American Pastoral by Philip Roth

 

“He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach-that it makes no sense. And when that happens the happiness is never spontaneous again.”

Roth's writing is so evocative, drawing out characters from the outside in with such dexterity and skill that it is easy to understand his success. Coming in at a hefty 448 pages, I’ve been looking at this novel in my ‘to be read’ file for quite some time now.

As you may know, I prefer to read a novel before watching any movie adaptations. When I noticed the Ewan McGregor and Jennifer Connelly adaptation was available on streaming, I decided to crack the spine and get reading so that I could enjoy them both in the correct order.

The scope of the novel is both insular and expansive. It begins with a high school reunion where we’re introduced to the “Swede”, the local golden boy whose life took a turn. The narrator had attended the same school and looked up to the local sporting hero who married the beauty queen (former Miss New Jersey), but auspicious beginnings do not necessarily lead to positive outcomes.

Swede Levov’s life is blown to pieces by his young daughter, Merry. Her protest efforts against the Vietnam War culminate in a bombing with tragic results. That doesn’t even touch the sides in terms of what is going on in the novel. There’s the crushing of the American Dream, the loss of innocence of war, racism, the generational torment between teenagers and their parents, just to sprout off a few themes. There is a LOT going on and that’s why the novel is a bit of a door stop. Don’t be put off by the heft, there are many reasons why this novel has had such wide acclaim including winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Comparing this to Roth’s earlier work such as Portnoy’s Complaint, is rather interesting. This is more mature and expansive and lacks the cheekiness of the earlier novel. Guilt about the intense sexual drive of youth is replaced by guilt at failure to produce a child that complies with one’s dreams and expectations.

I did get around to watching the film also and it was a little hit and miss. Dakota Fanning as Merry seemed miscast. At her lowest ebb, she still looks too clean and sweet. McGregor is so so, but Connelly is amazing and looks fantastic. Overall it is a valiant effort to cover so much in a tight movie format.

4 out of 5 - Daddy's girl gone wrong.

The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham

 

"Something had carried away three-quarters of my starboard wing, and messed up the tip of the other."

Perhaps reading an extinction-level event novel during a pandemic is not the best course of action for someone who is prone to panic at the best of times. Nevertheless, I had packed this slim volume in my backpack for a quick flight to Tasmania and was determined to finish it.

First published in 1953, there were aspects of the novel that seemed so familiar, mainly in terms of the way people react to threat. Just as today the world can't seem to agree how to tackle climate change as one world rather than a collection of separate nations, the threat of alien invasion does little to bridge the gap in the novel.

While the ramifications may be horrendous, Wyndham retains a modicum of hope for the human race, even if takes the death of millions to realise it. This isn't my favourite Wyndham novel. I'm more a fan of  The Day of the Triffids, and The Midwich Cuckoos and yet this still makes for a good read.

4 out of 5 squids taste better on the bar-be-que.

Ratking (Aurelio Zen #1) by Michael Dibdin

 

“Fulsome and vapid, laden with insincere warmth and hidden barbs, his speech had nevertheless left no legitimate grounds for complaint."

In a time where COVID is destroying our ability to take exciting European vacations, or let’s face it any overseas travel, the first Aurelio Zen novel is the closest thing. The world lost a great talent in 2007 when Dibdin died at the rather young age of sixty. His ability to recreate the bureaucracy and feeling of living in Italy is almost teleportational. This was definitely the closest I was getting to Italy this year.

Aurelio Zen is not your typical hero. He’s grumpy, jaded, has issues at home and his career is in the toilet. The opportunity to transfer to Perugia from his desk job at the State Police in Rome to work on a kidnapping case is one he jumps at, little suspecting he is merely a pawn in a larger game.

Corruption, intrigue and murder follow. The title refers to (according to Wikipedia)

“a collection of rats whose tails are intertwined and bound together by one of several possible mechanisms, such as entangling material like hair or sticky substances like sap or gum or getting tied together. Historically, this alleged phenomenon is particularly associated with Germany. There are several specimens preserved in museums but very few instances of rat kings have been observed in modern times.”

