The Nature of Blood
Caryl Phillips
Doreen then went on to talk about 'The Nature of Blood' by Caryl Phillips, which she described as an extraordinarily good book. She told us that Caryl Phillips always writes about racism. The novel is mostly about the holocaust. The book starts at the point where the Allies arrive at the camp so that one is lulled into thinking that the worst bits will not be included however Doreen warned that the camp scenes were "dreadful". The book is written using a first person narrative in a 'cool' style that is not laid on heavily. During the book four people in all speak in the first person. Doreen commented that sometimes she didn't notice where the book moved from one voice to another. One of the voices in the book is Othello in Venice (though the book never says so) . The book gives us a description of Venice in the Middle Ages. Doreen described the book as "beautifully written", difficult to read but full of elegant writing. The author is writing about things that are still going, racism and hatred. Concluding Doreen said this was a great book - one of the best books she has read for a very long time.
Seán making a link with the hatred theme drew our attention to Any Questions? where they were talking about which book did you read for National Book Day. Tony Benn said he read 'Mein Kampf' by Adolf Hitler to remind himself how plausible bigotry could be.
Doreen 26/4/98
A book which has themes of racism and the concentration camps of World War II. It talks about the founding of the State of Israel and the role of black Jews
There are two narratives, and there was discussion as to whether they came together at the end or not.
She enjoyed it, and would recommend it, but found it quite a hard read.
Caroline 26/7/98
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.