryn died because Leon wanted her heart. She wants to kill Leon to avenge Kathryn. She makes an attempt to stab Christos, but Leon sees what she plans to do and jumps in the way getting wounded by her knife.
He is happy to have survived with only a minor wound. He feels glad that he has finally done something useful with his life. He and his wife settle down on their new house in Australia. He loves walking around the property and enjoys seeing all the life around him. This he decides is what life should be about. Christos has left to pursue a life of more performance art.
I think the book raises issues of what it means to be human, the meaning of life, to what lengths will we go to be alive/healthy? What will people give up to be healthy? famous? rich? What do you do after the public loses interest in you? Is it worth the loss of freedom/privacy?
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
Quote lifted from Amazon:
"The reader is exposed to a panoramic view of Turkey's political and religious conflicts and ethnic tensions. His multitude of characters represents every conceivable strand of Turkish society: Ataturk secularism and pro-European modernism on the one hand and various religious factions of Muslim faith on the other. By compressing the events into one locale, a remote, poor and backward town, Kars, in Eastern Turkey, he creates a charged playing field. A major snowstorm has cut off the access roads to the town, bringing the conflicting positions to boiling point. An artistic performance, including a poetry reading by Ka are marred by a "massacre". A couple of murders occur. The mayoral election, which would have been won by an Islamist over a local Secularist, is cut short by a military coup. In addition, the town has become notorious in the Istanbul headlines for several suicides and suicide attempts by the so-called "headscarf girls". The assumption being that the girls decided to end their life because they were not allowed to wear their headscarf in school. Yet, their motivations are more complicated than that.
Within this complex political turmoil, wanders Ka, the protagonist of the story. A recently unproductive poet, he returned from Germany to attend his mother's funeral. He has also reasons for coming to Kars. Presenting himself as a journalist, he claims to be interested in the stories behind the headscarf girls' suicides. On a personal level, he wants to find a "Turkish girl" to marry and take back to Germany."
Ka finds the interminable snow beautiful, probably the only thing of beauty in the town. He later arranges his poems on the structure of a six sided snowflake.
Ka finds the environment, or his experiences, or both, stimulating and he finds his creative juices start to flow resulting in several poems. The characters in the book are quite eccentric, even comical in their behaviour. I have to say that I found Ka infuriating, tremendous things were happening in the town and his main concern seemed to be his puppy love for his female friend. He seemed to be willing to go along with everyone, never challenging them or stating his own position. An avowed atheist he seemed to come to believe in god after meeting some of the mystics in town. What was that about??? I found his behaviour very irresponsible and unforgivable. I wanted to give his shoulders a shake. He did not leave with the supposed love of his life, nor did he deserve to do so. The main character reminds me of a character from Dostoevsky.
This was a very complex and powerful book. The book is not an easy read but the story is certainly relevant in today's world with the controversy about secular and non secular government, etc.
Quote lifted from Amazon:
"The reader is exposed to a panoramic view of Turkey's political and religious conflicts and ethnic tensions. His multitude of characters represents every conceivable strand of Turkish society: Ataturk secularism and pro-European modernism on the one hand and various religious factions of Muslim faith on the other. By compressing the events into one locale, a remote, poor and backward town, Kars, in Eastern Turkey, he creates a charged playing field. A major snowstorm has cut off the access roads to the town, bringing the conflicting positions to boiling point. An artistic performance, including a poetry reading by Ka are marred by a "massacre". A couple of murders occur. The mayoral election, which would have been won by an Islamist over a local Secularist, is cut short by a military coup. In addition, the town has become notorious in the Istanbul headlines for several suicides and suicide attempts by the so-called "headscarf girls". The assumption being that the girls decided to end their life because they were not allowed to wear their headscarf in school. Yet, their motivations are more complicated than that.
