At the start of 2013 - I set myself a challenge, that challenge was to clear a backlog of books that had been laying about my house for some time, before I allowed myself to buy more - I listed the books I had and proceeded to cross them off.
Along the way a few things happened - I became infinitely busier as my personal circumstances changed and I had a lot less time for reading. I joined some book clubs and the library, as well as continuing to volunteer in a charity bookshop and therefore had other books not on the list to read.
More than this though - 2013 was in general what I would class as a "poor year" in terms both of how many books I read (66 - with the last 2 unreviewed) but also in terms of how much I enjoyed what I did read, in no longer buying books, or rather buying them less, I narrowed the scope of what I had to choose from - and found myself frequently disinterested in my limited choices.
Also, I played Candy Crush Saga way too much. FACT.
The challenge backfired - and I think this may be the year I fell out of love with reading. Many of the books I read were either average or below par - or in certain cases above average yet not my cup of tea.
The full roster is as follows :
December/January
1)Exodus by Leon Uris
2)The 100 Most Pointless Things In The World by Armstrong/Osman
3) The Song Of The Lark by Willa Cather
4) The Grass Is Singing by Doris Lessing
5) The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
6) The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
7) The Minds Eye by Oliver Sacks
8) Tender Is The Night by F.Scott Fitzgerald
9) The Angels Cut by Elizabeth Knox
10) A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale
11) The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
12) And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrisson
13) All Fall Down by Voss/Edwards
14) The Personal History Of Rachel Dupree by Ann Weisgarber
15) Restless by William Boyd
I got off to a great start in 2013 reading 15 books over the festive season up to the end of January. January's WINNER is Patrick Gale's A Perfectly Good Man, the affecting story of a local vicar which connects to his previous work Notes On An Exhibition.
February
16) A Place Of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
17) In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
18) Shadows Of The Workhouse by Jennifer Worth
19) Farewell To The East-End by Jennifer Worth
February is a short month but my reading was already slowing by this point. In part this was due to the length of time February's WINNER : Hilary Mantel's A Place Of Greater Safety took to read. An engrossing tale of the architects of the French Revolution the complexities of the politics of the day occasionally make it a difficult read.
March
20) Beautiful Creatures by Garcia/Stohl
21) Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
22) Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgeway
23) We Bought A Zoo by Benjamin Mee
24) The Stand by Stephen King
25) The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window & Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
26) Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
I liked no book that I read in March enough to declare it a winner, and found them all no better than average. Gone Girl had plotholes. Agnes Grey bored. The 100 yr old man annoyed me. Hawthorn & Child was pretentious. The malaise which pervaded my year in books had begun.....
April
27) The Back Road by Rachel Abbott
28) American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
29) The Mayor Of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
30) Shattered Blue by Jane Taylor Starwood
31) C by Tom McCarthy
32) HHhH by Laurent Binet
33) Fatherland by Robert Harris
The malaise continued into April and none of these books particularly shone for me. I HATED American Psycho passionately - and was disappointed in the Hardy after my high expectations were not met. Again, I can't really single out a book during this month for particular praise.
May
34) Perfume by Patrick Suskind
35) Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas
36) The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
37) No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Though the final three books here are listed on the blog as June they were read on holiday during May and reviewed in June. Perfume is a terrible book, a disaster, and the others are middling to good. No stand outs here either.
June
My records show that no books were read in June - and it feels like Huh?! This is me! This must be some kind of mistake - but actually it just goes to show that 6 months into my challenge - and 37 books in - having had about 8 books stand out and most of those in January that I was becoming well and truly fed up. Reading and I were on a break. I even took to posting favourite lists to remind myself why I love books.
July
38) The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss
39) 1984 by George Orwell
40) The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory
41) Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
42) The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
43) Notes On A Scandal by Zoe Heller
44)Weight by Jeanette Winterson
45) When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman
In July I tried to pull my socks up and it became the best month I had both in terms of what I read and how many books I read. All the books I read in July are very very much worth reading but having had no winners in March/April/May/June, I'm declaring a FOUR WAY TIE between reincarnation story Life After Life, modern fable The Crane Wife, obsession story Notes On A Scandal and myth retelling Weight. All of these books were brilliant and well worth reading.
August
46) The Red House Mystery by AA Milne
47) Memories Of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
48) Broken Homes by Ben Aaronvitch
49) A Room Of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
50) The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Rian Malan
51) Stoner by John Williams
This months WINNER has got to be Memories Of My Melancholy Whores. Original and touching, this book was the surprise of the year for me.
