by Margaret Atwood
This is the third book in Marget Atwood's futuristic trilogy. It ties together all the stories and moves the story forward.
In this story most of the remaining humans have gathered together and have the Crakers with them for their protection. They are hiding from the two remaining paintballers who were accidentally released by the innocent Crakers. They found Jimmy the Snowman and nursed him back to health. Some of the humans are pregnant, they fear the babies might be progeny of the paintballers.
We find out that Zeb, the brother of Adam One, killed their father, the crooked Reverend, with the dangerous capsules that they had taken from the labs. We learn a bit more about Crake's life and how he got others working on his plans for new creatures and a disease that would wipe out humans to cleanse the world of bad people.
When the babies are born all are relieved that they appear to be Craker/human.
Toby has become a storyteller to the Crakes, she starts making a diary and also teaches one of the Crakers (Blackbeard) to write and read.
The humans make a pact with the pigoons (not to kill each other) and they set off to find the painballers. They locate them in the egg (where the Crakers were created) and shoot them but one of the pigoons, Jimmy and Adam are killed in the battle.
As the story ends Zeb has gone off to check on smoke that looks like a fire. He does not return. Toby grieves for his loss and goes off into the forest never to return. At the end of the story Blackbeard is now telling the story, and it sounds like they will manage okay.
This was a good conclusion to the series, but I did find it was a bit slow with the amount of time spent on the life and exploits of Zeb. It seems that the two races, the human and craker will be able to live/mate and they will now have the ability to read and write. Will they gain the ability to invent? make things? And, what about the smoke on the horizon?
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Unexploded
by Alison Macleod
This book was one of the books on the Mann Booker list for 2013. I tried to read the Luminaries by Catton, which won the prize but hated it and couldn't finish it -- 800 pages, way to many characters...Never can figure out the judges in these awards.
Anyway, after that rant I will get back to this book. It is set in Brighton during the second world war. Brighton is on high alert as it is so close to Europe and likely to be the site for a German invasion. A young married woman, with a young son, is upset by all the tension in the war. However, she is more upset and despondent when her husband says he may have to leave her for a time to escort some money to London. He has also buried a box in their garden with some money and, cyanide pills. He doesn't tell her about the pills. She discoveers then when she digs up the box She feels devastated by her husband's potential abandonment of her and her son.
She starts to visit a local camp where Germans and Jews are being held, on the outskirts of town. She starts reading to an old man who is very ill. There is another man in the infirmary, a painter, possibly a counterfitter.
As the woman draws away from her husband he has a performance issue once when they try to have sex. He decides to test his mettle by going to a prostitute. But his experiment turns into an affair. His wife evenutally finds out but he assures her he is done with the lover.
The old prisoner dies, the woman then goes to read to the other prisoner but he is soon removed from the infirmary. The woman urges her husband to get him employment and he arranges for the man to paint a mural in a local church. She finds him living in the cold church and gives him a key to a neighbour's house that is not occupied so that he will have a warmer place to stay,
Her son stumbles on the man and befriends him until he sees the man comforting his mother. He and his friends had found the "pills" and leave them with candy in the man's house. The women enjoys the work of Virginia Woolf and is devastated when she learns that Woolf has committed suicide. She seeks comfort with the painter rather than her husband. Her husband stumbles upon them when he is looking for her.
The husband wants their relationship to be repaired, he even seems to think he can accept her love for the painter as long as she loves him too.
The woman had urged her husband to get the man more employment so he is hired by the military to help clear bombs. The man is clearing bombs on his first day of work, he also has the candy/pills in his pocket
All we learn is that a bomb went off and the man was buried by rubble from the cliff. Did he take a pill and did that affect him, or was it a tragic misjudgement with an armament. The book ends with the woman feeling alone, having lost the painter but it appears she is pregnant.
I found this story very engaging. The author did a great job of portaying what life would likely be like during the war, how people were acting/reacting to all the tension --- frightened, perhaps reckless.
The boys play war games, they include one of the boy's war damaged brothers. Some of their actions upset him but they don't seem to realize they are likely bringing painful memories back to him. I think she has likely captured the bravado, passion and insensitivity of youth.
