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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.
