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.
Friday, 5 June 2015
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.
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