I thought it was a great novel, a very compelling story, well written, thought provoking.... All the things Luminaries was NOT.
This book was one of the books on the Mann Booker list for 2013. I tried to read the Luminaries by Catton, which won the prize but hated it and couldn't finish it -- 800 pages, way to many characters...Never can figure out the judges in these awards.
Anyway, after that rant I will get back to this book. It is set in Brighton during the second world war. Brighton is on high alert as it is so close to Europe and likely to be the site for a German invasion. A young married woman, with a young son, is upset by all the tension in the war. However, she is more upset and despondent when her husband says he may have to leave her for a time to escort some money to London. He has also buried a box in their garden with some money and, cyanide pills. He doesn't tell her about the pills. She discoveers then when she digs up the box She feels devastated by her husband's potential abandonment of her and her son.
She starts to visit a local camp where Germans and Jews are being held, on the outskirts of town. She starts reading to an old man who is very ill. There is another man in the infirmary, a painter, possibly a counterfitter.
As the woman draws away from her husband he has a performance issue once when they try to have sex. He decides to test his mettle by going to a prostitute. But his experiment turns into an affair. His wife evenutally finds out but he assures her he is done with the lover.
The old prisoner dies, the woman then goes to read to the other prisoner but he is soon removed from the infirmary. The woman urges her husband to get him employment and he arranges for the man to paint a mural in a local church. She finds him living in the cold church and gives him a key to a neighbour's house that is not occupied so that he will have a warmer place to stay,
Her son stumbles on the man and befriends him until he sees the man comforting his mother. He and his friends had found the "pills" and leave them with candy in the man's house. The women enjoys the work of Virginia Woolf and is devastated when she learns that Woolf has committed suicide. She seeks comfort with the painter rather than her husband. Her husband stumbles upon them when he is looking for her.
The husband wants their relationship to be repaired, he even seems to think he can accept her love for the painter as long as she loves him too.
The woman had urged her husband to get the man more employment so he is hired by the military to help clear bombs. The man is clearing bombs on his first day of work, he also has the candy/pills in his pocket
All we learn is that a bomb went off and the man was buried by rubble from the cliff. Did he take a pill and did that affect him, or was it a tragic misjudgement with an armament. The book ends with the woman feeling alone, having lost the painter but it appears she is pregnant.
I found this story very engaging. The author did a great job of portaying what life would likely be like during the war, how people were acting/reacting to all the tension --- frightened, perhaps reckless.
The boys play war games, they include one of the boy's war damaged brothers. Some of their actions upset him but they don't seem to realize they are likely bringing painful memories back to him. I think she has likely captured the bravado, passion and insensitivity of youth.
I thought it was a great novel, a very compelling story, well written, thought provoking.... All the things Luminaries was NOT.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Harvest
by Jim Crace
"Happy the man, whose wish andd care
A few paternal acres bound.
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground"
Alexander Pope "Ode on Solitude"
This is one of the books shortlisted for the Mann Booker this year. I found it a fascinating book. Quote from bookjacket "On the mornign after harvest, the inhabitants of a remote English village awaken looking forward to a hardearned day of rest and feasting at their landlord's table. but the sky is marred by two conspicuous columns of smoke, replacing pleasurable anticipation with alarm and suspicion".
The story is told by one character, a person who is not from the area but had settled there. He describes life in detailed and affectionate terms. Life is tough but there is tenderness among the hardship. The Master is kind to his serfs and they seem to be content with their lot.
The main character is not from here. He has worked as an Assistant to the Master but is now one of the regular workers on the property. Idon't recall if he says why he is no longer working for the master, is it because the Master's wife died and his services were no longer needed? Or, was it because he fell in love with and married one of the local girls and gave up his position in the master's house.?
His wife has died, he has an occasional night with one of the local widows but does not think about marrying her.
I found the characters description of life at this time very interesting. He talks about everyday things including the fact that few if any people have access to mirrors so no one knows what they really look like. The people lead simple lives and seem contented with there lot, working hard to eke out a living, looking forward to the harvest celebration. I enjoyed the author's use of language:
"So she and I make love again. And I'm sure we're not alone in that. The dark is stifling its cries in other cottages than hers. Their beds are creaking. There is whispering... On niights like this, when there's anxiety about, there is a glut of lovemaing. Then the moon is our dance master. He has us move in unison. He has us trill and carol in each ohers' ears until the strars themselves have swollen and have ripened to our cries. As ever, we find our consolations sowing seed."