September
And yet in September the tumbleweed returned and I have no books listed for this month at all.......
October
52) And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
53) To Say Nothing Of The Dog by Connie Willis
54) The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
55) The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
56) The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale
October's WINNER has got to be the Agatha Christie which genuinely beat out all the others listed or this month for sheer entertainment value
November
57) The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
58) The Rapture by Liz Jensen
59) Absolution by Patrick Flanery
60) The Lady Of The Rivers by Philippa Gregory
61) The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
62) Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
63) The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
64) Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
In this month I resorted to buying two Philippa Gregory's just so that I knew I would probably enjoy something I also enjoyed the two Diane Setterfield's.
In December I read Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson and The Quality Of Mercy by Barry Unsworth but I haven't even reviewed them. For one, I was too busy, and for two my apathy and despair at nothing really lighting my fire all year save for the books I read in January and July had meant I was too frustrated to care.
So far my challenges have been to read 100 books (failed 2011, passed 2012) and to clear my book mountain (spectacularly failed in 2013)
For 2014 - The Roz Reading Challenge will simply be - ENJOY READING AGAIN and start to really assess what it is about a book that excites me or just leaves me cold, with reviews that talk more about the experience of the book than simply what it is about.
Please, regular readers, help me enjoy reading again, by making suggestions as to things that might light my fire.
Happy New Year - And Happy Reading In January.
Thank you all for your continued support of the blog - I promise to resume normal service shortly!
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Book #64 Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
Bellman & Black
Length Of Time In Possession : 2 weeks
In this follow up to 'The Thirteenth Tale' Diane Setterfield writes another spooky story set in the Victorian era.
We are introduced to William Bellman - the happy child of a single mother who grows up to be well liked and successful.
But, when William Bellman was 10 he created the perfect catapult and accidentally killed a rook with a well aimed shot. As we learn William's story the narrative is interspersed with prose about the intelligence and behaviour of rooks. William may have pushed his childhood transgression out of mind but the rooks have not forgotten as soon he will learn.....
The intriguing thing about Bellman & Black is that William and those around him attribute their bad fortune to the way of the world, preventable deaths for example were common of the age. The reader however is in on the secret, the idea that something more sinister that is unbeknownst to the characters is actually in play here.
The novel does have its problems, events become slightly repetitive in both of its halves, yet the prose itself is continuously engaging and you stick with it.
There is something genuinely unsettling about the proposed notion that a mistake that you make as a child and do not recall can literally have repercussions across your life through unseen forces that you can chase but never quite grasp...
It's an interesting novel, worth reading and has an original concept. It is not entirely perfect in its execution however.
Verdict : 8/10
Destination : ebook storage
Length Of Time In Possession : 2 weeks
In this follow up to 'The Thirteenth Tale' Diane Setterfield writes another spooky story set in the Victorian era.
We are introduced to William Bellman - the happy child of a single mother who grows up to be well liked and successful.
But, when William Bellman was 10 he created the perfect catapult and accidentally killed a rook with a well aimed shot. As we learn William's story the narrative is interspersed with prose about the intelligence and behaviour of rooks. William may have pushed his childhood transgression out of mind but the rooks have not forgotten as soon he will learn.....
The intriguing thing about Bellman & Black is that William and those around him attribute their bad fortune to the way of the world, preventable deaths for example were common of the age. The reader however is in on the secret, the idea that something more sinister that is unbeknownst to the characters is actually in play here.
The novel does have its problems, events become slightly repetitive in both of its halves, yet the prose itself is continuously engaging and you stick with it.
There is something genuinely unsettling about the proposed notion that a mistake that you make as a child and do not recall can literally have repercussions across your life through unseen forces that you can chase but never quite grasp...
It's an interesting novel, worth reading and has an original concept. It is not entirely perfect in its execution however.
Verdict : 8/10
Destination : ebook storage
Book #63 The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Midnight Palace
Length Of Time In Possession : About 8 months
'The Midnight Palace' is a ruin which provides the headquarters of a club for a group of teenage orphans who when about to age out of their orphanage, discover that one of their number, Ben, is the victim of a curse.
