Category: Book Reviews

Books Read in 2015. 1. The Trinity Six – Charles Cumming

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Genre: Spy Thriller

Narrative Style: Third Person, Largely chronologicalUnknown

Rating: 3/5

Published: 2011

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Sam Gaddis is an academic desperately in need of some cash. When his old friend, Charlotte says she may be about to break a story on the sixth Cambridge spy, he is immediately interested. It could be the scoop of both their careers and bring in some much needed money. When Charlotte dies of a heart attack, it is left to Sam to continue the investigation that she has begun. 

This was a new genre for me. Apart from James Bond, I’ve not even seen many spy films. So I was unsure what to expect. I thought it would be an interesting subject and a thrilling one. If such a sixth member was suddenly revealed to the public, the scandal would be huge as would the rewards of any journalist brave enough to do it.

It certainly hits the ground running. Cumming drops the reader into the middle of Charlotte’s story as Gaddis is told the story of a 76 year old, Edward Crane, whose death was faked in 1992 – all members of the hospital team were paid off by MI6. Crane it transpires is the sixth member that the government so want to keep quiet. Gaddis immediately starts to do some research unaware that by merely entering the name into a search engine he is alerting the Government to what he is doing.

It isn’t long before Gaddis is in over his head. Although he isn’t the sort of man to let that stop him. His curiosity and need for money drive him on even when the bodies start to pile up. Gaddis swings from painful naivety to incredible intelligence and back again in a way that wasn’t always successful. Above all, his arrogance and his determination to break the story at all costs alienated me from him. He was a hard man to empathise with.

I’m not an expert on the Cambridge spies but the facts given seemed right and the history and conspiracies certainly were plausible. Cumming slid between fact and fiction very easily and I never doubted the likelihood of events. It is certainly true that some governments will go to great lengths to keep the secrets of the past just that.

Finally, I enjoyed the thriller elements the most but found a lot of the characters, particularly the men, difficult to relate to. This may be a feature of the genre – if men weren’t arrogant and greedy, stories like this wouldn’t get very far – but it was a little alienating. That said, I would certainly not rule out reading more of this genre in the future. A spy story is always intriguing because it plays to our suspicion that we aren’t being told the whole story and perhaps we’d all quite like to be the person to blow it all apart.

Books Read in 2014 – 65. Maddaddam – Margaret Atwood

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Genre: Dystopia

Narrative style: Third PersonUnknown

Rating 5/5

Published: 2013

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: This picks up the story at the end of both Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood with the earth decimated by a man-made plague. Toby and Ren have found Amanda, currently being held by two Painballers and are contemplating their next move when Jimmy appears. The action continues from this point. 

My expectations were high for this book. I had enjoyed the first two and really, I meant to read this one much earlier. I was half expecting to be disappointed. Could it possibly live up to my hopes?

Of course, this is Atwood we’re talking about. If anything this was better than The Year of the Flood. This was largely due to the Crakers being back on centre stage and Jimmy also. Although Jimmy wasn’t always an active participant, his character was inseparable from the mythology that he gives to the Crakers who treat his hat and watch as sacred objects. There is a lot of humour and also a lot of affection in Atwood’s creation of a religion for the Crakers. I particularly liked the way that they mistook the curse ‘Oh fuck’ for a cry to a deity who would come to help.

Zeb’s backstory added colour to the story of Crake and helped to explain events of the other two novels. It was enjoyable watching him switch identities and jobs, always managing to just get out of trouble. The love story between Toby and Zeb was also enjoyable. There was a refreshing lack of sentiment in their relationship. Toby was easy to identify with as she learned to put her insecurities to one side as the future of their group was much more important than any personal issues she may have.

I was a little troubled about the alliance between the humans and the pigoons at first. I wasn’t convinced that it wouldn’t just seem ridiculous but Atwood even managed to pull that off and they became more human than pig in the end.

The idea of teaching the Crakers to write and so be able to pass on their creation story to other generations was inspired. Atwood gives them childlike voices but never belittles them and their lack of guile. Perhaps this is what we would have to be like in order to actually save the current world.

The end of the novel is both sad and full of hope. There are deaths and battles but also births – babies that are half human and half Craker. The hope lies in the Crakers, their new mythology and the potential of the new species. It seems that the future is at least a little rosy.

