by Tom Rachman
This is the second book I have read by this author. Right now I can't recall the first one, the Imperfectionists, I still have it so I may reread it.
This books is about the relationship with a young man, nicknamed "Pinch" and his famous artist father Bear Bavinsky. When the book opens Pinch is a young boy and his father is living with him and his mother, in Rome, having left behind a wife and kids in the U.S.
Bear is self-absorbed and a serial adulterer. While he is living with Pinch and his mother, Bear s having an affair with at least one other woman. He eventually divorces Pinch's mother and moves onto to another woman and to starting another family. By the end of his life Bear as 7 or so wives and has fathered 17 children.
Bear loves to cuddle with Pinch when he is in the mood but most of the time he locks himself away in his studio and refuses to let anyone see his work. Bear is a perfectionist. He labours over his paintings and frequently burns those he is not happy with. Bear thinks he is the genius of the age, disparages the new modern artists. He refuses to sell his art to private collectors. He wants all his art to go to museums (so he will be honoured in posterity) and not hidden away.
He promises to do things with Pinch but never lives up to his promises. One of Pinch's step sisters arrives from the U.S. for a visit. Bear treats her in the same way as Pinch, hardly spending any time with her. Pinch's mother is an aspiring Potter but she sacrifices her art to serve Bear. When he leaves her and Pinch they struggle in poverty and she can't do much of her craft. Before Bear leaves he on one occasion takes Pinch into his studio and gives him some instruction about painting.
One day Bear reluctantly takes Pinch to an art launch in London. He tells people at the event that his son is an artist to watch. Pinch is so excited by this praise. Midway through the evening his father takes him back to the hotel and dumps him there so he can go back to the art launch and schmooze. Pinch never forgets this attention and aspires to be a painter after his father leaves.
When Pinch goes to visit his father in the U.S. with his next family he takes along a piece of art he has done and asks for his father's opinion. Bear stalls looking at it but just before Pinch leaves he does have a look at it.... his response is hot positive and Pinch is devastated, vowing never to paint again.
Pinch's mother is very fragile emotionally but Pinch decides to go to the U.S. to study, leaving his mother behind in England. He doesn't call her as often as he should. Eventually she commits suicide. Pinch makes friends with a male student and gets in a relationship with a girl. They talk about getting married but when she gets accepted to a presigious New York University and he doesn't they part company. Pinch is devastated by this. Around the same time he separates himself from his male friend, who has been kicked out of university.
Pinch continues to have a relationship with his father. Often going to help him at his cabin in France when he is summoned. He is very hurt when his father tells him one day "you work for me!" but he doesn't sever contact.
Pinch gets a PhD but cannot find a job as an Art Prof so he becomes an Italian teacher at a London language school. He marries, but divorces not long after.
One time when Pinch and his father are at the cabin in France they have a big fight and Pinch drives away. Pinch goes into the studio where is father has been storing a number of pieces of art. Pinch returns to the cabin and studio and in a fit of anger at his father punches one of the paintings and puts a hole in it. He is horrified by what he has done and tries to patch the painting. He lives in fear that his father will come discover what he has done.
One of his step sisters contacts him, telling him that she is in an abusive marriage but can't afford to leave. Pinch decides to make a copy of the painting he damaged. He then goes to an agent and offers the painting, as a Bear original, but insists it must go to a private buyer. The painting sells and he gives the money to his step sister. Pinch now has two things to worry about being "outed". He thinks everything will be okay but then he is contacted one day and asked the value of the painting as the man who bought it and his wife are divorcing and the painting may go up for auction. It works out okay for him as the husband rebuys the painting in the divorce settlement. Pinch thinks that things are okay until one day the owner of the painting tries to meet his father at an art exhibit. Pinch successfully gets his father away from the man before the lie can come out.
Pinch and his univeristy friend, with whom he has renewed his friendship, are visiting his Father in France. At one point his father does tell him that he thought he, Pinch, did have some talent. Pinch is furious that his father lied to him initially. He feels that his father is responsible for him giving up on art and his very unimpressive life and career. They have another fight and Pinch drives away. His father has a heart attack and dies, leaving Pinch all his estate. The siblings are furious that Pinch is getting all the art. After being threatened with lawsuits he decides to share the art with them. But what he does is make copies of all the art stored in the studio and give these copies to his siblings. He keeps the originals stored in the attic of the studio. He is of course torn up with worry about this being discovered.
Bear had been saying for years that he was working on new pieces but it turns out he had nothing new. Pinch finds some pictures of his various siblings at the cabin and starts painting them. He then decides to give these paintings to the siblings as original Bear art. The siblings, who like Pinch felt ignored by their father, feel great that their father thought enough about them to paint them. Eventually there is an exhibition of this "faces" series and there is talk of them being sold. Again Pinch is terrified as these are frauds.
Pinch has not aged well, he looks much older than his 50 years. He and his father both smoked pipes. Pinch has always been quite frail physically but he is devastated when he learns he has cancer and has a short time to live He has to have part of his tongue cut out because of cancer so he can no longer speak (symbolism). He leaves his fathers cabin to a fellow language teacher he has been living with. When she and Marsden (Pinch's friend) go to the Cabin and studio in France the discover copies of some of Bear's famous art. At first they think that he must have made two copies of his art, but knowing that he burned many of his pictures they realize this is not the likely explanation. They suspect that Pinch is the one who made the copies. They realize there will be legal chaos if the truth comes out that the paintings in the market are copies.
Pinch's lover decides to destroy the originals. At first Marsden is horrified at the thought of destroying the original work of a great master. But he then helps her burn them. They feel good that Pinch's artistic efforts will be enjoyed into the future.
This was a fascinating story. The author did a great job of portraying the cruel father, the doting son.
You really felt the pain the father had inflicted on all his families and sad for Pinch who, like all his siblings, desparately wanted his father's praise and attention, only to be ignored or even emotionally wounded by the father. A very powerful story.
Sunday, 25 March 2018
Sunday, 18 March 2018
Dangerous Crossing
by Rachel Rhys
The book is about a ship that is sailing from England to Australia on the Eve of WWII. The main character is a young woman, Lily Shepherd, who is going to Australia to serve as a domestic worker. If she stays for two years in Australia her passage to and from England will be paid for.
