Heiress on Fire by Kellie McCourt

 

"And yes, I am drinking cheap wine and living in my mother’s pool house, because I am completely devastated that last week—I think it was last week, it might have been the week before, I am not one hundred per cent sure what day it is—I blew up my husband, Dr Richard Bombberg MBBS FRACS."

I'm pretty sure I got this one for free somehow and so had to read it on my iphone. Reading in such a small format doesn't lend itself to a particularly fabulous experience. 

This fizzy read started off well but then I just found the main character way too frivolous.

3 out of 5 - a lazy beach read

Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker by Barry Sonnenfeld

 

"The formula for a successful comedy is to have an absurd situation, or an absurd character, played for reality. If the situation is funny, the scene will be funny, but only if it’s played totally real. If the cinematographer knows it’s a comedy, it will be too bright. If the film lab knows, it will be even brighter. If the wardrobe department knows, it will be colorful. If the composer thinks it’s a comedy, there’ll be slide whistles and triangles. The worst, of course, is if the actors or director decide they’re making a comedy."

After hearing Marc Maron chat with Barry Sonnenfeld on the WTF Pod, I was determined to grab myself a copy of Sonnenfeld’s autobiography. If you feel so inclined, strap yourself in for a wild ride.

I found myself guffawing on the train ride home, particularly around the author’s over-protective mother (can so relate Barry).

The narrative meanders in an entirely affable fashion as we embark on a life’s journey that includes a hilariously graphic career in porn (behind the camera) to director of photography for the Cohen Brothers’ Blood Simple and then helming such hits as Men in Black, not to mention the recent apple tv gold that is Schmigadoon (seriously if you love musicals watch this one now).

 Like most lives lived, you’ll find more than comic gold, including the perplexing story of cousin mike the child molester. I’m reviewing books that I read late last year, so a lot of the detail has skipped my increasingly lax memory ( I blame the pandemic), however the descriptions of the smell of a porn set have polluted my memory indelibly.

My only quibble is that I wanted more in terms of Sonnenfeld’s successful ( and often challenging) career. I guess that means he could pen another chapter, he’s only sixty eight after all. In the meantime, he’s a hilarious podcast guest.

5 out of 5, worst concert experience ever.

No one is talking about this by Patricia Lockwood

 

"Something in the back of her head hurt. It was her new class consciousness."

A debut novel that was shortlisted for last year’s Booker Prize, Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This, is impressive as the accolades sound. The format was initially difficult to contend with and then it hit me. Reading this novel was an exact evocation of the crazy world we find ourselves in at this point in history.

The barrage of noise from apps, the internet, and the feeling that we are all failing miserably at reaching the levels of perfection thrown at us are all captured in a unique voice that feels both crazy and familiar. The novel is unusually crafted in fragmentary paragraphs that recall the character limitations of twitter and resonate with a kind of poetry

 

5 out of 5… a fantastic debut

The Countess from Kirribilli by Joyce Morgan

"She wrote her books in looping cursive, before having them typed. But her typist was about to leave for England."

After having read Vera by Elizabeth von Armin, I was eager to learn more about its Australian author through this recent biography, especially since von Armin grew up in my current post code.

Much like the characters from her books, Elizabeth lived an intriguing life across three continents, married twice, bearing five children, enjoying a hugely successful writing career, and proving to be a fascinating character before her death in 1941.

Joyce Morgan’s brilliantly researched biography transports the reader back in time to an Australia of the 1860s which is difficult to reconcile with my surrounds today. It is fascinating to see central themes of von Armin’s novels played out in her own life story —marrying into royalty, enjoying the French Riviera, experiencing loss and a controlling husband.

Should this biography whet your appetite for more information on von Armin and her works, you’ll find the Elizabeth von Armin Society another interesting resource.

 

4 out of 5… local girl makes good.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

 

"A sobbing young woman lurched forward as though she'd been resting her forehead on the door and fell straight into Stan's arms, like a daughter."

I was tempted to seek out a copy of Moriarty's latest novel after watching her interview with Annabel Crabb at the Sydney Opera House. It is fantastic to see a local author succeed in such a large way globally and yet I don't think this is her best work.

