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.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
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.
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