The pictures on that link may turn your stomach (you have been warned dear reader). Weirdly, this phenomenon was reflected in another novel I’ve read recently, The Rats. In any case, I’m done with rats for the year. Here however the title refers to the interconnectedness of all the power players that Zen will have to understand in order to unravel the truth.

I’ve just discovered that the novel was made into a TV series  with the rather attractive Rufus Sewell in the titular role. I imagined someone who had eaten a lot more pasta and was a little more ‘lived in’, but I’m willing to give it a go. Apparently, there were only three episodes made and then it was cancelled, which doesn’t bode well.

As soon as I finished the last page, I ordered the next two novels in the series. I need more Zen in my life clearly and this could be the only way I experience Italy up close for quite some time.

5 out of 5 - get into Zen

Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim

 

"Her father had died at nine o'clock that morning, and it was now twelve."

If you're a fan of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, then I suspect this might be firmly in your wheelhouse. While the introduction, as intimated above, was a little raw for me to read, having recently lost my father, I carried on regardless and was not disappointed.

The author, Elizabeth von Arnim, was born in Kirribilli, NSW in 1866, the cousin of Australian author, Katherine Mansfield and her life story is a book I really want to read!! Actually there’s a new biography coming out in July 2021, and I’m definitely going to secure a copy. 

I really enjoyed The Enchanted April by von Armin and was eager to discover her other works. I’m also currently reading her Mr Skeffington novel which formed the basis of the Bette Davis movie with the same name (it is a fabulous film that I would wholeheartedly recommend). Back to the book...

Lucy is a complete innocent, left unguarded against the machinations of a much older man. A man, Everard Wemyss, who is beholden to the fact that “public opinion was forcing him into retirement and inactivity at the very time when he most needed company and distraction”. 

This need to retire is based upon the recent death of his wife, the eponymous Vera, under rather suspicious circumstances. All the newspapers are a flurry with his story, except for this innocent girl he happens upon.

Lucy’s only protector is her aunt, Miss Entwhistle, and Wemyss works hard to win her confidence, leaning on the fact that everyone assumes that Wemyss is a former friend of Lucy’s father. Neither Lucy or Wemyss is prepared to counter that narrative. He worries that this ‘maiden Aunt’ will take away his companion, a young girl now thoroughly entranced with him and resolves to marry Lucy to ensure she will not go anywhere.

Miss Entwhistle takes on a sort of Miss Marple role, acting as the voice of reason, cautious about Wemyss and particularly of his finances. Things get really interesting once the pair are married.

“Marriage, Lucy found, was different from what she had supposed; Everard was different; everything was different.”

 The comparisons to Rebecca are enlivened here, young girl marries guy, guy changes immediately. Left alone after the honeymoon, Wemyss shows his true narcissistic spots, incensed that his wife dare to be ill and unable to accompany him to London. Wemyss’ expectations of marrying a young innocent is that she will bend to his every whim and not dare to have a thought of her own. Needless to say the marriage isn’t a good one

“But now, after her experiences to-day, she had a fear of him more separate, more definite, distinct from love. Strange to be afraid of him and love him at the same time. Perhaps if she didn't love him she wouldn't be afraid of him. No, she didn't think she would then, because then nothing that he said would reach her heart. Only she couldn't imagine that. He was her heart.”

Weymss is such a creepy man, brilliantly described by von Arnim, a villain who reminds me of the hideous ex (marriage to him would be horrendous). He epitomises everything I hate about self-centered chauvinist pigs and his plotting is nefarious in the extreme. That being said, he makes a great literary character and the pages will just fly by!!

5 out of 5 - needs a trigger warning.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

 

“A woman doesn't always have a choice, not in a meaningful way. Sometimes there is a debt that must be paid, a comfort that she is obliged to provide, a safe passage that must be secured. Everyone of us has lain down for a reason that was not love.”

