Wonder by RJ Palacio

Five words from the blurb: facial, abnormality, protect, cruelty, school

Wonder was originally published as a children’s book, but it is now being marketed for adults. The story is narrated by Augie, a ten-year-old boy with a facial deformity, who is attending school for the first time. Augie has previously been home schooled, but he must now learn to live in the cruel world and try to be accepted for who he is.

If I had a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing.

This book was fast paced and gripping, but it was obviously a children’s book. Some of the scenes were emotional, but they lacked subtlety and the moral messages were repeated too often. I found it too simple and predictable to be a satisfying adult read.

This is the perfect discussion starter for school children studying bullying, but I’d be hesitant to recommend it to adults.

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The Doctor Will See You Now by Max Pemberton

Five words from the blurb: NHS, doctor, hospital, elderly, patients

Max Pemberton is an NHS hospital doctor working mainly with elderly patients, but also spending time in A&E. This book is a non-fiction account of his work; highlighting the highs and lows of his stressful job.

I really enjoyed reading this book – I found it entertaining, but also enlightening.

There are some rather unusual things that a doctor can prescribe for their patients. Years ago people used to be prescribed Guinness, and in fact, while working in surgery in my first year I twice prescribed a tot of whisky for patients. It’s very difficult to justify six years at medical school when you’re writing ‘Famous Grouse’ on someone’s drug chart.

It was packed with funny anecdotes, but also discussed the important issues facing the NHS today. I found some of the hospital policies unbelievable and am pleased that this book brought them to my attention.

Recommended to anyone who’d like to know what really goes on inside a hospital. Doctor to You is the source to find out the best doctors in your area.

 Translated from the French by Vineet Lal

Lacrimosa by Regis Jauffret

Five words from the blurb: suicide, letters, lover, depth, soul

Lacrimosa is an epistolary novel composed of letters between Charlotte, a woman who has just committed suicide, and her lover. The book is written in the second person singular, a form that I struggle to connect with.

Dear Charlotte, You died on a sudden whim from a long illness. Suicide gushed through your brain like an oil spill and you hanged yourself. You had been living in Paris for fourteen years but on 7 June 2007 you took the train to Marseille. As if humans had the memory of an elephant and sometimes returned to dig their grave near the place where, in the past, they’d forced their way out of their mother’s womb to set foot in life.

I also had trouble with the idea of a dead person writing letters, but I persevered to the end as the book was short and strangely compelling. I finished Lacrimosa feeling depressed (as you’d expect from the subject matter), but also confused as to the point of the book – it seemed to end exactly where it started and there was no real plot to speak of.

I admit that there were some beautiful passages, but I’m afraid this didn’t make up for meandering depressive nature of the rest of the book.

Recommended to those who love the sound of an experimental book about grief.

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Have you read any of these books?

Did you enjoy them?

Last week the Huffington Post produced a quiz highlighting similarities in the writing of Martin Amis and Katie Price. I scored 5/10, showing that I could not tell which quotes were written by Martin Amis, a respected literary novelist, and which were written by Katie Price, an author often ridiculed in the press for her poor writing skills. I was surprised and so decided to investigate further.

Lionel Asbo by Martin Amis

I have to admit that I’ve never had much success with Amis’ fiction. His most famous book, Time’s Arrow, failed to impress me and none of his other books have made it out of the library door as the first few pages have failed to grab my attention.

His new book, Lionel Asbo, is a satire of the English working classes. It follows two characters: Lionel Asbo, a violent criminal who is in and out of prison; and Des Pepperdine, his nephew, who is having an affair with his 42-year-old gran.

My main problem with the book was that none of the characters were realistic. They came across as rich, middle class people who happened to own dangerous dogs. For satire to work it has to be close to the bone, but it all felt way off. Yes, the 42-year-old gran worked, but the incestuous relationship? It wasn’t funny – it was just weird.

The plot was virtually non-existent and the lack of narrative drive made it slow and difficult to read. It was dis-jointed and I didn’t see the point of it.

This book is a simple character study, but as the characters weren’t realistic the whole book was flawed. It annoyed me and bored me in equal measure.

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In the Name of Love by Katie Price

I’ve never read any Katie Price before – I tend to find that romances lack the depth I like to see in a book. I’ve been reading a lot of darker books recently so I enjoyed the chance to try something a bit more fun.

In the Name of Love focuses on a holiday romance between Charlie, a sports presenter, and Felipe, an attractive Spanish man.  Neither are honest about their backgrounds and the relationship goes through many turbulent stages. The plot is very simple: will they stay together?

The book flowed well, but the dialogue was so cheesy that I cringed whilst reading it. I quickly realised that this was part of the charm and giggled along at the silliness of it all. The predictable plot sometimes bored me, but the characters felt realistic.

This is a light, entertaining  read that I recommend to anyone looking for an easy read.

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Is the writing style similar?

I noticed many similarities in the writing style of the two books. The dialogue was almost indistinguishable:

‘Look outside. Oh Des.’ she said and kissed him back. ‘Des, imagine we were getting married today.’
‘Yeah. Imagine. And jetting off to Malta for our honeymoon.’
‘…You know those candles Mum gave us? I’ll make a cottage pie when we get back. Let’s have dinner by candlelight. And let’s go mad and get a little packet of vin de table.‘ Lionel Asbo, p72

‘Is it really worth that much?’ she asked. She could just about imagine spending that much on a bottle of champagne, but a single drink? She could almost hear her mum’s voice in her head exclaiming, ‘What a waste of money! That’s more than most families spend on their weekly shop!‘    In the Name of Love, p173

‘What was the matter with him? Why did he work at being stupid?’ Lionel Asbo, p27

‘Do you think men like that grow on trees? Let me tell you, they categorically do not.’ In the Name of Love, p126

I also thought that the sex scenes could almost be swapped over without anyone noticing (as so well demonstrated by the Huffington Post quiz).

The only real difference was that the descriptive passages in Lionel Asbo were a lot more complex:

Outside, it had rained and grown dark under a lilac sky, and a film of water swam on the flagstones. Orange blotches of mirrored streetlight kept pace with him as he walked down Crimple Way. Lionel Asbo, p40

He sighed and lay back, looking up at the blue sky with white clouds scurrying over it as if off to somewhere more important. In the Name of Love, p192

With the exception of the descriptive passages, I think it would be difficult to identify which book any individual sentence (and in most cases paragraph) came from.

The main difference between the two books is in the structure. Lionel Asbo is disjointed and confusing; In the Name of Love is simple and engaging.

It made me realise how unfair the press are to authors like Katie Price. Literary fiction authors seem to be able to get away with anything, when really there is often little difference between the two. I know which book I’m more likely to be passing on to my friends this Summer!

I wasn’t a fan of either book, but I enjoyed comparing the two!

Which book would you rather read?