Initially the narrator seems to describe himself as one with the others, but as the tension builds he seems to start to separate himself from the others.
Two fires, one in the master's barn and one lit by three strangers indicating their intention to squat on the land are what precipitates the start of the destruction of the village life. The interlopers are blamed for the fire in the barn and the two males are pilloried. Another stranger has come to draw a map of the lands because it turns out the Master's wife was the owner of the property and since she is dead it now reverts to a male relative. This relative wants to switch from farming to sheep and graciously agrees to let the master stay on the land. The Narrator has heard of the plans for the property and starts to think he should become invaluable to the surveyor to get out of the place, he can see the future will not be good for the locals.
Then more trouble occurs, one of the men in the pillories dies while locked up, the Master's horse is killed an the surveyor disappears. Then the new master imprisons and beats some local women. The villagers decide that is time for them all to get away because they fear what will happen to them.
As the story ends the new and old master have set off with the women prisoners to another town leaving the narrator in charge of the property. He is torn between doing a good job and then having an ongoing position with the old master or sabotaging the property. He gets the assistance of the remaining interlopers to plant seeds in the fields again. He toys with the idea of burning the remaining masters property but the interlopers make the decision for him, they steal what valuable furniture and food they can from the manor and other houses and then set fire to the old masters house.
The Narrator has no choice but to leave for if he stays he will be punished for not guarding things.
This was a very powerful, well written story. You knew from the beginning that things would not end well but you never really knew what would occur along the way.
"Happy the man, whose wish andd care
A few paternal acres bound.
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground"
Alexander Pope "Ode on Solitude"
This is one of the books shortlisted for the Mann Booker this year. I found it a fascinating book. Quote from bookjacket "On the mornign after harvest, the inhabitants of a remote English village awaken looking forward to a hardearned day of rest and feasting at their landlord's table. but the sky is marred by two conspicuous columns of smoke, replacing pleasurable anticipation with alarm and suspicion".
The story is told by one character, a person who is not from the area but had settled there. He describes life in detailed and affectionate terms. Life is tough but there is tenderness among the hardship. The Master is kind to his serfs and they seem to be content with their lot.
The main character is not from here. He has worked as an Assistant to the Master but is now one of the regular workers on the property. Idon't recall if he says why he is no longer working for the master, is it because the Master's wife died and his services were no longer needed? Or, was it because he fell in love with and married one of the local girls and gave up his position in the master's house.?
His wife has died, he has an occasional night with one of the local widows but does not think about marrying her.
I found the characters description of life at this time very interesting. He talks about everyday things including the fact that few if any people have access to mirrors so no one knows what they really look like. The people lead simple lives and seem contented with there lot, working hard to eke out a living, looking forward to the harvest celebration. I enjoyed the author's use of language:
"So she and I make love again. And I'm sure we're not alone in that. The dark is stifling its cries in other cottages than hers. Their beds are creaking. There is whispering... On niights like this, when there's anxiety about, there is a glut of lovemaing. Then the moon is our dance master. He has us move in unison. He has us trill and carol in each ohers' ears until the strars themselves have swollen and have ripened to our cries. As ever, we find our consolations sowing seed."
Initially the narrator seems to describe himself as one with the others, but as the tension builds he seems to start to separate himself from the others.
Two fires, one in the master's barn and one lit by three strangers indicating their intention to squat on the land are what precipitates the start of the destruction of the village life. The interlopers are blamed for the fire in the barn and the two males are pilloried. Another stranger has come to draw a map of the lands because it turns out the Master's wife was the owner of the property and since she is dead it now reverts to a male relative. This relative wants to switch from farming to sheep and graciously agrees to let the master stay on the land. The Narrator has heard of the plans for the property and starts to think he should become invaluable to the surveyor to get out of the place, he can see the future will not be good for the locals.