I read this novel quite some time ago and haven’t gotten around to reviewing it until now. My recollections are overwhelmingly emotional, rather than detail focused. This was a reading experience that toyed with so many different feelings and I suspect that each reader would have a very different response to it. The overarching response that they might share would undoubtedly be a sense of marvel at how fantastic Tayari Jones is as a writer. Her prose is captivating, easy to read and extremely emotive. In case you can’t tell, I think the novel is fabulous!

Before embarking on the novel you’ll no doubt glance at the blurb and think whoa “An explosive love story about a marriage interrupted”, is this going to hold my interest? Well that was my response and it did more than hold my interest. I absolutely devoured the pages.

Newly married couple Roy and Celestial have the world at their feet until Roy is arrested for a rape that he did not participate in. Unfairly incarcerated, Roy spends twelve years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, clinging desperately to the hope of returning to his loving wife on the outside, while dealing with other startling revelations about his family while in prison.

Outside, Celestial lives a very different existence and seeks comfort from her friend from childhood and the best man at their wedding, Andre. Circumstances conspire so that every party suffers and the sense of guilt and abandonment and betrayal ooze from the pages as pungently as the need for love and solace. Each character’s emotional journey draws you further in and things become even more complicated once Roy’s conviction is overturned after five years.

This is a novel that says so much about an unfair system, about families about feelings and about life while narrowing in on the stories of the central characters with an immediacy that makes your hairs stand on end.




5 out of 5 - Oprah and Barrack Obama were right, this is an amazing book.

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

 

"Bleach will disinfect, but it's not great for cleaning residue, so I use it only after I have first scrubbed the bathroom of all traces of life and death"

I vividly recall seeing this title years ago at the Sydney Writer's Festival and being immediately intrigued. I’ve often wondered why the serial killer narrative draws me in with such regularity. Perhaps because, as Dr Scott Brown (author of Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers) explains in this interview, because they are “exotic, rare and deadly” and for more see this fascinating article by the same author: https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/wicked-deeds/202103/why-we-are-drawn-monsters-and-serial-killers. 

Now, as they say, back to the Show.
What Braithwaite delivers is an entertaining insight to what it might be like to have a serial killer in the family, while also representing the lengths we sometimes go to protect our own, often at our own expense. It highlights how much more you can get away with when you’re beautiful and the notion that beauty is harmless. A notion that is quickly dissuaded by studying real serial killers, some of whom were so successful because of their looks (i.e. Ted Bundy).

The book, set in Nigeria, begins with the introduction of nurse Korede, who has a rather difficult younger sister. Korede is the workhorse, the sensible one, the one always coming to the aid of her beautiful, younger sister, Ayoola.

Ayoola’s appeal to men is intoxicating, she seems to draw them in, enchant them and then…kill them. Her handiwork with a knife is starting to become a real problem for her sister who is always called in for ‘wet work’ – to dispose of the bodies. Korede’s only confidante is a coma patient and when it looks like her only potential love interest is about to be beguiled by Ayoola, life can get very complicated.

There’s a depth to this story that plays out in the girl’s shared history of a violent, unhappy childhood and one can’t help but wonder if Ayoola’s habits would differ had her father not tried to sell her off as a child to an older man. There is also the very familiar, destructive self-talk of Korede, where she compares herself to her beautiful sister and can’t believe that she is worthy of love because “love is only for the beautiful’. A lie that is consistently marketed to women, so we’ll buy more beauty products.

In essence, it is this lack of self-belief that is as dangerous to Korede as her sister is to men, because it convinces her to participate in her sister’s crimes and by the end of the novel you wonder who is the more troubled individual.

The novel was my book club’s selection for June / July, and it seems we might not be able to meet in person to discuss it thanks to a lockdown across New South Wales. I usually wait until after the event to post, but I’ve got a few spare moments and thought I’d profit from them. If you enjoy dark humour and good cleaning tips, then this might just be the novel for you.

4 out of 5,  Sisters can be lethal.

A Light in the Dark: A History of Movie Directors by David Thomson

 

“We were strangers there in the dark, but fellow pilgrims, and the cinema was a palace for our wondering.”

