Review: The Barforth Trilogy by Brenda Jagger (some of my favourite reads of all time)

The Clouded Hills by Brenda Jagger has the honour of being one of the best books I have ever read. I fell in love with this book as a teenager and I have never quite recovered.

The Clouded Hills is the first book of the Barforth Trilogy by Brenda Jagger, all of which are based around strong female characters who are struggling to find a sense of self and independence in the 20th century.

The Clouded Hills is set in early 19th century England at the time of the industrial revolution. The protagonist, Verity Barforth, is the daughter of the most prominent cotton manufacturer in Cullingford, a manufacturing town in Yorkshire. Her life is turned upside down when she suddenly becomes heiress to a fortune when her father and elder brother are killed by the workers of their factories when they attempt to introduce labour saving machinery that will see the loss of many jobs for the workers and subsequent starvation. All control is taken out of Verity's hands, and she soon finds herself married to her elder and incredibly ambitious cousin Joel Barforth.

The Clouded Hills follows Verity Barforth as she attempts to carve out an identity of her own in the face of opposition from the society in which she was born. It is her journey of self discovery and an attempt to find true love in world that seems determined to make sure that it can't be found.

What can I say? You may never read a better book. Not because it is a wonderful piece of literary fiction. Not even because you will learn more about the industrial revolution in the early 19th century than you ever knew before.

It is because if you are anything like me, you will fall in love with the characters. Their challenges will become your challenges, their disappointments will become your disappointments and their triumphs will become your triumphs. You will feel as though you there with them for every step of their journey. You will live the life of the people in the slums, as well as the lives of those in the manufacturing classes. You will become part of the early 19th century itself; understand its social, political and economic complexities and how these really affected the lives of women at the time.

The following two books in the Barforth Trilogy, Flint and Roses and The Sleeping Sword are equally as enjoyable as The Clouded Hills. 

Like The Clouded Hills, both books centre on a strong female character who is hindered by her sex, each in the generation following the one before.

In Flint and Roses, it is Faith Aycliffe, the daughter of Verity Barforth's (the protagonist in The Clouded Hills) counsin Eleanor. Little has changed for women in the interceding years between the two books, and Faith finds her abilities and desires must come second to the economic and social choices she must make about her future.

In The Sleeping Sword, it is Grace Agbrigg, Faith Aycliffe's niece who is the central protagonist. Like Faith and Verity before her, Grace finds that her own desires must come second to the reasoning she must apply when making decisions about her future, which are more about economics and social positioning than anything else. There is, however, a discernable change in the role of women by the late 19th century. Grace is able to make decisions somewhat more independently than the women who have come before. In fact, when she finds herself in a miserable and bordering on emotionally abusive relationship, is able to make the ultmate sacrifice and seek divorce from her husband. Although the consequences of this decision haunt her for the rest of her life because the change in social status it brings upon her, it is at least a sign that times are beginning to change for women.


It isn't, however, just the changes for the role of women throughout the 19th century that this trilogy focuses on. Through the three books, we also see the changes bought by the industrial revolution and developments in technology, public amenities and greater human rights. 

For me though, what I learnt most from all three of the books in the Barforth Trilogy that what women were really fighting for in the past was for independence of thought and action. Choice. An ability to make decisions for themselves and about themselves. That decision might in the end be a decision to conform to societal standards and expectations or it might not. But what counts is autonomy of person and reason.

8 / 8

Each of these books, but most especially The Clouded Hills, are some of the best books I have ever read. Everyone should read the - they totally amazing. I am in love. Although the first book definitely had the greatest impact on me, I am giving them each 8 / 8 stars.

Have you ever felt as though you have become part of the book while you were reading it? Which book did that for you? If you have read this book, how did you feel about it?



The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M Auel

I hate to say this. I really really do. So perhaps first I will say that if you are an Earth's Children fan who hasn't read The Land of Painted Caves yet, do not read on. I should also add from the outset (because I know that some people like a whole lot of analysis in their reviews, supported by excerpts from the text blah blah blah) but this is going to be much more like a rant than a review. So here we go.

This was bad. I know that the last few in the series were pretty bad too, but I really thought that Auel would have pulled something really good out the hat for the final book in the series, especially after having had decades to write it.

