Ghostwritten was David Mitchell’s first book released to acclaim in 1999.
In similar style to his other books it is nine different tales linked together by a common theme.
Each story is based at a geographical location, Okinawa, Tokyo, Hong Kong etc so the book is like a circumnavigation of the world taking you from Japan to the US in 9 different stages.
Some of the stories are quite straightforward to interpret. eg the Tokyo tale is about Satoru, a teenage who works in a specialist Jazz music shop and his meeting of his love, Tomoyo, who is about to start her education in Hong Kong. Then the story moves to Hong Kong to an investment banker who has been caught with his pants down on some dodgy dealing.
All the tales in the book are interesting and moving in some ways, though sometimes they don’t really have a conclusion.
Some of the tales are really prescient. Clear Island tells of a future when the Americans are bombing the hell out of an Arab state in the Middle East and a young mother, Mo, is trying to escape American weapons manufacturers who need her to make their smart bombs even smarter.
At the end of the day, this book is about the human condition and how it manifests itself in different countries and cultures and how people may or may not deal with that. Some of these tales have a happy ending but for the most part they do leave you thinking, What if?
Although it is similar in ways to Cloud Atlas, particularly in the way the tales are linked, at the end of the day this is a very different book which deserves to be enjoyed for its own merits.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Review of Brick Lane By Monica Ali
Brick Lane was Monica Ali’s first book which was released to glowing reviews a few years ago. It was certainly a book that I noticed and had every intention of buying and reading. Things being the way they are this never happened until I picked it up in a second hand book shop.
Of course, all that meant was that it was there to be read but had to find a way of getting to the top of the pile. In due course, this was engineered by requesting it as a book to be read by the Book Group.
On a recent trip to France, I took the book and duly munched it as my SO would say. That’s not to say it was a bad book or a pulpy book. Far from it, however, the circumstances were such that I could read a lot when away on holiday.
The novel tells of the story of Nazneem, a Bangladeshi girl born in a small village near Dhaka in Bangldesh in the sixties. At the age of 18 she is sent to the UK to be married to Chanu, a Council Worker in Tower Hamlets in London. There is no argument with this, obviously this is expected of a Muslim girl.
They become ensconced in a Council flat near the eponymous, Brick Lane, where Nazneem learns to look after her husband.
Now, Chanu is a dreamer who likes to think he’s going places because of his education in Dhaka and continuning education with the Open University. He always talks of the expected promotion which never arrives. As they say, he always talks a good game.
Then Nazneem falls pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy. Everybody is happy until the baby falls ill and sadly dies in hospital.
There the first part ends. During the course of the narrative it is broken up with Nazneen’s correspondence with her sister, Hasina, back in Bangladesh. She starts off being married, then runs off to work in the factories of Dhaka. Hasina does seems to have a hellish time of it and Nazneen would dearly love to bring her sister to the UK.
After the baby’s death time moves onto to 2001 where we find that Nazneen now has two daughter’s, Shahana and Bibi. Bibi is the well-behaved, dutiful one and Shahana is the one with the attitude that parents all dread.
At this point, Nazneen starts doing piece work at home on her sewing machine to help bring money in because Chanu has walked out on the Council in disgust. Through this she meets Karim, who helps open her eyes on what life is all about and they soon engage in an affair.
Through the second part, Chanu is determined to return home because he feels has done his best in the UK and thinks that the grass is greener back in Bangladesh. You can see that the story is building up to this force trip back home and you know that Nazneen doesn’t want to go and neither do her daughters.
The whole story is also building up to social unrest in the area lead by Karim which end up in rioting in Brick Lane.
The story is very well written and is a fantastic first novel. The characters at time are larger than life, in particular, Mrs Sharma, the moneylender stands out.
Of course, all that meant was that it was there to be read but had to find a way of getting to the top of the pile. In due course, this was engineered by requesting it as a book to be read by the Book Group.
On a recent trip to France, I took the book and duly munched it as my SO would say. That’s not to say it was a bad book or a pulpy book. Far from it, however, the circumstances were such that I could read a lot when away on holiday.
The novel tells of the story of Nazneem, a Bangladeshi girl born in a small village near Dhaka in Bangldesh in the sixties. At the age of 18 she is sent to the UK to be married to Chanu, a Council Worker in Tower Hamlets in London. There is no argument with this, obviously this is expected of a Muslim girl.
They become ensconced in a Council flat near the eponymous, Brick Lane, where Nazneem learns to look after her husband.
Now, Chanu is a dreamer who likes to think he’s going places because of his education in Dhaka and continuning education with the Open University. He always talks of the expected promotion which never arrives. As they say, he always talks a good game.
Then Nazneem falls pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy. Everybody is happy until the baby falls ill and sadly dies in hospital.
There the first part ends. During the course of the narrative it is broken up with Nazneen’s correspondence with her sister, Hasina, back in Bangladesh. She starts off being married, then runs off to work in the factories of Dhaka. Hasina does seems to have a hellish time of it and Nazneen would dearly love to bring her sister to the UK.
