Angel’s Cut – Elizabeth Knox

Posted on October 16, 2012 by

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angel's cutREAD FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Suzy

The sequel to The Vintner’s Luck in which the angel Xas settles in Hollywood 1929 and becomes involved in the seductive movie industry.

© “Movie director Conrad Cole is working late on elaborate plans for his aeroplanes and his films, when Xas, a mysterious stranger appears at his door.

“The angel ends up involved in the glamorous and treacherous world of movie-making and entangled with both Cole and a young woman who owes her life to the eccentric director. Both of them are drawn to Xas without knowing his secret – that under his shirt he hides the remnants of great snowy wings that set him apart from humankind, and that he is destined to wander the earth forever, always hearing the beating of feathers behind him, threatening him that his dark brother has found him again.

He said, ‘Sooner or later one of Them is going to try to explain Himself to me. God—or Lucifer. But though there may be a reason why my wings were cut off, a reason for doing it, and for letting it be done, the reason is nothing compared to the act. The world of the act is a different one from the world of the reason.

© “I was bewildered by this book after the beautiful setting of The Vintner’s Luck, which was soothing, solid and earthy. Once I settled into the new airy rhythm of The Angel’s Cut I felt privileged to be gaining more insight into Xas’s adventures. I am absolutely delighted to know there is going to be a 3rd installment!” – Suzy

© “After reading The Vintner’s Luck so many times and continually wondering where Xas would go from there, I was super excited to hear about the publication of The Angel’s Cut. A huge deviation in location from the first book, but it needed to be, I think, and of course Elizabeth Knox has done the timing, the setting and the characters justice. I loved re-connecting with Xas and adored the book. Though of course, no sequel could ever rival The Vintner’s Luck!” – Rachel

—–

Published 2009
Victoria University Press
464 pages

2012 Bookerthon

Posted on October 14, 2012 by

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2012 Booker

Most people expect the finalists on an awards list to be varied, to encompass a wide spectrum of styles, opinions, and to represent many backgrounds. However often such lists have a common thread or theme running through them, especially in response to world events of the previous years.

It’s not often we think a Man Booker shortlist is truely diverse. But this year we do. Reading the six shortlisters was like and being tossed about in a washing machine for five weeks – the shortlisted books are so contrasting, in style, genre, narrative and even pace, that it took a bit of mental energy to jump from one to the other.

The Lighthouse is deep and mysterious, the style delicious and the events surrounding a man’s memories of childhood abandonment are unfolded with perfect timing; Narcopolis is set in a Bombay Opium den and is atmospheric and meditative, and felt like it provided an experience; Swimming Home is a nicely paced book about a stranger who appears naked swimming in a hotel pool. It is a personality heavy book with characters who are troubled albeit likeable; The Garden of Evening Mists is about an ex POW turned apprentice gardener. It’s interesting, historical story is a real scene setter; Umbrella is a stream-of-consciousness novel based on the true story of a patient being awakened after 53 years with a new drug; Bring Up The Bodies is the sequel to Wolf Hall, the continued story about Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Henry VIII.

Without insight on the judges criteria it’s hard to know what will appeal to them most this year. As far as we are concerned, we’d be happy if any of The Lighthouse, Narcopolis, Swimming Home or The Garden of Evening Mists won. They are well constructed and likely appealing to many people.

As for the other two, both of us agreed that Umbrella was too erudite for us to be able to name it the best of the six, and Bring Up The Bodies, well like it’s predecessor it is so indepthly about a historical time that is neither relevant to us nor part of our history so its hard to find a connection nor joy in the retelling of these events.

Best book 1st-6th: Rachel:
The Lighthouse
Swimming Home
The Garden of Evening Mists
Narcopolis
Umbrella
Bring Up The Bodies

Best book 1st-6th: Suzy:
The Garden of Evening Mists
The Lighthouse
Narcopolis
Swimming Home
Umbrella
Bring Up The Bodies

Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel

Posted on October 13, 2012 by

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bring-up-the-bodiesREAD FOR BOOKERTHON

The sequel to Wolf Hall, charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, a minister in the court of King Henry VIII.

