If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie

Five words from the blurb: never, outside, mother, anxiety, freedom

If I Fall, If I Die had an amazing beginning – the observations of Will, a child living with an agoraphobic mother, were perfectly captured and the claustrophobic atmosphere was built up beautifully. Unfortunately it all seemed to fall apart when Will ventured outside. The other characters weren’t as strong and the plot meandered too much.

Michael Christie does a fantastic job of capturing the anxiety and emotion of mental illness, and this book might be worth reading for these aspects alone, but don’t go into it looking for a compelling plot.

.

Esperanza Street by Niyati Keni

Five words from the blurb: Philippines, destruction, community, houseboy, choices

Esperanza Street is another book with a great start, but a disappointing middle/end. The novel opens with eight-year-old Joseph beginning work as a houseboy in Puerto, a coastal town in the Philippines. I immediately bonded with Joseph and loved learning about his difficult life. As the book progressed a large number of other characters were added. I found it difficult to keep up with them all and I failed to form an emotional connection to them. This detachment meant that I began to notice other problems with the book. There was a lack of atmosphere and I didn’t feel any real passion for the country. I later learnt that the author isn’t from the Philippines and wonder if this is the reason that the book isn’t as culturally rich as I’d hoped?

Overall this book had some good scenes, especially towards the beginning, but the rest fell a bit flat for me.

.

The Sweetest Thing by Fiona Shaw

Five words from this blurb: Victorian, York, factory, asylum, gentleman

I bought The Sweetest Thing because a quote on the front compared it to Sarah Waters. It is also set in York – a city I know well. Unfortunately this book isn’t in the same league as Fingersmith – it is much lighter and doesn’t contain the atmosphere of a book written by Sarah Waters. If you’re after a simple piece of historical fiction that zips along then you’ll probably love this one, but I prefer the characters to have more depth. After about 100 pages I decided that I didn’t care what was happening and so abandoned it.

DNF

Ben in the World by Doris Lessing

Five words from the blurb: troubled, teenager, restless, travels, malevolence

I loved The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing so was looking forward to reading the sequel. Unfortunately the two books were very different and Ben in the World failed to excite me. The Fifth Child perfectly captured the mixed emotions of parenting a difficult child, but Ben in the World focused on what happened to that child in adulthood. This story seemed much more predictable and failed to tug on my heartstrings. There was a tragic inevitability to it all and for much of the book I was bored. I wish I hadn’t read it; preferring to keep my memories of Ben as one of the creepiest characters in literature.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Five words from the blurb: circus, freak, motherhood, gifted, strange

I’d heard nothing but praise for this weird book about a women who deliberately takes toxic substances during pregnancy in order create her own circus freak show. The premise was amazingly original and I loved some of the messages that the book was trying to convey, but I’m afraid I remained emotionally detached from the characters. The imagery was wonderfully vibrant and this book will appeal to fans of Angela Carter, but I struggled to maintain interest in the meandering plot. I persevered for as long as I could, but I finally had to admit defeat after 6 frustrating weeks.

DNF

Strange Telescopes by Daniel Kalder

Five words from the blurb: sewers, Moscow, chases, secret, adventure

Daniel Kalder is a travel writer and this book charts his year-long quest to find the secrets that lie hidden in Moscow’s sewers. I found the beginning of this book fascinating and I loved learning about Moscow’s recent history, but as the book progressed it became less engaging. Kalder didn’t seem to care whether or not he completed his quest and this lack of enthusiasm began to permeate through the pages. I found myself losing interest and abandoned it after about 100 pages. It’s a shame because he’s a talented writer and I’d love to read about something he has a real passion for.

DNF

 Translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem

Pandora in the Congo by Albert Sánchez Piñol

Five words from the blurb: Congo, manservant, jungle, diamonds, mystery

Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol was one of my favourite books last year so I was excited about reading the second in this trilogy. Unfortunately Pandora in the Congo failed to match the brilliance of the first book. It started well – with a wonderfully atmospheric mystery; but once they headed to Africa the entire book collapsed. The characters were poorly described and the plot became increasingly ridiculous. It seems weird to write that considering the first book was about giant humanoid toads, but something about the writing failed to enable me to suspend my disbelief. Read Cold Skin, but forget about this one.

.

Hummingbirds in my Hair by Pamela O’Cuneen

Five words from the blurb: diplomat, transfer, Suriname, Trinidad, cultures

For many years I have been interested in travelling to Suriname and the other countries in the northeastern corner of South America. Information about this area is quite scarce so I jumped at the chance to read a review copy of this book about the wife of a diplomat who is transferred to the country.

The culinary information was excellent and I loved the recipes that were included within the text, but I found the rest of the cultural information quite vague. She never fully immersed herself with the locals, only gaining snippets of information from her hired help. Instead of investigating the local area much of the book was devoted to the problems of importing her dog. I guess I’m used to more adventurous tales and the lonely life of a diplomat’s wife wasn’t as exciting or as amusing as I’d hoped.

.

Like a Virgin by Richard Branson

Five words from the blurb: business, questions, entrapreneur, success, relationships

This book is a collection of interviews and essays about how to successfully set up a business. Branson’s humor and original style shine through the text and there is a lot of useful information included, particularly regarding relationships with those you work with. Unfortunately the information was compiled from press clippings that Branson had done over the years, not written specifically for this book.  This meant that much of the information was repeated and by the time I reached the half-way point I was finding little new material. With some editing this would be a very useful book, but I found the repetition frustrating.

.