bwl 74 - Autumn 2014
Fiction
| Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries*
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New Zealand's 1860s' gold rush - on one level, a riveting tale of murder, intrigues and betrayals, lust and greed, manipulation and exploitation; on another, a carefully plotted astronomical allegory. The list of characters is long and seemingly disparate but all are involved, albeit often unwittingly, in the mystery that embroils Walter Moody, a lawyer and prospector, on his first night on the edge of the goldfields. Enjoy it on either level. See the final comment in this issue's Feedback.
* Winner of the 2013 Booker prize.
(Jenny Baker)
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| Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son
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| Dickens and his publishers must have made a packet by publishing this novel in monthly parts, £50 - in today's money - for a complete set. No wonder the tale has so many consecutive story lines. Paul Dombey is a successful businessman but a cold fish emotionally, however he finally warms up when he realises the strength of his family.The expansion of the railway is an interesting and constant background to the story, which is a good solid read. (Chris Cozens)
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| Helen Dunmore - The Lie
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| WWI is over: Daniel, returns to a small Cornish town where, by obeying a dying old woman's wish, he becomes an outsider living on her smallholding, tending the land, feeding the goats, yearning to survive but all the time remembering . . . the horrors, the filthy mud, the smells and the guilt over the death of Frederick his boyhood friend who haunts him waking and sleeping. Intense and moving written in Dunmore's characteristic, lucid prose.
(Jenny Baker)
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| Elizabeth Gilbert - The Signature of All Things
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| This is a surprising, engrossing, detailed historical novel, which successfully manages to cross genres. Its exploration of the history of Botany, women in Science and the conduct of Global Business is deftly woven through the family relationships, dreams and disappointments of some pretty impressive British and American characters. (Margaret Teh)
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| Hannah Kent - Burial Rites
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| Australian Kent fell in love with Iceland as an exchange student and this novel radiates her profound feelings for the land and its historical inhabitants. Building on contemporary records, Kent imagines the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, executed in 1830 for stabbing her lover. Agnes's story gradually emerges during the months of her imprisonment on a remote farm, the people and their survival in extreme conditions as potently and poetically evoked as Agnes herself. Absolutely haunting. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Javier Marias - A Heart so White
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| The suicide of a young bride launches a brilliant examination of the nature of relationships and the obligations and coercions that they inevitably bring. Marias considers the effect of secrets, the quality of instigation and complicity, the impossibility of knowing the truth, the corrosive power of knowledge and anxiety as well as the evanescence of human experience. His discursive and philosophical style may not suit all, but if you like authors who take a thought for a walk, you'll love this! (Denise Lewis)
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| Anthony McGowan - Hello Darkness
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| People say Young Adult writing is becoming very dark. This novel might be a case in point - the school pets are being slaughtered; no one seems to care. It is up to teenager Johnny to find the killer; except he is the main suspect. Surreal and full of outrageously black humour this is not for the staid - but it is brilliant. Oh there's a sarcastic cat, as well. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Anne Murray - Meet Me Under the Clock
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| A very well written book about two sisters, as different as 'chalk and cheese', brought up in WW II in Birmingham. Very descriptive of how hard life was for families. The girls are both ready to help in the war effort, but both in different ways. It also shows how their view on life changes during this time. An easy to read book but for those brought up in those times, it brings back memories. (Shirley Williams)
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| Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front
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| Harrowing, absorbing, inspiring - outstanding. All of these adjectives apply to this novel. If you have never read it, I urge you to do so. I had resolutely avoided reading it, thinking it would be too unbearable. Yes, there are horrors, but there is humour and moments of ordinary life and real characters to meet; no officers, just ordinary soldiers. Above all it is universal. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| James Runcie - The Shadow of Death
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| Here we have a set of stories very much in the mould of Miss Marple or Father Brown. It is the fifties, Sydney Chambers is Vicar of Grantchester - and like Father Brown seems to attract trouble in the form of crime. These are gentle stories that reflect local parish life. The puzzles are neat, the characters amusing without being original. The stories are now an ITV series: Grantchester. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Colm Tóibin - The Testament of Mary*
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A mother's lament for her son's short life and the terrifying cruelty of his death. She is limited in her understanding of the how and why of his behaviour with his 'friends', as he moves inexorably towards an inevitable end. Surrounded by spies watching his every action, she feels compelled to secretly follow him. Despite the euphoria of those who believe he is 'the chosen one', she cannot comprehend what is happening. Searingly powerful and deeply thought provoking.
