Category: 2000 – 2007

Categories
2000 - 2007 Historical Fiction

Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks

Five words from the blurb: infected, Plague, village, death, survive

Eyam is a small village in rural Derbyshire. In 1665 the village tailor received a parcel of cloth from London. Unknown to him, fleas harbouring the deadly plague were contained in the package and within a week he was dead. It wasn’t long before other members of the village were struck down and the community made the brave decision to isolate themselves in order to prevent the disease from spreading to the rest of the country. Only 83 of the village’s 350 inhabitants survived. Year of Wonders is a fictional account of what happened during the 14 months that the village was affected by the plague. The exact names and family groups may have been changed, but the fear and grief contained within the pages felt very real to me.

Eyam Village. Photo Credit: Johnson Cameraface, Flickr

This is an intense read; the writing was so powerful that at times I could hardly bear to read on, but I was completely gripped and unable to tear myself away from the tragedy that was unfolding.

He died clutching the bed sheet. Gently, I untangled each hand, straightening his long, limp fingers. They were beautiful hands, save for the one callused place toughened by a lifetime of needle pricks. Remembering the deft way they’d moved in the fire glow, the tears spilled from my eyes. I told myself I was crying for the waste of it; that those fingers that had acquired so much skill would never fashion another lovely thing. In truth, I think I was crying for a different kind of waste; wondering why I had waited until so near this death to feel the touch of those hands. 

This is historical fiction at its very best. I felt as though I knew the people and understood their motivations.

My only problem with this book was the epilogue – I felt it tied everything up too cleanly and I would have preferred the more ambiguous ending that could have been achieved without its presence. This a only a very minor quibble though – the rest of the book was stunning.

This book isn’t for everyone. I know that many will find the contents too distressing, but if you like books that take you on an emotional journey then this is for you.

Highly recommended.

Three words to describe the reading experience: intense, moving, informative.

Many years ago I visited the village of Eyam and I remember reading the signs which detailed the deaths that had occurred in each of the houses. It is only after reading this book that I appreciate the full scale of what happened in that community. The lists are a tragic insight into the way every family in the village was affected. Here is an example of one of the signs – many more can be found on Bowbelle51’s Eyam Flickr set.

Plague House Sign. Photo Credit: Bowbelle51, Flickr

 

For more information about the plague in the village of Eyam see the Eyam Plague Village website.

This is the first book written by Geraldine Brooks that I have read, but it certainly won’t be the last!

Are all her books as intense as this one?

Which is your favourite?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Books in Translation Other Prizes

Wolf Totem – Jiang Rong

 Winner 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize

Translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt

I bought a copy of Wolf Totem after I met The Book Whisperer and she raved about it. It is her favourite book of all time and as I love books set in Asia I decided to give it a try.

Wolf Totem is set on the Mongolian grasslands and describes the constant battle that the nomads have with the wolves that live there. The relationship the people have with the wolves is confused when Chen Zhen, an intellectual from Beijing, captures a wolf cub and starts to raise it. The book is based on the real life events of the author, who answered Chairman Mao’s 1969 call for city dwellers to experience life in the mountains.

This book goes some way to explaining what life was like for the Mongolian nomads, but it concentrates on the difficulties that wolves brought to their lives. We witness packs of wolves massacring their animals and the nomad’s attempts to kill the wolves. It was fascinating to learn about the behaviour of wolves, but I suspect the graphic nature of the hunts will be too much for some.

I enjoyed the excitement of the chase, but by the half way stage I began to tire of the endless battle between man and wolf. This book is 500+ pages long and after a while one wolf hunt became much like all the others. I longed to learn about other aspects of life in the grasslands and perhaps witness some of the human relationships.

I also felt that the writing quality was that of great fiction, not literature. There was no depth or poetry to the language – it was simply there to inform.

These things are never easy for the Mongols. Gasmai only has the one son, and still she didn’t stop him from grabbing a wolf’s tail or crawling into a den. The old Chinese saying ‘Don’t fight wolves if you’re unwilling to sacrifice your son’ must have come from the grassland. Don’t forget, the Mongols ruled China for nearly a century. I used to think it meant using your son as wolf bait, believe it or not. Now I realize it means letting your son risk crawling into a wolf’s den to get the cubs. Only a youngster could handle a tunnel this deep and narrow.

I did learn a lot of interesting facts about the wolves and am pleased I read the book, but I wish it had been slightly shorter.

Recommended to anyone who’d like to know more about wolves, in all their gruesome glory.

Categories
2000 - 2007 Recommended books

Peripheral Vision – Patricia Ferguson

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to take a chance on lesser known books and I’m really pleased to report that my first venture into the unknown was a massive success. I decided to read Peripheral Vision after seeing a post on the Fiction Uncovered website in which Amanda Craig highlighted some undervalued authors. She described Patricia Ferguson’s novels as dark and dazzling – exactly the sort of books I love!

I chose to read Peripheral Vision because it is primarily about motherhood. Through the eyes of three different women we see how the relationship between a mother and child can be both powerful and fragile.

The writing is amazingly clear and a high degree of emotional intensity is built up in a very short period of time.

The first few pages read like a piece of quality chick lit, but this book quickly becomes more than that – the writing has a depth of both character and theme. The cover image implies that this is quite a light book, but there are a few disturbing scenes so I don’t advise reading this if you are squeamish!

