by Rachel Cusk
This book is nominated for the Giller and the GG award this year.
The Narrator is travelling to Greece to teach a writing course for a few days. She is staying at the apartment of another academic.
She has a long discussion on the plane with thrice divorced man who tells her about his life, his failed marriages and his mistake. He loved his first wife the best but she has made a life with a ski instructor, abandoning him and their son (schizophrenic).She meets another teacher who tells her about his life, his temptations, etc. She also meets other people, an old friend from Athens, an acquaintance of his has thrust herself upon him. She asks her students to talk about themselves and to tell a story about animals. One of the students walks out saying the course is crap. Very few ever ask her about herself. We learn very little about her other than that she is divorced and has left her children behind in England.
Notes from the book:
The narrator comments to a man she met on the plane "I said that on the contrary I had come to believe more and more in the virtues of passivity, and of living a life as unmarked by self-will as possible.... There was a great difference, I said between the things I wanted and the things that I could apparently have, and until I had finally made forever made my piece with the fact, I had decided to want nothing at all".
The end of the book, a playwright arrives as the narrator is preparing to return home. The playwright has been traumatized by a brutal assault and finds she cannot take any idea seriously enough to write about. She has weight but eats compulsively and ravenously. She mentions meeting a diplomat on the plane...
"It had made something clear to her by a reverse kind of exposition; while he talked she began to see herself as a shape, an outline, with all detail filled in around it while the shape itself remained blank. Yet this shape, even while its content remained unknown, gave her for the first time since the incident a sense of who she now was".
The main character seems to be a person people want to download their
life and experiences on. In her writing class she encourages her
students to be observant but she herself doesn't seem to be doing that. All the people in he books seem to have had bad relationships.
The language in the books is lovely. The author has a very eloquent way of describing and commenting on things. She has a gentle way of portraying people.
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Every Note Played
by Lisa Genova
This book is about a self-absorbed concert pianist who gets ALS. It documents his denial and then decline. It is a very difficult book to read as you learn of how is body stops working. He is divorced. His wife left him after he had numerous affairs and because she basically sacrificed her career as a jazz pianist to support him and look after their daughter. Their daughter does not have a good relationship with the father, she sympathizes with the Mother.
His ex-wife agrees to let him come live with her so she can look after him. It is exhausting and she resents him because he still can be thoughtless and demanding. The husband realizes he was not a good husband and father but cannot bring himself to apologize to his wife and daughter. Eventually he loses his voice and cannot say he is sorry.
As time goes by his wife realizes that she is partly responsible for her own fate. At the end the husband decides to let himself slowly die as his systems are shutting down. It would be incredibly expensive to try to keep him alive, about $400, 000/year which he cannot afford.
After he dies his wife receives a tape from a Doctor who was recording his voice. It is what he calls a legacy message. In it the husband apologizes to his wife. Too bad he didn't do it when he was alive.
I am afraid I did not have much sympathy for the husband. The book was a powerful story but I think it would have been more satisfying if he had apologized to his wife and daughter before he died. The man kept hoping he would reconcile with his father, the father thought his athletic sons were valuable and disparaged him. However, the man's father dies so they are never able to settle with each other. You would think he would have learned something from that considering his own death was imminent.
This book is about a self-absorbed concert pianist who gets ALS. It documents his denial and then decline. It is a very difficult book to read as you learn of how is body stops working. He is divorced. His wife left him after he had numerous affairs and because she basically sacrificed her career as a jazz pianist to support him and look after their daughter. Their daughter does not have a good relationship with the father, she sympathizes with the Mother.
His ex-wife agrees to let him come live with her so she can look after him. It is exhausting and she resents him because he still can be thoughtless and demanding. The husband realizes he was not a good husband and father but cannot bring himself to apologize to his wife and daughter. Eventually he loses his voice and cannot say he is sorry.
As time goes by his wife realizes that she is partly responsible for her own fate. At the end the husband decides to let himself slowly die as his systems are shutting down. It would be incredibly expensive to try to keep him alive, about $400, 000/year which he cannot afford.
After he dies his wife receives a tape from a Doctor who was recording his voice. It is what he calls a legacy message. In it the husband apologizes to his wife. Too bad he didn't do it when he was alive.
I am afraid I did not have much sympathy for the husband. The book was a powerful story but I think it would have been more satisfying if he had apologized to his wife and daughter before he died. The man kept hoping he would reconcile with his father, the father thought his athletic sons were valuable and disparaged him. However, the man's father dies so they are never able to settle with each other. You would think he would have learned something from that considering his own death was imminent.
Saturday, 14 April 2018
The Woman on the Orient Express
by Lindsay Jayne Ashford
I read a previous book by this author, about the death of Jane Austen. As I read my review of this book it seems I thought it was okay but wasn't really gushy about it.