A departure from my fiction reading, this tale of directors past had a rather unique and interesting format. It feels like a casual conversation with an avid cinephile and that is always something that appeals to me.

Enjoy the journey through one hundred years of cinema through the lens of its leading Directors.

Conversational in tone, yet informative, this one is a nice shorthand for the history of the silver screen.

I particularly enjoyed the way each decade's leaders influence the one to come. 

Thomson may describe Bunuel's films as "some of the hardest to write about" but perhaps that demonstrates the power of the flickering image, poetry in motion.

4 out of 5 - a Director is just the Ringmaster of the Circus

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

 

"I have suspected Mum and Lyle are drug dealers since I found a five-hundred-gram brick of Golden Triangle heroin stowed in the mower catcher in our backyard shed five days ago."

Perhaps if you'd just crawled out from under a rock after having been stuck there for many years you would have not heard the intense praise for Trent Dalton's book. Otherwise, like me, you might have experienced that sense of missing out on something that is so beloved by so many readers, if you hadn't scored yourself a copy.

The other day I was reading my copy as I waited for the skin doctor to come in and do a skin cancer check (all good). The dermatologist was an absolute star and on seeing the cover he yelled ' I know what you're reading!" and went on to ask me if I was enjoying it. He hadn't been able to finish it and was surprised by all the acclaim. I was midway through and totally understood his reaction, I was struggling with the grim, gritty, content.

Something shifted in my appreciation of the novel as I neared the end. The never-ending hopelessness gave way a little at a time, altering my previously negative responses. While the writing is more of the style that would appeal to my mother, much as the Editor that Eli approaches describes his writing as a 'colour writer', and 'You paint pretty pictures', Dalton shares a particularly detailed style which slowed my reading and was at times just a little too much for my taste.

All in all, an impressive debut and it is fantastic to see an Australian author kicking goals.

4 out of 5  - dark places with a hint of light.

brat: an '80s story by Andrew McCarthy

 

"I was making my first tentative steps out onto the hollow ground where fame resides."

As a youngster, I admit to having quite the crush on Andrew McCarthy. I absolutely adored the movie, Mannequin, in which a young, pre-Sex in the City, Kim Cattrall plays a store dummy who comes to life.

It is quite surprising to discover the clean cut star of such films as Class, Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, and Weekend at Bernie’s spent an inordinate amount of time with a serious drinking problem. Equally surprising is the distance he experienced from the so called ‘rat pack’ with whom he was so closely associated.


McCarthy has an endearing narrative voice and draws on his experience as a travel writer, taking the reader on a journey through his origins from New York to Hollywood. There’s a sense of wonder and confusion that colours the success of his youth and the book feels relatively unguarded in exploring McCarthy’s memories which survive among the fog of drug and alcohol abuse.


I was moved to buy the book after listening to the author’s talk with Wil Anderson on the Wilosophy podcast. For someone who had experienced intense fame at a formative age, McCarthy appears to have exited the bubble as an interesting, decent human that you just want to hear more from.

5 out of 5 - preppy star grows to be pretty impressive.

Summer by Ali Smith

 

"

"I have a  vision that the modern sense of being a hero is like shining a bright light on things that need to be seen."

 

The final instalment of Smith’s seasonal series does not instil the usual joy that the thought of summer normally invokes. Set slap bang in a COVID-19 world, this was not the escapism I needed to ease my mind and yet it boasts the lyrical prose so deftly wielded by Smith in its predecessors.


Commencing with the ramifications of BREXIT in the UK and encompassing political upheaval, environmental disasters (including Australia’s bushfires) and the previously mentioned pandemic, the book leaps over recent (and current) events in a way that I, as a reader, found harder to engage with. Call it misery overload; or perhaps my usual desire to escape anything too real or tragic (because sometimes the world outside can be a little too confronting), my recollections of the novel are scant. The contemporary issues could not be contained in my little brain in much the same way as I deal with the twenty-four-hour news cycle.