Books Read in 2014 – 64. The Face That Must Die – Ramsey Campbell

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Genre: Horror

Narrative Style: Third person from various points of viewUnknown

Rating: 3/5

Published: 1979

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Horridge becomes obsessed with a face that he sees at a window. It haunts him and he comes to realise that it is the face of a killer. He knows what he has to do. that face must be destroyed. 

I used to read a lot of horror when I was first at university and I think if I had read this then I would have loved it. (I’m not sure how I managed not to read any Campbell at that time. I was obsessed with Stephen King and James Herbert.) I hesitate to say my tastes have matured because that sounds snobby. Maybe it’s better to just say they have changed. I’ve read a lot of literary fiction since then and maybe that has spoiled this sort of book for me. Okay, that still sounds really snobby. I suppose what I mean is that I wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Campbell certainly gets into the mind of Horridge who is paranoid, delusional and extremely bigoted. In fact, some of his thoughts are quite hard to deal with – he is sexist, racist and homophobic. All of which fit with his delusional state of mind and are believably written. Horridge has had a tough time and no control over his life. His delusions spring from this lack of control and the way he perceives the system as helping others that he feels don’t deserve it. All of that doesn’t make it any easier to read though.

The plot moves between Horridge’s view point and that of his victims, often switching during their encounters. A good idea, I admit but every encounter followed the same pattern and so it soon became boring and made the novel seem a little clunky.

Perhaps reading this novel in 1979 would have been a lot more shocking. I was expecting it to be more horrible, more gory than it was. I enjoyed (if that is the right word) Horridge’s development as his psychosis worsened but it didn’t particularly shock or surprise me. After all, that sort of thing is ten a penny now. That isn’t the fault of this novel, of course but it did make it seem a bit jaded.

 

Books Read in 2014 – 63. Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather

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Genre: Religious, American History

Narrative style: A series of happenings that involve the same characters but are not connected by an over-arching narrative. Third person.

Rating: 3/5

Published: 1927

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: An epic novel spanning the life of Father Jean Marie Latour as he becomes9780679728894_p0_v1_s260x420 Vicar Apostolic to New Mexico. The novel takes us from the beginning of his career through to his becoming Archbishop and eventual death. 

Reading Challenges: TBR Challenge

Time on Shelf: This is one of the oldest unreads on my shelf. I bought it while at university some twenty or so years ago. I had come across Cather’s name in books on feminist writing and so when I saw it second hand I picked it up. However, I then didn’t really fancy the subject matter, hence it languishing on the shelf for quite so long. 

There is no denying that this is beautifully written. Cather can certainly turn a phrase and for me to have kept on reading this, despite my lack of interest in matters of religion is testament to the strength of her prose. The countryside and the characters are all impeccably described and vivid to the reader. Latour and his assistant and friend, Father Joseph Vaillant, were interesting in their missionary zeal even while I could not share their enthusiasm. Both were based on real men and many of the events were based in reality which only makes it more remarkable.

The main reason I didn’t rate this higher was the structure of the novel. I’m not even sure that novel is the right word. There isn’t one storyline here, no overarching plot but a series of scenes, all as important as the other. This led to a lack of tension and I felt there was no reason for reading on. There were no hints of what was to come and little reference to what had been. It was perhaps like a series of short stories which just happened to involve the same group of people.

While I am not really interested in religion, I am interested in the period of history described and if nothing else, this book has reminded me of that and ensured I will read more about it in the future.

Books Read in 2014 62. Tears in Rain – Rosa Montero

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Genre: Science Fiction

Narrative Style: Third person from different points of view. Largely chronologicalUnknown

Rating 2.5/5

Published: 2012

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Bruna Husky is a technohuman or a replicant. She is also a private detective. One morning, her next door neighbour – also a rep – goes mad and attacks her before plucking out her own eye and dying herself. More stranger murders / suicides start to happen and reps become equally feared and despised. Bruna is called upon to investigate and soon finds herself involved in a conspiracy that goes right to the very top. 

I was offered this as a free kindle book from Amazon when I downloaded some classic sic-fi. There was a choice of four and this seemed the most interesting. Otherwise I don’t think I’d have picked it up. I prefer my Science Fiction to be of the dystopian kind not the robots and aliens kind.