This book is about Agatha Christie. The book starts with a young man arriving at an aged Christie's home with a couple photos. He wants to know who the people in the photo are. He knows one of the women is Christie.
Then the book moves to the past. Agatha wants to get away from England as her ex-husband is to be remarried. After the scandal after she disappeared for a period at a hotel in England she decides to travel under a false name.
On the train she meets two women Nancy and Katherine, both of whom also have secrets. Nancy is a married woman, from a wealthy family. She was devastated to find her husband in bed with another woman, on their honeymoon. In her despair about this she is comforted by a married man and gets into a relationshipo with him. She is now pregnant with his child. She hopes he will leave his family and join her in Baghdad. Katherine is working on an archeological dig, partly as an artist. Her first husband committed suicide in Egypt and she has been told she cannot continue to work on the dig as a single woman so she is returning to get married to the leader of the dig. She has told her second husband that she will marry him on the condition that they not have sex. He agreed. She does not want to tell him the reason why... while she looks like a woman she actually has male sex organs rather than female organs. This was discovered after she got married. She found sex very painful and upon medical investigation the problem was unearthed.
Agatha stops Katherine from committing suicide, then Katherine falls ill and Nancy and Agatha nurse her. Katherine invites them to come visit the dig. Kather has figured out who Jane really is (she was reading one of Christie's books and noticed the resemblance to the photo on the book. She doesn't confront her for quite a while.
Nancy had planned to live with a relative, who was working for the British Embassy, in Baghdad. She is distraught when she receives a telegram saying her relative has died. Nancy doesn't have much money so Christie offers to hire her to type up her notes as long as she is in Baghdad.
When Agatha and Nancy go to visit the dig Nancy gives birth to a baby boy. An official at the British Embassy told her husband where she was and he shows up to claim the child. He is murdered by a Bedoin when he attacks Katherine who is trying to take the child to the Bedouins to ask them to hide the child. When is body is discovered in the desert it is assumed he got lost and succumbed in a storm. Decomposition of his body is so severe there is no evidence he was shot. The one weak point in this story is that Nancy's husband arrived so quickly. He seems to show up only a few days after the Official visited the dig. I know there were telegrams at that time but it would still take some time for the husband to travel from England. It took the women several days and a five day drive to get to Baghdad.
Katherine, upon urging from Agatha eventually tells her second husband why she can't have sex. She fears what is reaction will be but his response is that he just wants to be loved. When Nancy dies of a childbirth fever Katherine and her husband adopt the boy. As all this is happening, Agatha is developing a relationship with one of the other dig staff, a man who eventually will be come her second husband.
At the end of the book Agatha agrees to tell her young visitor, Nancy's son, the truth. He wants to know who is father is.... it is implied that the young man's father is likely Agatha's first husband. It seems that he was having an affair with Nancy, while he was wooing and preparing to marry another woman.
I found the book very engaging. I enjoyed it much more than the first book I read by this author.
I read a previous book by this author, about the death of Jane Austen. As I read my review of this book it seems I thought it was okay but wasn't really gushy about it.
This book is about Agatha Christie. The book starts with a young man arriving at an aged Christie's home with a couple photos. He wants to know who the people in the photo are. He knows one of the women is Christie.
Then the book moves to the past. Agatha wants to get away from England as her ex-husband is to be remarried. After the scandal after she disappeared for a period at a hotel in England she decides to travel under a false name.
On the train she meets two women Nancy and Katherine, both of whom also have secrets. Nancy is a married woman, from a wealthy family. She was devastated to find her husband in bed with another woman, on their honeymoon. In her despair about this she is comforted by a married man and gets into a relationshipo with him. She is now pregnant with his child. She hopes he will leave his family and join her in Baghdad. Katherine is working on an archeological dig, partly as an artist. Her first husband committed suicide in Egypt and she has been told she cannot continue to work on the dig as a single woman so she is returning to get married to the leader of the dig. She has told her second husband that she will marry him on the condition that they not have sex. He agreed. She does not want to tell him the reason why... while she looks like a woman she actually has male sex organs rather than female organs. This was discovered after she got married. She found sex very painful and upon medical investigation the problem was unearthed.
Agatha stops Katherine from committing suicide, then Katherine falls ill and Nancy and Agatha nurse her. Katherine invites them to come visit the dig. Kather has figured out who Jane really is (she was reading one of Christie's books and noticed the resemblance to the photo on the book. She doesn't confront her for quite a while.
Nancy had planned to live with a relative, who was working for the British Embassy, in Baghdad. She is distraught when she receives a telegram saying her relative has died. Nancy doesn't have much money so Christie offers to hire her to type up her notes as long as she is in Baghdad.