Lily is excited for this new adventure but also sad to leave behind her parents and brother. She shares a stateroom in the lower levels of the ship with two other girls travelling for the same reason. One she likes, one she doesn't.
They are assigned tables for their meals. Lily is assigned a table which includes a brother and sister and a very outspoken young man who is sure will break out, and hates Jews. He is being sent to New Zealand to help his uncle on his farm. His family is probably sending him away to get him away from the war.
Lily develops a friendship/attraction to the young man who is travelling with his sister but his attention seems to run hot and cold. She is very puzzled at his behaviour. A young American couple, who are travelling first class, come down to the lower area and encourage Lily and the young man to join them for cards and other outings as the voyage continues. Lily is warned that there is something scandalous about the Americans. She ignores the warnings partly because the couple are so insistent on associating with her and the young man. The young couple seem to be having some maritial difficulties.
As time goes on both the angry young man and the American show and interest in Lily. She rebuffs the angry young man and he is furious that she likes the young man better than him. Lily knows that there is a class difference between her and the young man but she hopes it could be overlooked by his family.
Lily also makes friends with a young Jewish woman whose parents stayed behind in Europe. She is very worried about them. One night when they are sleeping outside on the deck because it is so hot in the ship, the Jewish girl says she was molested. The Captain and crew make a short investigation but discount her claim. Lily is outraged that they don't believe her.
As the voyage continues the young Jewish woman is getting ill and eventually disappears. All they find is her glasses. We find out that the American couple lost a child because the child consumed some of the husband's cocaine. The wife had an affair in Britain with a married man and the man's wife killed herself. That is why they have left Britain.
We evenutally find out that the angry young man had indeed molested the Jewish girl and accidentally killed her. As the book ends the young man comes out dressed in drag, revealing his true secret and ends up accidentally murdering the American man.
This book was actually roughly based on a real life experience of an Australian author (who emigrated from Britain). This woman, like Lily had come over to do domestic service but aspired to be a writer. She stayed in Australia, married, had a family and did become a successful author.
I found it an interesting story. The details about the voyage, the dress, etc. were very well done. The character portrayals and interactions between the characters were also well done
The book is about a ship that is sailing from England to Australia on the Eve of WWII. The main character is a young woman, Lily Shepherd, who is going to Australia to serve as a domestic worker. If she stays for two years in Australia her passage to and from England will be paid for.
Lily is excited for this new adventure but also sad to leave behind her parents and brother. She shares a stateroom in the lower levels of the ship with two other girls travelling for the same reason. One she likes, one she doesn't.
They are assigned tables for their meals. Lily is assigned a table which includes a brother and sister and a very outspoken young man who is sure will break out, and hates Jews. He is being sent to New Zealand to help his uncle on his farm. His family is probably sending him away to get him away from the war.
Lily develops a friendship/attraction to the young man who is travelling with his sister but his attention seems to run hot and cold. She is very puzzled at his behaviour. A young American couple, who are travelling first class, come down to the lower area and encourage Lily and the young man to join them for cards and other outings as the voyage continues. Lily is warned that there is something scandalous about the Americans. She ignores the warnings partly because the couple are so insistent on associating with her and the young man. The young couple seem to be having some maritial difficulties.
As time goes on both the angry young man and the American show and interest in Lily. She rebuffs the angry young man and he is furious that she likes the young man better than him. Lily knows that there is a class difference between her and the young man but she hopes it could be overlooked by his family.
Lily also makes friends with a young Jewish woman whose parents stayed behind in Europe. She is very worried about them. One night when they are sleeping outside on the deck because it is so hot in the ship, the Jewish girl says she was molested. The Captain and crew make a short investigation but discount her claim. Lily is outraged that they don't believe her.
As the voyage continues the young Jewish woman is getting ill and eventually disappears. All they find is her glasses. We find out that the American couple lost a child because the child consumed some of the husband's cocaine. The wife had an affair in Britain with a married man and the man's wife killed herself. That is why they have left Britain.
We evenutally find out that the angry young man had indeed molested the Jewish girl and accidentally killed her. As the book ends the young man comes out dressed in drag, revealing his true secret and ends up accidentally murdering the American man.
This book was actually roughly based on a real life experience of an Australian author (who emigrated from Britain). This woman, like Lily had come over to do domestic service but aspired to be a writer. She stayed in Australia, married, had a family and did become a successful author.
I found it an interesting story. The details about the voyage, the dress, etc. were very well done. The character portrayals and interactions between the characters were also well done
Monday, 12 March 2018
Lands if Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road
by Kate Harris
This book is by a Canadian, who lives in Atlin BC. She is a Rhodes Scholar and has other academic awards as well.
The book is primarily the tail of her two bicycle trips on the silk road in Asia. As a child the author became enamoured with stories of adventurers like Marco Polo, Darwin, Shackleton, etc. She has a serious adventure streak in her, one of her adventures is being part of a camp to simulate life on Mars. She attends a University that pays for her do to junkets into far flung places of the world. She takes a degree in the history of science at Oxford and then goes to MIT to work on her PhD. However she becomes disillusioned when her faculty advisor steers her into boring lab work rather than field work so she quits.
The starts with her and a friend riding west from China on the silk road, sometimes sneaking across borders because they feared getting stopped. The riding is very tough and dangerous. Then a decade or so later the two women decide to complete their ride starting in Istanbul and working east. She features some of the kindness shown to them by strangers, feeding and housing them at times. They did not have much money so the help of strangers really was a blessing. Their main diet was boiled ramen noodles and instant coffee. She does not really share the really bad things that happened to them. People in these largely muslim countries wonder why women are cycling alone. They wear fake wedding rings and tell people their spouses are in trucks accompanying them. At times they run into very bad weather, freezing cold or suffocatingly hot but they keep going.
The author does talk a bit about the history of science, the arbitrariness of borders, she does find the desserts starkly beautiful and enjoys being away from civilization. They do meet with some officials along the way to discuss conservancy issues but you really feel they were just doing this for themselves. You have to admire their tenacity, I certainly wouldn't have the stamina to do it. But I somehow expected something a bit more insightful from the book not just a log of their hardships. Perhaps people who are really into extreme sports would appreciate this book more than I did. I have read several books about the Camino and found them a lot more engaging and memorable.
