Category: 2011

Categories
2011 Books in Translation

A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé

A Novel Bookstore Translated from the French by Alison Anderson

Five words from the blurb: place, books, envy, secret, literary

A Novel Bookstore revolves around a secret committee, established to select the finest books for a new shop. This book shop will not sell new releases, but will only stock books specifically selected by the committee because of their importance and their ability to move and influence the reader.

For as long as literature has existed, suffering, joy, horror and grace, and everything that is great in humankind has produced great novels. These exceptional books are often not very well known, and are in constant danger of being forgotten, and in today’s world, where the number of books being published is considerable, the power of marketing and the cynicism of business have joined forces to keep those extraordinary books indistinguishable from millions of insignificant, not to say pointless books.

A Novel Bookstore is billed as a mystery because members of the committee receive threats and then suffer violent attacks, but anyone looking for a mystery will be disappointed as this aspect of the book is minor and ultimately disappointing.

The main benefit of this novel is that it recommends a large number books to the reader.

Among the books he wanted for The Good Novel were Dernier amour, by Christian Gailly, which, blown away, he mentioned to me; Sous réserve, a first novel by Hélène Frappat; and, among the foreign novels, short stories by Roberto Bolano. Francesca liked Tristano muore by Antonio Tabucchi, La réfutation majeure, by Pierre Senges, and more than anything, Segalen’s complete Correspondence, published at last.

The main problem, for the English reader, is that most are unavailable in this country. Some books are mentioned briefly, others described at length, but all the ones that intrigued me were impossible to track down.

In a Bengalese novel that I love, The Night on the Shore, the author devotes twelve pages to a description of the preparation of a traditional rich dish for weddings. It’s an unforgettable passage.

This is, perhaps, the point the book is trying to prove. These gems of literature are buried under a sea of averageness and only those with a specialist knowledge will be aware of their existence.

Most blog readers will be familiar with debates about what makes a book important and whether or not readers are wasting their time by reading lighter, more entertaining books, but if you are interested in these discussions you’ll find plenty to hold your attention in this book. I thought the arguments were put across very well, but I had heard all the points before and found reading over 400 pages of them a bit tedious.

This is a book for literature lovers and I’m sure the dream of owning a perfect bookshop will resonate with a lot of people, but although I found some aspects of the literature debate interesting I thought this book was too long for its weak plot.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

While acknowledging that it is highly flawed…I also have to acknowledge that Cossé created a very appealing nook for a book lover to read in for a while. Nonsuch Book

….an engaging read which held my interest, despite the basic implausibility of the story…. A Common Reader 

…it makes me think about what reading means to me, what novels mean to me, what writing means to me. Of Books and Reading

Categories
2011 Books in Translation

Purgatory by Tomás Eloy Martínez

Purgatory Translated from the Spanish by Frank Wynne

Five words from the blurb: Argentina, history, political, disappearances, love

Tomás Eloy Martínez was one of the most important authors in the Spanish speaking world. He was born in Argentina in 1934 and became a journalist, challenging authority at every opportunity. His provocative journalism forced him into exile during the military dictatorship and he moved to Venezuela, where he wrote several novels. Purgatory was completed shortly before he died from cancer in 2010. It is said to be his most autobiographical work, covering much of Argentina’s recent history. I accepted a review copy of this book because he sounded like such an interesting author, but unfortunately it didn’t quite work for me.

Purgatory has a fantastic opening line:

Simón Cardoso had been dead thirty years when his wife, Emilia Dupuy, spotted him at lunchtime in the lounge bar in Trudy Tuesday.

Human rights groups estimate that 30,000 Argentinians were captured, tortured and killed between 1976 and 1983. This book focused on Simón Cardoso, a cartographer who disappeared during this time period, and the mystery surrounding what happened to him.

Purgatory was very easy to read. The simplicity of the text made it possible to underestimate the talent that this author possesses. Profound statements were sprinkled throughout the novel and there were many passages that could easily stand up against the best writing in the world, but unfortunately I don’t think the book worked very well as a novel. There were many long, dry sections in which little happened. It could be argued that these reflected the endless waiting endured by those who didn’t know if their loved ones were alive or dead, but as a reader I was bored.