The book begins as a series of short stories, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they all linked up in the end. This plot isn’t packed with action, but the power of the relationships was enough to grip me completely.

It seems to her that all maternal love degrades naturally, as the perfect baby becomes the imperfect adult; that such natural fading, from adoration to gentle mutual fondness, is normal.

The theme of vision also runs through the book and I especially loved the details of ophthalmic surgery – I felt as though I was being educated as well as entertained.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in books about motherhood, especially if you appreciate quality writing.

 

Have you read anything written by Patricia Ferguson?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Memoirs Non Fiction

Born on a Blue Day – Daniel Tammet

Born on a Blue Day is the memoir of Daniel Tammet, a man who is probably unique in the world. Daniel not only has Savant Syndrome, a rare form of Asperger’s that produces amazing mental powers, but also synaesthesia, the ability to see numbers and words as specific colours and textures. This combination of conditions means that he is able to learn new languages in just a few weeks and they helped him to break a Guinness World Record by remembering Pi to 22,515 digits.

I found the whole book fascinating. Daniel explains exactly what he see and feels, giving the reader a good understanding of both Asperger’s and synaesthesia.

Thinking of calendars always makes me feel good, all those numbers and patterns in one place. Different days of the week elicit different colours and emotions in my head: Tuesdays are a warm colour while Thursdays are fuzzy.

It was particularly comforting for me to read about his early life, as my son (who has Asperger’s) exhibited many of the things he described (e.g. a constant need for rocking as in infant) which I haven’t seen in other books before.

After describing a difficult childhood, in which he felt isolated from his peers, Daniel describes how he found independence by taking a teaching job in Lithuania. He goes onto explain how he came to terms with his medical conditions and now helps scientists to try to understand differences in brain function.

I found the final section, in which he explains how he came to realise that he was gay and finally find love, particularly touching.

He isn’t the best writer in the world and his Asperger’s syndrome tends to mean he goes into unnecessary detail in some areas, but for the insight into this unique mind it is well worth putting up with less than perfect prose.

Recommended to everyone, but I think this is a ‘must read’ for anyone with an interest in Asperger’s or synaesthesia.

Categories
2000 - 2007 Commonwealth Writer's Prize Other Prizes

The Harmony Silk Factory – Tash Aw

  

Winner of 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best First Book) and 2005 Whitbread First Novel Award  

The Harmony Silk Factory is set in Malaysia during the early 1940s – a period in which the Japanese began their invasion of the country. The book is divided into three parts, each telling the story of Johnny Lim, a textile merchant with a shady past, from a different perspective.

The book started off really well. The writing was fantastic and I was quickly drawn into the account of Johnny’s early life, as told by his son, Jasper.  Johnny was a fantastic character – I loved seeing the way he got out of various scrapes and rose to become one of the most important men in the area.

Some people are born with a streak of malice running through them. It poisons their blood for ever, swimming in their veins like a mysterious virus. It may lurk unnoticed for many years, surfacing only occasionally. Good times may temporarily suppress these instincts, and the person may even appear well intentioned and honest. Sooner or later, however, the cold hatred wins over. It is an incurable condition.

Unfortunately, the wonderful story telling came to an abrupt end as we reached part 2 (p120). The narrator switched to Snow (Johnny’s wife) and the prose took the form of a diary. The story of how Johnny and Snow came to marry was nowhere near as interesting as part 1 and the diary made the pace slower. Very little happened in this section and my mind wandered from the page at several points.

Part 3 was narrated by Englishman, Peter Wormwood, and repeated many of the events recounted earlier in the book, but from a slightly different perspective. I never warmed to Wormwood and found it a real chore to read most of this section. I recognise that the point is to show how people can view the same person in a different light, but it meant that I struggled to maintain an emotional connection throughout the narrative. I wish that the whole book had been written in the style of the first part and not tried to get too clever.

Overall there was a lot to enjoy in this book, but the frustrating final section left the book on a low note.

Have you read Tash Aw’s latest book, Map of the Invisible World?

Is is better than this one?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Pulitzer Prize

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

 Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2007

The Road is a book I’ve been wanting to read for ages. I knew that I’d love it, but I also knew that it would break my heart and so needed to wait for the right moment to pick it up.

The image of a father and son walking along a barren road in post-apocalyptic America was already strong in my mind, thanks to seeing trailers for the film and re-prints of the book with the movie-tie-in cover, but I don’t think anything can prepare you for power of the imagery in this book. It is truly haunting. You can check Lorraine Music to know about some awesome books and movies.

I was surprised by the simplicity of the prose. I had expected it to be more complex and descriptive, but I think leaving everything up to your own imagination makes it more powerful.

He was beginning to think that death was finally upon them and that they should find some place to hide where they would not be found. There were times when he sat watching the boy sleep that he would begin to sob uncontrollably but it wasn’t about death. He wasn’t sure what it was about but he thought it was about beauty or about goodness. Things that he’d no longer any way to think about at all.

The love between the father and his son was so touching – it is one of the strongest relationships I have ever read and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

This book makes you question exactly what you need to make life worth living.

Its strength is its simplicity. It is a classic that everyone should read.

I’m reluctant to watch the film as I don’t want to ruin my memories of the book.

Do you think it is worth watching? Is it similar in style or will it change the pictures in my head?