So, I’m overjoyed that I got through the full ‘year’ of the books and yet sad that this one didn’t leave as an indelible impression as some of the others. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a fantastic read, more that my reviewing has gotten way behind and I read it a couple of months ago. I apologise that this review is a little light on the ground.

5 out of 5 – sometimes this crazy world is hard to focus on.

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

 

"We got on well. I enjoyed his money and he enjoyed how easily impressed I was by it"

Dear reader, don’t be fooled by the title, these are somewhat less than ‘exciting times’, nevertheless it will draw your attention. There’s something rather annoying about the protagonist, Ava, mainly her indecision and subservience. She seems almost transparent and only made real by the decisions of her love interests.

 Her job is barely a means to an end and she appears to lack ambition running away from the demands of family, only to submit to the demands of her lovers. There’s a sense that she thinks she is above everything, while hopelessly flailing.

 Will she end up with a rich, cold, banker who provides free housing or an attentive woman who loves her? Guess you’ll have to read it to find out.

4/5 - employs an impressive turn of phrase.

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

 

"So I had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Just a giant metal spider locked onto my skull, about to interface with my brain."

My sheer unadulterated delight upon discovering the joyous world of Ready Player One, was almost matched by the announcement of a sequel in the works, so naturally I pre-ordered a copy with rabid enthusiasm. Life, as it is want to do, got in the way of my reading this as soon as it arrived and so I savoured the possibility of a few clear hours to immerse myself once more in the OASIS.

Ignore the detractors. Whilst this may not reach the soaring heights of the first novel, and I think that’s mainly because we’re now familiar with its world and characters, it still makes for a great read.

The band of misfits who supported Wade in his initial endeavours have virtually disbanded. He’s fallen out with the love of his life and only the only contact he has with her and his friends is a series of virtual board meetings necessary to run the GSS. His discover of an Easter Egg leads to a revelation surrounding new technology, the ONI headsets which permit users to literally log-in ( somewhat Neuromancer style) to the OASIS. This amazingly effective tool comes with a potentially lethal drawback, the user can only be online for 12 hours at a time without risking brain damage or worse. The endless possibilities of the new tech allow users to record and share feelings and experiences in a previously unimaginable way.

The appearance of a new riddle challenges Wade to discover seven shards to ‘restore the Siren’s soul’ and once again the adventure begins. This time, however, the appearance of Anorak, an AI copy of inventor, James Halliday, is about to provide some truly high stakes danger, not only for our hero, but for the entire human race.

I fear I’ve perhaps said too much on the topic of plot, so I’ll just leave it there and hope you grab yourselves a copy, so that we can chat about it in detail.

5 out of 5 - Geeks rock!!

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

 

"A wedding day is a neat little parcel of time in which I can create something whole and perfect to be cherished for a lifetime, a pearl from a broken necklace."

An easy read that is well paced. The format takes a little getting used to. Each wedding guest / participant gets their own narrative voice with duelling chapters. A picture perfect Irish island wedding provides an intriguing setting for a modern murder mystery.

Ignore the Agatha Christie references on the blurb, this one has a lot more adult content than Christie would envisage. It is chock full of unlikeable characters with horrible secrets and basically anyone could be the murderer.

Not the best murder mystery I've ever read, but entertaining, this one would make for a good holiday, beachside read. All families are a bit crazy.

4/5 - Weddings sometimes bring out the worst in people

The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine

 

“In a close-up, choose just one eye of the actor you’re playing opposite, don’t skip between the eyes or you will just look shifty”

Michael Caine is not just a fantastic actor, but an amazing raconteur. This autobiography is one of many that he has penned and begins at the beginning and goes through to prior to the commencement of filming of The Dark Knight Rises.



Are you keen for some name dropping and tantalising behind the scenes stories? Then this my friend is for you! It was recommended to me by my brother who thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook version with Caine’s voice narrating. Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery, Sydney Poitier, the pages are a literal who’s who of Hollywood and the entertainment industry in an entertaining and enlightening memoir. There is the sense that you’d like to corner Caine and get just a little bit more out of each story, the details that legal probably wouldn’t clear. Nonetheless, this is a delight.