Within this complex political turmoil, wanders Ka, the protagonist of the story. A recently unproductive poet, he returned from Germany to attend his mother's funeral. He has also reasons for coming to Kars. Presenting himself as a journalist, he claims to be interested in the stories behind the headscarf girls' suicides. On a personal level, he wants to find a "Turkish girl" to marry and take back to Germany."
Ka finds the interminable snow beautiful, probably the only thing of beauty in the town. He later arranges his poems on the structure of a six sided snowflake.
Ka finds the environment, or his experiences, or both, stimulating and he finds his creative juices start to flow resulting in several poems. The characters in the book are quite eccentric, even comical in their behaviour. I have to say that I found Ka infuriating, tremendous things were happening in the town and his main concern seemed to be his puppy love for his female friend. He seemed to be willing to go along with everyone, never challenging them or stating his own position. An avowed atheist he seemed to come to believe in god after meeting some of the mystics in town. What was that about??? I found his behaviour very irresponsible and unforgivable. I wanted to give his shoulders a shake. He did not leave with the supposed love of his life, nor did he deserve to do so. The main character reminds me of a character from Dostoevsky.
This was a very complex and powerful book. The book is not an easy read but the story is certainly relevant in today's world with the controversy about secular and non secular government, etc.
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
This book is set in the 1680's in Holland. A young girl, 18 year old Nella, arrives at her new home in Amsterdam, having married a successful merchant. She had dreams of a happy family life and children but her husband seems aloof and the marriage is never consummated.
Her husband gives her a cabinet, which is a model of their house, as a wedding present. These types of items would normally be playthings for younger girls. She contacts a miniaturist to obtain some objects for the cabinet and pieces start arriving, some of which she had not requested. These items demonstrate that the creator has an intimate knowledge of the household.
Nella is not really happy in her new home, her sister-in-law nags her husband about her business dealings and is rude to Nella. Nella is befriended by the young woman who cooks and cleans for the household. She was an orphan who was rescued by Nella's husband. He also has a black man servant whom he "bought" to rescue him from a life of slavery.
Nella tries to surprise her husband at his office one day and is shocked and dismayed to find out that her husband is homosexual. There are grave consequences for this in the strict dutch society. As time goes by she gets to like her husband even though he does not approach her. She is distraught when she finds out that her sister in law is pregnant, and when her husband is caught and reported to the authorities. Both the sister in law and husband die, one in childbirth and one drowned for his crime of sodomy. We find out the sister in law was approached to marry but she refused, wanting her independence more than marriage.
The story ends with Nella heading the household with the young girl, black man and the mulatto baby (child of the black man and the sister-in-law). How will she survive? Will she be able to overcome all the shame? Will she be able to assume her husband's business? He did a lot of travel to obtain produce, not something a woman could do.
It was an interesting story but I would have liked to see the main character meet and confront the miniaturist who it seems was impacting many lives in the city. Nella grows up rapidly during the course of the story but you wonder how she will survive in this city with its many prejudices given her husband and sister-in-law's shame. I think a theme of the book is women doing unconventional things in the face of a very staid society.
This book is set in the 1680's in Holland. A young girl, 18 year old Nella, arrives at her new home in Amsterdam, having married a successful merchant. She had dreams of a happy family life and children but her husband seems aloof and the marriage is never consummated.
Her husband gives her a cabinet, which is a model of their house, as a wedding present. These types of items would normally be playthings for younger girls. She contacts a miniaturist to obtain some objects for the cabinet and pieces start arriving, some of which she had not requested. These items demonstrate that the creator has an intimate knowledge of the household.
Nella is not really happy in her new home, her sister-in-law nags her husband about her business dealings and is rude to Nella. Nella is befriended by the young woman who cooks and cleans for the household. She was an orphan who was rescued by Nella's husband. He also has a black man servant whom he "bought" to rescue him from a life of slavery.
Nella tries to surprise her husband at his office one day and is shocked and dismayed to find out that her husband is homosexual. There are grave consequences for this in the strict dutch society. As time goes by she gets to like her husband even though he does not approach her. She is distraught when she finds out that her sister in law is pregnant, and when her husband is caught and reported to the authorities. Both the sister in law and husband die, one in childbirth and one drowned for his crime of sodomy. We find out the sister in law was approached to marry but she refused, wanting her independence more than marriage.
