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I first read this last year in a time when I was reading a hell of a lot (roughly two full-length books a day). As a result, I have very little memory of the plotlines and the wonders of many of the books I had read and am on a mission to reread some of them. After first coming across Margaret Atwood when I read The Handmaid's Tale at the age of 14 and later, Cat's Eye. Both of these enchanted me and introduced me to an author who is definitely one of the great contemporary writers of her time.
This book is told by Iris Chase who we learn early on once had a sister, Laura who died after the car she was driving plunged into the river. Iris acts as the narrator for this story which flashes back and forth between a childhood and eventual adulthood with Laura as well as an older Iris remembering those years while she suffers from a heart condition. The book is at first a clear picture of a suicide by an unusual but psychologically compelling sister in Laura. The book, however, takes the reader on an intricately woven tale of the perils of high society and the blind attitude which perpetuated the era in which the story is set.An interesting social commentary of the 20th century can also be drawn from the book which has a history from the beginning of World War I to the present day in a world perhaps more than ever dominated by greed and violence.
The story is aided by a novel apparently written by Laura called The Blind Assassin which informs the reader of a certain romantic situation and brings in the science fiction element which is present in so many of Atwood's books.
Atwood is one of the few authors who can get away with using an entire paragraph to tell you that plants are growing. She has an exceptional gift with literary word play which first became clear to me while reading The Handmaid's Tale. Her words flow beautifully and do not detract from the storyline but rather generously feed it. The book comes to an astonishing close, chilling the reader and stripping down the barriers of understanding.
Definitely one of my favourite books. Read it or miss out.
I have a love for Russian novels. So melodramatic, so ridiculous, so awesome and so weird. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's books I have read and my favourite so far mainly due to the fact that it has a wider plotline and more interesting characters.
The characters in this book are memorable and startling. Beginning with the Prince himself, the principal character of the book who is said to resemble Christ and who is very child-like due to being closed off from society until the beginning of this book. Nastasya, a woman he chases throughout the book is a woman who continually defies people's opinions and denigrates herself further and further throughout the book is an excellent example of the ultimate in self-loathing, while Aglaya who the Prince befriends detests the expectations set by her parents and her family; she, most of any of the characters teaches the Prince about human nature and the confusing world of high society. Many other characters also surround the Prince in what becomes his first experience of society, of love and of people in general and what to expect.
The discovery in this book is that people do not know how to cope with such an innocent, child-like man who does not know how to read between the lines of a hierarchical social order. While people at first seem friendly, they are forever confounding him with their actions and behaviours which often seem contrary to common sense. The main criticism I have of this book is how long it goes on although this is also what is so magical about it. Dostoyevsky had a unique gift with prose and with prying into his characters' minds so that we build up not a physical picture but a psychological one of each character and each discussion.
Would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the magic that is Russian novels (and I personally enjoyed it more than Crime and Punishment).
This amazing memoir documents the author's life after a hectic period of time. In December, 2003 her adult daughter contracted a near-fatal toxaemia and while she was in hospital in a coma, Didion's husband had a massive coronary and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. In the following days and months, Didion went through a process that many people will go through at some stage in their lives, but that no one likes to think about.
The credible thing about this book is that it explores emotions immediately following her husband's death as well as during her daughter's first and subsequent admissions to hospital over the time. Didion was obviously imminently capable of keeping track of immediate emotions as she was a writer already; used to scribbling things down for more exploration at a later date.
This book for me was characterised firstly by Didion's bluntness and dedication to her subject of shock, grief and recovery. This often seems to appear as a lack of feeling or sensitivity but it does demonstrate a coping strategy that many use in times of grief. The feelings in this book are also expressed in a useful way which corresponds well with the natural process of grief. Tragically, just as Didion began to rebuild her life and look to the future, her daughter collapsed and was taken to hospital presumed brain dead - she recovered amazingly, but Didion found herself unable to grieve in the months while she sat by her daughter's bedside trying to accept that there was more to lose.
This is an amazing book both about the experience of death and the processes of grief involved with it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has lost someone close or anyone interested in how the mind copes with such a loss.
I love books of short stories and am firmly of the opinion that they are under-read and under-rated. Graham Greene was known for work examining the political and philosophical ramifications of the human condition.
By far my favourite story from this collection is 'The Destructors.' It is a story about boredom, destruction and changing the face of reality. The other stories mimic it; all about ordinary situations but all including surreal manifestations of reality. In 'Alas Poor Maling' a man is plagued by a rumbling stomach whose rumblings resemble sounds that he hears around him, in 'The End of the Party' a young child's fear of darkness becomes his very being.
Greene has an exceptional way of writing which draws the reader into the situation and shocks them with a climactic entry into the extents of imagination. I would definitely be keen to read more of Greene's short stories as well as his novels.
This is probably my least favourite book of Vonnegut's that I have read to date. Although it makes the usual dry, sarcastic observations about humanity, it just does not have the same quirk and brilliance as some others. I am thinking here of Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five and my personal favourite Bluebeard. The entire way through this book I expected some sort of twist as the ending was made clear several times throughout the book. The twist never came, the pictures drawn to 'aid' the reader were great though.
Some of the book also seemed like an attempt by Vonnegut to expose his philisophical background. Of course, he had probably reached the stage of infamy by then that many of his fans probably loved this part of the book but it just struck me as self-centred and well, sort of lame. Maybe I'm missing the point.
As usual the satire was to a high standard and the humour was forthcoming. As with many of his books the view of human nature was bleak and I was excited to learn more about one of his main characters throughout the books: Kilgore Trout; the largely failing little-known sci-fi writer. His view of humans as machines is also telling.
Not a great read but an interesting, humourous one nonetheless.
A renowned expert in his field of anthropology, Grinker mixes the personal and professional in this book by delving into the world of autism. He does this in an anthropological manner finding the foundations of the disease called autism and how the criteria of autism has developed over time to encompass the now large group of people it does.
Grinker has a personal association with the world of autism. His daughter, Isabel was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum at a young age and he has watched her grow as he watched the world grow more and more accustomed to the diagnosis that had been such a mystery to him at first.
The book deals with three areas: Grinker's personal experience with his daughter's diagnosis and the various methods recommended to the family, whether there is really an autism 'epidemic' and how different cultures deal with autism. The author was also able to relate his own experiences with the medical profession to the different methods of psychiatric and psychological practice (including Freudian psychoanalytic theory). There was also a significant exploration into the understanding of autism in different countries; especially interesting in many of the countries where spiritual healing is seen as dominant over medical options. Many of the pioneers of autistic research and political movements are documented in this book.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in autism and in the so-called epidemic.
There are few things in the world that compare to a Russian novel. Although this book was a marathon to read (despite its small appearance), it was well worth the read. It tells the story of Raskolnikov, a young student who commits a murder out of desperation and more or less feels guilty, sick and paranoid about it for the rest of the book.
This is the first of Dostoyevsky's books that I've read and the main thing that struck me was the intricate makings of all the characters he described which built up not so much a picture as an innate psychological description of many of the characters. It also offers an interesting description of the concept of an "extraordinary man" and uses Napoleon as an example - this is a person who can breach the moral standards of society in the pursuit of a great thing. Although the philosophy of this doesn't quite work in my reading of it, it was an interesting aside if not plea to be found to be still a human being.
One of the more interesting characters was Sonia who becomes a deep friend of Raskolnikov's. She is a prostitute driven to her profession by a need to help her family. There were also some interesting asides to what constitutes a crime such as Svidrigailov who dreams of pursuing small children. The uncertainty and darkness of this entire book will leave the reader thinking long after the last page is turned.
This amazing book documents the life of a juvenile delinquent, caught by the law before being changed into a person incapable of committing crime. While showing the transformation of a person, it also shows the limits of human freedom in a futuristic society.
The story starts with Alex and his gang tormenting a city with rape, burglary, violence and murder. Alex, a young man, has been doing these things for years and is caught when his friend who are scared of his power purposefully leave him where the police will find him. The entirety of the speech in this part of the book is in a sort of slang which is confusing enough to entice the reader but at the same time easy enough to follow. It is clear from the beginning that Alex commits his crimes out of a sense of pleasure; he enjoys the violence, the bloodshed and the risk-taking and has no plans to curb his offending. When the government is made aware of a new method which will render criminals incapable of committing or even considering committing violent crime, an innocent Alex is persuaded into being a test subject with the promise of freedom. The trial resembles some method of hypnosis and Alex is released to a world where even thinking about consensual sex is totally impossible.