I read a lot of books and I read across genres and age ranges. Certain books are published for and marketed specifically at young adults but in many cases this has not prevented me from enjoying them, and I do really like discovering young adult books with the potential to crossover and have meaning to readers of all ages. I've read another Carlos Ruiz Zafon young adult novel 'The Prince Of Mist' before and really rather enjoyed it
Unfortunately this was not the case with this book : the plot repeatedly made no sense, events were often ludicrous and the book as a whole had this sense of melodrama and hysteria about it. For a ghost story it didn't scare particularly, the villain was a little panto & the box opening denouement was just bizarre.
When I read this book I was so annoyed with it that I tweeted that I just wanted to write 'This book was shit' and nothing else as my review - given that I was never its target audience that seemed a little uncharitable, but it is after all my opinion!
There are at the moment some great books out there aimed at this age range ( I recommend Patrick Ness & John Green) this just sadly, for me, was not one of them
Verdict 3/10
Destination : Charity Shop
Length Of Time In Possession : About 8 months
'The Midnight Palace' is a ruin which provides the headquarters of a club for a group of teenage orphans who when about to age out of their orphanage, discover that one of their number, Ben, is the victim of a curse.
I read a lot of books and I read across genres and age ranges. Certain books are published for and marketed specifically at young adults but in many cases this has not prevented me from enjoying them, and I do really like discovering young adult books with the potential to crossover and have meaning to readers of all ages. I've read another Carlos Ruiz Zafon young adult novel 'The Prince Of Mist' before and really rather enjoyed it
Unfortunately this was not the case with this book : the plot repeatedly made no sense, events were often ludicrous and the book as a whole had this sense of melodrama and hysteria about it. For a ghost story it didn't scare particularly, the villain was a little panto & the box opening denouement was just bizarre.
When I read this book I was so annoyed with it that I tweeted that I just wanted to write 'This book was shit' and nothing else as my review - given that I was never its target audience that seemed a little uncharitable, but it is after all my opinion!
There are at the moment some great books out there aimed at this age range ( I recommend Patrick Ness & John Green) this just sadly, for me, was not one of them
Verdict 3/10
Destination : Charity Shop
Book #62 Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
Length Of Time In Possession : 1 month
Despite being labelled as a 'fiction' novel this Jeanette Winterson's debut novel bears more than a passing resemblance to the authors own life story. Adopted as a baby and raised in an extremely religious household, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a coming-of-age story about a girl who was moulded to be what her mother hoped for her : 'a missionary'. Yet when puberty comes, 'Jeanette' discovers that she prefers women to men and find herself at odds with her faith, the church she played such a part in and her domineering mother.
A short but extremely enjoyable read with great turns of phrase; it illuminates a world that is alien and jaw dropping to many and highlights in many ways how easy and unquestioning the indoctrination of young children is.
Having heard a lot of what Jeanette Winterson's childhood was like through recent media coverage; it is no less shocking set down upon the page even Mrs Winterson's own congregation thought she was mad and it is alarming how much Jeanette's life was impacted by her mother's religious mania though she tries to deal with it all with a certain Northern humour.
I would definitely recommend this book to other readers because of the unique oddity of the story it has to tell.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : Keeping this book.
Length Of Time In Possession : 1 month
Despite being labelled as a 'fiction' novel this Jeanette Winterson's debut novel bears more than a passing resemblance to the authors own life story. Adopted as a baby and raised in an extremely religious household, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a coming-of-age story about a girl who was moulded to be what her mother hoped for her : 'a missionary'. Yet when puberty comes, 'Jeanette' discovers that she prefers women to men and find herself at odds with her faith, the church she played such a part in and her domineering mother.
A short but extremely enjoyable read with great turns of phrase; it illuminates a world that is alien and jaw dropping to many and highlights in many ways how easy and unquestioning the indoctrination of young children is.
Having heard a lot of what Jeanette Winterson's childhood was like through recent media coverage; it is no less shocking set down upon the page even Mrs Winterson's own congregation thought she was mad and it is alarming how much Jeanette's life was impacted by her mother's religious mania though she tries to deal with it all with a certain Northern humour.
I would definitely recommend this book to other readers because of the unique oddity of the story it has to tell.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : Keeping this book.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Book #61 The Lady Of The Rivers by Philippa Gregory
The Lady Of The Rivers
Length Of Time In Possession : 1 day
I've had a cold this last week and I've been miserable so I rewarded myself with what I class as 'easy reading' in two Philippa Gregory's, this The Lady Of The Rivers and The White Princess reviewed below.
