Island Beneath the Sea ~ Isabel Allende

Historical novel set in Haiti

Long book but just an outline

The narrative was an historical novel of slavery and its overthrow in Haiti. It had an interesting setting and there were lots of possibilities but it often read like an author's scaffold. It so needed fleshing out to make it come to life.

This was so skimpy on detail with little depth to the characters and little detail to their actions. It rambled around with ideas rattling around in its historical context. And it was a jumble of ideas that were like thoughts put down to shape into a novel ... but just got printed the way it was.

Honolulu ~ Alan Brennert

My Sydney read during Alphie's surgery
Interesting enough ~ mindless enough

Written by the same author as "Molokai" (which I preferred). The man does his research ... but seems unable to put it into a fictional account, to weave the facts through the narrative in natural storytelling ... way too much bald exposition. Characters are very one dimensional and are often just mouthpieces to pass on the information he has complied.

This was an interesting take on the development of Honolulu as it looked at it from a Korean perspective. The story is told by Jin, a Korean "picture" bride.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog ~ Muriel Barbery

Not for me ... in spades
Boring philosophical twaddle

A recommendation from someone who described it as "life changing". The whole story line was (Plot Spoiler Alert) : Life's A Bitch And Then You Die.

The characters were not quirky ... they were self indulgent and pretentious. The chapters of "profound thoughts" ... ditto.
The devotion to Japanese culture as the epitome of taste ... ditto.

The "hedgehog' is the concierge in a Parisian apartment block (born poor, self educated genius hiding her light under a bushel). Another resident is a teenager (born rich, genius, wants to die because ... drum roll ... no one is up to her standards). A more deserving pair you could never meet!! Both are overwhelmingly judgmental and narrow minded and superior to all (except perhaps the aesthete who moves in a recognises their uniqueness)

The Fourth Bear ~ Jasper Fforde

** LIKE **

Part of the "Nurserycrime" series.
Good humoured referencing.

This one follows "The Big Over Easy". The detectives are Jack Spratt and Mary Mary on the hunt for Goldy ... and the psycho Gingerbread Man ... got the idea. There are a multitude of nursery rhyme references. They are clever and whitty and whimsical ... but a tad repetitive.

This is a crazy, fun read .. a wonderful diversion from reality ... what is not to love about porridge addicted bears and exploding cucumbers! Groanworthy in a punny way.

Inheritance ~ Nicholas Shakespeare

** LIKE **

Recommended by the lovely Camilla
Great coincidences and a great cad.

The hero, Andy, gets an unexpected windfall ... he accidentally turns up at a funeral where the deceased has stipulated that his estate be split between attendees ... and he is the only one there!

The author found a good way of revealing a family's history in a story within a story. A poor man does good, a broken heart, a charismatic conman, a determined young Galahad ... all the cliches and all the coincidences you can poke a stick at ... but it all comes together in a readable narrative.

Nothing great but it keeps your attention.

First Tuesday Book Club

Revolutionary Road ~ Richard Yates

Note to self : DON'T see the movie!
A First Tuesday Book Club book

What a depressing read! And the word depressing should be in CAPS and bold!

I can see that it could have been seen as a masterpiece when it was published (1961) but it seemed dated now.

Frank and April feel they are too good for the blandness of suburbia. They were perfect intellectual snobs ... trouble is, they have very little intellect. They are boring malcontents.

Mournfully depressing life in the 50s

First Tuesday Book Club

Faithful Place ~ Tana French

The Redeemer ~ Jo Nesbo

How do you say "O.K." in Norwegian?
Maybe I should have read an earlier "Harry Hole" novel

This was an ok read ... nothing more, nothing less. Yet another book on the Scandinavian bandwagon because of the Millennium trilogy.

Maybe it was the fault of a lackluster translation ... I found the language quite repetitive. This book is part of a series that uses the same detective, harry Hole, so some of the storytelling was spent retelling old narrative, going over background to get the new reader up to speed and tying up one loose end after another from previous texts. And then it spent time setting things up for the next installment.

Basically annoying!

The Slap ~ Christos Tsiolkas

Longlisted : Booker 2010

Best Overall : Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009

Too raw, too harsh, too unrelentingly nasty

This book was a gift (thanks Lin) and enthusiastically endorsed by the critics ... so I had to finish it ... but What An Effort!!!

What totally unlikable characters!!! Brilliantly written ... unfortunately they are all too believable. My problem was that I just didn't want to spend any time with them!! Low-lives!!! Nasty dumb-fucks!!!! A strongly written narrative about life among the great unwashed yobbo new Australians ... for me, putting my own dirty washing on the line as per the book, this was a book for bringing out the inner racism in you.

Can't deny that it wasn't well written ... full credit to the author ... great use of point of view voice ... but the characters and narrative left me cold. Too raw.

I have seen it called a get-down-and-dirty version of Tom Perrott's "Little Children" ... a book that happens to be on my Favourites list ... for me that was a much preferable read!!!!!

Longlisted for 2010 Booker

First Tuesday Book Club

Savages ~ Don WInslow

X NO X

Tournament of Books : 2011