After the baby’s death time moves onto to 2001 where we find that Nazneen now has two daughter’s, Shahana and Bibi. Bibi is the well-behaved, dutiful one and Shahana is the one with the attitude that parents all dread.
At this point, Nazneen starts doing piece work at home on her sewing machine to help bring money in because Chanu has walked out on the Council in disgust. Through this she meets Karim, who helps open her eyes on what life is all about and they soon engage in an affair.
Through the second part, Chanu is determined to return home because he feels has done his best in the UK and thinks that the grass is greener back in Bangladesh. You can see that the story is building up to this force trip back home and you know that Nazneen doesn’t want to go and neither do her daughters.
The whole story is also building up to social unrest in the area lead by Karim which end up in rioting in Brick Lane.
The story is very well written and is a fantastic first novel. The characters at time are larger than life, in particular, Mrs Sharma, the moneylender stands out.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Review of The Bullet Trick by Louise Welsh
The Bullet Trick is Louise Welsh’s long awaited follow-up to The Cutting Room, here seedy, melodrama about one man’s search for a snuff movie.
The Bullet Trick is a bit of a gothic crime story. It’s set in Glasgow, London and Berlin and tells the seedy story of William Wilson, a conjurer down on his luck and running for his life at the start of the story.
The tale is told in flashback. The background tells us that Wilson has been a conjurer for most of his adult life and it is something that he is very good at it. Unfortunately, he has his demons, drink, wanton women etc.
At the start of the story he is doing a gig at a club in Soho for a retiring policeman. During the night he gets involved in a long standing murder/missing person story and he is entrusted to an envelope by the club owner, Bill.
After the gig he travels to Berlin to work in one of the city’s erotic cabarets. Just after arriving he finds out that his pal has been found dead I the club with his lover, Sam. Wilson suspects foul play, in particular he knows Chief Inspector Montgomery who was retiring is involved.
He’s glad to be in Berlin and away from the spotlight.
In Berlin, he meets Sylvie, a bit of a vamp if ever there was one. She aids him in his act and leads him down the garden path eventually getting him into all sorts of bother. Ultimately, he gets asked to go one last version of his famous Bullet Trick to make a wad of cash. This he believes, ends in tragedy and he runs back to Glasgow to drink away his misery.
Fortunately, back in Glasgow there is something of a renaissance for young Wilson and it is there in the old Pantechnicon theatre that the story plays out.
This book is very well written and has an engaging though dour leading character in Wilson.
It reads in a very similar way to the Cutting Room and in some ways is a similar kind of book.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and do look forward to the next Louise Welsh story.
The Bullet Trick is a bit of a gothic crime story. It’s set in Glasgow, London and Berlin and tells the seedy story of William Wilson, a conjurer down on his luck and running for his life at the start of the story.
The tale is told in flashback. The background tells us that Wilson has been a conjurer for most of his adult life and it is something that he is very good at it. Unfortunately, he has his demons, drink, wanton women etc.
At the start of the story he is doing a gig at a club in Soho for a retiring policeman. During the night he gets involved in a long standing murder/missing person story and he is entrusted to an envelope by the club owner, Bill.
After the gig he travels to Berlin to work in one of the city’s erotic cabarets. Just after arriving he finds out that his pal has been found dead I the club with his lover, Sam. Wilson suspects foul play, in particular he knows Chief Inspector Montgomery who was retiring is involved.
He’s glad to be in Berlin and away from the spotlight.
In Berlin, he meets Sylvie, a bit of a vamp if ever there was one. She aids him in his act and leads him down the garden path eventually getting him into all sorts of bother. Ultimately, he gets asked to go one last version of his famous Bullet Trick to make a wad of cash. This he believes, ends in tragedy and he runs back to Glasgow to drink away his misery.
Fortunately, back in Glasgow there is something of a renaissance for young Wilson and it is there in the old Pantechnicon theatre that the story plays out.
This book is very well written and has an engaging though dour leading character in Wilson.
It reads in a very similar way to the Cutting Room and in some ways is a similar kind of book.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and do look forward to the next Louise Welsh story.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Review of the Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks
This book was touted as a return to form by Iain Banks after his lacklustre Dead Air. It was supposedly a return to the territory of Crow Road. Another family saga.hmm!
In recent years, I believe Iain’s best work has been in his science fiction efforts. In particular, The Algebraist, was a stunning effort and was just about his most readable work yet. As well as this, he produced, Raw Spirit, an amusing look at the whisky industry in Scotland which came across as a romp for him and his friends.
Garbadale (saves me writing out the title all the time!) is about the Wopuld clan, a large sprawling family who to put it bluntly are multimillionaires, thanks to a board game called Empire! ( the games seems to be similar to Risk). Everyone in the family seems to be part of the family business which was started off in the 19th Century by the great grandfather whose name I can’t remember.
The book starts off in the present and starts off in amusing style with Fielding Wopuld looking for his cousin Alban in a scheme in Perth. He the suave, sophisticated, wealthy businessman looking like a fish out of the water in this flat where Alban is crashing at the moment. A few years ago, Alban, was the blue eyed boy in the family business who suddenly decided that he wanted nothing to do with the family and wanted out to pursue a career in forestry. He disappeared for no-one to know where he was. Fielding had traced him to his current abode in Perth because he need his help to try and canvas the family prior to an EGM to discuss a takeover bid by the giant American software giant, Spraint who wanted to buy them out.