When Agatha and Nancy go to visit the dig Nancy gives birth to a baby boy. An official at the British Embassy told her husband where she was and he shows up to claim the child. He is murdered by a Bedoin when he attacks Katherine who is trying to take the child to the Bedouins to ask them to hide the child. When is body is discovered in the desert it is assumed he got lost and succumbed in a storm. Decomposition of his body is so severe there is no evidence he was shot. The one weak point in this story is that Nancy's husband arrived so quickly. He seems to show up only a few days after the Official visited the dig. I know there were telegrams at that time but it would still take some time for the husband to travel from England. It took the women several days and a five day drive to get to Baghdad.
Katherine, upon urging from Agatha eventually tells her second husband why she can't have sex. She fears what is reaction will be but his response is that he just wants to be loved. When Nancy dies of a childbirth fever Katherine and her husband adopt the boy. As all this is happening, Agatha is developing a relationship with one of the other dig staff, a man who eventually will be come her second husband.
At the end of the book Agatha agrees to tell her young visitor, Nancy's son, the truth. He wants to know who is father is.... it is implied that the young man's father is likely Agatha's first husband. It seems that he was having an affair with Nancy, while he was wooing and preparing to marry another woman.
I found the book very engaging. I enjoyed it much more than the first book I read by this author.
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
Erotic Stories for Punjab Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal
This story takes place in London. A young Sikh woman who dropped out of law school, to her parent's great disappointment is approached by her sister for help finding a man for an arranged marriage. The main character, Nikki, objects to her sister's decision as she considers herself an independent woman. She is supporting herself by working at a bar, living above the bar.
One day when she reluctantly goes to post an advert about her sister on a bulletin board at the Sikh temple she sees an ad looking for someone to teach some sikh widows how to write. She goes to the person on the ad and is offered the job. However, she doesn't realize that the person who prepared the ad didn't word it correctly--- she actually wanted someone to teach the women to read and write in English.
However the women seem to have more interest in socializing and get into telling somewhat saucy stories/fantasies. One woman is intent on learning to write and eventually leaves in disgust. Nikki tries to befriend the woman but the story about herself that the woman tells Nikki is contradicted by another woman in the group. Nikki doesn't seem to mind the direction the class is going in but she doesn't want the woman who hired her to find out. They then move on to recording the women's stories and transcribing them into Punjabi. The transcriber shares a few of the stories with a relative and soon copies are spreading throughout the neighbourhood.
Nikki meets a Sikh man and then enter a relationship. She is troubled that he often gets calls and has to leave. He tells her it is work issues but she eventually learns he is married. She is furious when she finds this out. The truth about what is really going on in the classes is discovered and the class gets cancelled. Nikki decides to invite the women to her workplace to hold their class.
Nikki learns that there are some secrets in this community, a young woman died in the past and no one wants to talk about it. She eventually finds out what really happened and actually finds proof that the woman did not kill herself but was murdered by her husband. Bringing this information into the open endangers Nikki and she is assaulted in her apartment and it is set on fire. She survives and the guilty man is arrested. Her lover informs her that he has divorced his wife.
The book was okay, I found it a bit ponderous even with the lightly pornographic stories included in the book.
This story takes place in London. A young Sikh woman who dropped out of law school, to her parent's great disappointment is approached by her sister for help finding a man for an arranged marriage. The main character, Nikki, objects to her sister's decision as she considers herself an independent woman. She is supporting herself by working at a bar, living above the bar.
One day when she reluctantly goes to post an advert about her sister on a bulletin board at the Sikh temple she sees an ad looking for someone to teach some sikh widows how to write. She goes to the person on the ad and is offered the job. However, she doesn't realize that the person who prepared the ad didn't word it correctly--- she actually wanted someone to teach the women to read and write in English.
However the women seem to have more interest in socializing and get into telling somewhat saucy stories/fantasies. One woman is intent on learning to write and eventually leaves in disgust. Nikki tries to befriend the woman but the story about herself that the woman tells Nikki is contradicted by another woman in the group. Nikki doesn't seem to mind the direction the class is going in but she doesn't want the woman who hired her to find out. They then move on to recording the women's stories and transcribing them into Punjabi. The transcriber shares a few of the stories with a relative and soon copies are spreading throughout the neighbourhood.
Nikki meets a Sikh man and then enter a relationship. She is troubled that he often gets calls and has to leave. He tells her it is work issues but she eventually learns he is married. She is furious when she finds this out. The truth about what is really going on in the classes is discovered and the class gets cancelled. Nikki decides to invite the women to her workplace to hold their class.
Nikki learns that there are some secrets in this community, a young woman died in the past and no one wants to talk about it. She eventually finds out what really happened and actually finds proof that the woman did not kill herself but was murdered by her husband. Bringing this information into the open endangers Nikki and she is assaulted in her apartment and it is set on fire. She survives and the guilty man is arrested. Her lover informs her that he has divorced his wife.
The book was okay, I found it a bit ponderous even with the lightly pornographic stories included in the book.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
by Mark Sullivan
This fiction book is based on a real person.