Having said that, this did have dystopian elements. There was certainly a strong moral objective about difference and equality and at first, I thought I would enjoy it more than I did. It was clearly indebted to Bladerunner, both in its choice of heroine and in its landscape but I didn’t mind that. Bladerunner is a great film and there are certainly worse things to base a novel on.

The main problem was the writing was a bit flat. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the translation or also present in the original but there was little in the way of style and the narrative was often slowed down by the leaden prose. There was the misuse of the word literally –  as in she was literally sick everywhere. Oh, I know that the OED have added this use of the word to its definition because it is so widespread but that doesn’t make it any less wrong. There were redundant sentences of the “it really had been a dreadful night” variety which just irritated me. I found that the writing distracted from what could have been a rollicking adventure.

The characters were equally flat. Bruno’s personality was all over the place. She was whatever was required of her by the narrative rather than having any personality of her own. The other characters responded to her and were equally without personality. Some appeared and disappeared without really even touching the narrative and you had to wonder what the point was.

In the end, there were few surprises. It was always obvious who the love interest would end up being, who the bad guy was and what the outcome would be. When I finished, I felt as though a good had idea had been wasted. But maybe that’s not quite what I mean. After all, Bladerunner was the good idea and there is probably no way for that to actually be bettered.

Books Read in 2014 – 61. Travels in the Congo – Andre Gide

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Genre: Travel

Narrative Style: First person recollection2036108

Rating 4/5

Published: 1927

Format: Paperback

Reading Challenges: Eclectic Reader Challenge – Genre travel.

Synopsis: Gide wishes to discover Africa, to go to places that have barely been discovered, to witness new landscapes and people. He travels through the Belgian Congo as it then was and makes observations about the colonial system that prove to be politically important. 

There were a couple of reasons for picking this book. At first, I was going to read one of Michael Palin’s travelogues, a couple of which have been bought for us. I don’t do much in the way of reading travel writing so there wasn’t much to choose from on my shelves. I could have picked a Bill Bryson up, sure in the knowledge that I would like it but that would seem to defeat the point of this being an Eclectic challenge. All the same, I wasn’t really looking forward to reading the Palin, enjoyable as the accompanying tv series were. Then I inherited a lot of books and this Gide was among them. I’ve wanted to read Gide for a while and I was also curious as to what it would be like for him travelling through Africa at the point in history. Even then, this remained till the very last. I kept putting off picking it up.

I don’t know why. It was exquisitely written. Gide has a novelists eye for detail and his descriptions of the landscape are often quite poetical. He describes their hardships and delights unsparingly and doesn’t flinch from his own stupidity or embarrassment. He is clearly knowledgable about plants and insects which he also describes in detail.

This isn’t the main interest though. Seeing Africa through the eyes of a white, privileged man gave a strange image of the times. Gide is clearly a reasonable and intelligent man and he treats the natives he meets with respect and even though he is prone to calling them simple, he allows them a dignity that I imagine was lacking in a most of the dealings between colonialist and colonised. He spends long hours teaching Adoum, one of their entourage to read and is genuinely bereft when he has to leave their company. He disapproves of the way the blacks are ripped off by the colonists and is always fair, sometimes paying a higher rate than they would normally get. He suggests that the exploitation of those working to produce rubber was akin to slavery. Indeed, on publication, the book influenced anti-colonist movements and inspired reform.

Alongside this, is Gide the hunter and Gide the butterfly collector. It seems strange to our sensibilities that whenever a new animal is spotted, the first recourse is to the gun. Indeed, they succeed in shooting a hippopotamus which they then skin and cut up, parts of which turn the whale boats they are in into abattoirs with blood running over the boards. Gide has a curious mind and is clearly excited by each new butterfly or insect that he sees. Unfortunately for the creature, that usually meant that its fate was sealed as it is then killed and preserved.

Overall, this was interesting as a historical document as well as a travelogue. The map at the front of the book is now completely different and you can’t help but wonder exactly how different the landscape and the people would be, if you visited today.

 

Books Read in 2014 – 60. High-Rise – J. G. Ballard

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Genre: Dystopia, anti-heroes

Narrative Style: Third person three different perspectivesUnknown

Rating: 3/5

Published: 1975

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Robert Laing quickly spots the careful class demarcations when he moves into the high-rise. Whilst ostensibly for the rich, it quickly becomes apparent that some are not as rich as others. These demarcations follow the floors with the lowest on floors one to ten and so on. When the electric start to fail, panic and violence quickly ensue. Before long, everyone has returned to a savage state and society has completely broken down. 