5 out of 5, I just love Michael Caine.

Room At The Top by John Braine

 "Susan was a princess and I was the equivalent of a swineherd."

I read this what seems an age ago and am ridiculously behind in consolidating my thoughts about novels read to date. My chief takeaway from this book, that I selected due to its inclusion in the David Bowie list, was something along the lines of 'really well written' but ' this protagonist is a dickhead'.

Joe is everything I hate. He reminds me of my womanising Uncle (who might just share the same name). Not particularly bright, ruled by his pants and over-inflated sense of self, gets away with appalling behaviour.

The blurb describes it as the tale of the "original angry young man", clearly I am over that kind of voice. Joe Lampton is the kind of guy that makes you wonder why you aren't a lesbian, he is two-faced, untrustworthy and unlikeable. The strength of the writing is in the fact that these aspects are felt so keenly.

4 out of 5 - young, dumb and full of....

Home Stretch by Graham Norton

 

"No one was at home to answer the knock at the door when it came."

It is quite astounding to me that a man who effuses such joy in his public persona, can deliver such deeply moving trials in his fiction. That speaks to the talent of Graham Norton, the loveable TV host and exquisite author.

His latest offering is chock full of alienation and shame in a way that is moving, while feeling essentially truthful. One can't help but imagine some of the inspiration for Connor's experiences away from Ireland are drawn from Norton's experiences.

My writing at the moment is a little perfunctory and that is the polar opposite of Norton's. He appears to be growing in strength as an author with each novel and this one, in particular, is so effective. The story arc embraces so many deep feelings that will taunt your emotions and yet leave you feeling like you've had a short, meaningful stay with a long lost branch of your family.

5/5 - Norton is a treasure.

Because of You by Dawn French

 

 "It was fairly exhausting to be a constant smokescreen for his blatant idiocy, but she persisted. It was an exercise in damage limitation in which she failed to realize that she herself was the most damaged. The relationship was broken, but they were both clinging to the wreckage."

This is one of those occasions that warrants buying up a few extra boxes of tissues because you are going to need them. The subject matter somewhat surprised me.Not having had children, I was shocked at how visceral a reaction I had to the stillbirth and the almost instinctive understanding of Hope's actions.

French is unrelenting in her depiction of the toxic relationship between Anna and her husband, to the extent that it should come with a trigger warning — or perhaps that's just me.

Ultimately, this story is a journey that celebrates the love and beauty that can come of despair and it is at its best when exploring relationships between women, and more specifically mothers.

5/5— nature or nurture, or both.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

"Soon, I’m sitting on my butt-tube. Not the most comfortable sensation, but when is a tube up your butt ever comfortable?"

Is it possible to convey my unbridled joy at having read this latest book from the author of The Martian?  Probably not. I'm almost certain I fist-bumped the air in triumph upon completing my reading, this is so good!!! Weir puts the science in science-fiction, while evoking emotions and challenges beyond the purely cerebral.

 While the title might have given away a little of the plot — a hail Mary pass being a desperate attempt to score a goal in the dying minutes of a football game— this tale had my undivided attention from the get-go. Each page was devoured with the voracity of a dieter tempted by a dessert buffet. Over 400 pages and the pace never faltered.

Hopefully without giving away too many spoilers, the sense of desperate alienation Ryland Grace experiences out in space is so spectacularly mirrored by the lifeform he encounters that the reader experiences a complete emotional rollercoaster. At the same time, the reader can’t help but feel a sense of relief and connection with both characters. Weir delivers a reassuring universe with connection at its centre.

5 out of 5 - Science can be beautiful.

Interior Chinatown by Charles You

 

“This is it. The root of it all. The real history of yellow people in America. Two hundred years of being perpetual foreigners.”

A fantastically novel approach to the novel which is equal parts entertaining and disturbing. The use of stereotypes and the movie script format effectively communicates the barriers that Willis Wu experiences in his life.

