Category: Publication Date

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2010 Books in Translation Chick Lit

Bad Karma – David Safier

 Translated from the German by John Brownjohn

I receive lots of email pitches from publishers and authors asking if I’m able to review their books. Most are dull and uninspiring, so I was pleasantly surprised when I read the synopsis for Bad Karma. Perhaps it was because I’d had a glass or two of wine before reading the message, but I found myself crying with laughter. I read the email to the relatives I had staying at the time and they all ended up laughing too (although maybe they were laughing at me?!) I instantly accepted the review request and went on to do a bit of research about the author. I discovered that David Safier is a successful German screenwriter, having won many awards including an Emmy. This book became a best seller in Germany, selling 850,000 copies.

Bad Karma is a funny, but thought provoking book about discovering the important things in life. Kim, the central character, is crushed to death by debris from a Russian space station and due to the fact that she mistreated her staff, ignored her daughter and cheated on her husband she is reincarnated as an ant:

Krttx glared after the. ‘Stupid males!’ she snarled. ‘They’re totally useless!’

That, I reflected, was a remark you often heard from human females.

‘The only thing they can do is mate with the Queen.’ Krttx growled.

That, I reflected, was a remark you didn’t so often hear from human females.

I stared after the flying ants. I was so inundated with sensory impressions, I didn’t even hear Krttx cussing. Which was unfortunate, because if I had I would have heard her shout: ‘Move, or I’ll bite you in the backside!’

‘OUCH!’ I yelped and lurched into action again.

Kim then goes on to be reincarnated several times – coming back as a guinea pig, a dog and even an earth worm. The animal point of views were realistic and insightful, but also highly amusing. It was great to see everyday human objects described from the the point of view of tiny insects. The only downside is that I now feel a bit bad about spraying “the Great Mist” at them!

Kim slowly realises what a terrible human being she was and makes an effort to become kinder, building up her karma so that she can be reincarnated as as more intelligent animal. It was only while reading this book that I realised how comforting a belief in reincarnation is. I was surprised at how many important issues were raised during the course of such an amusing book.

This has to be one of the most original books I’ve ever read and I really hope that it is able to gain the audience it deserves outside Germany.

Highly recommended.

 

 

Categories
2010 Historical Fiction Non Fiction Recommended books

Young Hitler – Claus Hant

I have recently developed an interest in the psychology behind people who commit acts of evil and so I jumped at the chance to read this book.

Young Hitler is a non-fiction novel showing Hitler’s life as a teenager and young man through the eyes of his best friend.  This was a fantastic device as it allowed us to see his actions and hear his words, but never know exactly what was going through his mind. This meant that many of his actions were open to interpretation, allowing to reader to come to their own conclusions about Hilter’s motivations.

‘No, sir! I live in a world of ideas!’ retorted Dolferl.

‘A mask is an idea,’ countered Herr Maurer. ‘Think of it as an idea that allows you to say and do anything you want amongst strangers who are also posing as ideas. Therefore, everyone and everything is on an equal footing. I find masks allow for a greater exchange of ideas and … everything.’

‘I don’t need any mask to hide behind,’ declared Dorlferl.

‘Then find a mask instead that allows you to become more of who you are,’ replied Herr Maurer.

‘I have that already,’ said Dolferl, pointing to his face. ‘I say whatever I want to whomever I want. And I allow that person the privilege of looking me directly in the eye. And sometimes that, my gracious host, is the most effective mask of all.’

The book was very easy to read and became increasingly gripping as it progressed. I knew very little about Hitler’s early life and so found the details fascinating. It also taught me a bit more about the history of Germany leading up to WWII.

My only problem with this book was that it was a non-fiction novel and there were times, especially in the beginning, when it was more non-fiction than novel. The book was meticulously researched, even including 150 pages of appendices to validate the facts, but there were times when I felt that every tiny detail known about Hitler had to be included. These random details sometimes got in the way of the story and I felt that a few more of these facts should have been left in the appendices.

Overall this was a fascinating book. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Hitler or the causes of WWII, but I think that this insight into Hitler’s life will be of interest to a far wider audience.

Highly recommended.

Categories
2009 Richard and Judy Book Club

Waiting for Columbus – Thomas Trofimuk

 Richard and Judy 2010 Winter Reads

I had seen several people raving about this book and so when I saw Richard and Judy’s new book club selection it was the title that appealed to me most. Unfortunately I seem to be one of the few people who didn’t fall in love with Waiting for Columbus – it irritated me so much that I failed to finish it.

