Category: 2013

Categories
2013 Non Fiction Uncategorized

The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

Five words from the blurb: solution, happiness, embracing, negative, thinking

I don’t normally read self-help books, but something about this one caught my attention. I loved the way it went against the grain of popular opinion by promoting the power of negative thinking and so I requested a review copy.

The book concentrates on the idea that our society’s habit of seeking happiness is actually making us miserable. It suggests embracing failure, pessimism and uncertainty in order to find happiness in a more realistic way. The book looks at a varied group of people who take this different view of life and shows how it has worked for them.

The great thing about The Antidote is how entertaining the reading experience is. Several sections are very funny and the examples are perfect for sharing with family and friends. I found myself repeating anecdotes from this book on numerous occasions and think I’ll continue to do so for a long time.

The book looks at a range of topics including Buddhist meditation, Stoics, and socities that embrace death, but I particularly liked the chapter on products that had failed:

I laughed when I encountered Goff’s Low Ash Cat Food, with its proud boast, ‘contains only one point five percent ash!’ (As the journalist Neil Steinberg has noted, this is like marketing a line of hot dogs called ‘Few Mouse Hairs’.) Yet several people presumably invested months of their lives in creating that cat food.

Although many examples were light-hearted there was a serious message under the surface. The chapter showing how becoming too focused on goals can be dangerous was unnerving. It gave the example of climbers who die trying to reach the summit of Everest – showing that people can sometimes become so focused on the result that they don’t realise what they risk when trying to achieve it.

I don’t think this book is life changing, but it raises some thought provoking ideas. Recommended to anyone interested in the power of negative thinking!

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Categories
2013

Fortunate by Andrew JH Sharp

Fortunate

Five words from the blurb: Zimbabwe, decision, catastrophe, farm, clues

Four years ago I read Andrew Sharp’s debut novel and fell in love with it. Ghosts of Eden is a fantastic book and I urge everyone to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised when a copy of his second novel dropped through my letter box. This turned to great happiness when I discovered that my name was on the back cover. I’d been blurbed for the first time!

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Fortunate begins with Beth, a doctor, visiting a new patient in an old people’s home. The old man is originally from Zimbabwe and he trusts Beth with his secrets. This knowledge eventually takes her to Africa in search of his son where she becomes involved in some dangerous political situations.

The book is different in style from his first novel. It has a faster pace and is more plot driven. The characters were easy to connect to and I especially loved the medical details. The author’s experience as a doctor is clearly evident and I love the way he isn’t afraid to use medical terminology.

Unfortunately this book wasn’t as good as The Ghosts of Eden. There were a few too many coincidences and the reader has to suspend their disbelief on several occasions. Events developed too quickly to be realistic and although this helped the plot develop I would have preferred a longer book in which things happened at their natural pace.

I also found that some of the sections in Africa didn’t interest me as much as the others. There were times when it felt more like a political thriller (a genre I have no interest in) and the car chases and assassination attempts left me cold.

Overall this book is a strange mix of genres. Some paragraphs read like the wonderful literary fiction of The Ghosts of Eden; some felt more like a contemporary romance novel; and other sections will appeal to thriller fans. There were some great scenes, but overall it didn’t quite work for me.

 

Categories
2013

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs

Five words from the blurb: alone, unseen, passion, art, betrayal

The Woman Upstairs grabs the reader’s attention from the very beginning. The narrator, Nora, is very angry and over the course of the book the reader discovers what has upset her.  Nora is a teacher and she becomes friends with the parents of one of her pupils. They share a passion for art and Nora enjoys looking after their son. Her relationship with this family develops, but it is obvious that sooner or later something will go wrong…

I loved the anger and passion in the text – it is rare to read a book that demands attention in this way. Some readers will hate this direct approach, but I loved it and actually missed the raw emotion when it disappeared towards the centre of the book.

Much of The Woman Upstairs reminded me of Notes on a Scandal. Both books look at the difficulties of being a single woman without children; showing their invisibility in society.

When you’re the Woman Upstairs, nobody thinks of you first. Nobody calls you before anyone else, or sends you the first postcard. Once your mother dies, nobody loves you best of all. It’s a small thing, you might think; and maybe it depends on temperament; maybe for some people it’s a small thing. But for me, in that cul-de-sac outside Aunt Baby’s, with my father and aunt done dissecting death and shuffling off to bed behind the crimson farmhouse door, preparing for morning mass as blameless as lambs and as lifeless as the slaughtered – I felt forsaken by hope.

My only problem with the book was that the plot felt very familiar. The writing style was refreshingly different and ending was good, but there were too many points during the course of the novel when I felt I’d read something similar before.

Overall this was an engaging read and I loved the increasing sense of foreboding. Recommended to anyone looking for a loud, confrontational read.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

...a deeply contemporary novel that reflects back the darkness and the light of ourselves as we try to shape our own worlds and how we define the meaning of success.  Free Range Reading

…mediocre at best. Cerebral Girl in a Red Neck World

Messud does such a good job of creating a sense of dread. Reading the End

Categories
2013 Non Fiction

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism Translated from the Japanese by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell

Five words from the blurb: autism, childhood, son, inside, head

I love David Mitchell’s books and try to read as much about autism as possible, so I was very happy when an unsolicited review copy of this book dropped through my letter box. The book is written by thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida, a boy who suffers from a form of autism that leaves him unable to communicate verbally. He has learnt to write by pointing to letters on a ‘cardboard keyboard’; enabling him to explain what life is like for him. David Mitchell came across this book when his son was diagnosed with autism. He found it so useful that he and his wife translated it in order to bring it to a wider audience.