© “Bring Up The Bodies is the sequel to Wolf Hall, about the life of Thomas Cromwell who was influential to the decisions of King Henry VIII.

In the first book Cromwell was instrumental in assisting Anne Boleyn become the King’s wife. In the sequel Anne is surrounded by conspiracy and she has not produced an heir to the throne. If Henry dies without an heir a civil war is bound to ensue. With Jane Seymour waiting in the wings for the King’s hand, Cromwell ally’s himself with his enemies in order to defeat Anne’s powerful and protective family.

You can be merry with the king, you can share a joke with him. But as Thomas More used to say, it’s like sporting with a tamed lion. You tousle its mane and pull its ears, but all the time you’re thinking, those claws, those claws, those claws.

We must both come clean, as in this instance neither of was able to do the book much justice. Due to our lack of knowledge and interest in the Tudors and the complexities of ancient English royalty, we did not finish Wolf Hall. Therefore its sequel became impossible and we struggled to get past the preliminary pages. Once again we acknowledge Mantel is a master of her art, its just not our kinda art.

—–

Published 2012
Fourth Estate
432 pages

The Lighthouse – Alison Moore

Posted on October 8, 2012 by

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Lighthouse_(2012_novel)READ FOR BOOKERTHON

A middle-aged Englishman suffers memories of childhood abandonment as he embarks on a walking holiday

Futh is an Englishman leaving his wife. He stands on the deck of a Ferry about to embark on a walking holiday around Germany. One of first things he tells us, the reader, is about a previous time he stood on this same ferry, that time with his father after the break up of his marriage. This is one of many replications or coincidences in the novel that have you wondering how much of what Futh says is accurate.

Much of the book concentrates on Futh’s memories of abandonment and familial tumult. There are a number of marriages and relationships within his blended family and some startling plot tendrils left dangling about who may have been having affairs with whom.

The Lighthouse‘s construction focuses on themes of grief and loss, of the cyclic nature of hurt and all the emotions that come to the fore when abandonment has taken place.

And Futh, looking at the lighthouse, wondered how this could happen–how there could be this constant warning of danger, the taking of all these precautions, and yet still there was all this wreckage.

The plot is more about the memories than the events of the walking tour, and it is quite unputdownable. The unfolding of events and truths is measured and creatively done. Suzy noted how Futh makes for an awkward protagonist and suited his uncertain setting. Rachel loved how there was a continual element of surprise, right to the very last page.

—–

Published 2012
Salt Publishing
192 pages

The Garden of Evening Mists – Tan Twan Eng

Posted on October 4, 2012 by

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garden-of-evening-mistsREAD FOR BOOKERTHON

A former Japanese prisoner of war becomes an apprentice gardener and tries to make sense of her life 

© Supreme Court judge Teoh Yun Ling retires from her role prosecuting war criminals in Kuala Lumpur and returns to the Malaysian hilltops in 1951. As a prisoner of war camp survivor she despises all things Japanese yet she wishes to build a garden for her sister who died in the camp, and who loved the gardens of Kyoto.

The gardener is Nakamura Aritomo, self-exiled from Japan after a fallout with his employer, Emperor Hirohito. He is building “a garden of evening mists” when he meets Yun Ling. Instead of building her garden, he offers to take her as an apprentice and teach her the art of Japanese gardening. Yun Ling accepts and the two begin a complicated and philosophical relationship.

All the characters, including a secondary character, a South African called Magnus reveal how they have been damaged by the actions of others. A theme based on remembering and forgetting is further reinforced by the fact Yun Ling suffers from aphasia. The themes are also represented by the lush plantings and serene outlook of the gardens. The stillness and silence of the valleys and hills suit the story told slowly.

Memory is like patches of sunlight in an overcast valley, shifting with the movement of the clouds. Now and then the light will fall on a particular point in time, illuminating it for a moment before the wind seals up the gap, and the world is in shadows again.