Then more trouble occurs, one of the men in the pillories dies while locked up, the Master's horse is killed an the surveyor disappears. Then the new master imprisons and beats some local women. The villagers decide that is time for them all to get away because they fear what will happen to them.
As the story ends the new and old master have set off with the women prisoners to another town leaving the narrator in charge of the property. He is torn between doing a good job and then having an ongoing position with the old master or sabotaging the property. He gets the assistance of the remaining interlopers to plant seeds in the fields again. He toys with the idea of burning the remaining masters property but the interlopers make the decision for him, they steal what valuable furniture and food they can from the manor and other houses and then set fire to the old masters house.
The Narrator has no choice but to leave for if he stays he will be punished for not guarding things.
This was a very powerful, well written story. You knew from the beginning that things would not end well but you never really knew what would occur along the way.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
How the Light Gets In
This is the latest book by Louise Penny about Chief Inspector Gamache.
I really enjoy her stories, most take place in the little town of Three Pines Quebec with a cast of very strange but loveable characters. Reading one of her books is like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Having said that, however, I have to say I was a little surprised and disappointed by the subjects of this story.
In one part of the story the last of the "famous five Quebec quints" is murdered. They eventually figure out who probably did it but that case isn't really closed.
The majority of the story is about a conspiracy to destroy Gamache, his former second in command Jean-Guy and a Quebec bridge and some leaders in the Surete being corrupt.. He doesn't know he can trust and he is being tailed by his colleagues and superiors. In the story he goes to see a former police Supt. who was in prison for his crimes and finds another man pretending to be him. Why would this man agree to this? That is another thing not really explained in the story.
I personally think that I enjoy her stories about personal crimes more. It was great to once again see the people of Three Pines and how they banded together to protect Gamache, his boss and Jean-Guy. At the end of the book Gamache retires and Jean-Guy goes into rehab for his drug addiction. However, there is a hint that Gamache will not be able to stay retired for long.
For now I think I will read/reread some of her earlier books.
I really enjoy her stories, most take place in the little town of Three Pines Quebec with a cast of very strange but loveable characters. Reading one of her books is like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Having said that, however, I have to say I was a little surprised and disappointed by the subjects of this story.
In one part of the story the last of the "famous five Quebec quints" is murdered. They eventually figure out who probably did it but that case isn't really closed.
The majority of the story is about a conspiracy to destroy Gamache, his former second in command Jean-Guy and a Quebec bridge and some leaders in the Surete being corrupt.. He doesn't know he can trust and he is being tailed by his colleagues and superiors. In the story he goes to see a former police Supt. who was in prison for his crimes and finds another man pretending to be him. Why would this man agree to this? That is another thing not really explained in the story.
I personally think that I enjoy her stories about personal crimes more. It was great to once again see the people of Three Pines and how they banded together to protect Gamache, his boss and Jean-Guy. At the end of the book Gamache retires and Jean-Guy goes into rehab for his drug addiction. However, there is a hint that Gamache will not be able to stay retired for long.
For now I think I will read/reread some of her earlier books.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
by Cassandra Clare
This is the first book in a YA series. After reading the Book Thief, which blew me away, this book was very disappointing. It was a boy loves girl, girl ignores boy because she falls for a guy she can't have, all wrapped up in a tale of demons, werewolfs, etc. I finished it, but I didn't really find it interesting. Enough said.... on to a new and hopefully good book.
This is the first book in a YA series. After reading the Book Thief, which blew me away, this book was very disappointing. It was a boy loves girl, girl ignores boy because she falls for a guy she can't have, all wrapped up in a tale of demons, werewolfs, etc. I finished it, but I didn't really find it interesting. Enough said.... on to a new and hopefully good book.
Monday, 19 August 2013
Where'd you go Bernadette
By Maria Semple
This book was hilarious and entertaining. It is set in Seattle and features a female architect who is suffering depression and possibly agoraphobia. She is using an Internet Online Assistant to conduct all her basic activities including ordering food. They live in a house that is being consumed by blackberry bushes and rot.
The woman rants about Seattle, people in Seattle, Microsoft, where her husband works; parents of children at her child's school (who hate her) and Canadians.