Instead, the story drags. On. And. On. Seriously, too many long journeys. Too many caves. Too long becoming a Zelandonii. Too much repetition. I mean, we get it. There is a family in the cave that does not look after their children. Zellandonii (Zolena) is fat and has trouble moving around. Jondalar is a jealous bloke with a bad temper. Ayla can't sing. The special Clan root she chews for the important ceremony is very dangerous. Ayla believes that babies come from men and women having sex and this is a revolutionary thought that will change history.

I had heard most of this in previous books, and those things that I hadn't, I heard in this book way too many times.

My bigger problem was that I felt as though the Ayla in this book was almost a different Ayla to the one in the previous books. I'm sorry, but there is no way on earth that Ayla would ever agree to kill someone, no matter what the circumstances. And Ayla as a mother in this book just didn't feel right. It felt right with Durc, but not with Jondayla. Maybe it was just the stupid name, but there was no connection between them. It felt like Jondayla was a plot device rather than a real person. I want my characters to feel like real people.

Honestly, towards the end I was skimming the book, not reading it.

I'm glad that I read the book, and somehow I think that I could still recommend the series to people, because the first book connects with you so much (and the second and third books in my view) that it is worth reading the rest of the series just to experience how wonderful the story of Ayla and Jondalar can be.

I just wish that Auel had written a shorter and more concise series (and final book) that did her otherwise wonderful characters justice.

(I know this becoming a habit now, but again, this book won't get a star rating. If you read this series, you will eventually read this book, so there's little point trying to capture my feelings in a rating system.)

What did you think of this final book in the series? Were you as disappointed as me? What do you think happened? How is possible to start off a series so well and finish so badly?

Document Z by Andrew Croome (Australian)

As naive as this is no doubt, I have never imagined Australia having much of a political underbelly, so to speak. I know from my own professional experience that there is often more going on underground in society than we imagine, but political espionage and spying isn't something that I immediately associate with Australia. Who could possibly be that interested in a country like ours and what could be interested in about other country's secret political 'going ons'?

Andrew Croome's Vogel Prize winning (2008) novel, Document Z, certainly gave me some insight into this question. It is centred around the Petrov Affair, an incident in Australian history that took place in 1953, deep into the Cold War era. Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov were Russian diplomats, who came to work at the Russian Embassy in Canberra in 1951 and both of whom were functioning as spies for their motherland, albeit in different capacities. When Stalin passes away in 1953, Vladimir defects from Australia without his wife's knowledge – leaving her to make an almost impossible decision about what step she should take in response to her husband's actions.

My knowledge of the Petrov Affair was shamefully limited. Non-existent in fact. Although Document Z was a fictionalised account of their story, I learnt a lot about a rather dramatic and important incident in Australia's political history.

I saw Andrew Croome speak about this book at a Sydney Writers Festival event a year of two ago and at the time I greatly admired his enthusiasm for his subject and the lengths that he had gone to research the Petrovs, including listening to secret recordings made of the couple which are still available to be listened to in the National Library (from memory). His enthusiasm was infectious at the time and so I was very much looking forward to reading the book.

Document Z seems to be creating detailed portraits of the players in the Petrov Affair. We learn a lot about Vladimir (or 'Volodya' as he is referred to throughout most of the book) and Evdokia and about their relationship. There is Michael Biogulski, a Polish emigrant doctor who spies for both sides of the political fence according to whatever suits him best, and to whom Vladimir eventually shares his intention to defect. We see ASIO's spy network in action through Michael Howley, who assists in the defection.

Whilst I appreciated what Croome was trying to achieve in writing this book, and whilst I feel as though I learnt a lot in a short period of time about a point in Australia's political history I previously knew nothing about, I never really connected with this book.

The plot was rather too slow for my taste. In my view, it was the death of Stalin that really instigated the political events that ultimately lead to Vladimir Petrov seeking political asylum in Australia, and until this event occurs in the book, little else happened. Although Croome spends a long time really trying to get inside the various players in the Petrov Affair, I didn't connect with any of the characters and couldn't really identify with them in any real way. Their experience was so far from my own that whilst I could appreciate what life must have been like for them on an intellectual level, my emotions were left unaffected. This, combined with the lack of action until towards the end of the book, meant that although I enjoyed reading the book, it never really drew me in.