The book is written with great thought put into the dialect of Alex and his gang. The meeting of Alex with the author of a book forces Alex to think about what he has done. I am told the original of the book is missing one chapter, so the book in this case ends with hope that Alex will change his ways.
Overall, this book explores the limits of human freedom and forces the reader to consider whether being 'evil' deserves the sterilisation of the brain that Alex receives. I would highly recommend it.
This is a book written by a women who has dealt with suicide both personally and professionally. Because of this, it is not only a scientifically accurate look at what is known about the reasons for suicide but is also a deeply personal look at the reasons behind suicide and the common misconceptions by the public about suicide.
Firstly the book looks at the relationship between mental illness and suicide and how prescription drugs influence the statistics in this area. The book also looks at case studies of suicide and how it has often struck unexpectedly. Although the book obviously cannot gift us with an insight into how to detect suicide, it does deal with the mental illnesses and the stigma that until recently was coupled with suicide. Even the medical profession, it seems at least in part has a shroud of suicide and the victim is often thought of at best as selfish or sinful. Jamison deals with these stereotypes showing that while suicide has a hugely detrimental effect on friends and family, it cannot be understood in a simple manner of thinking.
The book does focus moreso on suicide among young people but this is not a problem as Jamison explains this early on and recommends more research into the still frighteningly high prevalence of suicide in older people. It also shows the uses of neurotransmitters in the brain and explains studies that have linked these (or a lack of these to suicide).
This book was written right before the end of the 20th century. Therefore, Jamison expresses doubt that SSRIs and other anti-depressants and mood stablisers can cause suicide. Unfortunately, there has now been a link, she also fails to address the problem of over-prescribing dealt with in other books although this is understandable as it does not directly relate to suicide.
I would highly recommend this book. It deals well the the concept of suicide and shows the damage it inflicts widely on society.
This book written by the travel writer who brought us adventures from around the world examines our own world as a whole, its surroundings and how it functions. Unlike the textbooks with colourful diagrams that most of us will have read at some point or other during school, he weaves a colourful, interesting and humourous picture of the world which would not exist as we know it if we changed it just a little, tiny, teeny bit. In other words, Bryson makes some of the most amazing and complicated findings in modern science understandable for those of us who can't be bothered reading Einstein's complicated theorems or the like.
The wealth of information in this book is simply astounding, I found that many facts I knew from taking science in high school, I did not know about the discovery of. Bryson brings up both the famous and the not-so-famous names as he explores each sector of discovery. He shows not only this expanse of information but also an obvious interest in what he is writing about and a dedication to understanding what many physicists would not be able to explain to you in normal English.
This is the third time I've read this book in about as many years, it never gets old and I always find myself remembering something I had previously forgotten. Unlike some of its explaining-science counterparts (including Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters and Hawking's A Brief History of Time), it brings some humour into both science and the scientists who have uncovered some of the greatest mysteries. It also doesn't just cover physics, but a wide range of disciplines and the names which govern their discoveries, as well as the names which are never included despite their great discoveries.
Highly recommended to all and especially those of us who are geeks like myself and thrive off the sheer amount on knowledge in this book.
Perhaps not up to the hype I'd heard about it. This book was an entertaining tale of a 16-year-old boy involved in a boat crash which kills his entire family, the whole crew and a zoo full of animals with the exception of a zebra with a broken leg, a female orang-utan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger.
An author's note at the beginning of this book describes this event as at least based in truth and the book finished with a confusing interview, enlightening the reader that perhaps we will never know. Either way it's a good story.
One of the primary themes in this book is that of religion as a road to comprehending reality. It's explored throughout in a variety of ways as the main character Pi has practiced up to four religions at one time and part of the reason he continues to survive is because of his religious understanding of what is happening around him coupled with the extraordinary situation he finds himself in. The graphic descriptions of the demise of various animals within the book had me cringing and Pi, a vegetarian finds himself grabbing fish and turtles out of the water in order to feed himself and the tiger.
This story was meant to make the reader believe in God, why this is I am still not sure. While Martel makes decent use of a deeply spiritual character in the book, it is not clear how a less spiritual person is meant to gain a belief because a "miracle" has happened.
A decent read that churns your stomach in many parts.
This book contains a series of connected short stories all centred around a house in Massachusetts. In the first story we meet the builder of the house who goes off to sea with his sons who are killed when they all drown. A blackbird, the son's pet returns to the house and blackbirds continue to be symbolic throughout the book of the history of the house and the tragedy that befell its first owners. The house is also home to a ravaging amount of fruit trees and as it becomes weathered and less lived in over the years, the book follows the inhabitants and the various things they do to the house which turn up later in the book under the gaze of a different person.
Hoffman definitely had a gift with prose and this is probably the best book I have read by her. Partially because without over-exposing its many character, themes and symbols of the house are kept alive throughout the book. The way all the stories which could also be read separately, are connected is ingenius and the house becomes a magical place with a vivid history. The reader can picture the different things which happen to the house over the years and it is this, in my opinion that makes the book such a gift to its readers. I read it extremely quickly.
Widely speaking the book shows how every place has a history and how the 'spirit' of previous inhabitants can remain and can shape a livelihood. The house remains msotly neglected throughout the book and all the characters are confronted with a sense of loneliness, sadness and acceptance of their lot.
I would highly recommend this book.
After having read a fair few Picoult books (she is my guilty pleasure), I can conclude that this one is not much different from any other one I have read. The book deals with a contentious social issue, that of mercy killing or euthanasia. As usual, the book is also centred around two main characters who have relationship problems, as well as a court trial that happens to go luckily, it features 'true love and the characters are meaningless and not at all complete.
This sounds terribly negative, Jodi Picoult is a celebrated author of contemporary novels, I say novels rather than literature because personally I don't think she is an exceptional writer or that she brings anything original to her profession. I believe the main reason why she is so popular is because she writes about interesting things; for example some of my favourite books by her include: a falsely accused sex offender, school shootings, life with a person who has severe disabilities and all of them, every single one feature a person in love who does not treat his/her partner well or cheats on them.
Picoult obviously has a lot of ideas, books by her continue to come out. Handle with Care being the latest example. This book showed nothing new to me, the excerpts of a journal at the beginning of chapters were not interesting and the discussion of euthanasia held nothing that peaked my interest. Perhaps my favourite character in this book was (slightly) Mia, a character who couldn't stay anywhere and had seemed to be all over the world. The book did not go much into her character though and went more into the exceptionally walk-all-over-me character, Allie and her husband who obviously had affection but not love for her. The background about Scotland was interesting but nto overly informative.
Maybe I have finally gotten over my Picoult addiction?
(An absence of a picture of the book cover meant I just found a picture of Trinity exploding).
This book looks at the story behind the creation and detonation of the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos. Beginning with the scientific realisation by scientists such as Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi. The project was first set up as the result of a perceived threat of the same discovery by Nazi Germany in the early 1940s. Nuclear physicists and engineers from all over the USA and the UK were drawn out of jobs and drawn to the desert of Los Alamos.
The book details firstly the various elements that were designated as required to build an atomic bomb and the desert became a sort of think tank filled with some of the world's best scientists created to stave off the threat of Germany. Lamont details the different departments that were aimed at finding and creating the various parts of the bomb. The whole project was practiced under a shroud of secrecy and Lamont also detailed how parts of the research were passed on to Russia by another physicist, Fuchs.
Parts of the book leading up to the explosion of Trinity read like a thriller, I could feel myself hanging on to the edge of the seat even though I obviously already knew the result. The latter part of the book also provided interesting details. Firstly of Oppenheimer's realisation of the destruction further work could do and his refusal to work on the hydrogen bomb (the H-bomb) and how Oppenheimer, a quiet man interested in poetry and with a great gift for nuclear physics would feel about being called the father of the atomic bomb.
It also contained useful information about the aftermath, mainly the continuing battles between different countries to hold the most powerful bomb in a sort of nuclear standoff. More information about the devastation it wreaked all over Japan with injuries that still exist today would have been useful.