The woman's daughter is a star pupil at a yuppie school and calls in her parents promise to take her to Antarctica if she gets good grade. This of course presents a problem for the mother who is terrified of having to be in close proximity to people on a ship and the dangerous ocean they will be travelling through.
She pretends to go along with the trip but really plans to get out of going.
In the meantime she is having a fued with a neighbour, whose son attends her daughter's school The woman insists she remove the blackberry bushes as they are affecting her yard, when the Architects hires the man the woman recommends disaster occurs. While she is having a party for parents of prospective students for the school, in the hope of raising money for the school, the hill on which the Architect's house sits collapses in a big rainstorm and falls into the neighbours house, almost destroying the house. Needless to say the neighbour goes ballistic.
While all this is happening the architect's husband is being wooed by his Admin Assistant who also has her children at the same school and who is also conspiring against the architect along with the architect's woman. The neighbour ends up having a breakdown and finding out her son is a drug addict.
After the husband hears about the property damage and that the "assistant" his wife was using is acutally someone from the Russian mafia who want to steal their identity and money, he tries to get his wife institutionalized to get help. The architect's neighbour has a change of heart and helps the architect escape.
They later learn that his wife went on the antarctic trip but that she disappeared from the ship. The admin wastes no time making a move on the husband and becomes pregnant. The husband says he will look after her but refuses to move in with her.
The daughter receives a package outlining notes and emails sent by the neighbour woman , it includes notes and emails sent by the neighbour, the father, her mother, and a psychiatrist. It helps the daughter piece together what had happened to her mother and why. She tells her Dad that they should go on the Antarctica trip for "closure". But she really wanting to go to find her mother whom she is sure is there somewhere. She is right, the mother had sneaked off the ship and is working in Antarctica. She hopes to get a job designing a new building in the Antarctic. The family is reunited. It looks like the future for them will be good, not sure and don't care what happens to the admin.
This was a funny book, the author did a great job of presenting a really kooky story and portraying the snobbery and obsessiveness of the social climbers/yupppie parents. It was nice that things seemed to work out for the best in the end.
This book was hilarious and entertaining. It is set in Seattle and features a female architect who is suffering depression and possibly agoraphobia. She is using an Internet Online Assistant to conduct all her basic activities including ordering food. They live in a house that is being consumed by blackberry bushes and rot.
The woman rants about Seattle, people in Seattle, Microsoft, where her husband works; parents of children at her child's school (who hate her) and Canadians.
The woman's daughter is a star pupil at a yuppie school and calls in her parents promise to take her to Antarctica if she gets good grade. This of course presents a problem for the mother who is terrified of having to be in close proximity to people on a ship and the dangerous ocean they will be travelling through.
She pretends to go along with the trip but really plans to get out of going.
In the meantime she is having a fued with a neighbour, whose son attends her daughter's school The woman insists she remove the blackberry bushes as they are affecting her yard, when the Architects hires the man the woman recommends disaster occurs. While she is having a party for parents of prospective students for the school, in the hope of raising money for the school, the hill on which the Architect's house sits collapses in a big rainstorm and falls into the neighbours house, almost destroying the house. Needless to say the neighbour goes ballistic.
While all this is happening the architect's husband is being wooed by his Admin Assistant who also has her children at the same school and who is also conspiring against the architect along with the architect's woman. The neighbour ends up having a breakdown and finding out her son is a drug addict.
After the husband hears about the property damage and that the "assistant" his wife was using is acutally someone from the Russian mafia who want to steal their identity and money, he tries to get his wife institutionalized to get help. The architect's neighbour has a change of heart and helps the architect escape.
They later learn that his wife went on the antarctic trip but that she disappeared from the ship. The admin wastes no time making a move on the husband and becomes pregnant. The husband says he will look after her but refuses to move in with her.
The daughter receives a package outlining notes and emails sent by the neighbour woman , it includes notes and emails sent by the neighbour, the father, her mother, and a psychiatrist. It helps the daughter piece together what had happened to her mother and why. She tells her Dad that they should go on the Antarctica trip for "closure". But she really wanting to go to find her mother whom she is sure is there somewhere. She is right, the mother had sneaked off the ship and is working in Antarctica. She hopes to get a job designing a new building in the Antarctic. The family is reunited. It looks like the future for them will be good, not sure and don't care what happens to the admin.