Image from Wikipedia

There was nothing political about it. There was no underlying message. There was no real sense of drama. Croome produced a well written book, but also a book that didn't go out on any limbs. I think that it would have been a better book if Croome had taken more risks somehow or been a bit edgier.

The one aspect of this entire Petrov Affair that I was fascinated by was the experience of Evdokia Petrov. You will see that in the body of this post I have inserted an image of Evdokia Petrov being escorted to a plane by armed Soviet Guards following the defection of her husband. Evdokia Petrov was being forcibly removed from Australia, to return to Russia to face punishment for her husband's actions – an event which sparked anti-Communist demonstrations throughout Australia I believe, and certainly at the airport from which she was leaving. In her final moments in Australia, she was then forcibly removed from the Soviet Guards by ASIO and made the agonising decision to defect alongside her husband.

It is her story that I find the most fascinating element of the entire Petrov Affair, purely on a personal, rather than political, level. What was she thinking? How did she feel? What thoughts were going through her mind? In the image you can see how close to collapse she seems – with her hand on her heart, one shoe missing and an agonised expression on her face. If Document Z had been solely from her perspective I think I may have had a stronger emotional response to the story, but then it would have been a completely different story altogether.

5.5 / 8 Enjoyable and well written. Worth reading if you have the opportunity but there's no need to prioritise it unless you have a particular interest in learning about an important incident in Australian political history.  

I would love to know what you thought of this book if you have read it. Were you able to identify with any of the characters? How much do you rely on the truth of the history contained in books that fictionalise true historial events like this one?

The Sinkings by Amanda Curtin (Australian debut novel)

The Sinkings is Australian author Amanda Curtin's debut novel. If you are looking for a distinctive book which encompasses historical and contemporary Australian life and deals with challenging issues, then this is a book for you.

There are two central characters in Curtin's debut novel, The Sinkings. The first is Little Jock, a convict found brutally murdered in 1882. Then there is Willa, an out of work editor who is attempting to come to terms with the disintegration of her own family. She becomes obsessed with the story of Little Jock when she learns that his deceased body was at first identified by a medical expert as that of a woman. Little Jock is intersexed (a hermaphrodite), and by exploring his life, Willa attempts to come to terms with the guilt she feels about her own intersexed child.

The chapters in The Sinkings alternate between the story of Little Jock and Willa so that the reader has an insight into both their lives.

Through the character of Willa, Curtin explores the reality of dealing with the birth and raising an intersexed child. Willa has had to make some difficult decisions and is being suffocated by guilt and self-doubt as her family falls apart under the pressure of dealing with such a difficult situation. Researching Little Jock's life becomes a took through which Willa can begin to come to terms with the decisions she has had to make on behalf of her daughter, decisions that her daughter has ultimately come to resent.

It was the story of Little Jock, however, that really grabbed my attention and was the highlight of the book. I was fascinated with his journey, which began as a little girl in Ireland to his being adopted as young boy by an English family. Living in poverty leads him to life of crime which ultimately sees him transported to Australia as a convict. The story then follows his struggles as he tries to hide his true identity and make a life for himself.

Curtin does so many things really well in The Sinkings. Her depiction of convict life was honest and she created a very interesting character in Little Jock. Her exploration of the realities for people born intersexed and their families was fascinating, and it was clear that life for those that are intersexed is no less difficult now as it was in the past, albeit perhaps in different ways.

The Sinkings was a good mix of history and contemporary life, although I do have to admit that I would have enjoyed the book just as much, if not more, if it had been solely about the life and death of Little Jock.

This was a wonderful debut Australian novel and one that I would recommend if you have the time.

 

5.5 / 8

Enjoyable and well written. Worth reading if you have the opportunity.

Do you enjoy reading debut novels? What is it that you like or don't like about them?

Every Secret Thing by Marie Munkara

Marie Munkara's Every Secret Thing is a very special Australian book – but one that, because of its universal themes, I would recommend to all readers regardless of nationality.

Every Secret Things explores the reality of life for Indigenous Australian's during the missionary era of Australia's history. The story itself is a short novel, that plots the history of a mission in northern Australia, and the conflicts between The Bush Mob, The Mission Mob and the Catholic missionaries that staff the mission.

This book deals with culture, religion, faith, sex and family – and traces how the traditions of the Bush Mob are slowly wiped out by the interfering missionaries.