The book surely renewed my interests in science and also in the capability of humans to separate themselves from the destruction they are creating. The book is an interesting, thrilling and informative read.
This book was set in a time (the early 1980s) where home birth was still largely frowned upon. It struck interest with me at first as I was a home birth in 1988 where according to my mother, the situation was much the same. She actually had to persuade our family doctor to accept it and the midwife she had was one of the few in Wellington who would do a home birth.
Midwives written in the perspective of the daughter of a lay midwife, Sibyl Danforth who performs most of her births at home and is taken to court for involuntary manslaughter when she is forced to perform a c-section in terrible conditions and later accused of doing this while the woman was still alive, killing her. We are provided throughout with excerpts from Sibyl's notebooks which show her criticisms of "doctor speak" and put across her opinion as a full advocate of home birth. Her daughter, Connie, the narrator is looking back at this period of her life, having now become an OB/GYN and recalling the trial that changed her family's life when she was just 14.
We are drawn into Connie's fear for her mother and more widely for her environment early on as she documents the days after the fateful night when she discovers her mother is going to be criminally charged. The early life of her mother and father is also shown throughout, always outside the mainstream, yet they bring up Connie sensibly and by 14 she seems to be a reasonably mature girl.
I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as Trans-sister Radio, another book by the same author but I think it was definitely a good read and an interesting insight into both the criminal justice system and the process of birth. I would highly recommend it.
This book by Irishman John Boyne documents a short period in the life of a young boy, Bruno who moves to a place he knows only as Out-with. He is surprised when he looks out his bedroom window and discovers that behind the huge barbed wire fence, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people and all of them are wearing striped pyjamas. For Bruno, everything changed when the "Fury" (Fuhrer) came to dinner, since then his family has moved from Berlin to Out-with (Auschwitz), a place he thinks might be in Poland. Bruno wants to be an adventurer when he grows up and on one of his adventurers he meets a boy who is his age on the other side of the fence. His new friend astonishes him in many ways.
This book was heartbreaking, I read it in an afternoon. It's a reasonably short novel that could easily be read by a child but probably shouldn't be. It is written from Bruno's perspective and the lack of wider understanding he has about where he is and why Shmuel is so much thinner than him and has no change of pyjamas. His questions of his father, an army man never come to anything and he doesn't understand why his father refers to the people behind the fence as "not really people, not like you and me." Shmuel also has both a lot of information that Bruno does, but a lack of understanding about what it means and why things are this way.
This book seems to stand as a fable and at the same time a story of the beauty of innocence combined with the devastation of the capability of human evil. The story finishes with a sentence that forces you to confront your own reality in this day and age where fences like the one shared by Shmuel and Bruno exist all over the world.
Although there have been doubts that a 9-year-old son of a Nazi soldier would not know about the Holocaust or Hitler, the point of this book is not to show a 9-year-old's capabilities or understanding in any way but to combine the beauty of a young child's innocence with the horror of things like the Holocaust. I would highly recommend this book to all.
After reading this book, I can definitively say it went over and above my expectations and is in my view, the best book of the ones I have read by this author. It documents the life of Tully, an independent teenager growing up in a poverty-stricken area with a lifetime of abuse and neglect behind her.
The writing in this book is not exquisite Woolf-esque prose but it matches Tully's character; blunt, to the point and it puts across the situation. Tully lives through the suicide of a childhood friend, Jennifer and summons all her strength to embark on a social work degree. The story is turbulent, through the misery of Tully's young life and the resulting confusion as well as a continuing sense of wrongness in her adult life.
In many ways Tully left me distraught. The amount of times I was reduced to tears was evened out but simply laughing at her manner and her rugged determination to right the wrongs that had been done to her through her work with foster children. We are often reminded of the years that Tully used her dancing talents and although these are never outwardly discussed in detail, we do learn about her dancing past through the sexual power she continues to hold over her male counterparts.
When Jennifer's true love returns to town, Tully wants to hate him. It is obvious from the beginning, however, that he (Jack) holds the magnetism which obsessed Jennifer and later another friend, Shakie. It is likely that Tully would have gone the same way if not for her stoic temperament, where her life had taught her to deal with anything else.
The ending of this book devastated me but I could see why it happened. I would definitely recommend this book over and above The Bronze Horseman series.
This novel stands as one of the more epic science fiction adventures equalling the likes of Asimov's Foundation series. I've never read anything else by this author but my father told me that Eon is a must-read.
When a large asteroid goes in orbit around earth, some of the best scientists on offer are sent to investigate what begins to be referred to throughout the book as 'the stone' (and its inhabitants are thus referred to as stoners). The book opens as a theoretical physicist, Patricia is taken to the stone; plucked from a myriad of people with similar talents but none with the specialisation she soon learns is vital to her mission. The asteroid holds many secrets which are exposed to Patricia one by one. The reason why she has been called to the stone soon becomes evident when she sees a seemingly endless corridor stretching away into infinity.
One of the recurring themes in this book is the lack of agreement between the USSR and the USA. While Soviet scientists are allowed on the stone, they are not privy to any information and have virtually no high security clearances. What becomes clear throughout the book is that nuclear destruction on earth is imminent and the plot centres around the end of a large portion of mankind.
The book is filled with aspects of a thriller, as well as aspects more related to the science of the infinite corridor. Patricia's real purpose on the stone becomes clear to her when she begins to find articles written by her twenty years in the future. The novel continues to a devastating conclusion, while at the same time the Soviets and the Americans are forced to make amends.
A grear science fiction thriller which I would recommend to all.
This is the first book I have read by this author, being a general fan of science fiction and less so fantasy, I enjoyed it a lot. It begins with a child wailing after a serious natural disaster on her planet, but she is not wailing like a normal child does. Only telepaths can hear her wrenching cries and it is made clear to the reader from the beginning of the book that the Rowan (named after her hometown) is a "Talent" which immediately leaves her destined for a life learning to fine tune her talents. She is immediately noticed as one of the most powerful talents to come through Altair (the human colony world where she lives).
As the Rowan grows up and learns to use her talents under the watchful eye of the harsh Siglen, she feels incredibly lonely. A small electronic toy called a "Purza" is her best childhood friend and later a large cat. As she gets older, the Rowan tries to find out more about her past and looks towards a lonely future, before deciding to do something about it and there her life branches out.
I really enjoyed the Rowan's character, her stubborn will and her determination to not remain alone like the rest of the "primes" had before her made her paticularly likeable. It perhaps pissed me off a bit that she went on to have kids instead of becoming the most awesome prime in the universe (a spot which her husband got) but it was a good story. Recommend to any fantasy/sci fi fans.
This is an astonishing memoir of growing up in Catholic Ireland. I read this at about age 12 and loved it all through high school and decided it had been a good couple of years since I had read it so read it again.
The novel starts off with a four year old Frankie in the USA, and he tells the story of his very young years. His mother comes to the USA for a new life, before meeting Frank's father Malachy and Frank is born only a few months after his parents' marriage rendering him a bastard. The family moves to Ireland when Frank's little sister dies as just a baby. They travel through Dublin, visiting Malachy's family and end up in Limerick. The next part of the story chronicles growing up with an alcoholic father and surviving with not enough money for food and relying on grants from various Christian foundations and 'the dole' as well as living assistance where possible and IOUs from the grocery store down the road. The thing that makes this memoir so heartbreaking is that it is written from the perspective of his young self. Frankie tries to model himself on the masculine figure his father never was and is constantly under the watchful eye of his Catholic God and spends a lot of time in confession. He finds himself rejected from local high schools because of the family's low social status, rejected from being an altar boy despite knowing the Latin phrases back to front. His family are at constant threat from "the typhoid", "the galloping consumption" and other illnesses which are not made less likely when the family moves next to a sole lavatory in a street where sewage is emptied from the other houses in the lane daily.
The book continues as Frankie struggles as a 13 year-old to make a life for himself, with the over and above goal of leaving Ireland for the USA, he makes his living firstly as a telegram boy and then as a magazine deliverer. An especially amusing part of the book is when one of the magazines they deliver accidentally has a page advertising contraception, Frankie is made to rip out the pages of the magazines where they have been delivered, not having a clue what contraception is and sells these scandalous pages for a profit.