The story ends with Nella heading the household with the young girl, black man and the mulatto baby (child of the black man and the sister-in-law). How will she survive? Will she be able to overcome all the shame? Will she be able to assume her husband's business? He did a lot of travel to obtain produce, not something a woman could do.
It was an interesting story but I would have liked to see the main character meet and confront the miniaturist who it seems was impacting many lives in the city. Nella grows up rapidly during the course of the story but you wonder how she will survive in this city with its many prejudices given her husband and sister-in-law's shame. I think a theme of the book is women doing unconventional things in the face of a very staid society.
Monday, 19 January 2015
The Girl of His Dreams
by Donna Leon
This is the first book I have read by this mystery writer.
The mystery features a Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti. As the book opens Brunetti is grieving the death of his mother. He is still mourning his mother and is very upset to find a young girl of perhaps 10 drowned in the canal. He is more shocked to learn that she has a watch in her pocket, a ring up her vagina and that she has veneral disease. The girl has red paint/crumbs on her. It appears she may have slid or been thrown down a roof.
The ring is engraved so he is able to identify who it belonged to. The man is in Russia and his wife is surprised at the theft and denies any knowledge of a break-in.
They are able to identify the girl as a gypsy/Roma with previous interaction with police. They go to the parents to report the death. The mother is distraught the father seems disinterested but they do not come to claim their daughter. They end up leaving town with a |"new" car. Brunetti finds out that the daughter of the house that was robbed was dating the son of a government minister. He is told to back off even if he thinks the family had something to do with the girl's death.
There is another story about a priest who comes to Brunetti about a false prophet trying to take money from people. He manages to get officials onto the man and he leaves town. Not sure why this story was part of the book, it seemed somewhat extraneous. I expected the two stories to somehow be connected.
Brunetti has a boss, somewhat similar to the boss that Frost has in A Touch of Frost, coming up with crazy ideas for new procedures, very sensitive to politics in police investigations. Brunetti manages to do what he needs to do despite his boss. The book also shows the happy relationship Brunetti has with his wife.
This was an entertaining if not meaty mystery.
This is the first book I have read by this mystery writer.
The mystery features a Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti. As the book opens Brunetti is grieving the death of his mother. He is still mourning his mother and is very upset to find a young girl of perhaps 10 drowned in the canal. He is more shocked to learn that she has a watch in her pocket, a ring up her vagina and that she has veneral disease. The girl has red paint/crumbs on her. It appears she may have slid or been thrown down a roof.
The ring is engraved so he is able to identify who it belonged to. The man is in Russia and his wife is surprised at the theft and denies any knowledge of a break-in.
They are able to identify the girl as a gypsy/Roma with previous interaction with police. They go to the parents to report the death. The mother is distraught the father seems disinterested but they do not come to claim their daughter. They end up leaving town with a |"new" car. Brunetti finds out that the daughter of the house that was robbed was dating the son of a government minister. He is told to back off even if he thinks the family had something to do with the girl's death.
There is another story about a priest who comes to Brunetti about a false prophet trying to take money from people. He manages to get officials onto the man and he leaves town. Not sure why this story was part of the book, it seemed somewhat extraneous. I expected the two stories to somehow be connected.
Brunetti has a boss, somewhat similar to the boss that Frost has in A Touch of Frost, coming up with crazy ideas for new procedures, very sensitive to politics in police investigations. Brunetti manages to do what he needs to do despite his boss. The book also shows the happy relationship Brunetti has with his wife.
This was an entertaining if not meaty mystery.
Walking Home: A Pilgrimage From Humble to Healed
by Sonia Choquette
This is the story of a successful public speaker/life coach who suffers some tragic events in her life, her brother and father die and then her marriage seems to fall apart.