The Lady Of The Rivers is a prequel and takes us back to the very start of the Cousins War as seen through the eyes of Jacquetta Of Luxembourg, a young woman of a noble house who draws the attention of the Duke Of Bedford then the most powerful man in France which was under English rule. Having married the Duke Of Bedford Jacquetta finds herself a senior member of the English Royal Family and the House Of Lancaster and from there on is at the centre of most of the big events of that time despite very little being known of her historically.
This is the point of most of Philippa Gregory's history novels, how little there is on record of the women who were part of the big events of the day and how much they shaped them. Through Jacquetta she says a lot about women, how they had to be careful not to appear 'too clever' is the eyes of men, how they had to be above suspicion and yet how they could alter the course of events in their own way without men really realising.The strength that Margaret Of Anjou exhibits in the face of adversity is shown equally to be her downfall as the people of London shun a woman out of keeping with her place in the world.
Jacquetta is constantly mindful of drawing attention to herself because she has inherited The Sight and fears being burned as a witch like Joan Of Arc before her. The Tarot Card The Wheel Of Fortune runs as a symbol throughout the book as a symbol of the fortunes of the men and the women they took along with them on the journey as they rise very high and fall very low.
A strong, likeable, character who features across The Cousins War novels Jacquetta is easy to respect and admire, to marvel at in terms of how extraordinary her life was. I did find it so odd that in the end she was the undoing of her own best friend and how that must have felt for her & whether she just accepted it as the hand that Fate dealt them all.
History is full of interesting women about whom little is known and I hope Gregory keeps up this documentation (albeit within fictional parameters) of them.
I liked this one.
Verdict : 8/10
Destination : ebook storage
Length Of Time In Possession : 1 day
I've had a cold this last week and I've been miserable so I rewarded myself with what I class as 'easy reading' in two Philippa Gregory's, this The Lady Of The Rivers and The White Princess reviewed below.
The Lady Of The Rivers is a prequel and takes us back to the very start of the Cousins War as seen through the eyes of Jacquetta Of Luxembourg, a young woman of a noble house who draws the attention of the Duke Of Bedford then the most powerful man in France which was under English rule. Having married the Duke Of Bedford Jacquetta finds herself a senior member of the English Royal Family and the House Of Lancaster and from there on is at the centre of most of the big events of that time despite very little being known of her historically.
This is the point of most of Philippa Gregory's history novels, how little there is on record of the women who were part of the big events of the day and how much they shaped them. Through Jacquetta she says a lot about women, how they had to be careful not to appear 'too clever' is the eyes of men, how they had to be above suspicion and yet how they could alter the course of events in their own way without men really realising.The strength that Margaret Of Anjou exhibits in the face of adversity is shown equally to be her downfall as the people of London shun a woman out of keeping with her place in the world.
Jacquetta is constantly mindful of drawing attention to herself because she has inherited The Sight and fears being burned as a witch like Joan Of Arc before her. The Tarot Card The Wheel Of Fortune runs as a symbol throughout the book as a symbol of the fortunes of the men and the women they took along with them on the journey as they rise very high and fall very low.
A strong, likeable, character who features across The Cousins War novels Jacquetta is easy to respect and admire, to marvel at in terms of how extraordinary her life was. I did find it so odd that in the end she was the undoing of her own best friend and how that must have felt for her & whether she just accepted it as the hand that Fate dealt them all.
History is full of interesting women about whom little is known and I hope Gregory keeps up this documentation (albeit within fictional parameters) of them.
I liked this one.
Verdict : 8/10
Destination : ebook storage
Book #60 The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
The White Princess
Length Of Time In Possession : A day
The White Princess is the latest installment of the Cousins War Saga, picking up where The Kingsmaker's Daughter left off; Anne Neville and Richard the Third have died, and Henry Tudor has finally fulfilled his mothers desperate single minded determination to see him on the throne.
Margaret Beaufort the King's Mother, and Elizabeth the Dowager Queen have already made an alliance that would see Henry Tudor marry Elizabeth Of York thus cementing any doubts about his claim to power.
Here things get somewhat muddled I think, and a lot of people's characters get besmirched by the unfortunate authorial decisions Gregory makes. Firstly, young princess Elizabeth it seems would far rather be getting it on with her dead uncle than with her new young man. Allegations of incest between Richard III and Princess Elizabeth went unproved and seem entirely unlikely. They were probably largely invented by dramatists such as Shakespeare looking to paint Richard III in a poor light.