The Irish lilt is noticed throughout and this is something that draws the reader even more into Frankie's life and his dedication to becoming something different than his upbringing would have him believe. His father's Dublin accent is scorned throughout by the other families in the area. McCourt truly had (he died recently) a great gift for writing and for displaying events as they happened in his mind at the time which is something a lot of memoirs struggle with. This remains on my list of favourite books. I highly recommend it.
This is a book about the police investigation into the South Auckland rapes and the eventual capture of Joseph Thompson for the crimes that shook the entire country. I didn't expect a lot from this book, many books about serial rapists or serial killers that I have read go into far too much detail about the state of mind (in the author's opinion) of the perpetrator. This book was a lot more factual, being written by a journalist was probably a good start. Corbett delved into Joseph's childhood bouncing from one parent to another, to foster care and adoptive homes and finally out of the state's care when he was 18. Thankfully she does not place blame entirely on any part of his childhood for what was to come next but it did serve as an interesting insight on children who are largely forgotten by their parents.
The book then went on to depict the crimes that Thompson committed, and also described what the attacks had done to each of the victims. The emphasis here seemed to be on the fact that it affected all of them for the rest of their lives, I think it would have been useful to show that they were survivors as well as victims but the presence of anything at all about Thompson's victims was a good aside on the impact of victimisation.
Corbett also showed the intense police investigation that took place and eventually resulted in Thompson's capture. To begin with, it was difficult for the police to even get an investigation off the ground and towards the end of the investigation, media reports were aimed at the failure to catch the offender. This would have been one of the first cases to use DNA in New Zealand for the purpose it did and also probably one of the first to use criminal profiling techniques to catch the offender.
I would definitely recommend this book.
This is the third and final book in the trilogy of Tatiana and Alexander as they finally find their life in America, but there is still much more drama to come. To be honest, once I got about a third of the way through this book, I was completely sick of the series, sick of the characters who had no depth and sick of the endless unrealistic twists where the family still seemed to be constantly at risk. While I think the first or the second book of this series would have served in the place of all three, this may have been a circumstance where a publisher was demanding a trilogy. To me, the characters and plot lines were entirely dried up by this book and the author seemed to be clutching at straws.
That said, I am not doing the writing talents of this author justice. I am told, Tully which I have yet to read is absolutely amazing so I will hold off on that. I think I would have enjoyed this book far more, had it been written about characters or plots that I found more believable. The author did display interesting characters in Anthony and Vikki and also displayed an interesting twist for the reader near the end of the book. It did seem like the relationship, complex as it was between Tatiana and Alexander took up the bulk of the book and this resulted in too many characters being introduced too late in the book to end with a naive sense of sentimentality and a random discussion about a defence strategy that seemed to have no place with the rest of the book.
I did enjoy the flashbacks to Tania's childhood which provided a welcome relief from the constant drivel about the relationship. A love it seems that had to survive through rape, abuse and pure nastiness. A look back into Tania's childhood did answer some more questions about her character and I believe a more detailed look into her character and perhaps more of a building up of it would have done the book more justice.
Of the trilogy, I enjoyed The Bridge to Holy Cross the most as it provided the wartime memories which the first book was about as well as having a believable love story and a good ending.
This is probably my favourite book by this author. It tells the story of the town of Wide Acre and in particular of Julia Lacey who lives in the shadow of her aunt who was once the people of Wide Acre's leader but ended up destroying the town. Julia has dreams in which she is her aunt, and she also bears a striking resemblance to her. She grows up alongside her controlling younger cousin, Richard and they have promised as children that they will marry and make Wide Acre great again.
It is clear from the beginning of the book that Richard has a nasty personality, which can at first be passed off as childish bullying but continues well into his teens as his desire for his cousin grows. It is only after her forces her into carrying his child that a secret is uncovered which will change the fate of Wide Acre and of Richard's hopes forever.
The growth of Richard's character is done extremely well, from a child who seems to like bullying, to a teenager who hides behind a facade of goodness to an adult who will get whatever he wants. What can first be passed off as childish cruelty becomes suspicion of wrongdoing to the reader until it becomes clear what Richard's true intentions are. Similarly Julia's adoration for her younger cousin becomes damaging when she cannot find the strength to tell anyone what Richard has done to her or what she has been tricked into.
This story is as much one of love as one of extreme sadness with an emergence of hope. It shows the capability of humans to do great good as well as great evil.
This is the sequel to The Bronze Horseman, set in Russia and New York as Tatiana, believing her husband is dead attempts to forget her life in Russia and create a new life for herself and her son, Anthony in New York. Meanwhile Alexander is tried by the NKGB and placed in prison after prison before being released to a penal battalion continually forced into situations that seem impossible to remedy (which of course Alexander gets them out of being a big he-man hero and all). As the war draws to a close and Tatiana begins to see inconsistencies in Alexander's death, she begins investigating his disappearance. Her hope fades and she begins to make other personal relationships only to discover that despite having escaped a war that seemed inescapable, she is still faced with terrors she thought she had left in the Soviet Union.
After reading this book, I can definitively say that I think this could have served the purpose the first book did, as a love story. This is especially considering that it went over (in memories) the events of the first book, the necessary events that had created the scenario in this book. I also enjoyed this book far more than the first book, as the events it explained (in the first part at least) were far more realistic and were depicted in a far better way. However, I do not admire anyone who will leave their son with a friend to make their way to the communist Soviet Union, especially not if you are wanted there, as romantic as it is seen to be, I think it is also incredibly cruel to risk one's own life at the expense of a kid never knowing his mother or father but again I probably don't know enough to be making a blanket statement.Maybe my complaint on this is just indicative of the fact that the plot was very wind-y which can be good but did not suit the tone of this book, in my opinion.
I still enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it over and above the first book.
This is the sequel to another book (which I have not read) and outlines the life of the author's daughter who has autism and how she grows to further understand the world and come out of the "nirvana" of her autistic behaviours. The preface by the famous psychologist Oliver Sacks demonstrates that the detailed recordings Park has taken of her daughter's life contribute to what is probably the most full account of living with autism available to a person without it.
Park explores the journey with her daughter, from a barely verbal child to an adult with a penchant for painting. In one chapter she explores her daughter's growing vocabulary as well as some of the intricacies of the English language which are more difficult for Jessy (her daughter) to understand. Another chapter explores her fascination with numbers and her huge ability with mathematics in her younger years. What is paticularly magical is the excitement displayed in discovering a prime number. The book also analyses books which Jessy made herself as a child and throughout her teenage years, some of which go deeper than any column on human nature into how strange human practices and language are.
As Jessy learned about the world, her mother was able to explain how she is now able to hold down a full-time job and also sell her artwork, which I would describe as realist surrealism as weird as that sounds. The author is able to show the wonderful magic of autism which she calls nirvana and the confusion and exploration which contribute to exploring how things work in the real world. I would highly recommend this book as a detailed, structured account of living with an autistic daughter.
This book is a love story set during the time of the Nazi invasion of the (then) Soviet Union. Tatiana lives with her family in Leningrad and is sent out for food on the day of the announcement of the Nazi invasion. This is when she meets Alexander Belov, a captain in the Red Army who happens to also be going out with her sister. The story progresses and the Nazis get closer and closer to Leningrad until they barricade it off, leaving Tatiana and her family without necessary food and less necessary vodka. Alexander watches as rations decrease more and more and throughout the winter when people start to die. When Tatiana and her sister Dasha finally make it out, the story increasingly becomes a love story set against a backdrop of bomb blasts, low rations and the ever-present fear of discovery.
My (new) flatmate lent me this book. This series is one of her favourites. I enjoyed parts of it, and other parts less so. The book starts off realistically but as the love story spirals out of control so do the historical inaccuracies and the unlikely scenarios that Tatiana and Alexander find themselves in. A part of the book towards the end consists of 100 pages of just sex and nothing else. Although the desire in this book makes sense, the presence of this and the absence of any other part of the setting made me believe it less. The two main characters, for me, were also not believable. Tatiana seemed to reserve herself and then dramatically come out of her shell, she then fell pregnant after months and months of starvation. Some people are incredibly fertile, but not that fertile. The likelihood that she could then also suffer what she did and come out nearly unscathed was also unrealistic.