The story starts out with good pacing and a high degree of suspense that peters out as the plot unwinds. Certain chapters would not have been out of place in a television soapie, with an overdose of cliffhanger at the end of most chapters.

A rather weighty tome that could have benefitted from more editing, if only to keep things a little tighter.

3 out of 5, apples won't keep the doctor away.

Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss

 

"Wagadhaany wants to leave and get back to her family, but she has no right to say that, to say anything. She is without a voice in this house."

Don't be intimidated by the title in language, this is a fantastic book that brings history to life in an all-encompassing way.  My reviews have been missing in action for quite some time now. Who could have guessed that a pandemic would mean less free time? So if I'm a little rusty it’s because I have a lot to catch up on and am rather out of practice.

Wagadhaany is a captivating character, and the novel draws you into her world where the connection to her family and the unpredictable Murrumbidgee River is palpable. Heiss so clearly illustrates the ridiculousness of living under laws that in no way relate to your world view and yet keep you from achieving your potential and having agency over your life. The ability to decide on where you live, whether you marry, whether you have children...where those decisions are made by people purely because they have a different skin colour ...it’s a hard pill to swallow.

Listening to the traditional owners knowledge about the river could have significantly changed the events of the novel. Perhaps there's a lesson there for us all.

5 out of 5,  love and nature cannot be tamed.

5 out of 5

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 by John Godey

 

“Being dead is an improvement on a lot of things I can think of. Trying to sell mutual funds, for example.”

This is an old school action thriller that holds your interest. I've never seen either the original film or the recent re-make with Denzel and was interested in reading the book first. I now have two movies to catch up on (somehow lockdown makes me crave high-stakes drama - go figure).

Looking through the lens of today there's quite a lot of language that probably wouldn't fly and yet it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. The characters are gritty criminals and hardened subway users. One of the more memorable characters was the prostitute running late for her gross John. Her inner monologue creates a sense of a real human who is just trying to survive, rather than the usual stereotype.

The premise is compelling. A one million dollar ransom for the hijacking of a subway car in New York City. Mayhem ensues.

4 out of 5 , I'm still recovering from the dark tunnels.

The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler

 

"The afternoon heat had set the air above the concrete quivering and Latimer began to wish that he had not come. It was not the weather for visiting corrugated-iron mortuaries."

Perhaps being stuck in Sydney’s lockdown is what is making reading a little difficult for me at the moment. The brain is on high alert for the latest information, preoccupied by statistics and the daily risk analysis that feels completely overwhelming, pared with the ultimate frustrations of conducting business via virtual means. Reading a high stakes thriller seemed to prove an even greater challenge than finishing some other less fraught tomes and yet, dear reader, I persisted, and it was worth it.

Last night, I downed my glass of red with hearty abandon and headed for doona town population 1, accompanied by this old school thriller. While reading in fits and starts had lacked any semblance of excitement, a dedicated hour of reading flung this imprisoned misery guts off into a world of adventure. Detective novelist Latimer unexpectedly finds himself on the trail of a man named Dimitrios, after making the acquaintance of the police inspector Colonel Haki in Istanbul. Haki takes Latimer to the city morgue for a taste of real-life murder mysteries, showing him the body of the mysterious, eponymous, Dimitrios and like any good author, Latimer recognises the opportunity for a great book about the shadowy figure.

Following leads from Istanbul to Sofia, Geneva and Paris, Latimer’s travels are a welcome respite for this shut-in, but chock full of impending dread. Who can be believed? What sort of people is Latimer getting himself mixed up with? White Slavery, espionage, drug trafficking – criminal activity abounds. Will our hapless author survive this adventure and who really was (or is?) Dimitrios? Strap yourself in for a wild ride and enjoy the reading journey this provides. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the 1944 movie version, as the novel lends itself so fantastically to a cinematic outing – think The Man who Knew Too Much or North by Northwest.

5 out of 5 thrilling adventures can befall an unsuspecting author.

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!!