This in essence is the plot. My main complaint is that it is pretty thin and at the end of the book is pretty superfluous because even after the vote, it doesn’t seem to matter what happens and what Alban recommends.
Despite this, the book really recounts Alban growing up in the family estates at Lyncombe in Somerset and Garbadale in Wester Ross. In particular, his relationship with Sophie is probably the crux of the whole tale – their teenage affair at Lyncombe and its consequences.
The story is told as a linear narrative interspersed with flashbacks which works fairly well and keeps the reader guessing what might happen at the end except when you there you know pretty well what the twist is.
This certainly, is Mr Banks’ best ‘straight’ book in a while and for my money the best since Whit. I thoroughly enjoyed his prose and wit and some of the characters he created. In particular Alban is a likeable, liberal thinker who starts the book not knowing what he wanted and to be completely honest not entirely certain where he was going at the end. You know he wants to marry his girlfriend, Verushka (VG), but not able to because she doesn’t want that kind of relationship.
I didn’t really like Sophie or the way she came across and I suppose the twist at the end was the final closure needed to put a line under their childhood romance.
Great Aunts Beryl and Doris were a hilarious couple who we met early on when Fielding brought Alban back to Glasgow. They played a bit like Mapp and Lucia on speed. Very funny.
All I can really say is read and enjoy. Who needs a good plot to enjoy the maestro’s prose.
A short post script to say that it was nice that Mr Banks didn’t have to mess about with Scottish Geography too much when describing the fictitious area around Garbadale House which was supposedly located around Loch Glencoul north of the Inchnadamph Hotel. The only true anomaly was Loch Garve where Alban and Sophie went fishing.
In recent years, I believe Iain’s best work has been in his science fiction efforts. In particular, The Algebraist, was a stunning effort and was just about his most readable work yet. As well as this, he produced, Raw Spirit, an amusing look at the whisky industry in Scotland which came across as a romp for him and his friends.
Garbadale (saves me writing out the title all the time!) is about the Wopuld clan, a large sprawling family who to put it bluntly are multimillionaires, thanks to a board game called Empire! ( the games seems to be similar to Risk). Everyone in the family seems to be part of the family business which was started off in the 19th Century by the great grandfather whose name I can’t remember.
The book starts off in the present and starts off in amusing style with Fielding Wopuld looking for his cousin Alban in a scheme in Perth. He the suave, sophisticated, wealthy businessman looking like a fish out of the water in this flat where Alban is crashing at the moment. A few years ago, Alban, was the blue eyed boy in the family business who suddenly decided that he wanted nothing to do with the family and wanted out to pursue a career in forestry. He disappeared for no-one to know where he was. Fielding had traced him to his current abode in Perth because he need his help to try and canvas the family prior to an EGM to discuss a takeover bid by the giant American software giant, Spraint who wanted to buy them out.
This in essence is the plot. My main complaint is that it is pretty thin and at the end of the book is pretty superfluous because even after the vote, it doesn’t seem to matter what happens and what Alban recommends.
Despite this, the book really recounts Alban growing up in the family estates at Lyncombe in Somerset and Garbadale in Wester Ross. In particular, his relationship with Sophie is probably the crux of the whole tale – their teenage affair at Lyncombe and its consequences.
The story is told as a linear narrative interspersed with flashbacks which works fairly well and keeps the reader guessing what might happen at the end except when you there you know pretty well what the twist is.
This certainly, is Mr Banks’ best ‘straight’ book in a while and for my money the best since Whit. I thoroughly enjoyed his prose and wit and some of the characters he created. In particular Alban is a likeable, liberal thinker who starts the book not knowing what he wanted and to be completely honest not entirely certain where he was going at the end. You know he wants to marry his girlfriend, Verushka (VG), but not able to because she doesn’t want that kind of relationship.
I didn’t really like Sophie or the way she came across and I suppose the twist at the end was the final closure needed to put a line under their childhood romance.
Great Aunts Beryl and Doris were a hilarious couple who we met early on when Fielding brought Alban back to Glasgow. They played a bit like Mapp and Lucia on speed. Very funny.
All I can really say is read and enjoy. Who needs a good plot to enjoy the maestro’s prose.
A short post script to say that it was nice that Mr Banks didn’t have to mess about with Scottish Geography too much when describing the fictitious area around Garbadale House which was supposedly located around Loch Glencoul north of the Inchnadamph Hotel. The only true anomaly was Loch Garve where Alban and Sophie went fishing.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Great Scottish Run
Just a quick note to say thanks to the SO for her kind comments about my performance on Sunday morning. On a personal level I was pleased to finish the race on under 2 hours but was a little disappointed that I faded quite badly two thirds of the way into the race and was not able to make any impression on previous personal bests. Maybe I'll have to stick to 10K races in the futureL:-)
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Great Scottish Run
I'm so proud of Gordy! He conquered the Great Scottish run last sunday in great style and was very much still in one piece yesterday. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it.
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