This book is by a Canadian, who lives in Atlin BC. She is a Rhodes Scholar and has other academic awards as well.
The book is primarily the tail of her two bicycle trips on the silk road in Asia. As a child the author became enamoured with stories of adventurers like Marco Polo, Darwin, Shackleton, etc. She has a serious adventure streak in her, one of her adventures is being part of a camp to simulate life on Mars. She attends a University that pays for her do to junkets into far flung places of the world. She takes a degree in the history of science at Oxford and then goes to MIT to work on her PhD. However she becomes disillusioned when her faculty advisor steers her into boring lab work rather than field work so she quits.
The starts with her and a friend riding west from China on the silk road, sometimes sneaking across borders because they feared getting stopped. The riding is very tough and dangerous. Then a decade or so later the two women decide to complete their ride starting in Istanbul and working east. She features some of the kindness shown to them by strangers, feeding and housing them at times. They did not have much money so the help of strangers really was a blessing. Their main diet was boiled ramen noodles and instant coffee. She does not really share the really bad things that happened to them. People in these largely muslim countries wonder why women are cycling alone. They wear fake wedding rings and tell people their spouses are in trucks accompanying them. At times they run into very bad weather, freezing cold or suffocatingly hot but they keep going.
The author does talk a bit about the history of science, the arbitrariness of borders, she does find the desserts starkly beautiful and enjoys being away from civilization. They do meet with some officials along the way to discuss conservancy issues but you really feel they were just doing this for themselves. You have to admire their tenacity, I certainly wouldn't have the stamina to do it. But I somehow expected something a bit more insightful from the book not just a log of their hardships. Perhaps people who are really into extreme sports would appreciate this book more than I did. I have read several books about the Camino and found them a lot more engaging and memorable.
Sunday, 4 March 2018
Boat People
by Sharon Bala
This the story about a boat of Sri Lankan refugees that arrives on the Canadian coast with people seeking refugee status. Normally Canada has been considered very considerate to refugees but this time the government seems to be taking a tougher stand, concerned that Tamil terrorists might be trying to get into Canada.
The main character in the story is a Sri Lankan man Mahindan who is on the boat with his six year old son. When they arrive in Canada M's son is taken away from him as Canadian's want to settle the men away from the women and children. He and his son are distraught by the separation.
Other characters include a young articling lawyer, Priya who really wants to get into corporate law but because she is of Sri Lankan descent she is brought in to help another lawyer defend some of the refugees. Her boss assumed that she would be able to speak Tamil or Sinalese. She really resents that she is taken away from her corporate assignment.
Another character in the story is Grace, a woman of Japanese descent whose parents and grandparents were interned in Slocan during WWII. Grace's mother has early stage dementia has become obsessed with reclaiming the family home that was taken away from them. She also is active with other internees in trying to get a government apology. Grace has been given a political appointement by an MP to serve as a Refugee judge. While her mother is going over all the family suffered Grace is being fed suspicion and negative feelings towards the Sri Lankans by her patron. The officials are especially suspicious because they find identity papers left on the boat for people who are not part of the refugees.
Priya's family escaped to Canada during one of the difficult times in Sri Lanka. Her family has not wanted to talk about it and they have discouraged her from associating with other Sri Lankans saying they will only be trouble. Her uncle is living with Priya and her father and brother. There is tension between the two men, Priya isn't sure why.
The story weaves between life in Sri Lanka for various of the characters and the lives of the refugees in Canada and the Canadian characters. We find that the hearings are being dragged on much longer than usual because of the goverment and citizen paranoia. We learn that Mahindan's wife died in childbirth and about the terror of living in Sri Lanka and how they fled for their lives as the army advanced on the Tamil area. Mahindan was a mechanic who was forced to repair Tamil Tiger vehicles but he only did it so they would not force him to join the Tiger army. There may have been occasions when he attached a bomb to cars so they could be used for explosions. As he is trying to get away he starts to pick up identify papers from dead people and also money he finds on the body. To make some money for his passage to Canada M sells some of the identify documents to fellow aspiring refugees.
The refugees are going through their hearings but many are being delayed for months. Some people manage to get passed the initial survey and released from detention to await their refugee hearing. Grace is especially harsh on the people brought before her, justifying it to herself that she is protecting Canada. She turns back M several times. At one point M's room mate in detention goes for a hearing and the Border Services people say that they have identified him as a major Tamil Tiger. The man denies it but it sentenced to deportation. The man is so despondent he kills himself.
M is devastated that the man killed himself, he feels guilty because this man was one of the people he sold identity papers to. The man's story is written up in the paper and public sympathy seems to swing in favour of the refugees. M is further upset because his son has been removed from the detention centre and put in the care of a foster family.
As the book proceeds we find Grace's Mom continuing to rant about the injustices done to the Japanese and urges Grace not to repeat history. Grace resists her urgings. Her mother keeps stressing that the family went along with the treatment without complaint and then just got on with living once they got out. They were afraid to complain and didn't think it would do any good. At one point Grace and her mother go back to the family home as it is on the market. The mother is dismayed that the place has been renovated so much she can't even recognize it. She seems to realize you can't recapture the past.
Priya is getting emotionally invested in her work, she often take's M's son to visit him. She visits some of the refugees who were allowed to enter Canada. She is surprised to find that her father and uncle are volunteering to help the Tamil refugees by donating household goods and clothes and helping to teach them English. Eventually Priya's uncle tells her that he became a Tamil Fighter but was a coward when it came to seeing a fellow soldier killed by Indian soldiers brought in by the SR govermnment to help fight the Tamils. He tells her he felt he had no choice but to fight and that he was fighting for their rights. But after the incident with his friend he got out of the country.
As the book ends Grace might be softening her stance a bit, Priya is offered a job in the Corporate section of her law firm but asks to stay with the refugee work. M is going in for a hearing yet again.
His lawyers are telling him to be optimistic.... will he be successful? Given how the country has treated him and his son... not sure...
This was a very difficult book to read but it was brilliantly written, giving us so many people's lives and experiences. It wrenched your gut on many occasions, as we learned how people suffered, shared memories of the past and had to live with the decisions they made, including those that unintentionally harmed other people.
