Everything is Illuminated - post III

The dialogue between the character of the limited interpreter and the author keeps this going because what is happening in the present is much more easily accessible than what went on in the past. The scene where they finally find someone who knows of the old Jewish settlement is moving enough to remind you of the kind of emotional power that Foer unleashes in Extremely Loud…

But I have to confess to continuing to struggle with the flow. As a result it is taking a lot longer than normal to get through a book of 275 pages. Determined to finish because on the way there are going to be some funny, moving and clever passages. Just wish at this stage the gaps in between them wasn’t so difficult.
More soon…

Everything is Illuminated - post II

Having started this book I am determined to finish it even if for some reason it doesn’t grab me. On the face of it the story sounds reasonably compelling with the author travelling to the Ukraine to uncover the story of how his family escaped the holocaust.

But the movement back and forth in time is made slightly more difficult by the fact it all feels slightly too over developed. So for instance there are some passages that make you laugh and their humour. Other parts are very well crafted but for some reason it doesn’t flow.

Possibly as the author gets deeper into his mission to uncover the truth and the parallel story of his great-great-great grandmother evolves it will take off a bit more but not yet…

Wolf Hall - post I

It is always with some trepidation you start a whopping great doorstep of a book. It becomes even harder when you have to wade through a character glossary and family trees. The first thoughts are that this is historical and it has something to do with Henry VIII. Beyond that you try to keep an open mind because you want to come to the book fresh.

The opening chapter does help because it takes you straight into a hideous scene of parental abuse that quite simply is not what you expect. A period drama done in the style of Scum. But once you get past that it seems t be about developing the character of Tom Cromwell jumping ahead by a couple of decades to take him into a position of influence in the world alongside Henry’s court.

But what goes up can come down and it appears as you get 50 or so pages in that Cromwell is about to lose some of his position as his mentor Cardinal Wolsey gets on the wrong side of the King.

More to come in a bit…

bookmark of the week

The plan is for a trip to the British Museum next week where part of the delights will involve purchasing at least one bookmark. This is a mood setter. A simple green bookmark is part of the museum's recycled range of products and meant to promote the ability to make stationary products without having to 'cost the earth'. I don't often go for bright green so despite being reasonably plain it is a colourful addition to the collection.

Ballard on the Archive Hour

Although this year is turning into one spent discovering and revelling in the works of JG Ballard he was of course a well known author before my own humble self-discovery. So it was with great pleasure that there was the chance to listen to the archive hour on Radio 4 written and narrated by Will Self and learn a lot more about him.

As he tells various broadcasters at different points in his career he was trying to make people think about the here and now rather than aliens and outer space bringing into fiction the influence of technology and transport that other writers seemed to ignore completely.

It is well worth a listen to: http://bit.ly/12MXl4

The Little Stranger - post V

I'm not going to give away the ending to Little Stranger other than to say that even those who argue about the length and the pace cannot surely fail to agree that Waters manages to bring off emotions brilliantly. She works through the problems of love and rebuttal like a skilled dancer kicking back and performing a tango.

What does Faraday really want and who did he really love are the questions that stick with you longer perhaps than the identity of the little stranger. As the new council houses go up and former servant girls wait with their boyfriends at bus stops this is also describing a ghost of a former age. The post war victims of the loss of power and authority for the landed classes are dealt with here in an objective way that doesn't fall into thesympathy trap but neither condemns them.

A very good read but far too simplistic for me to back it as prize winner bearing in mind I've not read any of the other contenders. So with that in mind it's on to Wolf Hall...

The Little Stranger - post IV

With Rod gone and the house almost back to normal the story takes a romantic turn. What Waters is brilliant at is describing the moment when the observations and comments of others finally force Faraday to realise he might be falling for Caroline.

But the scenes describing the dinner dance at the hospital feel as if they are happening in real time and the criticism that would be easy to make is that Waters spends too long here.

But the story perhaps takes a different turn with the love blossoming because now Faraday is much more involved. He has a personal stake (Caroline) in the house and his ability to pretend that the strange things happening are still signs of tiredness or somehow cries for help are going to be more difficult to maintain.

The history of the child that died emerges and by now as a reader I’m more than happy to be carried along with a full blown supernatural wave happy to ignore Faraday’s voice of reason and immerse myself in the idea the old house is haunted.

More tomorrow…

The Little Stranger - post III

Suddenly things start to happen with Roderick tormented by something which after a few incidents spills over into a fire. Faraday makes the mistake of breaking confidence and as a result convinces everyone that Rod is deranged and delusional and has him committed.

The problem is that if Rod was asleep and the fire wasn’t an accident then of course it is not so easy to dismiss.

Reading the story as it unfolds keeps you on your toes because although it is a leisurely read you have to concentrate on what must be clues that are being dropped into at various points.

More tomorrow…

The Litte Stranger - post II

There is a pace to this book that some might think too slow. But what is important is to build up things to the stage where if things do happen in the house then you are more willing to accept the rational, Dr Faraday backed explanation.