This Guardian article indicates that the author wanted to write:

without descriptions of atrocities, without depictions of rape and torture – rather a recreation of what it felt like “to breathe in the contaminated air”

He has definitely achieved this, but I’m afraid I prefer my novels to be more powerful. The absence of violence lead to a very quiet novel that was too subtle for me.

I also think that a lot of the satire went over my head. I only have a limited understanding of the political situation in Argentina and so I’m sure that I missed references to specific people/events.

This is clearly an important book, but it was too subtle for me and I’d only recommend it to those with a strong knowledge of Argentina.

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Have you read anything written by Tomás Eloy Martínez?

Do any of his earlier books have a stronger narrative drive?

 

Categories
2011 Thriller

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

Before I Go To Sleep

Five words from the blurb: identity, past, forgotten, overnight, trust

Before I Go To Sleep centres on Christine, a woman who wakes up every morning unable to recognise her own husband. An accident left her without the ability to memorise new events and so she forgets the previous day every time she goes to sleep. In an effort to understand more about herself she begins a diary, but this leads her to discover that her husband is lying to her. The question is whether he is doing this to protect her or for another, more sinister reason…

The book is so compelling I read it in a single sitting. Desperate to know what happens I sped through the pages so quickly I was practically skim reading. I has been a long time since I’ve read something so compelling and I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours in which it entertained me.

Unfortunately everything began to fall apart afterwards. The more I thought about the book, the more holes I found in it. The reader has to suspend disbelief throughout and there are a lot of things that don’t add up if you start to think about them for any length of time. The numerous flaws make this a great book club choice – it is possible to talk about it for a long time!

On a positive note, this book does bring up some interesting points about identity:

Will I still wake up, in my seventies or eighties, thinking myself to be at the beginning of my life? Will I wake with no idea that my bones are old, my joints stiff and heavy? I can’t imagine how I will cope, when I discover that my life is behind me, has already happened, and I have nothing to show for it. No treasure house of recollection, no wealth of experience, no accumulation of wisdom to pass on. What are we, if not an accumulation of our memories?

Unfortunately they don’t have much depth and are more a springboard for your own thoughts and ideas, rather than providing any real insight.

The addictive nature of this book means that I’ll recommend it to a lot of people, especially those who aren’t keen readers, but stay away if you’re looking for anything more than a couple of hours of entertainment.

 

This book received a mixed reception from other bloggers:

It’s an original, fast paced, gripping and rather high concept novel. Savidge Reads

It began to get repetitive in the middle of the book… You’ve Gotta Read This!

Why it has been so much more popular than what I consider to be much better suspense books published last year, I don’t know. Petrona

Superb story telling. JoV’s Book Pyramid

My Evening with SJ Watson

I recently went to hear SJ Watson speak at a local library and thought I’d share some interesting snippets from the evening:

  • Inspiration for the book came from a man called Henry Gustav Molaison who had severe epilepsy. An operation to correct his condition left him with the ability to only remember the last 10 – 15 minutes.
  • He once went through a stage where he worried there weren’t enough characters in the book and so inserted a scene where Christine and Ben had a dinner party with friends from his school. It didn’t work and so the scene was quickly deleted.
  • It took him six months to write the first draft and he did so whilst working part time for the NHS.
  • The first draft of the book contained lots of scenes in which Christine did the ironing and made coffee.
  • He toyed with the idea of writing from a male perspective for about a minute and then decided it wouldn’t work.
  • Lots of people assume SJ Watson is female, but when asked about their surprise on finding the author is male he says it is harder for him to get inside the head of a serial killer than to write from the perspective of a woman.
  • His advice for new writers: Don’t write what you know, but if you want to write about something make sure you know about it.
  • In the past SJ Watson tried writing a book based on himself, but it was too boring!

If you ever get the chance to hear SJ Watson speak I recommend it as he is an entertaining public speaker.

Categories
2011

Do No Harm by Carol Topolski

Do No Harm

Five words from the blurb: gynaecologist, family, alone, bad, dark

Last year I read Carol Topolski’s debut novel, Monster Love, and was impressed by the powerful insight into the mind of a child abuser. Her second novel, Do No Harm, is much more accomplished in terms of structure, but its subltly means I am less likely to remember it than its deeply flawed predecessor.