This the story about a boat of Sri Lankan refugees that arrives on the Canadian coast with people seeking refugee status. Normally Canada has been considered very considerate to refugees but this time the government seems to be taking a tougher stand, concerned that Tamil terrorists might be trying to get into Canada.
The main character in the story is a Sri Lankan man Mahindan who is on the boat with his six year old son. When they arrive in Canada M's son is taken away from him as Canadian's want to settle the men away from the women and children. He and his son are distraught by the separation.
Other characters include a young articling lawyer, Priya who really wants to get into corporate law but because she is of Sri Lankan descent she is brought in to help another lawyer defend some of the refugees. Her boss assumed that she would be able to speak Tamil or Sinalese. She really resents that she is taken away from her corporate assignment.
Another character in the story is Grace, a woman of Japanese descent whose parents and grandparents were interned in Slocan during WWII. Grace's mother has early stage dementia has become obsessed with reclaiming the family home that was taken away from them. She also is active with other internees in trying to get a government apology. Grace has been given a political appointement by an MP to serve as a Refugee judge. While her mother is going over all the family suffered Grace is being fed suspicion and negative feelings towards the Sri Lankans by her patron. The officials are especially suspicious because they find identity papers left on the boat for people who are not part of the refugees.
Priya's family escaped to Canada during one of the difficult times in Sri Lanka. Her family has not wanted to talk about it and they have discouraged her from associating with other Sri Lankans saying they will only be trouble. Her uncle is living with Priya and her father and brother. There is tension between the two men, Priya isn't sure why.
The story weaves between life in Sri Lanka for various of the characters and the lives of the refugees in Canada and the Canadian characters. We find that the hearings are being dragged on much longer than usual because of the goverment and citizen paranoia. We learn that Mahindan's wife died in childbirth and about the terror of living in Sri Lanka and how they fled for their lives as the army advanced on the Tamil area. Mahindan was a mechanic who was forced to repair Tamil Tiger vehicles but he only did it so they would not force him to join the Tiger army. There may have been occasions when he attached a bomb to cars so they could be used for explosions. As he is trying to get away he starts to pick up identify papers from dead people and also money he finds on the body. To make some money for his passage to Canada M sells some of the identify documents to fellow aspiring refugees.
The refugees are going through their hearings but many are being delayed for months. Some people manage to get passed the initial survey and released from detention to await their refugee hearing. Grace is especially harsh on the people brought before her, justifying it to herself that she is protecting Canada. She turns back M several times. At one point M's room mate in detention goes for a hearing and the Border Services people say that they have identified him as a major Tamil Tiger. The man denies it but it sentenced to deportation. The man is so despondent he kills himself.
M is devastated that the man killed himself, he feels guilty because this man was one of the people he sold identity papers to. The man's story is written up in the paper and public sympathy seems to swing in favour of the refugees. M is further upset because his son has been removed from the detention centre and put in the care of a foster family.
As the book proceeds we find Grace's Mom continuing to rant about the injustices done to the Japanese and urges Grace not to repeat history. Grace resists her urgings. Her mother keeps stressing that the family went along with the treatment without complaint and then just got on with living once they got out. They were afraid to complain and didn't think it would do any good. At one point Grace and her mother go back to the family home as it is on the market. The mother is dismayed that the place has been renovated so much she can't even recognize it. She seems to realize you can't recapture the past.
Priya is getting emotionally invested in her work, she often take's M's son to visit him. She visits some of the refugees who were allowed to enter Canada. She is surprised to find that her father and uncle are volunteering to help the Tamil refugees by donating household goods and clothes and helping to teach them English. Eventually Priya's uncle tells her that he became a Tamil Fighter but was a coward when it came to seeing a fellow soldier killed by Indian soldiers brought in by the SR govermnment to help fight the Tamils. He tells her he felt he had no choice but to fight and that he was fighting for their rights. But after the incident with his friend he got out of the country.
As the book ends Grace might be softening her stance a bit, Priya is offered a job in the Corporate section of her law firm but asks to stay with the refugee work. M is going in for a hearing yet again.
His lawyers are telling him to be optimistic.... will he be successful? Given how the country has treated him and his son... not sure...
This was a very difficult book to read but it was brilliantly written, giving us so many people's lives and experiences. It wrenched your gut on many occasions, as we learned how people suffered, shared memories of the past and had to live with the decisions they made, including those that unintentionally harmed other people.
Sunday, 25 February 2018
Someone to Watch Over Me
by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
This is a mystery by an Icelandic author, set in Iceland.
As the book opens we learn that a young girl was killed by a hit and run driver and that her mother feels her house is haunted by her spirit.
We then learn that a very violent criminal contacts a lawyer asking her to investigate a conviction to try to get the case reopened. The lawyer thinks he is referring to his own case and she is reluctant to try to help such an evil person. She is surprised to learn that the man actually wants her to investigate on behalf of another inmate at the institution, a down-syndrome man who is was deemed responsible for a fire at a care facility he was housed in that was set on fire and which killed several residents and staff. The evil person has inherited money after the death of his mother and he has no use for it as he will be incarcerated for the rest of his life.
The lawyer agrees to look into the matter and is shocked to find that the lawyer who handled the defence did a very poor job. She is further shocked to learn that the same lawyer is related to the father of one of the children (an autistic boy) who died at the institution and that this lawyer is also handling the evil guy's affairs.
As she interviews staff from the care home she discovers an Administrator who is bitter because her career aspirations have been dashed. She may have been more interested in her career than in running the facility well. The lawyer starts receiving anonymous tips pertaining to the case. She can't figure out who would be feeding her them as she believes she has interviewed everyone who might know something about the case.
The father of the autistic boy is a high ranking official with the Justice Dept. who also has career aspirations but he appears to be willing to cooperate with the lawyer. As the lawyer continues her investigations she discovers that one of the patients at the care facility, a comatose girl, was 4 months pregnant when she died. She is shocked to discover the abuse. Could this be the reason someone set fire to the building, to hide the fact the girl was pregnant. She also learns that the night staff at the facility were allowing strangers into the building for intravenous drips and oxygen to counteract intoxication. Could one of these people be the cause of the fire.