As the dog, Gyp, is put down because of biting the little girl from the neighbouring house a depression settles over the bleak house. Roderick is struggling with the finances and becomes increasingly burdened by the estate management.

Faraday the doctor becomes closer to the family by offering to help Roderick with his leg, damaged in the war, but is still very much at arms length both physically and emotionally. Some secrets start to be shared about the money and the damage done since the war but Faraday doesn’t live there, comes and goes weeks apart and is yet to get under the skin of the place.

More tomorrow…

The Little Stranger - post I

You know when you are reading a good book because you put to one side everything else you have been reading and want to stick with it until the end.

That is the way it feels with The Little Stranger which is written in such a well paced way that you are pulled in at a speed that lends itself to creating a feeling of a world that is slowly revolving into a spiral of despair.

As Dr Faraday returns to the mansion where his mother worked that featured in his youth as the big house in the country he finds a family running out of money crushed by the responsibility of running the house and by the past. They feel they have to live up to the pre-war world of wealth with all its trappings.

But Faraday finds the Ayres are no longer what they were with Roderick the son wounded from the war and a virtual recluse who runs the estate along with his sister Caroline who has become a hardy country type destined for spinsterhood. Their mother dwells in the past when times were better and is happy to invite the doctor into their home to help treat her son and provide some link to the outside world as well, through Faraday’s appreciation and memories, also back to her own past.

More tomorrow...

bookmark of the week

This is a magnetic bookmark to publicise a recent exhibition at thew Hayward gallery. Although I didn't get into see the exhibition it didn't matter as much as you might think because the dots theme by Yayoi Kusama stretched out onto the South Bank with trees covered in polka dot material. All of the trees were covered in messages penned by Londoners and tourists and I added my own, which was almost immediately lost among the squiggles.

The Tenth Man - post I

Graham Greene has such an easy style that although you know there might be some plot developments that make uncomfortable reading you will get round them in the luxury of a smooth fashion. He is in total control and taking you by the hand into his well described world.

Here the book starts slightly differently with a 33 page introduction by Greene explaining that he was working for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and had to write some film scripts. The Tenth Man was one of the works he produced. He talks about Our Man in Havana and the way he pulls things together from relatively small ideas.

Here the tenth man is a lonely lawyer Louis Chavel who draws a lot to be killed but ends up swapping his fortune for his life. But he then returns to his former home, now lived in by the mother and sister of the man who died in his place, and starts to live under the same roof taking a role as a handyman.

You guess that Chavel would fall in love with the sister of the man he sent to his death and you sense that she will discover. That might make the plot seem simplistic but the craft in the writing makes you stick with it because you never quite know where it will go.

More soon...

The Crystal World - post II

Not only does Ballard manage to describe so effectively a change in the landscape that is gently apocalyptic but takes his lead character into a position of deciding how to react.

Having seen the forest crystalise in front of his eyes and those caught in it suffer a metamorphisis where their skin becomes encrusted in jewels Ransom still feels drawn to the forest. With the discovery that his former mistress has leprosy, which is of course a theme, and then chooses to take her own life by embracing the other deadly form of transformation.

As he stumbles through the private war between the mine owner and the architect Ventress the army withdraws and the individuals left in the affected zone have to make a decision for themselves about fleeing or embracing death. The priest opts for the later and so do some of the locals. But for the main character the pull back to the crystals and that sense of deciding to embrace the crystals is something that takes time. As a reader you are left sharing that indecision until the very end.

As you come to expect from Ballard the writing is tight, the cast selective and the attention to detail, making the whole thing plausible, is there in abundance. Personally I would run. But facing the pull of the strange lights and the impact on the mind who knows?

A review will follow soon...

First Impressions: The Life of Monsieur de Moliere

Although this is very much a first impression, simply the introduction and the author's first chapter, it is worth blogging about. If you want to know why Bulgakov is such a delight to read then look at the way he starts a biography of Moliere. He could opt for the dry details of the background of his mother and father and their location and class status. he could opt for a 19th century style used by most of his famous Russian contemporary writers and start even further back with great grandfathers.

Instead he starts with a midwife who is picking up a freshly born Moliere and informs this startled woman in a two-way dialogue that the baby she is holding in her arms is destined to be more famous than the Sun king and one of the most admired and mimicked playwrights of all time. She is shocked but listens as Bulgakov informs her, and his reader, just how important and deserving the babe in her arms is of the labours he has spent on the rest of the book.

More soon...

Everything is Illuminated - post II

One of the challenges as a reader is not just to get with the rewinding of time but also to try and work out the narrative voice. It seems to be coming from the translator Alex who is charged with taking Foer to trace his family story.

But in between there are parts of the historical family tree story that are clearly being told by Foer. This divided voice creates the chance for humour and for the author to have a pop at himself ands some of the Jewish stereotypes.

But this is not just about providing different views of the story but also because Foer is playing with language and drawing out the prospect and possibilities of some deliberate misunderstanding.

More soon...