This is a sensitively told tale of cultural history and includes a good old love story. Rachel found it an ethereal read. Suzy loved the pace, the plot and the ponderous offerings, which resulted in a captivating writing style. We both enjoying learning the secrets to Japanese gardening too, the results of which represent and respect Japanese traditions and beliefs.

—–

Published 2012
Mymidon Publishing
448 pages

Nacropolis – Jeet Thayil

Posted on September 28, 2012 by

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NarcopolisREAD FOR BOOKERTHON

A story set over three decades about a Bombay opium den and the diverse cast of characters who frequent it.

© “The main character in Narcopolis is Rashid who owns an opium house in Bombay. We meet him first in the 1970s, entertaining a variety of guests with pipes prepared by a eunuch called Dimple. Over time Rashid moves from opium to heroin, then cocaine becomes popular.

The book is written in a meditative, dream-like style, narrating not only the story of Rashid and the opium den but also the lives of those who frequent it as they recall their pasts in clear drug-induced reminiscence. This includes a former soldier who tells of fleeing communist China in the late 1940s,  as well as bohemians and hippies living in the moment.

The people, their stories and their woes are indicative of the state of the world outside the opium doors. The politics, addictions, poverty, conflict and relationships of the outside world are replicated indoors on a micro scale. As the city thrives, plummets and changes, so too does the business within the opium den.

Because now there’s time enough not to hurry, to light the lamp and open the window to the moon and take a moment to dream of a great and broken city, because when the day starts its business I’ll have to stop, these are night-time tales that vanish in the sunlight like vampire dust.

The book contains a combination of events, both real and imagined and is quite addictive and soothing in itself. The author has said he lost 20 years of his life to addiction and while that is of course a travesty, this book does demonstrate the difference between a book written from experience and one written from research. Rachel recommends not rushing this one. Suzy says let yourself go and be prepared to be taken along on the ride.

—–

Published 2012
Penguin Books
304 pages

Umbrella – Will Self

Posted on September 20, 2012 by

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UmbrellaREAD FOR BOOKERTHON

Apparently, the plot of Umbrella revolves around psychiatrist Zack Busner who works in Friern mental hospital. One of his patients, Audrey Death, has been catatonic for 50 years. The doctor recognises that she and several other long-term patients may be suffering from encephalitis lethargica, rendering them asleep rather than mad.

This is effectively the story of neurologist Oliver Sacks who awakened a ward full of post-encephalitic patients from the 1920s with new drug L-DOPA in 1969.

The other plot strands take us into the past, to hear Audrey’s wartime experiences, and into the future with Busner as an old man looking back on his life.

Umbrella, named for a line from James Joyce’s Ulysses (A brother is as easily forgotten as an umbrella) sounds interesting but the style is not as simple as the plot sounds. The book is 416 pages in stream of consciousness style. Not only are there no chapters, but there are barely paragraphs breaks, and sentences are long and cluttered – sometimes the narrative can jump between the three strands of time in the same sentence.

…catching a glimpse of his rather hippyish form in a mirror, he wonders at this atavism of apparel, is it an inversion of foetal ontogeny, in which the phenotype passes through previous fashion stages? Soon there will be gaiters and gloves…I will probably die, he thinks, clad in animal skins.

Kudos, you’d have to be brilliant to be able to write something of this scope, but we both agreed that most of the time we did not have a clue what was going on. There were sections that made sense and were interesting but as a whole it’s not something either of us would recommend to the average reader.

—–

Published 2012
Bloomsbury Publishing
416 pages

Swimming Home – Deborah Levy

Posted on September 12, 2012 by

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Swimming Home PB SHORTLISTEDREAD FOR BOOKERTHON

Poet Joe Jacobs’s family vacation is interrupted by a fanatical reader who wades, naked, out of their swimming pool

© Joe Jacobs is a Polish poet living in Britain, holidaying with his family and another couple in the South of France. One day a naked girl, called Kitty Finch, wades out of the swimming pool, naked and in search of the slightly well known Joe. She has written a poem called ‘Swimming Home’ with which she hopes to impress Joe.