Despite this, I do realise that this story was above all a love story. The love part was done very well and with a good accuracy for the time (the notion of Alexander owning Tatiana did niggle my inner feminist a bit but it was like that back then I imagine). The continued reference to the book of poems which serves as hope not just through the poetry but also through the secretive storing of money was a nice image. The descriptions of Leningrad also built a good picture in my head and I would say they are also accurate as Simons grew up in Leningrad. I would recommend this book but people should keep in mind it is fiction, it is unrealistic in parts and it is above all else a love story. I'm currently reading the sequel.
This book became a classic on its publication in the early '70s, encapsulating the drug culture of that time and the resulting happenings. Thompson sets out to find the American Dream with his attorney while covering a motorcycle race in Las Vegas. The book is riddled with confusion, as the effect of the mescaline, pot, ether, rum, acid, amyls and tequila start to take force and the journey to get a story instead becomes a drug-induced mission which has no beginning or end.
Of course the book has been criticised and the sheer amount of drugs being ingested result in near (if not complete) drug-induced psychosis. Thompson, however, doesn't paint the picture as beautiful necessarily but includes every lurid detail, such as the state of the hotel room after only a few days of occupation and the several (although never-ending) collection of cancelled credit cards which he somehow manages to get away with using, without the police being called.
Perhaps one of the more amusing episodes in the book is when Thompson and his attorney stop off at a drugs conference which they find dated and boring. Posing as undercover police officers they weave tales from their imagination and several sober minds are persuaded by the two as to the despicable state of policing the drug scene. There is one part of the book written as a transcript (as according to the editor it made no sense), it's very amusing and the book is filled with black humour showing that although they had a wild time, you would not have wanted to be there with the knife-wielding attorney and Thompson himself who lives in a web of paranoia that the police are coming to get him (fair enough as they sometimes are).
The American Dream is found in the end, or not found as the case may be. Hidden inside you and if you want it you can have it. Although this book is filled with confusion, that is one thing that becomes clear by the end. This definitely gives an insight into drug-addled America in the 1970s in a similar way to Wolfe's The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. This book should be read, no matter what your beliefs simply because (as cliched as this sounds) it's a classic.
This book is a memoir written by a well-known writer of fiction. She attempts to recount her life from early to present and she does this astonishingly and amazingly. The early part of her life is masked in conceit, from a father who is one day replaced by a step-father and she is never told why, to bullying at school and a strange set of symptoms which come and go but are never diagnosed.
She then takes us through her high school years at a Catholic grammar school where she eventually becomes head girl before going to London School of Economics to study law, here she finds happiness in her studies but a lack of money means she eventually moves to Sheffield to go to university there and finds an environment wholly unaccepting of women, it is here that she falls deeply ill and the medical profession fails her, diagnosing a woman who won't shut up about pain as psychologically ill and she learns to grin and bear what would have been unbearable pain.
The ghosts in the book come as she learns the real reason for her sickness throughout her life, she is rendered infertile and the children she can never have haunt her life and become pieces of the past that never existed.
The book is separated into five parts, each detailing different stages of what parts of her life she can remember. The writing is beautifully crafted, at times with black humour and at other times horribly sad. Some parts of her life, such as her relationship with her husband that breaks up and reforms are never explained in as much depth as her feelings towards certain people and the denials she has received during her life.
I don't think I'm giving this book credit, I highly recommend it.
Last year, my friend Serra got me bound editions of eight of Janet Frame's books to read which I did in quick succession. I started to really appreciate the way she writes, I'd grown up knowing who she was, rather famous in New Zealand and saved at the last minute from getting a leucotomy, a practice rampant in mental health in NZ long after other countries had stopped using it. All of Janet Frame's books seem to be part-auto-biographical in a different way, they definitely all mirror someone she knows.
This book is about an author who goes to stay in a house in Berkeley where a couple has agreed to let her use their house while they are away in Italy. When they die in an accident and everything is left to her, four friends of the couple comes to stay and it is at this point in the novel that the real and imaginary start to collide. We are taken on journeys with each of the characters, all connected to NZ somehow but all with different backgrounds. Although the main character is quite silent, you begin to wonder how she knows everything about each of the characters.
As usual Frame in this book draws on her own experiences, as well as that of ex-pat New Zealanders and the experience of living in a country so cut off from the rest of the world (especially pre-email etc.). Frame teaches us in this book to look beyond first impressions and takes us on a journey through a vivid imagination. As with all her other books, I highly recommend this.
Along with Another Roadside Attraction, this is probably my favourite Tom Robbins book. It explores the life of a teenage girl who also happens to be a princess of a country ruled by a military junta. She lives in Seattle with her parents and by the time that book starts she is already bored with her protected life and after a miscarriage in the middle of a cheerleading gig decides to go to Hawaii to attend a festival which is intent on saving the earth.
In the book, Princess Leigh-Cheri learns a lot about herself, and also discovers the origin of all true red-heads like herself (we are a special breed you see). An interesting character is also found in her chaperone Guileta who attends to her charge's underage drinking and secret meet-ups while also able to not speak English. Possible the funniest part is the fact that her parents, the King and Queen of the home country are prevented from going home and dumping the military junta as the USA supports it (sounds a little familar). Her love interest, known as Woodpecker the outlaw also becomes an important part of the plot as he dodges policing officials the world over.
As per usual, Robbins never stops surprising you or adding a new element to this book, such as the origin of the picture on the front of a packet of Camel cigarettes and how it relates to the picture on a NZ $1 bill, and it's not the Illuminati either. Read this book and be entertained for days (or one day if you couldn't stop reading it like me). By that token, I don't think I've been disappointed by any book Robbins has written but I definitely do have my favourites.
I read this book as a teenager and enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it another read. I haven't read any Jane Austen in awhile so adjusting to her vivid descriptions and endless outflow of characters was a challenge in itself. Emma is a young woman from a superb pedigree who lives in a small rural village caring for her father. It's clear from the beginning that Emma considers herself rather intelligent in the field of social complexities but the events of the book soon prove her wrong when she takes Harriet, a younger woman from a Ladies School under her arm and seeks to make her the perfect marriage.
It's quite funny assessing Emma's opinions of things in this book and always knowing that they are sorely mistaken. She is an entertaining character if nothing else and never seems to doubt her own notions of things. Her father is only mentioned a few times, a man with arthritis I think as he complains of having cold bones throughout the book. Jane Fairfax, a woman who Emma really never gets to know is another important character, not quite so prone to the gossip of country life as any of the other characters.
As usual in her books, Austen makes the plot enjoyable, the characters intriguing and the relationships (to me) seem built on nothing but maybe that is just a product of the time or maybe it is because Austen chose not to explain them in depth. Nevertheless, probably one of my favourite Austen books.
This book documents the amazingly distressing story that occurred in the National Women's Hospital from the 1960s onwards where cervical cancer patients were virtually experimented on, and as a result many died or suffered extraordinarily long with a disease that could have been treated at the first instance. Since the writing of this book, a couple of pieces of information have been corrected, I am unsure as to what exactly these are but the substance remains the same.
As Coney suggests, although one doctor was at the centre of the research, the problem lay with the hospital itself and the various obstacles that were surpassed to allow such a thing to take place initially. The fact that it also went on despite protests from doctors and nurses alike is also testament to the lack of follow-up and checking involved especially considering many people knew that Dr Green's methods were not used by any other doctor in the world.
Coney tells this story very well. A lot of people perceived the whole thing (wrongly) as a feminist witchhunt but Coney tells the story impartially and fairly throughout even mentioning some of the more amusing comments she received about her political beliefs. It also showed that no one person was held to account but it was a more systemic failure.
Highly recommend this book to any New Zealander, shocking and well thought out.
This is a sequel to the book Case Histories reviewed awhile ago. I'm not sure I like it quite as much but it was still a good read. In this book, Jackson (the PI) follows his girlfriend, Julia (also from Case Histories) to Scotland. The book begins with a man witnessing an incident of road rage and saving the victim. He is a crime writer himself and is stunned at how he enters into the spotlight when the press learn of this fact. The plotline continues with murders, spies, attacks, illegal human trafficking and other misnomers which all seem to lead to Jackson becoming a suspect.