This was a funny book, the author did a great job of presenting a really kooky story and portraying the snobbery and obsessiveness of the social climbers/yupppie parents. It was nice that things seemed to work out for the best in the end.
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Pearl of China
by Anchee Min
This is the fictional story of a friendship between Pearl Buck and a chinese girl. It starts when both girls are very young. Pearl's father is a fanatical missionary based in China. He has patience, love and persistence to try to convert the chinese people he meets but he has little time and love, it seems for his fiery daughter and his sad and neglected wife. His wife is sad because she has buried four of her sons who were born in China and she misses the U.S.
Pearl initially doesn't like Willow because Willow is a thief, she steals so that she can buy food to have something to eat. However, gradually they become the best of friends and this frienship supposedly lasts their entire lives, even though Pearl eventually returns to the U.S. where she becomes famous for her writing, even wining the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Willow's father thinks it will be expedient to get baptized by Pearl's father, at least then he can get some food when he goes to Church. Willow and her grandmother know he is being deceitful. But, eventually he does become a devoted disciple and is put in charge fo the local church while Pearl's father is travelling farther afield to seek converts.
Eventually the political climate, with the appearance of Mao, becomes dangerous for foreigners. Pearl and her family try to stay but when their lives are threatened they decide to leave. Pearl's father however decides to stay in China despite the danger.
The book then goes on to tell of the difficult conditions in China, Willow is imprisoned because of her ongoing contact with Pearl Buck and her refusal to renounce her. Willow's husband is a close advisor to Mao and manages to stay out of trouble but eventually he to is sent to a prison where he dies.
The book does a great job of portraying the lives of and the relationship between Pearl and Willow.
It was a very engaging book, did a great job of portraying the passionate missionaries and the trials and tribulatons peasants suffered under Mao.
Pearl Buck really missed China and hoped to return to visit when Nixon visited China but she is vilified in China and is denied a visa.
Willow eventually gets permission to travel to the U.S. after Pearl's death. She wants to see her house and spinkle dirt from Pearl's mother's grave on Pearl's grave. She is amazed at the beautiful Chinese like garden that Pearl had created, this makes her realize truly how much Pearl missed China.
This is the fictional story of a friendship between Pearl Buck and a chinese girl. It starts when both girls are very young. Pearl's father is a fanatical missionary based in China. He has patience, love and persistence to try to convert the chinese people he meets but he has little time and love, it seems for his fiery daughter and his sad and neglected wife. His wife is sad because she has buried four of her sons who were born in China and she misses the U.S.
Pearl initially doesn't like Willow because Willow is a thief, she steals so that she can buy food to have something to eat. However, gradually they become the best of friends and this frienship supposedly lasts their entire lives, even though Pearl eventually returns to the U.S. where she becomes famous for her writing, even wining the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Willow's father thinks it will be expedient to get baptized by Pearl's father, at least then he can get some food when he goes to Church. Willow and her grandmother know he is being deceitful. But, eventually he does become a devoted disciple and is put in charge fo the local church while Pearl's father is travelling farther afield to seek converts.
Eventually the political climate, with the appearance of Mao, becomes dangerous for foreigners. Pearl and her family try to stay but when their lives are threatened they decide to leave. Pearl's father however decides to stay in China despite the danger.
The book then goes on to tell of the difficult conditions in China, Willow is imprisoned because of her ongoing contact with Pearl Buck and her refusal to renounce her. Willow's husband is a close advisor to Mao and manages to stay out of trouble but eventually he to is sent to a prison where he dies.
The book does a great job of portraying the lives of and the relationship between Pearl and Willow.
It was a very engaging book, did a great job of portraying the passionate missionaries and the trials and tribulatons peasants suffered under Mao.
Pearl Buck really missed China and hoped to return to visit when Nixon visited China but she is vilified in China and is denied a visa.
Willow eventually gets permission to travel to the U.S. after Pearl's death. She wants to see her house and spinkle dirt from Pearl's mother's grave on Pearl's grave. She is amazed at the beautiful Chinese like garden that Pearl had created, this makes her realize truly how much Pearl missed China.
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