Revival, book review (Stephen King)

Not up to his normal standard this one but intriguing all the same. 

King does what he does best at the beginning of this book, he hooks you in with great characters and dangles the carrot of what might be. (I read the first sixty pages in one sitting)

He accomplishes this twofold. Firstly the book is narrated by the main character, (Jamie Morton) who hints at thing that haven't happened but inevitably will and secondly, the chapter names are a list of what they contain, therefore giving the reader a hint as to where things are going.

Take chapter three as an example: 'The Accident. My Mother's Story. The Terrible Sermon. Goodbye.'

The terrible sermon is mentioned earlier in the book so we know it is coming, but when it does, it still hits hard because the writing is so good. 

The story moves through the decades and we witness the characters growing up and getting older. My favourite part is when Jamie is a teenager (Not surprising since I write mainly about teens in my young adult books), how he joins a band - something which I suspect has an autobiographical element to it - and how he finds first love. Then, there's drugs, drink, women, and always, where ever he goes, just around the corner, is the minister who conducted the terrible sermon, Charles Jacobs.

The lighting storm is interesting and sets the scene for the latter part of the book. There is loss and recovery, family tensions and more, which all adds depth to the book, but ultimately, the ending isn't the best. 

The mysterious 'other world' that Charles Jacobs is looking for, felt a bit hashed, as if the author only had ninety-five percent of a story and had to quickly make up the remaining five. 

The journey getting there however was good and well worth a week or so of one’s time. 

One of Mr Kings smaller, more manageable books this one, reminding me of the Hard Case file book he wrote a few years back, 'Joyland', which does end up with a small cameo appearance here.

A solid 3 stars for this one then; not a masterpiece, but a pleasant read all the same.

The Remains of the Day, book review. (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Another gem, from a master storyteller.

England in the 1950's, told from the prospective of Stevens, an ageing butler from Darlington Hall.

Beautifully written and another of Ishiguro's books that has been made into a film.

I can't comment on the film, as I haven't seen it, but his skill in writing a novel in the late 1980's that depicts the 1950's so convincingly, is amazing. The sense of 'Old England' that he portrays, the stiff upper lip, the congenial mild mannered ladies and gentleman Stevens encounters whilst on his travels, are all so totally convincing for a middle England in the decade after the war, that it feels like you're really there.

Ishiguro uses both Historical and fictional characters in this novel, which adds to the sense of realism.

Having visited Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh whilst reading this book, I was able to see first hand what it is like, to live in a large, stately home, and enjoyed the book more for it. 
A lovely book, deliciously written by an author of many talents.
Four well deserved stars.

An Officer and a Spy, book review. Robert Harris.

  

If I wanted to sum up this book in one word it would be, riveting.

Paris in the late 1800's, spying, espionage, a huge miscarriage of justice and Robert Harris. What more could one ask for?

To think that it's all true too, makes it even harder to believe, but it happened and Harris has woven it into a most excellent book. I knew nothing about this historic event until a friend told me he had pre-order a copy, so within days of its release I had mine, and what a story.

I'm sure it's all out there on the internet if you want to know what went on, but don't bother browsing the web, just read Robert Harris' excellent, masterful epic.

Harris has taken an extreme miscarriage of justice and woven a tense, action thriller, that forces you to just keep on reading. Never, have six hundred pages turned so quickly. 

I have recommended this to several members of my family and I recommend it to anyone who reads this review. If you like historical novels, from any era, I'm convinced you will like this.

Five big fat well deserved stars.

The Time Traveler's Wife. (Audrey Niffenegger)

A tough one this.

I'd been looking forward to reading this book for a while, waiting for a copy to come up in my local charity bookshop, but now I've read it, I'm torn between loving and loathing it. 

The loving part is easy: good characters, nicely written, fast paced, and that lovely trick that time travel likes to pull off every now and again, the ability to create excuses for things that would never happen in real life.
Okay, so now the loathing: Claire sleeping with Gomez. WHAT!
We've been led to believe that a girl, who meets a man when she's just six years old and then waits her entire life, going through high school, university and all the other stuff you do when you're young free and single, without any sexual partners, only for her to fall into bed with a guy she's know for years, who happens to be married to her best friend. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
Then Henry loses his feet to frostbite.
Where the hell did that come from?
I'd watched the film first, (not always a good idea) so it came as a bit of a shock, but losing your feet to frostbite in this day and age!
Maybe I'm wrong, but it just seemed like a lame (pardon the pun) way of debilitating the man when he could so easily have broken his legs, of maybe lost a leg in an accident. Something, anything but losing your feet to frostbite. Weird.
In conclusion, I did like this book and with a few provisos I would encourage others to read it, just don't expect a happy ending; in literary or story terms. 

A fantastic 'Catastrophe'. Max Hastings does it again.

Well, Max Hastings' latest book Catastrophe, makes for horrific reading.

He takes the reader through the years that lead up to the 'Great War' as it was called at the time, and how just a few people in power, made the decisions that would end the lives of millions. 

The book looks at both the eastern front as well as the western conflict, it charts the inadequacies of the leading generals and how their incompetence lead to such devastation over the first few months of the conflict. On one day alone, 27,000 French men died, 27,000! This tally doesn't include the injured or the German, British, Russian, Austrian, Hungarian or any of the other nations that were fighting that day, just the French. 

The book finishes at the end of 1914, so if as a reader you want to know what happened throughout the war, you will need further reading, but if like me, you just want to find out how it all went so disastrously wrong, this is up to Max Hastings' normal high standard, and you won't be disappointed. 

A solid four stars.
Inspiration for the day goes to all those thousands of men and women who helped the wounded, lonely and bereaved during and after this dreadful catastrophe.