Category: 2011

Categories
2011 Booker Prize YA

The Testament of Jessie Lamb – Jane Rogers

The Testament of Jessie Lamb Long listed for 2011 Booker Prize

Five words from the blurb: women, dying, girl, innocent, heroism

The Testament of Jessie Lamb is one of the most frustrating books I’ve ever read. I was gripped by the fast paced plot, but internally screaming at the frustrating actions of the narrator, the unlikely global events and the numerous bizarre plot twists.

The Testament of Jessie Lamb is set in the near future, at a time when an act of biological terrorism has caused all women to die during pregnancy. This leads the human race into imaging a time when there will no longer be any children, when the aging population will have to support themselves and when they will eventually have to face the extinction of the human race. The premise appealed to me greatly, but unfortunately the book concentrated on a seemingly bizarre solution to this problem (minor spoiler – highlight to read) – teenage girls who don’t see any point of living if they can’t have children (roll-eyes) decide to sacrifice themselves to create a new generation. ARRRGGHH!!

It is hard to explain what frustrated me most about this book, but I’ll try my best! In a similar way to The Unit, I had problems with the basic premise of the story and I was unable to suspend my disbelief because there were so many holes in the plot. I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t read the book so I’ll just give a couple of examples from the first section: Why would terrorists want to wipe out the entire human race? Normally terrorists just want to kill a certain group of society. Why couldn’t they save the women by using contraception/the morning after pill/hysterectomies?  

The most annoying aspect of this book was the narrator, Jessie Lamb. Her teenage outlook on life had me internally screaming at the pages. Everything problem had a simple solution and she seemed to think she had the power to save the world by herself. Her ideas were one-dimensional and failed to take into account the complexity of the adult world. I have had similar issues with teenage protagonists in the past (eg. The Stars in the Bright Sky, Pigeon English) and can see that people like this exist, but they drive me nuts. Reading about them is not an enjoyable experience. (Also note the awkward sentence structure in this passage).

We had spent hours discussing it. Why shouldn’t anyone over 10 should be able to elect representatives and have them stand up for us in parliament? How else could kids have power? But Nat and Lisa said why would you want to join in their stupid system. And Lisa said why did Iain  care, he already had the vote and it’d done a fat lot of good.

I’d describe this as a good YA book – one that allows teenagers to think about a few issues relevant to them. I admit to being dragged along by the pace of the plot, but as an adult reader I was unsatisfied. My negative reaction to this book proves that it has affected me on some level and that is surely better than the boredom/indifference produced by others. I’d therefore recommend it as the perfect book group choice – I guarantee it will create a lively debate!

If you enjoy reading about life from the perspective of teenagers then I’m sure you’ll appreciate this book, but I can’t understand why it made the Booker long list.

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Categories
2011 Booker Prize

The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers Short listed for 2011 Booker Prize

Five words from the blurb: Old West, brothers, humour, melancholy, violent

Lonesome Dove is the only Western that I’ve read and although I enjoyed it, I found it a bit too long. The Sisters Brothers has a similar style to Lonesome Dove, but it is like a tightly honed version. All the excessive flabby bits have been removed to leave a well plotted, entertaining tale set during the American Gold Rush.

Eli and Charlie Sisters are brothers with very different personalities. Charlie will do anything to make money – killing anyone who gets in his way; whilst Eli wants to pack in their violent lifestyle and settle down with a wife. Their different outlook on life generates a string of gently humoured arguments, giving a warm banter that made me smile throughout.

‘I don’t like it,’ he said. ‘I think it’s foolish.’
‘Think what you like. Our Dr. Watts says my teeth will never rot if I use the brush dependably.’
Charlie remained skeptical. He told me I looked like a rabid beast with my mouth full of foam. I countered that I would prefer to look like one for minutes each day rather than smell like one all through my life, and this marked the end of our toothbrush conversation.

The brothers are hired to kill a powerful man and set off (on their less than perfect horses!) in search of their victim. They have numerous adventures on the way, but the main focus of the book remains the relationship between the brothers. I didn’t particularly like either brother, but found their banter endlessly entertaining.