*shortlisted for the 2013 Booker prize
(James Baker)
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| Sue Townsend - The Woman who Stayed in Bed for a Year
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| How many of us have had the thought this title expresses? The wife of a brilliant and unfaithful scientist, mother of brilliant twins, suddenly has it and the courage to go to bed and stay in and on it. Excellent beginning carried ably through but towards the end, when it needs even more originality, it wilts and the author loses her courage and her book. Not bad for a holiday or long journey and full of life-affirming humour. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Birgit Vanderbeke - The Mussel Feast
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| A mother and her teenage children wait - in front of a pot of his favourite mussels - for the father's return from a business trip: what has happened? he is never late. The daughter's monologue gradually reveals the chilling reality behind the 'proper family' life the tyrannical father enforces. Now, in his inexplicable absence, they timidly begin to express themselves without fear of repercussions and . . . Is this how revolutions start? Yes, but there's much more in this wonderful dark comedy. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Timur Vermes - Look Who's Back
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| It is 2011: Adolf Hitler wakes up in Angela Merkel's Germany. What will he think of it and how will he get on? What would you make, in his shoes, of ladies who follow their dogs around the park with little plastic bags? This ingenious novel, translated from the German, is funny in its own right as well as adding up to a satire on modern life. Who said the Germans had no sense of humour? (Tony Pratt)
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Non-Fiction
| Anthony Beevor - The Second World War
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| Those familiar with Beevor's writing, especially his Stalingrad (bwl 4), won't be surprised at his mastering the gigantic task of recounting the course of WW II, from the start to finish of the European conflagration, concluding with Hiroshima and the Japanese Emperor conceding defeat. A brutal, ugly story of almost unimaginable cruelty and suffering laced with bravery, courage and sacrifice. Beevor's lucid language makes this book essential reading for anyone who wants to unravel and absorb those events nearly 80 years later. (James Baker)
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| Bill Bryson - One Summer: America 1927
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| Typical Bryson; well-researched, full of fascinating information and amusingly written. It's really the story of what was in the papers that summer and there was plenty. If much of it is well known - Lindberg, Prohibition, Al Capone, Babe Ruth - other subjects, the unintentionally amusing President Coolidge being one, are less so. A light, superficial but enjoyable read. (Tony Pratt)
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| Robert Carver - The Accursed Mountains: Journeys in Albania
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| This harrowing description of Albania and her tragedy is written with insight, love and sympathy. Strange, remote and unvisited, Albania is the poorest country in Europe with the least hope. Beautifully written, this travel book explains why, in the ordinary people's voices. Searing and unforgettable. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Max Egremont - Siegfried Sassoon
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| This must surely be the definitive biography of this remarkable man. A man born into privilege who found lasting fame as a First World War hero and a great poet of that war with his savage anger at the horror and waste. His book Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man with its searing descriptions of the conflict is a standard work. (David Graham)
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| Gary Mead - The Good Soldier: The Biography of Douglas Haig
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| This biography of the unlovable General Haig is an important contribution to military history. The author sets out to redress the negative image that Haig provoked from the Boer war on. Mead's fairness makes one occasionally wonder whether he is trying too hard to rehabilitate his subject. However, there are definitely things needed to be retold and set right and in this respect this is the first proper biography of this controversial, undeniably farseeing and perhaps misunderstood general. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Simon Sebag Montefiore - Jerusalem: The Biography
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| I read this inspired by a visit to the Holy Land made this year with four days in Jerusalem. I don't know if this is The Biography - but Montefiore charts the turbulent, confusing, violent history which has this extraordinary city at its centre in a way that is both informative and with a certain humour. A marathon - but fascinating. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Ian Morris - War, What is it Good For?: The role of conflict in civilisation, from primates to robots
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| Although regrettably 'popular' in style, this over-view of the war-making animal - Man - and where this will lead the world, is informed, informative and thought-provoking. Using archaeology, history and biology the author demonstrates that War has indeed been 'good for something', and ends with the vista of a technological world, dominated by transhumans and posthumans. Interesting and difficult to contest but perhaps the author is too enamoured of his own theory. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Alice Munro - The View from Castle Rock
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| Is this non-fiction? Not really, but then it's not fiction either, rather a personal embroidering of the story of Munro's ancestors, up to her own life. She talks about 'the need to turn your life into a story' and this she does, her story-teller's imagination fleshing out the bare facts, depths, nuances, insights conveyed with the lightest touch. Having not read her before, I was interested to see why she won the Nobel Prize. Now I know. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return
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| This is Marjane Satrapi's remarkable graphic story of her childhood in Tehran from 1980 when it became obligatory for schoolgirls to wear the veil. She spends some years in Austria and then returns to study at the University. Her text is framed by simple, stark, often humorous, black and white drawings illustrating the bewildering contrasts between the warmth of family life and the outside world of revolution, repression and war. New to graphic books? Try this one!