When the best role you can expect is Asian Action Man, and you'll never be the romantic lead, what does that say about the opportunities available to you in life. Everyone needs a mother who encourages them to 'be more' and to dream bigger. A great novel takes you beyond sympathy, beyond empathy, and conveys real, emotional experiences and this one did it for me.

A well-deserved winner of the 2020 National Book Award, a unique approach to storytelling.

 5 out of 5 - defy expectations, the world is your oyster.

The writing is utterly enchanting and

The Rats by James Herbert

 

"As he stood he felt tiny feet running up the length of his body."

This was recommended to me by a friend, and I really had to question what his basis for that decision was after I had read it. It was clearly written by a man from a by-gone (or at least I’d like to think it is) age. His depictions of women are frankly appalling, but that was not the real reason my stomach was in knots.

Graphic horror bleeds across every page. Killer Rats is a hideous premise that will haunt my nightmares from this day forth. Make no mistake, Herbert is a master of gore and suspense, even if the writing can be a little patchy at times.

I recall reading the paperback (which I note had a forward by the always amazing Neil Gaiman) at a medical centre, and positively squirming in my chair at the thought that someone in the waiting room might be able to read the gruesome depictions of half-eaten humans over my shoulder.

4/5 - Buying rat traps at Bunnings asap!

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

 

“It is a fact that it takes experience before one can realize what is a catastrophe and what is not. Children have little faculty of distinguishing between disaster and the ordinary course of their lives.”

 

It is quite rare lately that a book stays with me. I’ll remember key aspects — whether I enjoyed or disliked it— and yet most memories are fleeting. A High Wind in Jamaica, provided a vastly different reading experience. I’d expected a children’s swashbuckling pirate adventure and had not banked on the horrors that would unfold.

Written in 1929, perhaps the first thing that jars the modern reader is the liberal use of racist epithets including the ‘n’ word, when depicting life on a plantation in Jamaica in the 1830s. John, Emily, Edward, Rachel and Laura are sent home to England by boat when a massive hurricane destroys their Jamaican home. On board the Clorinda they meet two other children, Margaret and Harry, also bound for England.

When pirates seize the ship, things take a dark turn and the children are moved onto the pirates’ schooner. Captain Marpole (captain of the Clorinda), writes to inform the children’s parents of their death by pirates, not knowing that they have been kidnapped instead. Left to the care of the rough pirates the children become wild and even greater trials lay ahead.

A death, suggested sexual assault, and all-round trauma ensue before the children finally return to England and a PTSD laden denouement.

When I first completed the novel, I found myself re-reading it immediately after to see whether I had missed certain aspects. Menace and violence occur swiftly, at a ‘blink and you’d miss it’ pace, while the ramifications of those actions brew slowly. The children’s English stoicism hiding, in the most part, the trauma beneath. Their loss of innocence has grave repercussions leading to an unexpected end.

4 out of 5 - leaves a deep chill that won't thaw easily.

The Enchiridion By Epictetus

"Does anyone bathe in a mighty little time? Don't say that he does it ill, but in a mighty little time. Does anyone drink a great quantity of wine? Don't say that he does ill, but that he drinks a great quantity. For, unless you perfectly understand the principle from which anyone acts, how should you know if he acts ill? Thus you will not run the hazard of assenting to any appearances but such as you fully comprehend."

This tasty little treat of philosophy written in 135 A.C.E. provides a quick commentary on Roman Stoicism and yet many of its tenets make for helpful mantras today. In essence many of his instructions translate to 'don't sweat the stuff you can't change', which is an often reassuring thought.

You've only got control of yourself so act in a way that is true to yourself and don't pay any attention to the boasts of others. Don't be swayed by appearances and basically, just stay chill and don't believe the hype. All in all some effective takeaways.

“These reasonings are unconnected: “I am richer than you, therefore I am better”; “I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better.” The connection is rather this: “I am richer than you, therefore my property is greater than yours;” “I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than yours.” But you, after all, are neither property nor style.”



“If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, so as to wish to please anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life.”




5 out of 5 and a super quick read.