As she investigates the patients she learns that the autistic boy frequently drew pictures with a prone body, a circle divided into three and NN18o. She initially thinks it might be a drawing of the comatose girl. After "interviewing" one of the patients (with locked in syndrome) who survived the fire because she was out of the bldg on the night of the fire the lawyer she gets a hint about short oxgyen hose, later learns that this woman was also raped and eventually is able to identify the rapist by showing the young woman pictures of people who partied at the facility.
As the book ends we learn that the mother of the autistic boy was the woman who killed the girl in the hit and run, her autistic son and daughter where in the car when it happened. The images the son is drawing are of the accident and the licence number of her car. The autistic boy had been getting treatment which the family feared might open him up enough to divulge the accident. The daughter recruits a friend to set a small fire at the facility as she thinks this will shut her brother down. However the situation gets out conrol becuase the sprinkler system in the building, which was new and rushed to completion, was not operational.
The lawyer eventually learned that the messages she has been receiving were from Josteinn, the violent criminal. He is allowed to work on computers at the prison to fix them up and then they are sent on to charities. He fortuitously gets his hands on a laptop formerly owned by the father of the autistic boy which had some sort of "key" which allowed him internet acces and the ability to make phone calls (both of which are forbidden to him). He is delighted to see emails between the father and lawyer plus Facebook posts which document what was going on the facility. When the father of the autistic boy discovers that laptop has been sent to the prison he makes sure it is retrieved but Josteinn knows this might happen and has saved the incriminating info which he passes onto the lawyer he asked to look into the case.
The book was long but very well written. The author did a great job of developing the story. There was some humour in the book in the Lawyer being stuck with a very beligerent and incompetent assistant (through some deal with the building owner) and the stress in her life because her parents have had to move in with her and her family, her, her two small children and her lover. Her parents have asked to move in with her temporarily because the decline in the economy and bad investing on their part has caused them to lose their home.
One very disturbing part of the book, Josteinn violently attacks Jacob, his friend, the Downs-Sydrome boy, blinding him. He does this because he feels this will get the boy back to Rejkjavik to be nearer the lawyer.
The only thing that was a bit disconcerting... at the end the woman who killed the girl in the hit and run didn't seem to have any grief over what she had done, her husband's career prospects were ruined but it was not clear if she would suffer any legal consequences. Nor was it clear if the daughter would suffer any legal consequences. One of the employees of the care home, who was not at work on the night of the fire, also seems to be unrepentant about what they did at the facility and seems to feel very sorry for his lot in life. He will be on trial for the death (accidental or not) of the fellow who raped the girls at the faciltiy. Fortunately the downs-syndrome man is exonerated and released to the care of his mother.
This is a mystery by an Icelandic author, set in Iceland.
As the book opens we learn that a young girl was killed by a hit and run driver and that her mother feels her house is haunted by her spirit.
We then learn that a very violent criminal contacts a lawyer asking her to investigate a conviction to try to get the case reopened. The lawyer thinks he is referring to his own case and she is reluctant to try to help such an evil person. She is surprised to learn that the man actually wants her to investigate on behalf of another inmate at the institution, a down-syndrome man who is was deemed responsible for a fire at a care facility he was housed in that was set on fire and which killed several residents and staff. The evil person has inherited money after the death of his mother and he has no use for it as he will be incarcerated for the rest of his life.
The lawyer agrees to look into the matter and is shocked to find that the lawyer who handled the defence did a very poor job. She is further shocked to learn that the same lawyer is related to the father of one of the children (an autistic boy) who died at the institution and that this lawyer is also handling the evil guy's affairs.
As she interviews staff from the care home she discovers an Administrator who is bitter because her career aspirations have been dashed. She may have been more interested in her career than in running the facility well. The lawyer starts receiving anonymous tips pertaining to the case. She can't figure out who would be feeding her them as she believes she has interviewed everyone who might know something about the case.
The father of the autistic boy is a high ranking official with the Justice Dept. who also has career aspirations but he appears to be willing to cooperate with the lawyer. As the lawyer continues her investigations she discovers that one of the patients at the care facility, a comatose girl, was 4 months pregnant when she died. She is shocked to discover the abuse. Could this be the reason someone set fire to the building, to hide the fact the girl was pregnant. She also learns that the night staff at the facility were allowing strangers into the building for intravenous drips and oxygen to counteract intoxication. Could one of these people be the cause of the fire.
As she investigates the patients she learns that the autistic boy frequently drew pictures with a prone body, a circle divided into three and NN18o. She initially thinks it might be a drawing of the comatose girl. After "interviewing" one of the patients (with locked in syndrome) who survived the fire because she was out of the bldg on the night of the fire the lawyer she gets a hint about short oxgyen hose, later learns that this woman was also raped and eventually is able to identify the rapist by showing the young woman pictures of people who partied at the facility.
As the book ends we learn that the mother of the autistic boy was the woman who killed the girl in the hit and run, her autistic son and daughter where in the car when it happened. The images the son is drawing are of the accident and the licence number of her car. The autistic boy had been getting treatment which the family feared might open him up enough to divulge the accident. The daughter recruits a friend to set a small fire at the facility as she thinks this will shut her brother down. However the situation gets out conrol becuase the sprinkler system in the building, which was new and rushed to completion, was not operational.
The lawyer eventually learned that the messages she has been receiving were from Josteinn, the violent criminal. He is allowed to work on computers at the prison to fix them up and then they are sent on to charities. He fortuitously gets his hands on a laptop formerly owned by the father of the autistic boy which had some sort of "key" which allowed him internet acces and the ability to make phone calls (both of which are forbidden to him). He is delighted to see emails between the father and lawyer plus Facebook posts which document what was going on the facility. When the father of the autistic boy discovers that laptop has been sent to the prison he makes sure it is retrieved but Josteinn knows this might happen and has saved the incriminating info which he passes onto the lawyer he asked to look into the case.
The book was long but very well written. The author did a great job of developing the story. There was some humour in the book in the Lawyer being stuck with a very beligerent and incompetent assistant (through some deal with the building owner) and the stress in her life because her parents have had to move in with her and her family, her, her two small children and her lover. Her parents have asked to move in with her temporarily because the decline in the economy and bad investing on their part has caused them to lose their home.
One very disturbing part of the book, Josteinn violently attacks Jacob, his friend, the Downs-Sydrome boy, blinding him. He does this because he feels this will get the boy back to Rejkjavik to be nearer the lawyer.