Soon after this however, the policewoman in charge doubts his guilt and enlists Jackson's help to solve the crimes. We are meanwhile further introduced to Martin, the witness of the original attack who is subject to the murder of a friend staying with him, he is also confusingly involved in the crimes and finds himself also under suspicion but his nerdy, awkward character seems to sway the suspicion away. We are also introduced to the policewoman and new love interest, Louise as well as her slightly-off-the-rails teenage son who has somehow ended up with some highly illicit material.
The good thing about this book was that it wasn't full of untimely coincidences like many books of its type are. As it came to a close, all the plot twists made sense but it didn't enthrall me quite as much as its pre-decessor.
Another book that got lent to me. One thing I should say is that I love memoirs, a lot of my favourite books are memoirs, I'm not sure if it's because it adds the human element in more or what but I love them. This one tells the tale of a women with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Tourettes Syndrome. I don't know about you, but the first thing I thin of when I think of Tourettes are vocal tics, despite knowing they are incredibly rare. This book dispelled many of the notions about both OCD and Tourettes and showed how the combination of them contributed towards Wilensky's life.
Her life is covered from childhood (pre-diagnosis) to being diagnosed to her life now and how she copes with her disorder. In her childhood, Wilensky was continually subject to taunts for her motor tic which seemed to constitute a jerk of the neck by her family and in particular her father. People also found it difficult to understand why she was obsessed with stepping on lines or counting to a certain number, although many people have heard of OCD and Tourettes, they only know the manifestations seen in the media and cannot think outside the square.
When she finally seeks psychiatric help, and with her diagnosis faces the battle of knowing she can be partially cured by medication but also not being sure whether it will change who she is by changing how she acts. One thing I loved about this book is that unlike many memoirs, it wasn't extremely emotive. It would have been a difficult position to be in, but Wilensky seemed to face it with a strength of mind that many would envy.
Highly recommend it.
I have been reading, just not updating due to an influx of before mid-term tests. Anyway this book was lent to me by a friend. It was I thought a pretty good description explored in different perspectives when Dana a male-female transexual about to receive a sex change operation tells his (will refer to as his until post-sex change otherwise I get confused) girlfriend and the wider community becomes aware of it. The story is also punctuated by excerpts of a radio show on transexuality and gender dysphoria.
Allie, Dana's girlfriend goes through highs and lows confused about her own sexual orientation through the process of Dana's transformation. Her daughter, Carly who has gone off to college adjusts to the news and tries throughout the book to create her own concept of gender which is so fluid yet seems so stringent. The struggles of Dana are also told, depressive teenage years, parents who don't understand and a final acceptance. These characters are all very real, the story very poignant and it also shows the reaction people can have to something which even in this day and age is widely misunderstood. It's also effective that Dana, once a female attempts to maintain her relationship with Allie and also is forced to confront her own sexual orientation, which is also quite fluid.
This book I thought did a very good job of exploring how a sex change operation affects both the person undertaking it, and more widely the people around. I highly recommend it.
I actually read this novel when I was a teenager but didn't remember it very well. I've also seen the film which is amazing just like the book. It weaves a story of the 2nd World War and its effects in both Italy and Greece, and paticularly on the Greek island of Cellaphonia during its Italian occupation and then after Italy and Nazi Germany split after Mussolini was overthrown. It contains blissfully humourous rants and raves which really make you question the dictator's sanity or even humanity. The book starts off with a young woman, Pelagia and her father Dr Iannis who treats the island's various ills. It takes you through the war experiences of Mandras, a love interest who finds out the true valor that lies in being a soldier. It also gloriously features one of the most loveable characters, a gay soldier named Carlo.
The story takes a twist when Captain Corelli is stationed at Cellaphonia and is living in Dr Iannis' house. A love story begins to unfold with the complexities of loyalty to Greece torn with the occupation by Italy. All the characters suffer as the war takes more of a hold and all are portrayed in different ways. The mandolin played by Captain Corelli is seen as a beautiful thing among all the ugliness which is also helped by a choir of Italian and German soldiers. One of the more interesting characters was a German soldier, eventually forced to betray his Italian friends in the name of his country. There is such a readiness these days to label all Nazi soldiers as evil but the German soldier's uncertainties and complexities are also shown especially towards the end of the book.
The bit that annoyed me was the end, all very romantic and everything but so idealistic which I suppose is an element of the time the book was written for. However, the language throughout the book, the new characters introduced and the historical accuracy are things that makes this book such a stellar read. A must-read if you haven't already, a true classic.
This book was simply epic, following the life of Mira, a woman who grows up and experiences the second wave of the feminist movement firsthand. Mira grows up in the confines of her parents' expectations where she is expected to stay a virgin and marry well. Despite being an incredibly smart child, no one around her ever suggests that she go further with her education and it is simply expected she will become a housewife. Through her marriage she experiences no pleasure in sex, days filled with hard work taking care of children and cleaning the house; she is expected to have dinner on the table and the house spotless when her husband, and aspiring doctor comes home from work. Socially, in her working class neighbourhood there are friendships and relationships that remind me a bit of the TV show Desperate Housewives with affairs and secrets going on left, right and centre. One of her close friends also begins going to university which at the time she thinks is simply shocking but her viewpoint changes throughout the book.
The characters are one of the startling parts about this book. All the characters are portrayed in the book at different times in their lives with different evolving beliefs. Many of the characters' fates show how damaging and tiring the role of a housewife was when it was more prevalent back in the 1950s and 60s. Only when Mira's marriage breaks up and she decides to go to university and gets into Harvard does she meet the people who are part of the student movement for civil rights and gender equality. She also meets the man who sees pleasing her sexually as important, in stark contrast to her husband who never cared. Returning home to her parents' house she finds herself not able to explain her life as it would shock them (divorce has already made her the shame of the family). Her two children who visit her regularly also become important as they symbolise the new generation, much more accepting of her life. It is at this stage of the book that she becomes what she wants to be and who she wants to be, ignoring the people who will not support her.
It also showed some of the class that came to be known as 'radical feminism' and the events that leads one of Mira's best friends to distrust men totally. Throughout the book many of Mira's friends have their lives changed for the worst by reliance on and trust in men. This book is truly a work of its time. At times it has you laughing, and at other times crying and the characters are built up continually through their experiences and discussions as well as their secrets and discomforts. I absolutely loved this book, truly poignant and emotion provoking. Some have criticised it as being a bit too radical, but it wasn't just about bad men, there were also good men and it showed some of the reasoning behind the more radical facets of the movement.
Please, please read this book I can't recommend it enough. You will laugh, you will want to cry and it will open your eyes. I also recommend another of her books Our Father which is similarly sad and amazing.
Recommendation for this book came from again my Criminology class recommended reading list which has so far proved wonderful. Scully takes a group of convicted rapists serving time for their crime and uses a control group of convicted felons (non-sexual crimes). Even more interesting I feel would have been another control group of "normal" people i.e. not incarcerated. The prison culture could well have affected opinions of felons who would have previously answered differently, maybe.
I enjoyed the parts of this book that were related to the gender expectations of the men and how these related to the normal felons. Very, very interesting. She put the men into two groups - "admitters" and "deniers," surprisingly many of the admitters still managed to find what they saw as excuses for committing their crimes, and had higher rates of traditional views of women than the common felons, while the deniers had even higher rates. It was also mentioned that the more educated the rapists were, the less likely they were to view women traditionally as something to be owned and used.
This is probably the most interesting study on sexual violence I have read to date. It gives in-depth explanations of the difference of thinking between different types of criminals, again I would be interested in an expansion to also include the general public. Understandable this would take a great deal of time. Unfortunately it's virtually impossible to do a study on all rapists without replying on self report data that can be unreliable so although this was only a study of those convicted it was still interesting to see the tip of the iceberg of sexual offenders.
This book written in 1992 encompasses the debate still around today about the legal system in all Commonwealth countries. Helena Kennedy QC, who rose through the ranks of the legal world in Britain gives an educated view on the need for change in the seemingly alien culture of the British courts.
The book starts with the discussion of the technicalities of being a lawyer when she graduated. The legal system was divided into inns, someone's knowledge as a lawyer was judged by how many dinners they attended at these inns and where they sat as well as how able they were in responding to criticism often from chauvinistic male counterparts. This reflects what was an issue in many Commonwealth countries that had taken the model of the English court system, only in the last ten years was the infamous wig taken away from lawyers, this perhaps explaining the prevalence of the generation of old white men who took over the judiciary in the 1960s and 70s desparate to maintain morals in a changing society.