Do No Harm centres on Virginia, a highly respected gynaecologist, who has secret violent tendencies. The book does an outstanding job of getting inside the head of an individual who appears perfectly normal on the surface, but is in fact thinking terrible things.

Carol Topolski does an amazing job of creating an entire cast of realistic characters. Even those who only appear for a brief time are fully formed and believable. I know very few writers who are capable of creating such a diverse range characters and I think this can be put down to her career as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She really understands what makes people tick and it is a joy to be transported into the minds of so many different people.

The book can be quite confusing as it flips forwards and backwards in time. Events are seen through the eyes of numerous different people, including Virginia’s parents, friends and work colleagues, and it sometimes takes a while to work out who is narrating each section. I’m sure this was deliberate and it did lead to some interesting mistakes on my part – I particularly liked the section early in the book where I assumed she was viciously murdering someone, when in fact she was just preparing a roast dinner!

I’d describe this as a compelling character study rather than a crime novel. The truth about Virginia is slowly revealed over the course of the book, but as so many little hints are left along the way it was never surprising to learn them.

I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in the mindset of those who commit crimes and I look forward to following the rest of Carol Topolski’s writing career.

 

Categories
2011 Other

The Most Important Books Published in 2011

Some books are not enjoyable to read – they can be filled with horrific images or reveal uncomfortable aspects of society, but this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be read.

The following books contain important messages about society and I think the world would be a better place if more people were aware of their contents.

The Death of the Adversary

The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson

This modern masterpiece was recently rediscovered after years of obscurity. It plots the rise of a dictator and what life is like for those who have to live under his influence.  There are original, powerful statements about the human psyche on almost every page and I wish that more people were aware of it.

The Wandering Falcon

The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad

This book gives a fascinating insight into the lives of the nomadic people who lived in the remote border region of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is a stark warning about what happens when modern culture and bureaucracy are allowed to affect traditional tribes.

The Fat Years

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung

China has an increasing role in the global market place. This book gives a realistic, but shocking prediction of what life could be like in the near future; explaining how Chinese influence on the world will increase and what life might be like for those living in China. At first some of it seems a little far fetched, but on doing some research I discovered that some of the more unrealistic scenarios had actually happened already. Scary stuff.

Which 2011 books do you think are important?

Categories
2011 Other Prizes

The Wandering Falcon – Jamil Ahmad

The Wandering Falcon Long listed for 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize

Five words from the blurb: Pakistan, remote, tribal, honour, conflict

The Wandering Falcon is set in the remote border region of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan where nomadic tribes travel in order to find food and water. When Partition occurred in 1947 the border controls were tightened, leaving entire communities at risk of drought as they were denied access to the springs they had visited for generations. This book follows a young boy, Tor Baz (meaning the black falcon) as he grows up in this threatened culture.

The book started off really well. The first chapter was a roller-coaster of emotion, ending on a heartbreaking scene which gave me high expectations for the rest of the book. Unfortunately I soon discovered that the story wasn’t continued in a linear fashion, but told through a series of short stories. These showed all the important moments in Tor’s life, but the fragmented approach meant that the reader is just thrown from one life changing moment to the next.

The Wandering Falcon provides a fascinating insight into a little known culture and is packed with period atmosphere. At times it read more like a non-fiction book, but it was always engaging and easy to read.

The Mahsuds, because they always hunt in groups, are known as the wolves of Waziristan. A Wazir hunts alone. He is known as ‘the leopard’ to other men. Despite their differences, the two tribes share more than merely their common heritage of poverty and misery. Nature has bred in both an unusual abundance of anger, enormous resilience, and a total refusal to accept their fate. If nature provides them food for only ten days in a year, they believe in their right to demand the rest of their sustenance from their fellow men who live oily, fat and comfortable lives in the plains. To both tribes, survival is the ultimate virtue.

At less than 200 pages it was a very quick read, but I can’t decide if this is a positive or negative. I’d prefer a longer book, with all those gaps filled in, but I can appreciate the power of this book’s simplicity.

The Wandering Falcon is a very important book, revealing the details of this traditional community and I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about this region of the world.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

A brilliant book.  Highly recommended. ANZ Litlovers Litblog

….a beautiful meditation on the life of a nomad in an increasingly modernizing world. S. Krishna’s Books

….a real portrayal of the tribes men not just our western view of them. Winstonsdad’s Blog