The only thing that was a bit disconcerting... at the end the woman who killed the girl in the hit and run didn't seem to have any grief over what she had done, her husband's career prospects were ruined but it was not clear if she would suffer any legal consequences. Nor was it clear if the daughter would suffer any legal consequences. One of the employees of the care home, who was not at work on the night of the fire, also seems to be unrepentant about what they did at the facility and seems to feel very sorry for his lot in life. He will be on trial for the death (accidental or not) of the fellow who raped the girls at the faciltiy. Fortunately the downs-syndrome man is exonerated and released to the care of his mother.
Friday, 23 February 2018
Winter
By Ali Smith
This is the second book in her quatro of books based on titles of the seasons. I did not find this book as interesting or powerful as the first one, Autumn.
In this book Art (Arthur) is working from home trying to find copyright infringement on the Internet. I think the author makes reference to winter and death. However, I think this bookis more about truth. As we learn about Art we find out that he writes a popular blog on a nature theme. We find out two things about his blog:1) he lies, he writes about nature issues as he imagines them and makes things up on his blog. In one of his posts he writes about having spotted a Canadian warbler in England. These have never been see before. 2)his blog has been taken over by his ex-girlfriend who is writing all sorts of annoying stuff which is getting his followers angry at him and he is getting so many angry emails and tweets that he has had to turn off his phone.
It is Christmastime and Art is supposed to be taking his girlfriend with him to visit his Mother for the holidays. As he no longer has a girlfriend he approaches a girl he sees lingering on a bus bench to come to his mother's with him. He offers her one-thousand pounds to come and spend a few days with him. Art does not like his mother and doesn't really want to spend time with her.
We then meet a woman who seems to have a disembodied child's head floating around her. She eventually gets used to this and it even sleeps with her in her bed. As time passes the hair on the face seems to be falling out and the features on the face fade until nothing is left but a stone. We learn that this woman is Art's mother.
Art's mother has been a successful entrepreneur, featuring items that are trending at the time, e.g. meditation items, or old fashioned light fixtures. When they arrive at her house outside of London they find his mother is huddled in a coat, hat and mitts and has no food in the house. Art and his mother are not getting along. The girl he has brought along is initially rejected by his mother, however Lux is very gentle with her and gradually she is able to convince Art's mother to remove some of her outerwear. She also gets her to eat a little bit of food. She also convinces Art to contact his Aunt, who has been estranged from his mother for years.
The Aunt who is supposedly in Greece working with refugees shows up rather quickly with a box full of vegetables. The Aunt cooks a meal, Art's mother seems to avoid all the food but Lux is able to coax her to eat a bit. The two sisters argue about the past including whether the sister looked after Art when he was young. Art's mother had quite often dropped Art off with her father as she went about running her business. Her sister insists that it was she who actually looked afer the boy.
We learn that the aunt was living in a house with a bunch of hippies in her youth and that Art's mother became pregnant by one of the men in that house. The house was in quite a state of disrepair.
We discover that Art's mother later bought the house after it had been renovated. The aunt did a lot of protesting about environmental issues and was also part of the long women's protest against cruise missles in Britain (this is the fenced area mentioned in the first book).
The house is located in a somewhat isolated area but one day a bus arrives with British birdlovers on the hunt for that Canadian bird that Art claims he spotted. They want him to tell them where he saw it and tell him there have been other sitings of the bird. He doesn't tell them and after they have a meal at the house the birders set off on their quest.
The two sisters seem to become less aggressive toward each other and even share some good memories. Art and Lux return to London and he pays her. Later Art asks his ex-girlfriend if she wants to take over his blog and she agrees to asking him to write occasional posts. The book ends with Art trying to connect with Lux again but he is unable to find her.
I have no idea what the floating head/stone is about. It is obvious that Art's mother is having a breakdown. She is terrified of eating thinking it will poison her. The lies that Art tells on his blog are I think comments on the world today. There are some references to Brexit and to Donald Trump. While Art's Aunt seems to have maintained her passion for good causes, Art, his mother and Lux seem isolated and lonely. Lux seems to have had a positive impact on all of them but then she is gone.
I wonder what "Spring" will bring. I hope it is less depressing than winter.
This is the second book in her quatro of books based on titles of the seasons. I did not find this book as interesting or powerful as the first one, Autumn.
In this book Art (Arthur) is working from home trying to find copyright infringement on the Internet. I think the author makes reference to winter and death. However, I think this bookis more about truth. As we learn about Art we find out that he writes a popular blog on a nature theme. We find out two things about his blog:1) he lies, he writes about nature issues as he imagines them and makes things up on his blog. In one of his posts he writes about having spotted a Canadian warbler in England. These have never been see before. 2)his blog has been taken over by his ex-girlfriend who is writing all sorts of annoying stuff which is getting his followers angry at him and he is getting so many angry emails and tweets that he has had to turn off his phone.
It is Christmastime and Art is supposed to be taking his girlfriend with him to visit his Mother for the holidays. As he no longer has a girlfriend he approaches a girl he sees lingering on a bus bench to come to his mother's with him. He offers her one-thousand pounds to come and spend a few days with him. Art does not like his mother and doesn't really want to spend time with her.
We then meet a woman who seems to have a disembodied child's head floating around her. She eventually gets used to this and it even sleeps with her in her bed. As time passes the hair on the face seems to be falling out and the features on the face fade until nothing is left but a stone. We learn that this woman is Art's mother.
Art's mother has been a successful entrepreneur, featuring items that are trending at the time, e.g. meditation items, or old fashioned light fixtures. When they arrive at her house outside of London they find his mother is huddled in a coat, hat and mitts and has no food in the house. Art and his mother are not getting along. The girl he has brought along is initially rejected by his mother, however Lux is very gentle with her and gradually she is able to convince Art's mother to remove some of her outerwear. She also gets her to eat a little bit of food. She also convinces Art to contact his Aunt, who has been estranged from his mother for years.
The Aunt who is supposedly in Greece working with refugees shows up rather quickly with a box full of vegetables. The Aunt cooks a meal, Art's mother seems to avoid all the food but Lux is able to coax her to eat a bit. The two sisters argue about the past including whether the sister looked after Art when he was young. Art's mother had quite often dropped Art off with her father as she went about running her business. Her sister insists that it was she who actually looked afer the boy.