Joe’s wife Isabel invites Kitty to stay and she does, comfortable in her habit of strolling about undressed. Her quiet, naked presence causes everyone to examine themselves, their relationships, and the way in which they view others, Joe especially who is the object of Kitty’s fascination and struggling with his own marriage.

Each of the characters tries to dominant or exert control over the others. Joe, a Polish emigrant who had to change his name, his wife a former war correspondence with worldly experience, Kitty with her anonymity and allure.

… to be forceful was not the same as being powerful and to be gentle was not the same as being fragile.

Rachel thought, in the end, the book was about the search for acceptance. She found it beautifully paced with fantastically mixed up characters who keep her guessing. “Unnerving but fulfilling.”  Suzy liked the mystique of the characters and the unusual relationships that formed, but found a sense of messiness about the presentation of the plot. All in all, something we would both recommend to readers who love making sense of the intrigue and mystery in their minds as they read.

—–

Published 2011
Faber & Faber
176 pages

Selected Poetry II

Posted on September 11, 2012 by

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sylvia-plath-quotes-3Theme: Ways To Be A Successful Woman

Poetry studied:

Slyvia Plath:
Disquieting Muses
Arrival of the B Box
Lady Lazarus

Adrienne Rich:
Orion
Diving Into The Wreck
The Mirror Into Which Two Are Seen As One

Orion by Adrienne Rich:

Far back when I went zig-zagging
through tamarack pastures
you were my genius, you
my cast-iron Viking, my helmed
lion-heart king in prison.
Years later now you’re young

my fierce half-brother, staring
down from that simplified west
your breast open, your belt dragged down
by an oldfashioned thing, a sword
the last bravado you won’t give over
though it weighs you down as you stride

and the stars in it are dim
and maybe have stopped burning.
But you burn, and I know it;
as I throw back my head to take you in
and old transfusion happens again:
divine astronomy is nothing to it.

Indoors I bruise and blunder
break faith, leave ill enough
alone, a dead child born in the dark.
Night cracks up over the chimney,
pieces of time, frozen geodes
come showering down in the grate.

A man reaches behind my eyes
and finds them empty
a woman’s head turns away
from my head in the mirror
children are dying my death
and eating crumbs of my life.

Pity is not your forte.
Calmly you ache up there
pinned aloft in your crow’s nest,
my speechless pirate!
You take it all for granted
and when I look you back

it’s with a starlike eye
shooting its cold and egotistical spear
where it can do least damage.
Breath deep! No hurt, no pardon
out here in the cold with you
you with your back to the wall.

The Bell – Iris Murdoch

Posted on August 14, 2012 by

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the bellREAD FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Jo

A lay community of mixed-up people is encamped outside Imber Abbey, a home of sequestered nuns. An old bell is rediscovered, causing change in everyone.

© “A former teacher establishes a sanctuary for those looking for a “refuge from modernity”. Dora Greenfield is one such soul searcher, returning wearily to her unhappy marriage. Like other Murdoch books, The Bell provides a well-considered social commentary on people, on how they treat themselves and one another as they search for the meaning in life. Here they are also attracted to a spiritual bucolic life amongst the transforming world of the 50s.

“Despite all this substance, the novel does not read as serious and moralistic, but rather has a lively style and characters who are equally endearing and maddening. The Abbey is well detailed and a strong backdrop for the myriad personalities.

“Amongst the character studies is a simple plot where the original bell from the bell tower is discovered in the lake. Its discovery,  while a new modern bell tolls in its place, has a kind of power over the people of the sanctum, providing clarity of mind in order to seek dramatic change.

Toby had received, though not yet digested, one of the earliest lessons of adult life: that one is never secure. At any moment one can be removed from a state of guileless serenity and plunged into its opposite, without any intermediate condition, so high about us do the waters rise of our own and other people’s imperfection.

“This is another moving tale from Murdoch about the fragility of human life but also the drama and inconsistencies that make us all human. For this reason it appealed to us all as something we enjoyed and would recommend. No complaints this month!”

—–
Published 1958
Chatto & Windus
319 pages

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