It is the story of a young Italian man, Pino Lella during WWII. He is only 17. As Germany and Italy are at war with the rest of Europe Pino's parents send first his brother away and then Pino reluctantly goes too. Their parents want them to be safe and not recruited to fight. Prior to going Pino meets a girl on the street and falls for her. He invites her to join him at a movie but she stands him up. While Pino and his brother are at the movie a bomb drops on the building. Pino sustains a facial cut, his brother is okay but many people in the theatre and surrounding streets are killed or injured.
The boys go to a church school high in the mountains. When Pino arrives the head Priest gets Pino climbing the surrounding mountains to get in shape and to learn different routes. The Priest doesn't explain his reason at first but eventually tells Pino that he will be leading Jews out of Italy to safety in Switzerland. Pino is very happy to be contributing to the war in this way.
While Pino is up in the mountains he meet a local boy who aspires to a racing car driver. He agrees to teach Pino to drive fast if Pino will teach him how to ski.
Then one day Pino is summoned back to Milan and his parents tell him they want him to enlist in the Nazi Army, in a Technical Group. They think that in this way he won't go to the front and be killed. They also encourage him to be a spy back to the allies. He is given a general admin role but one day he finds a nazi soldier struggling with a car. Pino is able to fix the problem and the German Official, one of the senior Nazis in Italy, decides to take him on as his driver. This is a great opportunity for Pino as he is able to report on a lot, but he also observes firsthand the cruelty of his boss and the German army. He is shocked to find that the maid for the mistress of his boss is the girl he was smitten with. They eventually develop a relationship.
As the story goes on Pino saves the life of his boss by dodging a strafing plane. His boss is very impressed and grateful. Pino is torn, he doesn't know why he saved the man when he really hates him for all the atrocities he is committing on Jews and on Italians (stealing all the food from farms to feed German troops).
As the Germans are losing the war Pino eventually is ordered to arrest his boss. He is delighted to do so. But he later learns that by arresting the man his girlfriend and the German's mistress were captured and hung. He is distraught by this. Ironically he later has to deliver his former boss to safety in Switzerland. The boss had made some friends by doing favours and is "pardoned" by the Allies. This really upsets him also. Later Pino is able to move to America and has a successful life.
I really enjoyed the book. It gave a very detailed description of what life was like in Italy at that time and what people experienced and also what they did to fight the Nazis and the fascists.
This fiction book is based on a real person.
It is the story of a young Italian man, Pino Lella during WWII. He is only 17. As Germany and Italy are at war with the rest of Europe Pino's parents send first his brother away and then Pino reluctantly goes too. Their parents want them to be safe and not recruited to fight. Prior to going Pino meets a girl on the street and falls for her. He invites her to join him at a movie but she stands him up. While Pino and his brother are at the movie a bomb drops on the building. Pino sustains a facial cut, his brother is okay but many people in the theatre and surrounding streets are killed or injured.
The boys go to a church school high in the mountains. When Pino arrives the head Priest gets Pino climbing the surrounding mountains to get in shape and to learn different routes. The Priest doesn't explain his reason at first but eventually tells Pino that he will be leading Jews out of Italy to safety in Switzerland. Pino is very happy to be contributing to the war in this way.
While Pino is up in the mountains he meet a local boy who aspires to a racing car driver. He agrees to teach Pino to drive fast if Pino will teach him how to ski.
Then one day Pino is summoned back to Milan and his parents tell him they want him to enlist in the Nazi Army, in a Technical Group. They think that in this way he won't go to the front and be killed. They also encourage him to be a spy back to the allies. He is given a general admin role but one day he finds a nazi soldier struggling with a car. Pino is able to fix the problem and the German Official, one of the senior Nazis in Italy, decides to take him on as his driver. This is a great opportunity for Pino as he is able to report on a lot, but he also observes firsthand the cruelty of his boss and the German army. He is shocked to find that the maid for the mistress of his boss is the girl he was smitten with. They eventually develop a relationship.
As the story goes on Pino saves the life of his boss by dodging a strafing plane. His boss is very impressed and grateful. Pino is torn, he doesn't know why he saved the man when he really hates him for all the atrocities he is committing on Jews and on Italians (stealing all the food from farms to feed German troops).
As the Germans are losing the war Pino eventually is ordered to arrest his boss. He is delighted to do so. But he later learns that by arresting the man his girlfriend and the German's mistress were captured and hung. He is distraught by this. Ironically he later has to deliver his former boss to safety in Switzerland. The boss had made some friends by doing favours and is "pardoned" by the Allies. This really upsets him also. Later Pino is able to move to America and has a successful life.
I really enjoyed the book. It gave a very detailed description of what life was like in Italy at that time and what people experienced and also what they did to fight the Nazis and the fascists.
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