The writing was simple, but engaging and I flew through the book in a couple of sittings. My only criticism is that this managed to make the Booker long list. It is an enjoyable read, but apart from a few pages about what makes a man “great” this book has little literary merit.

It is an enjoyable read and the perfect introduction to Westerns, but I’m hoping it doesn’t make the Booker short list.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

deWitt’s storytelling is head and shoulders above a lot of his better reviewed contemporaries. Book Atlas

…..even when the story becomes more contemplative you can only take the notion of a hired gunslinger with a heart so far. Kevin From Canada

…it was slick, hilariously funny, inevitably sad, and very quirky, as well as being extremely strong visually. Gaskella

Categories
2011 Recommended books

The Afterparty by Leo Benedictus

The Afterparty

I received a copy of The Afterparty from its publishers, Jonathan Cape, but as I have little interest in celebrity culture or the newspaper industry, the blurb held little appeal. I then saw a glowing review from Kim, and although our taste in books usually matches I assumed that her career in publishing accounted for her love of this book. A few weeks later intriguing debates started to crop up all over the place and I decided that I’d have to give this book a try. I fully expected to hate it, but I was wrong. I was quickly drawn in to it’s clever narrative and this book has become one of my favourites of 2011.

The Afterparty follows a struggling journalist who is asked to attend a celebrity party. His job is to get as much gossip as possible in order to write a column, but he doesn’t find integrating with the other party guests easy. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, so I’ll reveal no more about the plot other than to say that are affairs, a death and all the bitchiness you’d expect to find in this cut-throat world – it is a gripping read with numerous twists and turns.

It also has an original structure – the main narrative is interspersed with email correspondence between the “author” and his “agent”. This allows the reader to see changes in the book’s construction as it is written, adding an unusually entertaining depth to the story.

One of the things that impressed me most was the use of real “celebrities”. I often find books frustrating because the characters are based on real people, but I can’t quite work out which ones. This didn’t have the same problem as numerous real celebrities appear and actually interact with each other. I wondered how the author could get away with the (often controversial) conversations these people had, but the Vintage podcast revealed that all the conversations were taken from transcripts of things they’d actually said and so (fingers crossed) he can’t get into trouble for it.

The Afterparty is extremely timely and (after the recent phone hacking scandal) I was amused to find that Rebekah Wade makes an appearance. The book ends by giving a thought provoking insight into celebrity culture and achieved the almost impossible task of making me feel a little bit sorry for them and their non-stop glittery life.

The Afterparty is like nothing I’ve ever read before, but if I have to draw comparisons then it would be with another of my favourite books of the year, The Nobodies Album. Both are original, of the moment, and cover both celebrity culture and novel writing.

This book will divide opinion, but the great thing is that it will get everyone talking. I highly recommend that you give it a try, if only so that you can join in the debate.

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Categories
2011 Romance

The Forgotten Waltz – Anne Enright

The Forgotten Waltz

I loved The Gathering, despite the fact that it has no plot, and so was keen to try Anne Enright’s new book, The Forgotten Waltz. Luckily it lived up to expectations and I’m pleased to report that Anne Enright remains one of the few authors able to engage me without the use of a compelling plot.

The Forgotten Waltz is basically a romance. The book perfectly captures the emotions of a couple as they become involved with one another. The 230 pages describe a scene that would normally only occupy a few pages in any other book, but Enright has a way of observing the tiniest of details and making everything come alive.

He is, for a moment, completely himself. He is about to turn around, but he doesn’t know it yet. He will look around and see me as I see him and, after this, nothing will happen for many years. There is no reason why it should.

This book is packed with emotion and has the benefit of being far more cheerful than The Gathering.

My only criticism is that the story isn’t very original and, although I enjoyed reading it, I don’t think I’ll remember much about it this time next year.