Munkara has firsthand experience of this cultural deterioration, being a member of the Stolen Generation, that is, the generation of Indigenous children that were removed from their families in the name of integration (to read more about the Stolen Generation click here).

Every Secret Thing is a short novel, but it reads more like a series of comic short stories that recount events that occur in and around the mission. Munkara's direct and sarcastic approach to telling these stories is for the most part laugh out loud funny. She uses her sense of humour to expose the harsh realities of everyday life for both the Bush and Mission Mobs.

The book, however, becomes increasingly distressing as the narrator (or author,however you want to think about it), adds her own commentary to events unfolding.

"And even though the eighth commandment stated quite clearly that it was very naughty to steal, the mission mob ignored this too and stole the things that were dearest to the bush mob’s heart. They stole their resistance to change and they stole their belief in themselves and they stole their children. Because each black soul that was harvested and each child that was appropriated was another rung higher up the ladder to heaven for Father and his crew and another step closer to salvation from this cesspool of earthly temptation and sin."

For me, the true message of this book culminated in the isolation felt by one of these stolen children, who manages to return to the mission years later, only to find that she can longer relate to her family.

I have seen Marie Munkara speak about Every Secret Thing at the Sydney Writers Festival 2010, and also heard her discuss her book on the ABC Radio National Book Show (if you want to listen to this click here) - and is a down to earth lady with a lot of interesting and important things to say.

In 2008 Every Secret Thing won the David Unaipon Award for the best unpublished Indigenous Writing – an award this book certainly deserved.

Please read this book.

7 / 8

Brilliant, enjoyable and well written. Highly recommended.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

I know that I will probably be in the minority when I say this – but Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys was boring. I know that isn't very analytical of me – but it's my blog – and I will be as unanalytical as I like!

As you heard in my last review (of sorts), I loved Jane Eyre. It has gone straight into my list of favourite books of all time (you can see the others in my widget on the sidebar).

So, as you can imagine with my new found love of Jane Eyre and all the great things I had heard about Wide Sargasso Sea, I was very much looking forward to reading it.

Initially, I thought that it was going to be fabulous. The writing is amazing (I can't deny it and I don't want to) and the story seemed liked it was going to be equally as good. But as much as I could see the potential and admire the writing, I just didn't enjoy it.

Here are my biggest complaints: it was too slow. I felt like I had to push my way through the writing to get to the story (hope that makes sense) and when I got to the story nothing interesting was happening.

There was no resolution to any parts of the story. A friend of mine who read it at the same time as me thought that this could perhaps be explained by the fact that Rhys was making a comment on how everything is resolved so neatly in Jane Eyre and she is probably right. Having said that, I am just someone that needs answers at the end of a story.

There were too many endnotes. You know the notes that you have to flick to the back of the book to read? So annoying. I don't want to flip backwards and forwards every few pages for explanations about what I am reading. It ruins the flow mo-jo.

It was interesting reading about the colonial history of the West Indies as it is referred to, but not interesting enough make up for the slow moving story.

I very much understand and identify with Rhys's fascination with 'the woman in the attic' in Jane Eyre'. I admit myself to not being at all satisfied with Rochester's explanation of the situation and I never felt quite like I had closure on that issue in Jane Eyre.

Having said that, Wade Sargasso Sea didn't help me in any way to resolve me feelings towards the first Mrs Rochester's situation. I know Rhys didn't necessarily write it to provide me with closure, but it would have been nice.

I know that is all negative so I am sorry for adding to the negative energy out there in the world, but it had to be said.

3 / 8: Couldn't get into it but I finished it because I felt like I should.

Do you think I am crazy and that this is actually a fabulous book? I think perhaps most people feel like that.



Fugitive Pieces by Ann Michaels

Fugitive Pieces by Ann Michaels is a stunning piece of historical fiction that I both admired and was frustrated by.

It tells the story of people who's lives have been effected by the holocaust in some way. In fact, the book is told in two pieces; the first is narrated by a survivor of the holocaust, and the second by someone who's parents were effected by this historical disaster.

The first and main narrator is Jakob, a Jewish boy from Poland who finds himself hiding in the woods after his family and killed and taken to camps. He is rescued by a liberal minded Greek archaeologist Athos who hides Jakob throughout the war and raises his as his own son. The book follows Jakob as he reaches adulthood and he and Athos move to Canada and start a new life there.

