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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.
This beautifully written book tells the story of a girl raised in Chile by English merchants. She grows up learning all the ways of being a lady but finds the strong emotions of her mind beckoning her elsewhere. After the acquisition of California by the USA, people all around her including her first "true love" scramble to get on the boats to California inspired by the gold rush. Eliza finding herself heart broken decides to follow her heart - all the way to California.
One of the things that impressed me most about this book was the descriptive nature in which it was told. Every character had a background that remained essential to the plot, and to why they did certain things or did not do others. Interestingly, the man who ends up tending to Eliza when she is a stowaway on a boat (Tao) and Eliza herself both journey to where the gold rush is taking place but neither of them are there for gold. Eliza striving for the love she has lost and Tao not wishing to become rich without the work he believes in - a sort of healing practice. One of the things I took away from this book was the love Eliza held for years of a perceived gentleman, when what she doesn't realise is how much a person can keep hidden even when the depths of intimacy have been reached.
The ending of this book seemed in one way complete and perfect but in another way annoyed me a hell of a lot. Ends were tied up but not shown to the author although earlier references in the book let you know what happened when looking back on it. Would recommend this author and this book to anyone, I enjoyed this story immensely (far more than The Infinite Plan).
This book which was written in the beginning of a new era for Nietzsche is made up of a collection of aphorisms or statements separated into sections and subtitled almost like a book of reference. Obviously, the book was originally written in German and was translated with footnotes for better understanding. Firstly, I have to say that the footnotes were terrifically done, any Latin (or occasionally French) phrases were translated into footnotes when used by Nietzsche, and historical framework was also offered where necessary.
Human, All Too Human was written when Nietzsche was beginning to experience health problems. It attacks religion, moral feelings, human nature and how art and literature affects the human condition. There are several things I don't quite agree with obviously. Firstly, this book is overly pessimistic especially about the greater facets of human nature, but this also illustrates the break-up in friendships Nietzsche was experiencing at the time and was perhaps one of the founding documents of his nihilist doctrine. Some of the aphorisms did ring true to me though, and were definitely amazing opinions to have at the time.
This book was difficult to read, mainly because it's not a novel as some of his earlier works are. The index in this edition would be helpful as a quick resource - in a sort of "What would Nietzsche do" capacity.