Next Henry Tudor turns rapist, determined to get Princess Elizabeth pregnant before marriage to prove she's not barren. Margaret Beaufort encourages this and Elizabeth Woodville complies and so the whole sorry affair reflects well on no-one. Elizabeth Woodville had 8 children and her mother before her had 12, it seems highly unlikely in those times that the fertility of the young princess would ever have been questioned, and also more than unlikely that the religious Margaret would have encouraged sex before marriage.
Following their poor start Henry and Elizabeth have a difficult relationship flying in the face of what is known of them historically. Unlike her mother, Elizabeth Of York is not a power player in her own right and does not really carve out a path of any interest for herself. There is very little hint at the powers of the water goddess that her mother and grandmother had except in being warned of death. The court is controlled by the King's Mother and so Elizabeth has little to do.
The plot itself becomes exceptionally repetitive. During the novel The White Queen Gregory gave us the idea that one of The Princes In The Tower : Richard in fact survived, a theory that given later events seems quite likely. Throughout his reign Henry is chased by the spectre of 'the boy' and pretty much the entire novel is devoted to various boys popping up out of the woodwork claiming to be Richard Plantagenet. As each of these emerge, Henry rants at Elizabeth she simpers about not knowing anything, the pretender is defeated and it all starts again. This wears thin.
I do find the idea that Richard survived plausible and certainly of these Pretenders, the one they called Perkin Warbeck may well have been the real thing which is pretty much what is suggested here.
In the end I think that possibly the things that I found the most interesting about The White Princess are the continuation of the idea that Elizabeth effectively cursed her own line by accident & that this book in itself acts as a natural conduit between Gregory's Cousins War and her Tudor Saga the next story chronologically being that of Catherine Of Aragon in 'The Constant Princess' whose marriage to Prince Arthur is being prepared for at the close of this novel.
Not perfect by any means, but still another enjoyable addition to the canon.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : ebook storage
Length Of Time In Possession : A day
The White Princess is the latest installment of the Cousins War Saga, picking up where The Kingsmaker's Daughter left off; Anne Neville and Richard the Third have died, and Henry Tudor has finally fulfilled his mothers desperate single minded determination to see him on the throne.
Margaret Beaufort the King's Mother, and Elizabeth the Dowager Queen have already made an alliance that would see Henry Tudor marry Elizabeth Of York thus cementing any doubts about his claim to power.
Here things get somewhat muddled I think, and a lot of people's characters get besmirched by the unfortunate authorial decisions Gregory makes. Firstly, young princess Elizabeth it seems would far rather be getting it on with her dead uncle than with her new young man. Allegations of incest between Richard III and Princess Elizabeth went unproved and seem entirely unlikely. They were probably largely invented by dramatists such as Shakespeare looking to paint Richard III in a poor light.
Next Henry Tudor turns rapist, determined to get Princess Elizabeth pregnant before marriage to prove she's not barren. Margaret Beaufort encourages this and Elizabeth Woodville complies and so the whole sorry affair reflects well on no-one. Elizabeth Woodville had 8 children and her mother before her had 12, it seems highly unlikely in those times that the fertility of the young princess would ever have been questioned, and also more than unlikely that the religious Margaret would have encouraged sex before marriage.
Following their poor start Henry and Elizabeth have a difficult relationship flying in the face of what is known of them historically. Unlike her mother, Elizabeth Of York is not a power player in her own right and does not really carve out a path of any interest for herself. There is very little hint at the powers of the water goddess that her mother and grandmother had except in being warned of death. The court is controlled by the King's Mother and so Elizabeth has little to do.
The plot itself becomes exceptionally repetitive. During the novel The White Queen Gregory gave us the idea that one of The Princes In The Tower : Richard in fact survived, a theory that given later events seems quite likely. Throughout his reign Henry is chased by the spectre of 'the boy' and pretty much the entire novel is devoted to various boys popping up out of the woodwork claiming to be Richard Plantagenet. As each of these emerge, Henry rants at Elizabeth she simpers about not knowing anything, the pretender is defeated and it all starts again. This wears thin.
I do find the idea that Richard survived plausible and certainly of these Pretenders, the one they called Perkin Warbeck may well have been the real thing which is pretty much what is suggested here.