Waiting for Columbus is set in a mental asylum in Seville. It focuses on a man who was found floating on a plank of wood in the Straits of Gibraltar; claiming to be Christopher Columbus this man has an amazing knowledge of Columbus’s life, but also an awareness of modern day technology. Through an increasingly romantic relationship with his nurse, Consuela, the truth about this confused man is slowly revealed.

I’m afraid that this book irritated me from the very beginning. This passage from page 9 illustrates several of my problems:

“Get me a phone,” he snaps. “I want to make a call.”

“Pardon?”

“A phone damnit. Look, I am Columbus. Christopher Columbus. I know the queen, the queen and the king. They can vouch for me. I am to lead three ships across the Western Sea. We’ve got a deal, damnit! Just get them on the phone.”

I hated the way in which new technologies were combined with historical information. It just didn’t feel right to me. The book frequently described events in Columbus’s life, but constant references to the future meant that I never became immersed in the past. We learned snippets about life 500 years ago, but these were so brief and vague that they failed to hold my attention.

Columbus was a rude, unlikable character. There were many points in the book that I wanted to slap him, but as his relationship with Consuela developed I found it increasingly hard to read his words without throwing the book across the room.

“I have feelings for you, Mr. Columbus. Very strong feelings. Feelings so strong that if I let them out you would perhaps be frightened.”

“Nothing much scares me,” he says.

There was nothing romantic or subtle about this relationship and it drove me nuts. I just couldn’t bear to read any more and so I gave up at about the 100 page mark.

Thanks to the wonder of Twitter, @bookladysblog (who LOVED the book) explained the ending to me and while it made sense, I’m quite pleased that I gave up when I did as it isn’t the type of ending that excites me.

I seem to be in the minority in not enjoying this book, so please read all the other reviews before deciding whether or not this book is for you.

  (DNF)

Everyone else seems to love this book:

…. a read that will keep you breathless and leave you gasping for more. The Book Ladys Blog

…..a unique book that was enjoyable to read. S. Krishna’s Books

I did not want to stop reading. Sophisticated Dorkiness

 A unconventional, multi tiered tale of love, loss and redemption that will grab you and not let you go until the final pages…… A Bookworm’s World

Did you enjoy Waiting for Columbus?

Categories
2010

Forgetting Zoë – Ray Robinson

I accepted a copy of Forgetting Zoë for review because I’d seen Scott Pack rave about it on numerous occasions. I didn’t love it as much as he did, but am pleased that I read it.

Forgetting Zoë revolved around the abduction of Zoë, a ten-year-old girl. The first few chapters introduced us to Thurman, her captor, and went some way to explaining the mindset of a man about to imprison a girl. We were then introduced to Zoë as she was abducted and imprisoned in a converted nuclear bunker beneath a remote farm house in Arizona.

The book was told from the point-of view of Thurman, Zoë and Zoë’s family. It was fast paced and very well written, but the pace of the book meant that it lacked the emotional depth I’d expect from a book with this subject matter. The short chapters and continuing switch of view point meant that I never had long enough to really engage with any of the characters. This could be seen as a positive attribute as it meant that I never became distressed while reading it, but I found it strange to read such a dark subject without getting tears in my eyes.

The fear never subsided. Often mistaking the trickle of tears in her ears for insects Zoë would bat them away and then lick her fingers, half comforted by the taste of herself. These never-ending days below. Her memories were being eaten away by the silence and so she hummed to herself to remind her whose skin she was in.

It was interesting to read Zoë’s thoughts about her abduction and to see her reliance on her captor grow, but I’m afraid that I can’t say any more without spoiling the ending for you.

It is almost impossible to review this book without comparing it to Room, my favourite book of the year so far. The two books had very similar plots, the only real difference being that Room was narrated by the five-year-old child of the abducted woman. The main reason that I found Room so special was the innocence of the child, the way his mother protected him from the true horror of their situation and the fact he could actually find happiness with so little. Many people that read Room wished some of the book had been narrated by his mother. I never felt that, but if you did then I suspect that you’ll enjoy Forgetting Zoë.

Recommended to anyone looking for a fast paced, intelligent book about the lives of those affected by the abduction of a child, especially those who thought Room was overly sentimental.