The second narrator is a young man named Ben, who was born in Canada to parents who were themselves fugitives from the war torn Europe. Ben greatly admires Jakob's poetry and having met Jakob once, feels as though Jakob has had a significant impact upon his life.

There are definitely aspects of this book that I greatly admire; the most significant being the writing. The writing is vivid and flowing, it almost feels as though you are reading poetry rather than a novel. This style is perfectly suited to the task of exploring the effect of war on people who find themselves fugitives in some way or another from the disaster that it creates.

Having said that, this novel failed to win me over.

At times a little too much was left to the imagination. I felt as though there was very little story actually taking place. This in a way makes sense because you are primarily watching Jakob's life unfold - but the reality is just watching someones life unfold in pretty uninteresting. That's why in fiction there is usually a plot to keep the story moving along. The book needed more story, more action. It was just really sow at times.

Whilst I appreciated the idea behind having the two narrators, in the end I found it unsatisfactory and unnecessary. Jakob narrates almost the entirety of the book and it is not until right at the end that the second narrator takes over. By that time I had spent so much time reading about Jakob that I wasn't interested in what someone else had to say about him, especially someone seemingly so totally unconnected with him.

Fugitive Pieces won the Guardian Fiction Award in 1997 as well as the Orange Prize in 1997. It is undoubtedly a good book, with beautiful writing and important messages.

However, whilst I greatly admire the idea behind the story and Michaels's poetic writing, the story itself lacked enough content to thoroughly satisfy me.

5 / 8:
Good and worth reading if you have the opportunity, but there is no need to prioritise it.

I would be greatly interested to know if anyone else has read this book and felt as unsatisfied as I did, despite being able to acknowledge how wonderfully it is written?

The Day We Had Hitler Home by Rodney Hall (Australian fiction)

The Day We Had Hitler Home by Rodney Hall is one of the strangest books that I have ever read, and although I enjoyed it, I am really not sure what to make of it. 

Hall sets his story during and post-WWI. As a result of a mistake, a young Hitler arrives in a country Australian town at the conclusion of WWI, unable to see and unwilling to communicate with those that can offer him assistance. He is taken in by an average Australian family, consisting of the story's heroine Audrey McNeill, her elder sister Sibyl, Sibyl's womanising husband Immanuel and their adopted son.

However implausibly, Audrey then convinces her family that they need to help him flee the country, and she uses this as her excuse to escape the doldrums of her daily existence and begin a cosmopolitan life in Europe.

Whilst in her care, Audrey develops a fascination with and an attraction of sorts to Hitler - forming a relationship with him in her own mind that she continues to explore in a way once she arrives in Europe and until the rise of Nazism has an irrevocable impact upon her life and that of her lover's daughter.

It is the implausibility of this story that makes it so bizarre. How could Hitler possibly have found himself blind in an Australian country town? It seems to have no other purpose than to give Audrey an excuse to begin a new life elsewhere.

Is Rodney Hall trying to convey a deeper message in The Day We Had Hitler Home or is this book simply a comedy with a more serious edge?

The book certainly lends itself to comedy. Audrey is completely naive and totally absorbed with herself and Hitler plays the role of a slapstick comic relief character most of the time, a role that seems unsuited to the man responsible for WWII and the Holocaust.

I enjoyed this book; there was certainly nothing wrong with it and it was an interesting read, if bizarre. But it did leave me wondering what the point of it was?

5.5 / 8

Enjoyable and well written. Worth reading if you have the opportunity.

If anyone else read this book and can shed some light on this issue I would love to hear from you.

The Earth's Children series by Jean M Auel (a GREAT read)

The Earth's Children series by Jean M Auel is an ongoing historical fiction series about cro-magnon man. This series is many things; epic, romantic, dramatic... and frustrating. I recommend it to everyone.

This series of books is very special to me. My mother suggested I read it when I was in high school, and as soon as I read the first one (The Clan of the Cave Bear) I was hooked.

It is an immense saga set in prehistoric times, as cro-magnum's are coming into their own and neanderthals are dying out. Ayla is a cro-magnum, or an Other, but is raised by the neanderthals, or The Clan, after she is found by them as a young girl. The series documents her life; her trials and tribulations. She is made an outcast by the people she was raised by and goes on a journey to discover her true self and her people. Along the way she meets many wonderful characters, including Jondalar - her soul mate.