In the book Naoki Higashida answers a series of questions about his condition, explaining the more difficult aspects of his day-to-day life and how others can help him.

Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?
People often tell me that when I’m talking to myself my voice is really loud, even though I still can’t say what I need to, and even though my voice at other times is way too soft. This is one of those things I can’t control. It really gets me down. Why can’t I fix it?

Unfortunately I wasn’t very impressed. I admire what Naoki Higashida has managed to achieve, but as an insight into the condition this book wasn’t what I’d hoped. The content was very simple and none of it was new to me. I was also frustrated by how woolly and vague some of Higashida’s answers were. I know this showed his thought processes, but the scientist in me prefers the more concrete answers given by those who are experts on the condition. I’m perhaps unusual in having read so many different books about autism, but I think the insight into a child’s experience of autism has been better done in Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome by Luke Jackson or even this You Tube video:

It is also worth reading David Mitchell’s online articles about autism. This one in the Guardian is particularly good. 

If you are new to autism then The Reason I Jump  is a good introduction, but I think most people will soon want more information than this book provides.

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Categories
2013 Recommended books

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

Kiss Me First

Five words from the blurb: email, facts, identity, why, life

Kiss Me First is one of the most modern books I’ve ever read. Its insights into social media use and online identity are so relevant to today’s society that it will make readers look at their online activity in a whole new light. The book also deals with suicide and asks difficult questions about a person’s right to take their own life.

Kiss Me First revolves around Leila, a young women who is approached by friend from an Internet forum. He asks whether she’d be willing to take over the online identity of Tess, a women who’d like to commit suicide without bringing sadness to her friends and family.  Leila must learn everything she can about Tess so that she is able to convincingly take over her facebook account and all other online communication. This fraud should persuade Tess’ friends and family that she is still alive and enable them to live happily without her.

The premise of this book was very clever and I loved the way it looked at so many different aspects of modern life. I was particularly struck by the way an online presence can so easily become a substitute for face-to-face meetings and I hope that this story might be a wake up call for those who use their computer at the expense of “real life” interaction.

The pacing was perfect and it gripped me throughout. I loved the way that all the characters were flawed and I had sympathy with everyone involved. It is rare to read a book that carries its moral messages so lightly; allowing the reader to make up their own mind on the very difficult issues discussed.

And I must admit that as April 14th approached, I started to feel agitated in a way that isn’t normally in my nature. The realization struck that to know fully the ins and outs of Tess’s life would be a never-ending task, like trying to fill in a hole and realizing that it has no bottom.
Sometimes, during those last days, I felt like this didn’t matter. I wouldn’t actually need that much information to imitate Tess: people were mostly only interested in themselves, and didn’t attend much to others, even their close friends.

I also loved the fact that the central character had Asperger’s syndrome and this was never mentioned. Most people will probably not notice this, but it was refreshing to read a book that included a character on the spectrum without it becoming a big marketing tool – especially one that battered readers round the head with symptoms.

The writing wasn’t literary, but this is mainstream fiction at its thought provoking best.

Highly recommended.

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I’d also like to praise the trailer for Kiss Me First. It is the best book trailer I’ve ever seen and if you have a facebook account I highly recommend you take a look at it here.

 

Categories
2013 Chunkster

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah

Five words from the blurb: America, Nigeria, experiences, race, relationships

I’ve enjoyed all of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s previous books and so was keen to try her new one. Americanah is very different in style and feels like a more accomplished piece of writing, but I missed the raw emotion of her earlier books.

Americanah focuses on Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman, who moves to America. She begins a blog that highlights race issues in the country and when she returns to Nigeria we see how America has influenced her as she struggles to adapt to life back in her native country.

Adichie does a fantastic job of creating characters. I quickly felt as though I knew them personally and I loved the attention to detail. Entire scenes zinged with life and the dialogue felt natural, leading to several amusing passages.

“That not food!” Halima scoffed, looking away from the television.
“She here fifteen years, Halima,” Aisha said, as if the length of the years in America explained Ifemelu’s eating of a granola bar.

I also loved the blog entries. I thought they did a wonderful job of highlighting the differences between the treatment of blacks and whites in America. It was a wonderful device that allowed Adichie to show her skills as an essay writer to the full.

You see, in American pop culture, beautiful dark women are invisible. (The other group just as invisible is Asian men. But at least they get to be super smart).  In movies dark black women get to be the fat nice mammy or the strong, sassy, sometimes scary sidekick standing by supportively.  They get to dish out wisdom and attitude while the white woman finds love.  But they never get to be the hot woman, beautiful and desired and all. So dark black women hope Obama will change that. Oh, and dark black women are also for cleaning up Washington and getting out of Iraq and whatnot.

The main problem with the book was its length. The plot wasn’t complicated enough to justify the 470 pages and I found that I lost interest on several occasions. There were even a few points when I considered abandoning it. If you are happy to be immersed in the life one or two individuals then I’m sure you’ll love this book, but I longed for a more compelling plot.

It also lacked the emotional power of her earlier novels. I’m sure that most people will be glad that this book isn’t dominated by war and tragedy, but I found the scenes of everyday life less interesting. My experience with this book reminds me of The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides – another case where it is obvious the writer’s skill has improved (since writing Middlesex in this example), but with the increase in polish and literary depth comes less excitement.

I’m probably being overly harsh, because I was expecting so much. The writing in this book is fantastic and there is a lot to love; it just didn’t become a favourite in the way I hoped it might. Recommended to people who enjoy character driven novels.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

…one of the best books I’ve read this year. Slightly Bookist

Americanah is about a lot of things, and so it eventually turns out to be about nothing in particular. Amymuses’s blog

Interesting, not compelling Ready When you Are, CB