One of the most interesting parts of this book for me was the discussion on the use of the partial defence of provocation. As has been proved in a recent case in New Zealand, it is far more likely to be of use to men claiming a women was attacking them, than women who when they commit murder often kill a spouse in their sleep after years of violent, sexual and psychological abuse. Many cases were highlighted to show that the law of provocation could only be used if the action was directly after another action, and would not work for women who had suffered extreme trauma at the hands of spouses. It shows the discrepancies in the legal system, when a woman killing her cheating husband who insults her sexuality goes to jail, while a man goes free who murders a women for the same reason as it seems men are seem as beyond control when sex is involved.
There was also a vivid discussion of racial discrepancies in the English courts. Black women for example are more likely to be considered immoral, less likely to receive probation and more likely to be torn apart by prosecuting council for being immoral and unwomanly. The same goes for immigrants, who are often criticised by judges and even asked whether they would support England in a cricket game as evidence of their immorality. Women lawyers of different races are also open to disgusting criticism often from judges about whether they represent the real English law - I suppose by that saying do they represent the old white men who until recently all but controlled the profession.
One thing I liked in particular about this book was that it wasn't upfront radical feminism, Kennedy reiterates throughout the book that many of the things which apply to women in courts can also be damaging to men, and can be a reason why abused men do not come forward. The last chapter summarised well what changes need to be seen in Commonwealth systems before they can be truly just.
Would highly recommend this to anyone, funnily enough it was on a recommended reading list for a Criminology paper I am taking and illustrates well what needs to be addressed and the countless injustices which have been served on both men and women.
This book which apparently differs greatly from anything else this author has written tells the story of a middle-aging man Lou who suffers from autism. The point of this book is not necessarily that he suffers though: he holds down a good job in analysing patterns, he attends fencing classes once a week and has a love interest and he associates with other autistic people who also work with him. The trouble comes when a boss at his company tries to force the employees into a new treatment which is said to have reversed autism in apes.
Up until this moment, Lou's place of work has created an environment which suits the needs of its employees. They have their own private gym and are not expected to interact too much with those who they call 'normal' people. One of the amazing lessons of this book is what constitutes being normal and how Lou discovers through his studies that he is relatively more normal than anyone thinks. Despite this he still faces difficulties in tasks that he thinks other people have no difficulty with; going through airport security, purchasing dinner and changing his stringent routine which sees him arrange his week with different tasks on each day.
This book is set in the near-future. A cure for autism in fetus development has been found and Lou and his colleagues are some of the youngest people who were born too early to take advantage of the treatment. Chips can also be implanted in people's brains to prevent criminal behaviour shunning the need for jails. Lou finds himself questioning what exactly the speed of dark is and this comes in at the end when he tries to decide if he wants change and what he is willing to sacrifice to follow his dreams.
I don't feel this review has done the book justice, I absolutely loved it and would recommend it far and wide.
This was recommended to me by my father in the library, he said it's a "classic" that I can't miss. Fred Hoyle was a renowned astronomer and physicist who wrote books as well, science fiction books. For this reason, I found this book extremely interesting, all of the fiction was backed up in scientific theory and often scientific fact. Some of the sections of the book even had footnotes where an equation to work something out was showed or similar.
The "black cloud" referred to in this book is one spotted by astronomers who seeing what effect it is going to have get a government-funded sanctuary to further research its effects and why it has come so close to Earth that it is in the same orbit around the sun. The characters are pretty delightful. I mentioned to my father at one stage the evident dislike of politicians, especially by Kingsley who has organised the sanctuary. My father then told me that this is shown in most of Hoyle's books, although there is always at least one likeable politician apparently.
This is definitely science fiction of the purest kind. Unlike Asimov, Scott Card or Clarke, Hoyle makes all of the events closer as her manages to ground them in explanations about what they mean. The characters become more and more engrossed as the book goes on and this results in an astonishing twist. I paticularly liked the inclusion of the character Joe, a simpleton who later features in an important part of the book.
Would highly recommend to anyone, paticularly if you are a space geek like myself.
To be honest, I've read quite a bit of this guy's work and this has been my least favourite so far. It tells the story of the worst day of a woman's life followed by a weekend which progressively gets stranger and stranger. Nothing about Robbins' books conveys a normal sense of what you would expect in a fiction novel. There is no over-reaching plot, climax or distinct characterisation but rather a combination of unreal and extenuating circumstances. This is what makes his books so different and so fantastic.
In this one, after a stock market crash before the Easter weekend, a stockbroker, Gwendolyn stresses about her future. We then follow her from looking for her boyfriend's pet monkey who has escaped and getting to know another man, Larry Diamond who attempts to expand her purely stock-oriented mind and searching for her friend Q-Jo who is a tarot card reader who has mysteriously failed to turn up home and cannot be found anywhere. Gwendolyn, over this weekend which she begins with what she believes is the "worst day of my life" discovers what she really wants; sexually, career-wise and for herself.
As usual, Robbins uses his brilliant prose and infinitely random mind in a new way. The book is full of metaphors and it wouldn't do me any harm to read it again just to remember some of the more brilliant ones. Plus monkeys are one of my favourite animals so that also helps.
I read a book by this author a couple of years ago while house-sitting called Blue Diary. I'd been told her work was a bit like that of Jodi Picoult. While they both examine contemporary issues and both write fiction, the similarities seem to end there.
This book tells the story of two women, one who reads people's fortunes through tea leaves and one who seeks her aid one day. Lila (the fortune teller) has a past she has hidden from her husband and most others that know her that comes spilling out after she meets Rae, a young girl who's useless boyfriend has left her pregnant and almost penniless. Although Lila seeks to repel Rae no doubt because of her own memories surfacing, Rae keeps coming back.
There were a number of interesting components to this book, one being the art of fortune telling. When Lila begins to see things in the leaves she doesn't want to see her profession becomes a problem. Like the backyard of her and her husband's house, nothing will grow there. She is infertile and will never have the child she hopes for; until spurred by memory she seeks out the baby adopted out by her parents without her consent. This leads her on a journey to where her husband grew up.
The book was interesting in that it brought up a lot of issues that women have faced. Firstly that of being blamed for pregnancy and unwantingly having a baby adopted out to avoid shame on the family. It also looked at Lila's suicide attempt and how instead of reaching out her parents sent her away. Although she has stemmed the flow of emotion from the loss she has suffered early in life, when Rae comes along, all the emotion comes spilling out forcing her to remember her past.
Rae on the other hand is stuck in a relationship with a man who expects her to do what he says and then disappears at random intervals. He abandons the relationship for good when he discovers her pregnancy leaving her with no income or emotional support that she so desperately needs causing her to turn to Lila.
The book is written exceptionally well, the metaphors surface throughout the pages and the struggles gone through by these two women as well as the continuing support from Richard (Lila's husband) despite expecting the worst from him keeps it readable and as the lives are exposed, you can feel the grievance still suffered. I would highly recommend it.
Patricia Grace is arguably one of the best authors New Zealand has ever seen. I first read a short story by her in high school for NCEA called "Flower Girls" which slowly but surely exposed a dark side to a family, written between the lines. This novel holds a breadth of knowledge encapsulated in the viewpoints of four of the characters.
Gran Kura, the oldest character who acts as a grandmother tells her story throughout the pages starting from a childhood attending a school where speaking Maori was banned even where it was the only language a child knew properly. Her stories from childhood to adulthood and experiencing continuing disregard by government authorities, act as a poignant backdrop to the grievances that are exposed and that follow throughout the book. As an adult, she become a Maori language activist, seeking to never speak English again.
Tawera, the great-grandson of Gran Kura is perhaps the most interesting character in the book, his older sister died before she was even born and her eyes taken out for studies by the hospital (of course without the permission of family). Tawera experiences a special bond with his sister throughout his childhood acting as her eyes which were stolen and never replaced. His childhood experiences are all coloured by her voice telling him to include her or to tell her what something looks like. To me, this story brought up the initial maltreatment of the first baby's death by the hospital and her spirit has stayed in the womb and attaches on to Tawera when he is born.