Ayla is also fated for some bigger role in the development of the human kind. She has some inkling that this is the case, but dreams of living a normal life with Jondalar and hopefully a family.

As yet, we don't know what will happen to Ayla, and that is because the series is incomplete.

There are five books in this series with the sixth and final book scheduled to be released next year. Auel began the series in the lat 1970's, so it is about time that we got to read the end. The novels are:

• The Clan of the Cave Bear,
• The Valley of Horses,
• The Mammoth Hunters,
• The Plains of Passage, and
• The Shelters of Stone.

For as much as I love this series of books, I do have a lot of quibbles with it.

The Clan of the Cave Bear was a really excellent book. It had the perfect blend of story and historical information. Unfortunately, as the books progressed, Auel seemed to become more concerned with showing off her knowledge of the era in which the story was based. You are increasingly given long winded descriptions of landscape and social and cultural practices. Not that this isn't interesting, but Auel takes it so far that it makes me feel as if she is showing off her knowledge rather than telling the story.

Another complaint is in relation to the sex scenes between Ayla and Jondalar. Don't get me wrong, I like a good sex scene.... but these are not good. They read as if they are out of Mills and Boon and yet these books should be so much better than Mills and Boon. The sex is just so cheesy and cliche it is difficult to read.

Finally - the fact that this series has been going for so long! I love this series of books (despite my complaints) and it really annoys me that I have had to wait since 2002 for the next instalment of the books.

How can it possibly take someone 30 years to complete a series. It doesn't seem fair to the fans. The cynical side of me thinks that it is because Auel is spending so much time researching it so that she can bore us with limitless detail instead of just getting on with the story of Ayla and Jondalar, which is what we are all reading the series for.

Please don't let my complaints get in the way of you reading this story - I complain because I love the books so much! I re-read this series all the time, and have re-read the first three this year for the umpteenth time. The Mammoth Hunters (the third instalment) is my favourite of all. Truth be told, I often consider naming my first born daughter Ayla after the character in these books.

If you are looking for something interesting and factual whilst being a little bit trashy at the same time - with a good dose of romance thrown in, this is the series for you. No wait.... this is a series for everyone!

Summary

What kind of read is this?
Although each book looks very thick, they are very easy to read. It is historical fiction meets romance, and it is fabulous.

Do I recommend this book?
I recommend all of them, The first and the third in the series are my favourites.

Do I recommend that you buy this book?
Without hesitation. They are just as good each time you read them.

Star Rating

8 / 8

Everyone should read them - they are totally amazing. I am in love.

Has anyone else read this series? What do you think of them? Did you know that the sixth was coming out next year and that it will be the last? I didn't, but I am very excited about it. I only hope that it ends well and explains everything.

The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark (an Australian classic)

I really wanted to love this book. It is an Australian classic and it is my Nanna's favourite book. In fact, she lent it to me to read. She has been re-reading it since she was a girl, so I am very pleased that she lent it to me to read.

What I do love about this book is the author, Eleanor Dark. She is the daughter of Dowell Phillip O'Reilly, a politician who moved the first motion in favour of women's suffrage in NSW. She and her husband were true 'left-wing' people (for middle/upper class white people) in the mid 20th century. They considered themselves very liberal which I love. Their son has turned their family home in the Blue Mountains into a writers centre which is amazing.


The Timeless Land is a piece of historical fiction that is totally before its time. It was written in 1941 and is about the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the subsequent 'settlement' of Australia and the exploration of the lands surrounding their landing site. The story alternates from the perspective of the Aboriginals and the English, and we get the perspective of many different individuals within each group. This works really well because it means that the reader is given quite an in depth look into the different experiences of those that were there during this difficult time.

What really made this book before its time, is that it considers the settlement of Australia from the Aboriginals perspective, and it isn't good. We see the Aboriginals land, culture and basic health systematically stripped away from them as the English slowly encroach upon their lands. Everything they believed in, everything they drew their strength from is slowly destroyed at the hands of the English and the damage is irretrievable.