We learn that the aunt was living in a house with a bunch of hippies in her youth and that Art's mother became pregnant by one of the men in that house. The house was in quite a state of disrepair.
We discover that Art's mother later bought the house after it had been renovated. The aunt did a lot of protesting about environmental issues and was also part of the long women's protest against cruise missles in Britain (this is the fenced area mentioned in the first book).
The house is located in a somewhat isolated area but one day a bus arrives with British birdlovers on the hunt for that Canadian bird that Art claims he spotted. They want him to tell them where he saw it and tell him there have been other sitings of the bird. He doesn't tell them and after they have a meal at the house the birders set off on their quest.
The two sisters seem to become less aggressive toward each other and even share some good memories. Art and Lux return to London and he pays her. Later Art asks his ex-girlfriend if she wants to take over his blog and she agrees to asking him to write occasional posts. The book ends with Art trying to connect with Lux again but he is unable to find her.
I have no idea what the floating head/stone is about. It is obvious that Art's mother is having a breakdown. She is terrified of eating thinking it will poison her. The lies that Art tells on his blog are I think comments on the world today. There are some references to Brexit and to Donald Trump. While Art's Aunt seems to have maintained her passion for good causes, Art, his mother and Lux seem isolated and lonely. Lux seems to have had a positive impact on all of them but then she is gone.
I wonder what "Spring" will bring. I hope it is less depressing than winter.
Sunday, 18 February 2018
Autumn
By Ali Smith
This book was one of the 2017 Booker nominees. I previously read the book How to Be Both by this author and didn't think much of it. I picked Autumn up because I read a review of her next book called Winter and it sounded interesting. These books are two of a planned set of four novels based on the names of the seasons.
The book, which takes place in England, is set just after the Brexit vote. I love Smith's language in the book, for example "All across the conry, people felt it was the wrong thing,. All across the country, people felt it was the right thing. All across the country, people felt they'd really won. I think that sizes up the divides in Britain and in the U.S today, possibly in other parts of the world too.
The book opens with an old man waking up to finding himself lying along a shore. He is naked. As he looks around he sees more dead people nearby him. As he looks further away he sees some young people dancing. He looks at his body and thinks it looks better than he remembers it so he thinks he must be dead. He runs into the woods so the girls won't see him naked and sews himself an outfit out of leaves. Magically a needle and thread appeared and he has discovered he knows how to sew. He realizes he must be dead, or dreaming. The mans name is Gluck and he is not dead.
We are then introduced to the other main character in the book, Elisabeth. Elisabeth is a part time lecturer at a London university with no job security, not enough money to be able to do anything, but her mother thinks she has made it.
When Elisabeth is about eight she and her mother move into a new home. Elisabeth is assigned the school task of going to interview a neighbour. She wants to go interview the old man next door but her mother insists she make it up instead. Elisabeth does as she is told but when her mother reads what Elisabeth has written she takes it to the neighbour to read. After this Gluck and Elisabeth become close friends, by choice but also because Elisabeth's mother uses him as E's babysitter on frequent occasions. E's mother tells her she is going out to do something... but E knows that her mother is actually going to do something else... E is troubled that her mother lies to her. Gluck on the other had always listens to her, asks her questions and will only answer her questions truthfully. They become very close.
E discovers that her passport has expired and goes to the post office to submit her application. It has to be reviewed by postal staff to speed up the processin. The description of the tedium of the wait to get your number called is exquisite as is her interaction with the totally demoralized postal worker. At one point in her wait E goes to buy a book to kill the time, picks up Brave New World, then returns to deal with the government machinery. She is told her head is too big per the standards for her photo and she must return with a new photo. She does come back again later to be told her hair isn't right in the photo but she tells that worker she will take her chances and submit the application.
One day E discovers a book of the art pieces of an English Pop Artist named Pauline Boty. E realizes that the art Gluck tried to get her to visualize is works by this woman. When she takes the book to Gluck she learns that he knew this artist, loved her, but she did not requite his love. The painter died young, she was discovered to have cancer while pregnant with her first child, refuses radiation because of this and dies a few days after the child is born as a result. While Pauline was famous at the time she has vanished from popular conciousness. E decides to abadon her current dissertation work and against the advice of her faculty adviser switches her dissertation to this woman.
As the jumps back and forward in time with interactions between E and her mother, they just don't connect at all and Gluck whom E admires, even loves, we find that Gluck is now a centenarian languishing in a bed in a care facility, expected to dies soon. When E learns about Gluck's state from her mother she rushes home to stay with her mother so she can visit Gluck. Her mother is chagrined that her daughter seems to have come back for Gluck and not her as E hardly ever visited her mother before. E goes to the care facility. Gluck is asleep but she talks to him in her mind, or reads aloud to him. At the end of the book she is reading the tale of two cities.
One story line that I don't understand is that an area of common land near E's Mother's home suddenly gets fenced with electric fence. Elisabeth goes to the see the fencing and is challenged by a security guard within the fence. Her other later takes to throwing things at the fence to create sparks.
While E is living her life E's mother becomes engrossed with a tv show where ordinary people and experts compete to discover gems in antique shops. Her mother is selected to be on the show, and becomes lovers with one of the celebrities she meets on the show (another woman). The mother keeps saying that Gluck is gay, E knows she is wrong.
I read a review of this book in the Guardian. The writer says this book is about time, how it is transitory. While I think that is part of it I think it is more about memory, being remembered and perhaps the difference between memory and reality. It is also about perspective.
"I don't like it when summer goes and autumn comes" she (E) said. Daniel took her by the shoulder and turned herround. He didnt say anything. But across the landscape down behind them it was still sunlit blue and green".
In the book the artist Boty says that she married her husband because he was the only man who truly knew her and accepted her brilliance as a woman. In talking to E Gluck says "that the people who love us and know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly. in the end not much else matters." But shortly after he goes on to say"its the only responsibility memory has...But if course, memory and responsibiliyy are strangers. They are foreign to each other. Memory always goes its own way quite regardless." The second seems to contradict the first but this book is all about contradictions.