(Jenny Baker)
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| Jonathan Steinberg - Bismarck: A Life
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| Truly biography at its best: a three-dimensional sense of the man, a comprehensive study of his achievements, set in a panoramic survey of his time, with a Conclusion: Bismarck's Legacy, a brilliant analysis and summary of the situation which directly led to the Second World War. Original thinking, known facts and new data, this fair and critical portrait is written with respect for the subject and commands the respect of the reader for both Bismarck and biographer. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Richard Toye - Churchill's Empire: The world that made him and the world he made
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| For the many Churchill fans, an important work, uniquely centred on the focus, flexibility but also paradoxes of Churchill's imperialist worldview. Lightness of touch Toye may not have, but the overview is comprehensive so one gets the whole picture of Churchill's career, with insightful analysis. Also a useful tool for a better understanding of the political thinking of Europe in the nineteenth century, and the significant strains and stresses leading up to the two world wars and beyond. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Sara Wheeler - O My America!: Second Acts in a New World
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| The experiences of six middle-aged English women who went to and wrote about the USA in the nineteenth century. They included Fanny Trollope: the actress Fanny Kemble; Jane Austen's niece and a poverty stricken wife setting out, with her husband, to make a new life for her family. Their ups and downs are vividly evoked by an author who makes clear that she has ups and downs of her own. An absorbing read. (Tony Pratt)
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| Elizabeth Wilson - Love Game: A History of Tennis, from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon
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| This is a well researched and written book on the history of tennis. From its early beginnings to the present day. Fascinating about the great players of the past. For anyone interested in the game this is a must read. (David Graham)
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| Feedback |
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| I enjoyed The Luminaries (see review in this issue) but only as a straight narrative. The celestial element was beyond my ability to compute! I was a volunteer for Eleanor Catton's session at the Sydney Writers' Festival, and I told her this, when she had a lull between signings. She said that as long as I enjoyed the read, any level of understanding would do! (Margaret Teh)
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| I had resisted reading Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch (bwl 73) because I didn't particularly enjoy The Secret History (bwl 22) but was persuaded to do so on holiday. I found it much too long. Whilst I applaud sound research, do we need to be given every detail - readers have imagination too? Some passages were beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyable but, like the reviewer, before the end I had long lost any sympathy for or empathy with the main protagonist, Theo. I couldn't wait to finish it so that I could put it behind me. A couple of other friends who equally read a lot gave up before the half-way mark! (Christine Miller)
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| I've just finished reading the most amazing book - The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald (bwl 63) which was on my "to read" list for ages. I agree with everything Tony says in his review. Impossible to categorise what sort of book it is, but I found his writing mesmerising. Depressing, yes, because he seems to see all human endeavours as futile and captures mankind's endless cruelty in the most extraordinary ways - an example: the history of China's silk industry. it's definitely the best book I've read all year, for several years actually! (Denise Lewis))
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