The emphasis of the book is really about the cultural experiences and differences between each group, which are so wide that it increasingly becomes clear that they cannot be overcome. The differences are so fundamental that it goes deeper than either group not being able to communicate with the other. It goes right to the heart of their respective cultures and belief systems.

It was heart wrenching to see the English kidnap Bennilong (the main Aboriginal character) and 'civilise' him. He is taught to eat English food, dress like an Englishman and speak English. What Dark does so well with her depiction of this kidnap is to really explore the complexities of the relationship between the Aboriginals and the English. The outcome of Bennilong's 'civilisation' is just sad (I won't spoil the end), but Bennilong himself is thankful for his civilisation. He justifies the bad things in his mind with reference to what the white men do - "if they drink it, it must be good". Dark is really able to get her finger on the deeper issues.

I was also moved by the way in which Dark portrayed the women in her story. Violence was a part of the every day existence of both the Aboriginal and the white women, and Dark really explores this reality, again showing an understanding of the complexities that would have existed. Violence was almost a cultural experience for the Aboriginal women, it seemed as though it was considered part of their role as women of the tribe to be assaulted by the men, they met it stoically and never questioned it. Violence was just as common for the white women, except in a more sexual way that the Aboriginal women. They experienced formal violence as punishment for their misdeeds, and suffered at the hands of male officers and convicts. Having said, as much as the white women commonly experienced violence, it was not something they accepted as part of their culture in the way the Aboriginal women did. They had no support.

The prose was lyrical and evocative, particularly in the way in which the landscape was described, and the Aboriginals relationship with the land. Descriptions like these took my breath away:

"Silence ruled this land. Out of silence mystery comes, and magic, and the delicate awareness of unreasoning things. The black men learned from it, having no other teacher, neither hunger nor danger, and what they learned was different from the learning of mankind in other lands where famine threatened, and wild animals, fierce and powerful, thrust upon it a feverish development of its only weapon - thought."

and

"Here was unfailing nourishment. The quiet land was illimitable, unknown, a mystery beyond the tribal borders. The black men's awareness of it was like the awareness of a seed for the changing season, of a cicada for the breaking heat of day, of the shellfish, sensitive to the wash of sea-water over its rock pool. Magic was all about them, entering their lives, their bodies, bringing birth or death".

Now you may have noticed that I said that I wanted to love this story. The truth is that I didn't love it. The best parts were toward the beginning, where the story from the perspective of the Aboriginal inhabitants of our land before the white people arrived. But once the white people arrived, I just got a bit bored to be honest. My emotions weren't stirred as much as I would have liked them to be. In the end, it was that boredom and lack of interest that outweighed everything else.

I should add that this book is the first in a trilogy, but I don't think that I will be reading the rest of them.

Summary

What kind of read is this?
A big read, one you need to put time into. Dense.


Do I recommend this book?
I really want to because it is my Nanna's favourite, but I can't really. I suppose I recommend it if you have a real interest in Australian history.


Do I recommend that you buy this book?
No. 

Star Rating

4.5 / 8

Alright, but there's no need to prioritise it. 

Book Details: Paperback, 620 pages, Imprint Classics, published by Collins/Angus & Robertson Publishers Australia, published in 1990

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

A Case of Exploding Mangoes is Mohammed Hanif's debut novel, set in Pakistan. It is a political comedy; exploring the mystery surrounding the assassination of General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, the military dictator of Pakistan. THis book came to my attention at the Sydney Writers Festival 2009, when I watched Mohammed Hanid do a reading from the book. It appealed to me very much. Hanif had a wonderful reading voice, and I didn't want him to stop. I finally managed to read the book 1 week before the Sydney Writers Festival 2010.

Assassination fiction is not a genre that I am overly familiarly with, but I can say without reservation this is the funniest and cleverest book that I have opened in a very long time.

We know that General Zia is killed wen his C130-Hercules plane, Pak One, explodes and crashes in August 1988, after General Zia has been watching a military display. A Case of Exploding Mangoes takes a unique look at what, or who, may have been responsible. But it is that not a typical exploration of this question. The publisher's description of the book reads:

"There is an ancient saying that when lovers fall out, a plane goes down. This is the story of one such plane. Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul-Haq, go down on 17 August 1988? Was it because of:

1. Mechanical failure
2. Human error
3. The CIA's impatience
4. A blind woman's curse
5. Generals not happy with their pension plans 
6. The mango season

Or could it be the narrator Ali Shigri?"