She decides that she needs to regain perspective in her life and thinks that walking the Camino is what she needs to do. The book outlines her personal experiences and the emotional cleansing as she walks the route. I have read several books about the Camino, some good, some not so good.
She did the Camino is a slightly easier way than many travellers. She hired a company to carry her luggage from one stop to the next and she decided to stay in hotels rather than the pilgrim refugios. Despite this she still had a great deal of physical pain in her feet throughout the walk.
This book was probably the most self-focused of all of them. She was totally concentrated on her experience and seems to document her adventures on a day by day basis. Many of the other books talked a bit more vaguely about experiences and talked more about some interactions and observations with other people. That is not to say this was not a good thing, it was just different. As she travels she comes to learn that many of the wrongs she felt have been committed by her are in part her perceptions of things and she comes to understand and forgive her father and her husband.
I enjoyed the story and her honesty.
This is the story of a successful public speaker/life coach who suffers some tragic events in her life, her brother and father die and then her marriage seems to fall apart.
She decides that she needs to regain perspective in her life and thinks that walking the Camino is what she needs to do. The book outlines her personal experiences and the emotional cleansing as she walks the route. I have read several books about the Camino, some good, some not so good.
She did the Camino is a slightly easier way than many travellers. She hired a company to carry her luggage from one stop to the next and she decided to stay in hotels rather than the pilgrim refugios. Despite this she still had a great deal of physical pain in her feet throughout the walk.
This book was probably the most self-focused of all of them. She was totally concentrated on her experience and seems to document her adventures on a day by day basis. Many of the other books talked a bit more vaguely about experiences and talked more about some interactions and observations with other people. That is not to say this was not a good thing, it was just different. As she travels she comes to learn that many of the wrongs she felt have been committed by her are in part her perceptions of things and she comes to understand and forgive her father and her husband.
I enjoyed the story and her honesty.
The Bone Season
by Samantha Shannon
This book is a debut novel by a young British writer.
It is a tale set in the future and with a somewhat altered earth history.
As the book opens in England there are many people with various degrees of clairvoyant skills. These people are considered unnaturals and are being hunted. The main character, Paige, has a high level of skill and she is being tested by her mentor to find out exactly she can do. She has told her father she works at an oxygen bar but she actually works as part of an underground group of people with these skills. She has to be careful as she travels around as there are people who can sense her skill and will attack or arrest her.
She is usually driven around in a taxi but one day she ends up having to take the subway home. Another clairvoyant notices her and then some officials enter the train car. Paige ends up killing one of the officials with her mind and making a vegetable of the other one. She manages to make it to her father's house but shortly after she is chased and captured.
She is taken to Oxford. The city is rumoured to be deserted but it is actually populated and governed by an an otherworldly race called the Rephaim who want to control all clairvoyants for their own purposes.
Many of the clairvoyants are used and abused in Oxford, they even have to scrounge for food. Paige is lucky, her keeper, who is high up in the power structure tries to train her and does not mistreat her. Even though she hates him she saves his life when he is injured.
Some of the clairvoyants are reconciled to her fate but Paige plots to escape. She is surprised that her keeper and some of his kind seem to be on her side.
I am not generally a big fan of fantasy books but this book was certainly a well told story that kept your interest. The various types of clairvoyants was a bit confusing, not sure why that was necessary. Quite impressive for a first book.
This book is a debut novel by a young British writer.
It is a tale set in the future and with a somewhat altered earth history.
As the book opens in England there are many people with various degrees of clairvoyant skills. These people are considered unnaturals and are being hunted. The main character, Paige, has a high level of skill and she is being tested by her mentor to find out exactly she can do. She has told her father she works at an oxygen bar but she actually works as part of an underground group of people with these skills. She has to be careful as she travels around as there are people who can sense her skill and will attack or arrest her.
She is usually driven around in a taxi but one day she ends up having to take the subway home. Another clairvoyant notices her and then some officials enter the train car. Paige ends up killing one of the officials with her mind and making a vegetable of the other one. She manages to make it to her father's house but shortly after she is chased and captured.
