LETSBuzz Book Club 19th January 2003
A day at the office described in painstaking detail. Jean lost patience with this after one chapter.
Jean
Jean had looked forward to reading this as it's the sequel to The Soldier's Return which she had really enjoyed. Sadly this was not nearly as good and the writing in the first half of the book seemed laboured. The book included tedious and unnecessary 'explaining' of characters who had appeared in the first book. Towards the end of the book the quality improves and it's probably worth reading for anyone who read the first book and wants to know what happened next. Otherwise not recommended.
Jean
Another superb work from Norman Lewis. Lewis was based in Naples during the war, working as an intelligence officer. The population are starving, resorting to eating the tropical fish from the zoo and gathering weeds from the fields. There is also much creativity in making clothes from black market army blankets. Lewis observes all, as usual, with a dry and sometimes black humour but also with great compassion. Highly recommended.
Jean
A beautifully observed autobiographical work about Lively's childhood in Egypt. Evocative descriptions of scenes from her childhood along with an adult perspective of the politics of the time. Recommended.
Jean
Easy to read. Describing his father, a Yorkshire doctor, particularly during the last few months before his death. Harrowing details of father's death. Minute detail about the relationship between father and son. Gill enjoyed this book. Recommended.
Andrew also liked this book. Very well written. Andrew commented on the way Morrison seems to have made a career out of writing about his family while revealing very little about himself.
Gill
Another of Dickens' Christmas stories with all the usual Dickens stereotypes: the sweet girl,the honest servant etc. The story, about a bargain made between a man and a ghost, is a bit hard to understand. Gill said she 'tends to retreat into the nineteenth century at this time of year' so her next book was...
Gill
...
A 'who-dunnit' which revolves around the Scottish verdict (so-called because it doesn't exist in England) of 'not proven'. Much discussion of the Scottish verdict. A murder takes place and a number of possible suspects are presented. The main character finds herself pregnant but as this is a 19th century book this discovery is described in the vaguest of terms. Written from the woman's point of view and very well done. One of Wilkie Collins' better books. Also contains an interesting portrayal of a character with a disability, enlightened for its time.
Gill
Bob found this book annoying on many levels, not least of which was that as he dropped it in the bath before he finished it he had to buy another copy. At over 600 pages this was a long and turgid read. Bob usually likes Atwood and had looked forward to reading this but found it slow and predictable. Other members of the group who had read this book were similarly unimpressed.
Bob
Bob doesn't really like Geldof or his music and doesn't usually read autobiographies. He found some parts of the book hard to believe. Towards the end of the book, the section on the way in which Live Aid was developed was interesting and impressive and the writing gets better at this point (the last third of the book). 'Sort of' recommended.
Bob
Dan Kavanagh is really Julian Barnes.
A violent crime thriller. Bob doesn't read many thrillers so hard to compare but found this less funny than Kavanagh's other works. A light-hearted plot concerning a bisexual ex-policeman who is now a private detective. Recommended.
Bob
Another book about a day in the office but nothing like 'The Mezzanine'. A work of fiction with no plot and just one character who ruminates about work, life, capitalism, being in his 40s. A wistful tone. Well-written. Recommended.
Bob
Andrew didn't really enjoy this. It's the story of 'Kid Glover' (sic). Set in Yorkshire in the early '80s, pits closing, the Yorkshire Ripper stalking the streets, doom and gloom. A snapshot of the period but no strong characters, not much of a plot.
An insubstantial book and too long at 248 pp.
Andrew
This was also too long. About a woman on her own who has inherited a farm and has to try and make a go of it on her own. She is constantly hard up so she sells part ofthe farm and uses the money to keep her business going. No pace to the book, nothing to keep the reader interested. All the characters are fairly unpleasant. Not recommended.
Andrew
A good selection of short stories with a kind of brutal morality. Entertaining, pacy, unpredictable. Recommended.
Andrew
Andrew read this book in one sitting - 'it grabbed me from the first sentence'. About an avant garde vocal quartet who accept an invitation to sing at a festival of New Music in Holland. All the action takes place in a remote farmhouse in Belgium where the group stays and rehearses. A sort of comedy of manners. Realistic and well written.
Recommended.
Andrew
Doreen is a Ruth Rendell fan. This is an Inspector Wexford novel with a good plot and a few twists and turns. Rendell is very good at describing people's motivations.
A good Christmas read in spite of the murders.
Doreen
A "boys' book" - a crude vulgar book about boys growing up in Ireland. Doreen didn't like any of the characters. The usual stuff: the sadistic priest, the nasty teachers and all a bit old hat. An extended sex scene at the end which takes place in a morgue is disgusting and grotesque. There are some original characters and MacLaverty writes well but Doreen didn't like the subject and found this disappointing after 'Grace Notes' which she had liked.
Doreen
Quite fun but far too long. Reminded Doreen of Robertson Davies - a big book with mad things going on. A tendency to over-extend the set pieces. Extremely unpleasant towards the end: Gold seems to enjoy writing about pain and suffering. The ending however is hilarious.
Doreen
The blurb quotes the Telegraph reviewer as finding this funny but Doreen didn't agree - 'I didn't even smile'. Pi, the central character, is shipwrecked in a lifeboat with an orang utan, a tiger, a hyena and a zebra. It takes a longtime for the various animals to kill each other and this is described in gruesome detail. In the end only the tiger and the boy are left and much of the book is about why the tiger doesn't eat the boy. Right at the end of the book is another version of the story and it's not clear which one is true. Doreen said this was unlike anything else she had read in a very long time - but a difficult book for a vegetarian to read.
Doreen
Short stories. Doreen's favourite was 'Unseen translation' about a boy and his nanny. The nanny is not who she appears and the ending is fantastic. Many of the stories are to do with Greek and Roman myths. All of them are odd, surprising and enjoyable. Highly recommended.
Doreen
Big collection of short travel stories aimed at people going to Thailand. Very mixed: some banal and some very good, full of insight and analysis. Includes a Norman Lewis story which is one of the better pieces.
Rory
The author believes it was not the Titanic but her sister ship, the Olympic, that went down. The Olympic had been so badly damaged by a collision with a Navy ship that the owners and builders agreed it wouldn't last long. They tried to sue the Navy but with no success. This book contends that they then hatched a plot to switch the identity of the two ships and to sink the Olympic at the next available opportunity, while avoiding any loss of life. Gardiner presents lots of circumstantial evidence for this story but very little physical evidence. Rory was not entirely convinced by the evidence presented but thinks it could have been true.
Rory
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.