This has what is perhaps my favourite opening line ever – “Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr. Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.” This raised my expectations quite highly. The plot then moves through those three months. Unfortunately they don’t quite live up to this powerful opening line.

The story is told from the perspective of three men – one from the lowest ranks, Wilder; one from the middle, Laing; and one from the top, Royal who is one of the architects of the high-rise. Before civilisation starts to break down, there are already petty jealousies and rivalries about who can use which swimming pool and which lift. This seemed realistic enough and it was easy to see how such grudges might escalate into something bigger.

However, I wasn’t convinced by the triggers for the escalation. Very quickly, it seemed, people were no longer leaving the high-rise and hunting in packs for people from the other floors. Once that had happened, there were very few places for the narrative to go. Nothing else really happened and it felt like events levelled out. They didn’t really get any worse and there was clearly no way for them to get better.

That wasn’t the only problem. I couldn’t really decide what point Ballard was trying to make. I suppose that the high-rise was meant to represent a microcosm of society with the three levels representing upper, middle and working class but because these were all from the same class, the point didn’t quite work. At the end. only Laing is left eating his barbecued dog suggesting perhaps that the middle classes are the ones that will survive and then because they wait it out passively. I’m not sure what sort of moral lesson that is supposed to be.

This is as much about masculinity as it is about class and the three men show different ways of being male. Wilder, as his name might suggest, is very much ruled by his sexuality, Laing is more refined, preferring to wait and see what happens and finally Royal is a leader, at least for a while, by virtue of his money and his penthouse apartment. This also relates to stereotypical versions of masculinity and class e.g. the beastlike working class male. The women in this novel are underdeveloped, there to largely be raped or rescued depending on the man in question. That also was disappointing.

Ultimately this was an interesting idea which was well-written but just didn’t quite work for me. This is the second Ballard I’ve read lately that has left me a little cold but I’m sure I will be tempted again as the initial ideas just sound so interesting. They have made a film of this, to be released next year and it maybe that it will work a little better as a film. I’d certainly be keen to see what they do with the material.

Books Read in 2014 – 59. The Leavenworth Case – Anne Katherine Green

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Genre: Detective Fiction, Classics, 

Narrative Style: First person, chronological

Rating: 2.5/5

Published: 1878

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Horatio Leavenworth is found dead at his writing desk in his library which is locked. He has been shot in the back of the head so suicide is quickly ruled out and a stranger could not have got into the house and no one suspicious was spotted. Eyes turn to the various members of his family and staff. 

I love a locked room mystery and as this was an early example, I expected that I would enjoy it. And in fact, it is not the mystery elements of the novel that caused me to feel irritated with it.

The story started well, with the appearance of Leavenworth’s personal secretary in the office of Everett Raymond, saying that his boss has been shot. Raymond rushes to the spot and along with superb detective Mt Gryce, they conclude that Leavenworth knew his killer as he did not even turn his head when he heard footsteps behind him. Clues point clearly towards one of Leavenworth’s nieces as she refuses to explain how she came into possession of the key to the library. Bryce, however, is unconvinced and sets about trying to out the actual murderer.

There is nothing really wrong with the ideas behind the story. Red herrings abound and even at the end, when Raymond thinks that the mystery has been solved, Gryce proves that he is the superior detective by tricking the real killer out into the open. However, from a modern perspective, schooled as I am in reading and watching detective fiction, it was hard to be surprised. I guess it’s unfair to judge a book in such a way. It is clear why this might have been so influential on writers such as Agatha Christie but it is difficult to read outside of your own time and this seemed a little clunky to me.

Even so, that is not what drove my rating down. That was due to the narrative voice of Mr Raymond which was given to exclamation and went running off up blind alleys. Of course, this was his role, to lead the reader in the wrong direction but because he was so excitable, I never really had any faith in him and assumed that his answer was the wrong one. This is another hangover from reading other detective fiction. No one is to be trusted to tell you the truth or get things right.

Really, I wish I had read this earlier in my reading career as I’m sure I would have liked it more. Unfortunately, it fell victim to the very books, it likely influenced.