She is taken to Oxford. The city is rumoured to be deserted but it is actually populated and governed by an an otherworldly race called the Rephaim who want to control all clairvoyants for their own purposes.
Many of the clairvoyants are used and abused in Oxford, they even have to scrounge for food. Paige is lucky, her keeper, who is high up in the power structure tries to train her and does not mistreat her. Even though she hates him she saves his life when he is injured.
Some of the clairvoyants are reconciled to her fate but Paige plots to escape. She is surprised that her keeper and some of his kind seem to be on her side.
I am not generally a big fan of fantasy books but this book was certainly a well told story that kept your interest. The various types of clairvoyants was a bit confusing, not sure why that was necessary. Quite impressive for a first book.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
The World's Strongest Librarian
by Josh Hanagrane
This memoir is about a Mormon man who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome and who became a Librarian.
It gives a detailed, heartbreaking account of how Tourette's has affected him and what he has done to try to control the effects. His best solution appears to be constant exercise with heavy weights to tire himself physically. The book details the struggles through his life as he tries to deal with the disease and get an education. He is forced to abandon his Mission as a young man because of the condition. It takes him 10 years to get his BA because he has to withdrawn from courses frequently because his symptoms are too severe. But he perseveres and not only achieves a BA but also a Masters in Library Science Degree. He doesn't think he will ever be employed long term or loved but he achieves both. He finds a lovely woman and they hope to start a family but after several miscarriages they apply to adopt. They are found unsuitable, perhaps because of his condition, but more likely because they told the truth in their interviews.
His stories about his life as a librarian are very true to life and amusing. I could recognize many of the situations he described.
He talks about his religion and his own struggles with his faith.
It was a very interesting and engaging story.
This memoir is about a Mormon man who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome and who became a Librarian.
It gives a detailed, heartbreaking account of how Tourette's has affected him and what he has done to try to control the effects. His best solution appears to be constant exercise with heavy weights to tire himself physically. The book details the struggles through his life as he tries to deal with the disease and get an education. He is forced to abandon his Mission as a young man because of the condition. It takes him 10 years to get his BA because he has to withdrawn from courses frequently because his symptoms are too severe. But he perseveres and not only achieves a BA but also a Masters in Library Science Degree. He doesn't think he will ever be employed long term or loved but he achieves both. He finds a lovely woman and they hope to start a family but after several miscarriages they apply to adopt. They are found unsuitable, perhaps because of his condition, but more likely because they told the truth in their interviews.
His stories about his life as a librarian are very true to life and amusing. I could recognize many of the situations he described.
He talks about his religion and his own struggles with his faith.
It was a very interesting and engaging story.
Monday, 5 January 2015
The Blazing World
by Siri Hustvedt
This is an unusual and fascinating book, one of my favourite books of the year.
The book is about a frustrated female artist from New York. She is angry because her art is not recognized and praised. She blames her lack of success on the male focused art community. She plots her revenge/recognition by collaborating with three male artists. She works with them and they agree to pass of her work as their own. The first artist gets acclaim but then cannot handle the fame and leaves to travel the world. The second artist is originally a gay comedian whose act is to be painted half black and half white and perform as male/female characters dialoguing with each other. He too achieves acclaim but leaves for South America with a male lover.
Harriet (Harry) Burden. Her use of the name Harry and the last name "Burden" explain her wish to be equal as a male and the burden she feels she bears. Her feelings of being disregarded are in part due to the lack of affection she felt from her father.... she suspects he would rather she be a boy and also to the fact that her husband, an art collector/agent did not really do anything to promote her work and often discounted her opinions even though she was well read and intelligent. Her mother also was muzzled by her husband. Harry is also tormented by the fact that her husband had other lovers during their marriage, male and female. Why wasn't she loved? Good enough?