In the end I think that possibly the things that I found the most interesting about The White Princess are the continuation of the idea that Elizabeth effectively cursed her own line by accident & that this book in itself acts as a natural conduit between Gregory's Cousins War and her Tudor Saga the next story chronologically being that of Catherine Of Aragon in 'The Constant Princess' whose marriage to Prince Arthur is being prepared for at the close of this novel.
Not perfect by any means, but still another enjoyable addition to the canon.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : ebook storage
Book #59 Absolution by Patrick Flanery
Absolution
Length Of Time In Possession : 18 months
What first struck me when I started reading Absolution was the identical nature of the basics of the story to Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale which I have just read. Successful elderly writer Clare Wald, summons young journalist Sam Leroux to her home with the intent of allowing him to be her biographer, and their conversations illuminate her back story. There the similarity ends because whilst The Thirteenth Tale is shrouded in a kind of Gothic old fashioned mystique, the mysteries of Absolution are of a starker, bleaker variety.
Set in modern day South Africa the events of the novel are placed against the backdrop of the fairly recent political upheavals of that nation, the findings of the Truth And Reconciliation Commission for example are referenced often. The novel is constructed in an odd way, and at times this made it difficult to read. Split into three sections it at times has sections from Clare's perspective and then Sam's interspersed with excerpts from Clare's final novel, a 'faction' named 'Absolution'.
Clare did not choose Sam for the task for no apparent reason Sam & Clare have a link, a link neither is able to discuss, and as Sam's narrative contradicts what Clare sets forth in 'Absolution' it becomes harder to know what really happened, and in some respects this is the point of 'Absolution' how, when in absence of the facts, we make up fictions in our minds of events we know to have happened but do not know the detail.
Another strand of Absolution revolves around guilt and responsibility, how responsible is a person when a remark they make sets forth a chain of events they didn't foresee culminating in disaster.
The problem with 'Absolution' as a novel and what makes it become hard work as a read is that these points about history and responsibility become laboured and the making of them ultimately occurs at the cost of the narrative : the plot becomes damaged and skewed by the authors apparent need to make them. A lengthy diatribe about censorship for example is just entirely out of step with the rest of the plot.
By far the most interesting aspect of 'Absolution' is the fate of Laura, a fate that is ultimately left hanging in mid air, with the onus on the reader to infer what they can.
All in all the novel is something of a mixed bag that does not entirely flow together very well despite containing excellent ideas.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : ebook storage
Length Of Time In Possession : 18 months
What first struck me when I started reading Absolution was the identical nature of the basics of the story to Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale which I have just read. Successful elderly writer Clare Wald, summons young journalist Sam Leroux to her home with the intent of allowing him to be her biographer, and their conversations illuminate her back story. There the similarity ends because whilst The Thirteenth Tale is shrouded in a kind of Gothic old fashioned mystique, the mysteries of Absolution are of a starker, bleaker variety.
Set in modern day South Africa the events of the novel are placed against the backdrop of the fairly recent political upheavals of that nation, the findings of the Truth And Reconciliation Commission for example are referenced often. The novel is constructed in an odd way, and at times this made it difficult to read. Split into three sections it at times has sections from Clare's perspective and then Sam's interspersed with excerpts from Clare's final novel, a 'faction' named 'Absolution'.
Clare did not choose Sam for the task for no apparent reason Sam & Clare have a link, a link neither is able to discuss, and as Sam's narrative contradicts what Clare sets forth in 'Absolution' it becomes harder to know what really happened, and in some respects this is the point of 'Absolution' how, when in absence of the facts, we make up fictions in our minds of events we know to have happened but do not know the detail.
Another strand of Absolution revolves around guilt and responsibility, how responsible is a person when a remark they make sets forth a chain of events they didn't foresee culminating in disaster.
The problem with 'Absolution' as a novel and what makes it become hard work as a read is that these points about history and responsibility become laboured and the making of them ultimately occurs at the cost of the narrative : the plot becomes damaged and skewed by the authors apparent need to make them. A lengthy diatribe about censorship for example is just entirely out of step with the rest of the plot.
By far the most interesting aspect of 'Absolution' is the fate of Laura, a fate that is ultimately left hanging in mid air, with the onus on the reader to infer what they can.
All in all the novel is something of a mixed bag that does not entirely flow together very well despite containing excellent ideas.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : ebook storage
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