Books Read in 2014 – 58. A Kind of Loving – Stan Barstow

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Genre: Romance, Masculinity

Narrative Style: First Person, Chronological11816034_f260

Rating 3.5/5

Published: 1960

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Vic Brown is looking for the right woman and when Ingrid catches his eye, he thinks she may be the one. What starts off romantic quickly becomes lustful and Vic is caught between his longing for sex and his knowledge that he doesn’t like Ingrid that much. Then the worst happens: she gets pregnant and he has to marry her. 

I had seen the film A Kind of Loving about twenty years ago and I really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading it. And it was quite enjoyable. There were just a few annoying little things that kept me from giving it a higher rating.

Vic Brown is a typical man of the fifties. He is young, employed and has money in his pocket. His narrative voice is quite charming and flows along nicely. He is cultured and wants to make something of himself. He is on the cusp of manhood, thinking himself to be the only one of his friends who hasn’t had sex (this turns out not to be true) and also wanting a loving wife who would also be a friend.

At the beginning, he adores Ingrid from a distance, thinking himself in love with her. And at first, they get on well enough. However, when Ingrid lets him go a bit further than he expected, he becomes confused as to whether he still likes her or just lusts after her. He vows not to see her but she drags him back in. He finds that although he should behave better towards her, he does not because he is caught by his lust.

There is no doubt that Imogen is shoddily treated by Vic. She is similarly caught in the mores of the day, wanting to discover her own sexuality but also knowing that it wasn’t approved of. One of the difficult things about reading this was not to give her a more modern psyche and make her voice stranger and louder.

When she gets pregnant, Vic agrees to marry her and then has to move in with her and her mother because they haven’t the money to find their own place. It is here that Barstow really gets to criticise the current morality. Ingrid’s mother is monstrous, attempting to control her daughter and determined that it must have been all Vic’s fault. She very nearly destroys any chance they have of making any sort of loving out of their situation.

The ending is quietly optimistic and Barstow buts his faith in the younger generation being able to sort out their own lives without the interference of the older generation. They move out of her mother’s house and into their own space, giving their future at least a fighting chance. But it isn’t a cloying they all lived happily ever after ending either. The moral being if they mess it up at least they’ll know who to blame.

So to the things that stopped it being rated higher. I always find it a bit difficult to read a novel like this because I can’t help hoping for the female character to fight back a bit and Ingrid was a bit of a drip. There were strong women in this book but they both used their strength to control everything and everyone so they weren’t exactly positive. And while I obviously understand that a novel is definitely of its time, that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to read. The final thing that annoyed me was Vic’s choice of bint as a generic term for all women. I really dislike the word. And while he uses it in much the same way as you might use bird, it still really got on my nerves.

Books Read in 2014 57. The Flood by Ian Rankin

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Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery

Narrative Style: Third Person, Chronologicaldownload (17)

Rating: 2/5

Published:1986

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: As a result of an accident as a child, Mary Miller has always had pure white hair. It has earned her the reputation of being a witch and she is something of an outcast in the Scottish town where she lives. Years later, she and her son Sandy are still on the outskirts of the town and looked on with a mixture of fear and pity by the other town folk.

Challenges: TBR Challenge

Time on Shelf: A good couple of years. I picked it up because I was curious. Rebus is one of my favourite literary characters. I wanted to see if Rankin could do anything else. And then I got a little nervous about whether I would like it or not. 

I was right to be nervous. This did not appeal to me at all. I feel a bit guilty saying this as if I was insulting a close friend. I really like Rankin’s Rebus books and I really wanted to like this but it just didn’t happen.

It wasn’t that it was badly written. If anything it was over-written, trying a bit hard to be literary. It felt as if Rankin was yet to find his voice and sometimes the prose was a bit tortured. Some of the descriptions of the area were reminiscent of the wonderful descriptions of Edinburgh in the Rebus books and some of the characters were ambiguous as to whether they were good or bad, a theme that often crops up in the Rebus books but this wasn’t enough to bring the story to life.

The plot is stretched too thin, I think. The story is interesting enough and there are hints of what is to come but is not enough to keep the reader’s interest. It is a slight story, really, concerning the possible father of Sandy and Sandy’s liaison with a gypsy girl living in the old manor house.

The ending was also disappointing. Although loose ends were wrapped up, it brought no satisfaction. I’m glad that this wasn’t the first Rankin I read as I am certain I would never have read another.