Harriet fills her house with strange little rooms with words and characters, with human figures of huge or distorted shapes, some are wired so that they feel warm. She also fills the house with stray humans... a young girl, a psychic stays for a while, a mental person, referred to as the Barometer because he seems to react to weather changes, spouts gibberish, and spends most of his life in her house.
Harriet is eventually befriended by a failed poet and they have a relationship. The man, Bruno, loves her deeply and puts up with her rants and tantrums. Harriet's daughter is a good dutiful daughter, always looking after her mother. Her son, an aspiring writer, is a disappointment to her as she always cared for him and his sensitive nature and as a adult he is aloof and hardly sees her.
Harriet comes up with the idea that if she can get her art recognized after being presented by men she will be vindicated in the artistic community. She not only works with the three artists but even creates some imaginary experts who write articles to scholarly journals to promote/present her ideas and comment on her work.
The first two artists work out okay with her, but the third artist, who calls himself Rune refuses to acknowledge his work as hers. She and he have some strange interactions where they put on masks and they pretend to be other characters. This brings out strong emotions and a sense of power in Harriet as she plays the role of a male character. She finds this invigorating but Rune seems to use this experience against her.
We find out that Rune had a difficult life as a child, his mother, a beauty queen, was very unhappy in her role as housewife and mother and drank a lot. Rune and his sister did a lot to cover for and protect her. The father seemed to be unable to cope with his wife and her moods. When the mother dies Rune leaves home cutting himself off from his father and sister. He later returns to stay with his sister for a time but ends up verbally abusing her and trashing her apartment. He moves to New York and achieves some acclaim for his art which involves some films.
When her plan to get recognition and thumb her nose at the art community fails, Harry is furious and rants and rages to her family and friends and drives Bruno away. Later they do get reconciled and he and her family are with her as she succumbs to cancer.
The story of the book is interesting but especially interesting is the way in which the author tells the story. The book purports to be a scholarly study of Harry by an academic. He includes chapters that supposedly come from her diaries, interviews with people who knew her including artists, articles about art, etc. This makes for an interesting perspective as you see the story and impressions of her from several perspectives. It in part seems to talk about different personas people adopt in different situations, memory, how we might unintentionally or even deliberately revise our memories/past -- Rune does this creating stories about his past, telling lies about himself, etc.
The character Harry is not someone you can feel sympathetic for, she seems in good part to be author of her own misfortune. She should have stood up to her father and her husband and perhaps also been more forceful in promoting her own work instead of trying to trick the art community. I don't think she appreciated/acknowledged the people who really cared about her and you think she should have known how diabolical and selfish Rune was - in some ways they were very much alike -- totally self absorbed. I think this books was brilliant.
This is an unusual and fascinating book, one of my favourite books of the year.
The book is about a frustrated female artist from New York. She is angry because her art is not recognized and praised. She blames her lack of success on the male focused art community. She plots her revenge/recognition by collaborating with three male artists. She works with them and they agree to pass of her work as their own. The first artist gets acclaim but then cannot handle the fame and leaves to travel the world. The second artist is originally a gay comedian whose act is to be painted half black and half white and perform as male/female characters dialoguing with each other. He too achieves acclaim but leaves for South America with a male lover.
Harriet (Harry) Burden. Her use of the name Harry and the last name "Burden" explain her wish to be equal as a male and the burden she feels she bears. Her feelings of being disregarded are in part due to the lack of affection she felt from her father.... she suspects he would rather she be a boy and also to the fact that her husband, an art collector/agent did not really do anything to promote her work and often discounted her opinions even though she was well read and intelligent. Her mother also was muzzled by her husband. Harry is also tormented by the fact that her husband had other lovers during their marriage, male and female. Why wasn't she loved? Good enough?
Harriet fills her house with strange little rooms with words and characters, with human figures of huge or distorted shapes, some are wired so that they feel warm. She also fills the house with stray humans... a young girl, a psychic stays for a while, a mental person, referred to as the Barometer because he seems to react to weather changes, spouts gibberish, and spends most of his life in her house.