Categories
1950s Books in Translation Chunkster Classics Historical Fiction Nobel Prize Recommended books

Palace Walk – Naguib Mahfouz

 Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988

Translated from the Arabic by William Maynard Hutchins and Olive E.Kenny

Palace Walk is the first book in the Cairo trilogy, which is normally considered to be Naguib Mahfouz’s greatest achievement. It became a best seller in the Arab world on its release in 1956, but also enjoyed worldwide success, selling 250,000 copies in America.

The book is set in Egypt and describes the life of the Al Jawad family. Every aspect of their day is described in minute detail and so we learn exactly what life was like for the middle-class shopkeeper and his family. The book begins in 1917 and focuses on the complex task of finding someone suitable to marry each of the children.

Men play the dominant role in the household, using the words of the Qur’an to decide the most appropriate course of action. The women in the book were oppressed and spent most of their time shut inside, but at no point did this feel wrong to me. The book made me understand why this society worked in the way it did and at some points I was envious of their tight-knit community and the way the women were so close to each other.

No woman was anything more than a body to him. All the same, he would not bow his head before that body unless he found it truly worthy of being seen, touched, smelled, tasted and heard. It was lust, yes, but not bestial or blind. It had been refined by a craft that was at least partially an art, setting his lust in a framework of delight, humor and good cheer. Nothing was so like his his lust as his body, since both were huge and powerful, qualities that bring to mind roughness and savagery. Yet both concealed within them grace, delicacy, and affection, even though he might intentionally cloak these characteristics at times with sternness and severity.

I loved reading about the complex marriage negotiations and the way the household was run, but the text was so rich with detail that I found I could rarely read more than about twenty pages a day. This meant that it took me about six weeks to read the first 300 pages.

At about this point the style of the book changed, the pace picked up and I flew through the remaining 200 pages in just two nights. WWI brought British occupation to Egypt, changing the lives of the household completely. Seeing fear and tragedy brought to a family I knew so well made the impact much greater.

Palace Walk gives an impressive insight into Egyptian life. I loved the characters and the way I came to understand their very different way of living. I finished this book knowing a lot more about Egyptian history, but also feeling a little bit wiser and more tolerant. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

Highly recommended.

Have you read The Cairo Trilogy? Are the other books in the trilogy similar in style/pace?

Do you recommend any of Naguib Mahfouz’s other books?

Categories
2010 Booker Prize

C – Tom McCarthy

Short listed for 2010 Booker Prize

C begins in 1898 with the birth of Serge Carrefax on an estate in Southern England. Serge’s father runs a school for deaf children, but also has a passion for radio communication. This leads Serge to become a wireless radio operator, initially working on spotter planes in WWI and after the war on an archaeological dig in Egypt.

The book initially felt like a piece of historical fiction, but it quickly became much more than that. The text contained layers of philosophy and symbolism that added to the richness of the story, but also left me feeling as though I was constantly missing out on relevant snippets of information.

The book was packed with fascinating details about everything from radio communication to silk production:

The transmitter itself is made of standard brass, a four inch tapper arm keeping Serge’s finger a safe distance from the spark gap. The spark gap flashes blue each time he taps; it makes a spitting noise, so loud he’s had to build a silence box around his desk to isolate his little RX station from the sleeping household – or, as it becomes more obvious to him with every session, to maintain the household’s fantasy of isolation from the vast sea of transmission roaring all around it.

I loved most of these details, but there were times when I felt that too many were included and the book lost its emotional connection to me.

The plot was quite simple and easy to read on a sentence-by-sentence level, but there were points when I completely lost interest – it was a real chore to read some of the chapters. Luckily the book always seemed to pick up again and I was especially impressed by the WWI section – the descriptions of life in a spotter plane were particularly vivid.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but I think fans of literary fiction who like re-reading/studying books will love discovering all those extra layers of symbolism. For this reason I think it has a very high chance of winning the Booker prize, but then yesterday I was saying David Mitchell would win – so what do I know?!!

Literary blogs love this book:

C is the best novel I’ve read in a long time… Biblioklept

It teems with relevance and reference… Asylum

….but I could not help feeling that academics would be paying a lot more attention to this novel than most readers do. Kevin From Canada

…the multiple ideas and the play go on throughout the book and tie together with satisfying insights. The Mookse and the Gripes