Paania, Tawera's mother loses her abusive husband in the same car accident that kills her first child. Her story is highlighted through the pages, firstly fighting against a husband who doesn't seem to care; secondly dealing with the loss of her first child; thirdly experiencing discrimination in her place of work and also watching Tawera grow up. Her role by the end of the book is furthered when she begins to address the grievances that her mother in law (Kura) has told her all about.
Mahaki is a lawyer working in a community office. After the council tries to sell the local iwi some land after having stolen it from them in the first place, he spearheads an attempt at peaceful protest against the council who will not accept their argument. This battle represents all the battles because of colour exposed throughout the book.
This book not only addresses characters in a phenomenal way but also shows the foundations of the Maori grievances that still exist until this day. Especially the anecdotes by Gran Kura show how a colonised race can lose out. You should read this book.
Imagine that other planets got to us before we got to the moon. Imagine that halfway through the space race, space travel came to a grinding halt when we were invaded by aliens. Aliens who appeared above us and watched over us with capabilities far beyond what humans had come to. This is the world that Clarke takes us to in this exceptional science fiction novel and if I had half the imagination of this man and half the scientific brain I would be a happy girl.
This novel written in 1954 takes you to a world where nothing is as it seems. As well as focusing on the scientific, there is also a huge part of the book dedicated to paranormal and psychic phenomena. As well as this, the human characters are developed through each passage of time after the invasion to the point where you find yourself almost being able to predict their movements.
Every chapter is also a surprise. In a book such as this, it is impossible to know where you will be taken next, to what time, to what people. This is done effectively throughout the book.
I would highly recommend this, especially if you are interested in science fiction. I also recommend by the same author 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This spectacular book is the first I have read by Atkinson and hopefully won't be the last, it tells the story of a Private Investigator looking into what at face value look like three completely different cases, all involving suspicious disappearances or deaths. These are outlined in case histories at the beginning of the book.
As the story grows the character of Jackson Brodie (the PI) is developed slowly and his past leading to his current profession becomes clearer and his rather gruff manner also begins to make a lot more sense. The other characters that appear throughout the book are developed piece by piece as if putting together an extremely complex puzzle. Two sisters looking into the never solved loss of their younger sister live out their grief in different ways, a man who has lost his favourite daughter tries to come to grips with why she was killed and a woman builds a new life for herself hiding a secret that no one can ever know.
The thing I loved about this book was the multiple storylines, every one explored fully and every one with its own twists and turns. The character development as mentioned before throughout the book was also most impressive and well placed. It came to a finish weaving all three cases together and shows the reader the complexities of loss and the terrible burden of guilt.
Would highly recommend this to anyone.
This thriller/crime story tells the tale of a family hunted by a savage killer who's crimes are both personal and terrifying. FBI Agent Pierce Quincy enlists the help of a private detective who he once shared a relationship with, Rainie. Together they try to hunt down this savage killer before Quincy's family evaporates before his eyes.
The whole of this book to me screamed "way too far-fetched." As much as I love books about serial killers, the plot of this book was stretched to fairly impossible odds in order to keep the excitement of the story going. More character exploration would have made a better book, as well as a better explanation of the work that actually went into finding the killer rather than over-dramatic by-storylines.
Despite this I would still recommend the book to you if you're a fan of thrillers, despite being completely unlikely it will keep you turning the pages.
This book features eight short stories written by an immensely talented author and all featuring Bengalese people settling into America, they also have a back story of loss.
The first story named the same as the title of the book features Ruma, a married woman with a child accommodating a visit from her father. Her mother, her father's companion has also recently died. Her father has left his job and started travelling the world. The reader is aware of a woman he has met on his trips but he feels he cannot tell his daughter. As well as detailing the loss of a wife and a mother, this story also goes into the splitting up of a family.
The second story named "Hell-Heaven" is told in the viewpoint of a girl who's family all but takes in a fellow Bengali man and whose mother slowly falls in love with him. When the man starts to form his own life, they separate barely ever seeing him any more. He builds a new life for himself and an unexpected invitation reveals the enormous differences between their adjustments to other countries.
In "A Choice of Accommodation" a recently married couples goes to a wedding at the boarding school of the groom (Amit) where his old crush is finally getting married. You can see from the beginning the trepidation they feel about the trip. Amit's past is explored, not being able to follow his dreams because of the expectations (of becoming a doctor) that his parents have in mind rather than his talent of journalism. The story is filled with the difficulties the couple experiences right until the end.
The next story - "Only Goodness" was one of my favourites. It deals with a Bengali family living in the USA with high expectations for their two children. It shows how Rahul (the boy) slowly turns away from the expectations of his parents experiencing problems that lead him to be an outcast in the family. His older sister Sudha feels responsible for introducing him to the ill he now deals with. The story comes to a sad climax at the end.
In "Nobody's Business" a young Bengali woman has a tumultuous relationship with a mystery man who from the beginning - possibly because of his own feelings for her - her flatmate suspects. When she goes on a trip, her flatmate is left to pick up the pieces of the secrets in their relationship causing her to eventually return to her senses or so it seems.
In the second section of the book, the two characters are related through three stories. Firstly when he comes back with his parents to visit, later his experiences and his life and finally when they come to meet one another once again.
All these stories are absolutely amazing and I highly recommend them all.
This book by Dr Oliver Sacks was first published in 1970. It is an astonishing and fascinating look at a set of cases in which severe neurological disorders are present. Sacks has helpfully grouped these. Although a lot of these people are completely able to function in life without too many problems, others spend their lives or the remainder of their lives stuck in homes or hospitals unable to function normally enough for society.
The first part of the book covers disorders which constitute loss. He covers several neurological cases which have come before him in which the person's perceptions are clouded. One case deals with a man who has a perfect memory but does not recognise faces; another with a man who is stuck in the past. With many of these patients, they are able to operate in their lives outside their disorders, sadly some of them (in particular a man who believes it is 1945) are stuck within their disorders and Sacks describes how some of these men have lost their spirit because nothing makes sense any more.
The second phase of the book deals with disorders of 'excess', including Tourettes Syndrome and other similar disorders. 'Witty Ticcy Ray' is one of the patients dealt with in this section, he finds that when the drugs to prevent his tics work he is lost, unable to be the same person he was before. After months of therapeutically working through the personality intrinsically linked to this disorder. The end result is the socially acceptable Ray of weekdays constrasted with the 'witty ticcy' Ray in the weekends, he finds by leading this double life that things are easier to accept. Again, Sacks is able to explore how, although these disorders seem debilitating they can become a way of life.
The third part of the book deals with disorders where a particular moment in time or memory becomes overly important. A few of the disorders dealt with in this part of the book occur with people hearing music that is only there to them. In on of these cases the music is taking the patient back to her childhood, although th music eventually stops. She thinks back to this time and misses it because of the happiness that remembering the music had brought her.
The last section deals with severe neurological disorders, where all of the patients described have IQs of under 60. Despite this, further investigation reveals magical things about them. A girl with sever psychomotor impairment who can barely walk or perform simple exercise is somehow able to dance when music is turned on. Sacks eventually puts her in a theatre programme where she soars once her special talent is brought out. Another case involving a pair of twins with a similar disorder, who do not understand mathematical symbols, he discovers that they play a game involving six digit prime numbers.
Although this book is quite dated, and some of the language especially in the last chapter is now not used any more, it is full of amazing cases. For a doctor, Sacks displays a rare talent to look beyond the case at hand and see more in people who have been diagnosed as having severe impairments. The book is written well, it is beautiful and especially the last chapter had me thinking.
Just to say: I love Margaret Atwood, her books are all beyond brilliant and I wish I was as brilliant as her, or even half as brilliant. This book, written early in her career was no exception. Telling a simple story of the nameless main character who journeys it seems almost to her past, the story itself is filled with endless metaphors as the identity of the main character is explored through interactions with others as well as a solitary existence, which beckons to her throughout the book.
The males in this book are outlined as harsh, both of them try to rape her throughout the book, she fights off both of them as she fights her past in distant places and in the place she has journeyed to. Every character is split open and their very being is questioned and explored in the roles they have given themselves.
This book deserves another read, the plot seemed simple but the metaphors which overlapped and interweaved themselves primarily through the characters made this book extremely complex. I would recommend it to anyone, especially if, like me you are a fan of Atwood.