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Categories
2010 2011 Orange Prize Other Prizes Pulitzer Prize

A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan

A Visit From the Goon Squad

Winner of 2011 Pulitzer Prize
Longlisted for 2011 Orange Prize
Winner of 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award

Five words from the blurb: popular, humourous, lives, interact, loss

A Visit from the Goon Squad seems to have won more awards than any other book this year. There is no question that it is a groundbreaking novel (how many other books do you know containing an entire chapter written as a powerpoint presentation?), but I think this is going to be one of those books that divides opinion. Unfortunately I fall into neither camp – I’m going to sit on the fence for this one. For the best music related show and all simply go and check this.

A Visit from the Goon Squad shows an array of characters at various important moments in their lives. The book flips forwards and backwards in time and it is often hard to know who is narrating, let alone what period of time each character is in. Things do eventually fall into place, but a great deal of concentration is required to piece everything together.

The writing was easy to read and allowed an instant connection to be formed to each character, but I’m afraid I didn’t have any real interest in what the characters did. The music and PR industries have never interested me and so all the wonderful satire went over my head.

Very little actually happens in the book and although some of the scenes were fantastic I reached the end feeling a little bit let down. It all felt a bit too gimmicky for me.

Charlie doesn’t know herself. Four years from now, at eighteen, she’ll join a cult across the Mexican border whose charismatic leader promotes a diet of raw eggs; she’ll nearly die from salmonella poisoning before Lou rescues her. A cocaine habit will require partial reconstruction of her nose, changing her appearance, and a series of feckless, domineering men will leave her solitary in her late twenties, trying to broker peace between Rolph and Lou, who will have stopped speaking.

There was no real message behind the book and so I didn’t think the effort was worth it.

The best thing about this book is that it is impossible to read without forming an opinion on it – you’ll love it or hate it, or perhaps, like me, you’ll find you do both in equal measure.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

…it just might make your brain explode…but in a very pleasing way. The Book Lady’s Blog

I recognize the genius of what Egan is doing but my main reaction after many of the chapters was “Huh.” Life with Books

There is a very, very fine line between quirky, original, and ambitious and plain old annoying. I think that A Visit From the Goon Squad is firmly on the side of awesome. Amused, Bemused and Confused.

….it was a bitter disappointment. Always Cooking Up Something

Categories
2011 Historical Fiction

Pure – Andrew Miller

Pure

Five words from the blurb: Paris, cemetery, clear, bones, death

Andrew Miller’s debut novel, Ingenious Pain, is one of my favourite books and so I was excited to read his latest release, Pure. Miller is one of those writers with the rare ability to make even the dullest scenes spring to life. I had hoped that Pure would come close to the magic of his first novel, but unfortunately it didn’t quite make it, only equalling the quality of his other good, but not outstanding books.

Pure is set in Paris at the end of the 18th century.  Les Innocents cemetery, in the middle of the city, is overflowing and the stench of the dead is spreading to the surrounding area.

“They tell me that during a single outbreak of the plague fifty thousand corpses were buried at les Innocents in less than a month. And so it continued, corpse upon corpse, the death-carts queuing along the rue Saint-Denis. There were even burials at night, by torchlight. Corpse upon corpse. A number beyond any computation. Vast legions packed into a smudge of earth no bigger than a potato field. Yet no one seemed troubled by it. There were no protests, no expressions of disgust. It may even have seemed normal. And then, perhaps it was a generation ago, we began to receive complaints. Some of those who lived beside the cemetery had started to find the proximity an unpleasant one. Food would not keep. Candles were extinguished as if by the pinch of unseen fingers. People descending their stairs in the morning fell into a swoon….”

A young engineer, Jean-Baptiste Baratte, is summoned by the king and given the grim task of destroying the cemetery; moving all human remains away from the city centre.

This is a fantastic piece of historical fiction, perfectly capturing the destruction of the cemetery. The descriptions were so vivid that I could picture exactly what life was like  and the characters were so well drawn that it was impossible not to develop an attachment to them.

The only problem was that the plot was quite simple. A few events occurred along the way, but the book basically took 300 pages to describe the way in which the cemetery was removed. I enjoyed being transported to 18th century France, but the book’s limited scope means that I am unlikely to recommend it to anyone. Instead I advise you to try Ingenious Pain and after reading that I’m sure you’ll want to read all his other books anyway!

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