I did not mention that the artist Boty does collages with contemporary figures/themes. At one point she agrees to be photographed but insists on standing in front of her art so it won't be ignored but the art gets cropped out. There is another story in the book about a political scandal which brings down an ambitious woman. One of Boty's pieces includes reference to this scandal. Not sure what this is about??
One day when E is visiting Gluck a care worker comes in and tells E that Gluck is a gentleman and that he has told her stories about his life in the war. E is shocked that he has told a complete stranger about this part of his life but never told her about it.
To me this book about truth and honesty between people.... people think they know other people but do they really? Can people ever truly be honest with other people, especially those they are closest too? And, when we die, will anyone remember us and will they remember us truly or will their memories be warped by choice or human frailty.
I am going to read the next book in the series, then I am going to reread this one to try to figure out how the side stories fit in. So much to think about! I am glad I overcame my disappointment about the first book I read by her and picked up this one.
This book was one of the 2017 Booker nominees. I previously read the book How to Be Both by this author and didn't think much of it. I picked Autumn up because I read a review of her next book called Winter and it sounded interesting. These books are two of a planned set of four novels based on the names of the seasons.
The book, which takes place in England, is set just after the Brexit vote. I love Smith's language in the book, for example "All across the conry, people felt it was the wrong thing,. All across the country, people felt it was the right thing. All across the country, people felt they'd really won. I think that sizes up the divides in Britain and in the U.S today, possibly in other parts of the world too.
The book opens with an old man waking up to finding himself lying along a shore. He is naked. As he looks around he sees more dead people nearby him. As he looks further away he sees some young people dancing. He looks at his body and thinks it looks better than he remembers it so he thinks he must be dead. He runs into the woods so the girls won't see him naked and sews himself an outfit out of leaves. Magically a needle and thread appeared and he has discovered he knows how to sew. He realizes he must be dead, or dreaming. The mans name is Gluck and he is not dead.
We are then introduced to the other main character in the book, Elisabeth. Elisabeth is a part time lecturer at a London university with no job security, not enough money to be able to do anything, but her mother thinks she has made it.
When Elisabeth is about eight she and her mother move into a new home. Elisabeth is assigned the school task of going to interview a neighbour. She wants to go interview the old man next door but her mother insists she make it up instead. Elisabeth does as she is told but when her mother reads what Elisabeth has written she takes it to the neighbour to read. After this Gluck and Elisabeth become close friends, by choice but also because Elisabeth's mother uses him as E's babysitter on frequent occasions. E's mother tells her she is going out to do something... but E knows that her mother is actually going to do something else... E is troubled that her mother lies to her. Gluck on the other had always listens to her, asks her questions and will only answer her questions truthfully. They become very close.
E discovers that her passport has expired and goes to the post office to submit her application. It has to be reviewed by postal staff to speed up the processin. The description of the tedium of the wait to get your number called is exquisite as is her interaction with the totally demoralized postal worker. At one point in her wait E goes to buy a book to kill the time, picks up Brave New World, then returns to deal with the government machinery. She is told her head is too big per the standards for her photo and she must return with a new photo. She does come back again later to be told her hair isn't right in the photo but she tells that worker she will take her chances and submit the application.
One day E discovers a book of the art pieces of an English Pop Artist named Pauline Boty. E realizes that the art Gluck tried to get her to visualize is works by this woman. When she takes the book to Gluck she learns that he knew this artist, loved her, but she did not requite his love. The painter died young, she was discovered to have cancer while pregnant with her first child, refuses radiation because of this and dies a few days after the child is born as a result. While Pauline was famous at the time she has vanished from popular conciousness. E decides to abadon her current dissertation work and against the advice of her faculty adviser switches her dissertation to this woman.
As the jumps back and forward in time with interactions between E and her mother, they just don't connect at all and Gluck whom E admires, even loves, we find that Gluck is now a centenarian languishing in a bed in a care facility, expected to dies soon. When E learns about Gluck's state from her mother she rushes home to stay with her mother so she can visit Gluck. Her mother is chagrined that her daughter seems to have come back for Gluck and not her as E hardly ever visited her mother before. E goes to the care facility. Gluck is asleep but she talks to him in her mind, or reads aloud to him. At the end of the book she is reading the tale of two cities.
One story line that I don't understand is that an area of common land near E's Mother's home suddenly gets fenced with electric fence. Elisabeth goes to the see the fencing and is challenged by a security guard within the fence. Her other later takes to throwing things at the fence to create sparks.
While E is living her life E's mother becomes engrossed with a tv show where ordinary people and experts compete to discover gems in antique shops. Her mother is selected to be on the show, and becomes lovers with one of the celebrities she meets on the show (another woman). The mother keeps saying that Gluck is gay, E knows she is wrong.
I read a review of this book in the Guardian. The writer says this book is about time, how it is transitory. While I think that is part of it I think it is more about memory, being remembered and perhaps the difference between memory and reality. It is also about perspective.
"I don't like it when summer goes and autumn comes" she (E) said. Daniel took her by the shoulder and turned herround. He didnt say anything. But across the landscape down behind them it was still sunlit blue and green".
In the book the artist Boty says that she married her husband because he was the only man who truly knew her and accepted her brilliance as a woman. In talking to E Gluck says "that the people who love us and know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly. in the end not much else matters." But shortly after he goes on to say"its the only responsibility memory has...But if course, memory and responsibiliyy are strangers. They are foreign to each other. Memory always goes its own way quite regardless." The second seems to contradict the first but this book is all about contradictions.
I did not mention that the artist Boty does collages with contemporary figures/themes. At one point she agrees to be photographed but insists on standing in front of her art so it won't be ignored but the art gets cropped out. There is another story in the book about a political scandal which brings down an ambitious woman. One of Boty's pieces includes reference to this scandal. Not sure what this is about??
One day when E is visiting Gluck a care worker comes in and tells E that Gluck is a gentleman and that he has told her stories about his life in the war. E is shocked that he has told a complete stranger about this part of his life but never told her about it.
To me this book about truth and honesty between people.... people think they know other people but do they really? Can people ever truly be honest with other people, especially those they are closest too? And, when we die, will anyone remember us and will they remember us truly or will their memories be warped by choice or human frailty.
I am going to read the next book in the series, then I am going to reread this one to try to figure out how the side stories fit in. So much to think about! I am glad I overcame my disappointment about the first book I read by her and picked up this one.
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