Harriet is eventually befriended by a failed poet and they have a relationship. The man, Bruno, loves her deeply and puts up with her rants and tantrums. Harriet's daughter is a good dutiful daughter, always looking after her mother. Her son, an aspiring writer, is a disappointment to her as she always cared for him and his sensitive nature and as a adult he is aloof and hardly sees her.
Harriet comes up with the idea that if she can get her art recognized after being presented by men she will be vindicated in the artistic community. She not only works with the three artists but even creates some imaginary experts who write articles to scholarly journals to promote/present her ideas and comment on her work.
The first two artists work out okay with her, but the third artist, who calls himself Rune refuses to acknowledge his work as hers. She and he have some strange interactions where they put on masks and they pretend to be other characters. This brings out strong emotions and a sense of power in Harriet as she plays the role of a male character. She finds this invigorating but Rune seems to use this experience against her.
We find out that Rune had a difficult life as a child, his mother, a beauty queen, was very unhappy in her role as housewife and mother and drank a lot. Rune and his sister did a lot to cover for and protect her. The father seemed to be unable to cope with his wife and her moods. When the mother dies Rune leaves home cutting himself off from his father and sister. He later returns to stay with his sister for a time but ends up verbally abusing her and trashing her apartment. He moves to New York and achieves some acclaim for his art which involves some films.
When her plan to get recognition and thumb her nose at the art community fails, Harry is furious and rants and rages to her family and friends and drives Bruno away. Later they do get reconciled and he and her family are with her as she succumbs to cancer.
The story of the book is interesting but especially interesting is the way in which the author tells the story. The book purports to be a scholarly study of Harry by an academic. He includes chapters that supposedly come from her diaries, interviews with people who knew her including artists, articles about art, etc. This makes for an interesting perspective as you see the story and impressions of her from several perspectives. It in part seems to talk about different personas people adopt in different situations, memory, how we might unintentionally or even deliberately revise our memories/past -- Rune does this creating stories about his past, telling lies about himself, etc.
The character Harry is not someone you can feel sympathetic for, she seems in good part to be author of her own misfortune. She should have stood up to her father and her husband and perhaps also been more forceful in promoting her own work instead of trying to trick the art community. I don't think she appreciated/acknowledged the people who really cared about her and you think she should have known how diabolical and selfish Rune was - in some ways they were very much alike -- totally self absorbed. I think this books was brilliant.
The Betrayers
by David Bezmozgis
This is the story of as Israeli politician who finds himself in a compromising position.
He is in the cabinet and he is opposing closing some of the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. His party wants him to be quiet but he isn't. They then threaten him with revealing an affair he is having with a young woman if he doesn't be quiet. His reaction is to run away with the young woman to Eastern Europe. They choose to stay in a B&B with a couple. The man of the family turns out to be a man the Israeli was instrumental in imprisoning in Russia years before. The man had changed his name and is trying to create a new life for himself. He is afraid the Israeli will blow his cover.
As the book proceeds the Israeli and the other man relive the past and eventually the former prisoner reveals that he took the fall for his brother.
This is a book about memories and assumptions people make about each other.
I found it an interesting story, it is hard to describe more of the book because so much was cerebral.
This is the story of as Israeli politician who finds himself in a compromising position.
He is in the cabinet and he is opposing closing some of the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. His party wants him to be quiet but he isn't. They then threaten him with revealing an affair he is having with a young woman if he doesn't be quiet. His reaction is to run away with the young woman to Eastern Europe. They choose to stay in a B&B with a couple. The man of the family turns out to be a man the Israeli was instrumental in imprisoning in Russia years before. The man had changed his name and is trying to create a new life for himself. He is afraid the Israeli will blow his cover.
As the book proceeds the Israeli and the other man relive the past and eventually the former prisoner reveals that he took the fall for his brother.
This is a book about memories and assumptions people make about each other.
I found it an interesting story, it is hard to describe more of the book because so much was cerebral.
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