The plot is ingenious and complex, and the main character Ali Shigri has a very clear, unique and sardonic voice. The story is told through a series of vignette's; mostly comprised of the events from Shigri's perspective, but also third-person accounts of events from the perspective of various other characters, like General Zia himself.


I can't really go into the plot too much for fear of spoiling the fun if you decide to read this book, which I recommend that you do. I will say that the characterisation is extremely rich, every person comes alive before the readers eyes. There is a whole range of fun characters including Lieutenant Bannon, an American who is part of the Pakistan Army, Obaid or Baby O, Shirgri's best and closest friend and Uncle Starchy, the Army Academy's laundryman (who comes to play a significant role).

The story largely plays out in a Pakistani Airforce Academy, and begins when Shigri is being blamed for Obaid's disappearance in an Airforce plane. It is evtually revealed that Shigri has developed an assassination plot, because he believes that General Zia is responsible for the death of his father. At the very beginning we are suspicious of Shigri's true involvement in General Zia's downfall, particularly after he proudly states: "The only witness to that televised walk, the only one to have walked that walk, would be completely ignored. Because if you missed that clip, you probably missed me. Like history itself, I was the one who got away." This quote gives you a good insight into the tone of the book, and Shigri's feelings toward the role he played in the death of Zia.

Ultimately, it is not important who killed General Zia. This book is a political satire, it satirises the military using caricature and very clever one-liners, like "You can blame our men in uniform for anything, but you can never blame them or being imaginative" and "By the time it comes down to the questions about whether I would rescue my best friend's kitten drowning in a river or tell myself that cats can swim, I have begun to enjoy the test, and my pencil ticks the squares with the flourish of someone celebrating their own sanity."

Amoungst all the fun though, Hanif makes some important statements about the role of military in controling the State, the role of religion in government and the way in which governments can manipulate the population for their own benefit.

If you are looking for something fun, unique and thoughtful, the A Case of Exploding Mangoes is for you.

Summary

What kind of read is this?
It is not a challenging book in terms of its length and the writing, but it is an absolutely unique and hilarious book. It is a political satire and it is historical fiction, but with some important modern messages.

Do I recommend this book?
Absolutely. There are not many books that I could recommend more highly.

Do I recommend that you buy this book?
Yes, this is one that I am proud to have on my shelf, and one that I know will stand up to lots of re-reading.

Star Rating

7 / 8

Brilliant, couldn't put it down. Recommend that you buy it. 

Book Details: Paperback, 295 pages, published by Vintage Books, published in 2008, English

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This absolutely unique piece of historical fiction moved me more than any book has done for a very long time, perhaps even since I read The Time Travellers Wife. This is a book for book lovers. The Book Thief is written by an Australian author, and it is is debut adult novel, after a career of writing children's fiction.

The protagonist of the novel is Liesel Meminger, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany. It begins with the death of her brother, and her mother then leaving her in the care of the Huberman's, who become her new family. There is Mama, a fierce disciplinarian, and Papa a caring and warm man who dedicates hours to teaching Liesel to read. With the help of her Papa, she begins to read The Gravediggers Handbook, a book she finds following the burial of her brother.

What is particularly unique about this story of Nazi Germany, is that it is narrated by Death. Death doesn't introduce himself in those terms, but it becomes clear who is telling us the story of The Book Thief.

The style is expressive in a lyrical way, and is still very modern. Not only do we see the story unfold from Liesel's perspective, but we also have asides from Death, sometimes written as if they were on a gravestone. In effect, it is Death re-telling the story of Liesel, The Book Thief, and so we are provided many glimpses of the future of the story. This in no way deters the reader from reading on, it is one of those books where it is the journey to the conclusion that is the real joy of the book.  Death himself acknowledges:

"Of course, I'm being rude. I'm spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but of this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don't have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It's the machination that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest and astound me".

Zusak skilfully creates Liesel's experience through Death's storytelling with the use of imagery. This is because Death gives a very sensory account of the world, describing events, places and people with phrases such as"the smell of friendship", "scent of Hitler's gaze" and "For me, the sky was the colour of Jews". We are left with strong and clear images burned into our minds as we watch Liesel's story unfold.

As we give in to the sensory reality of Death's narrative, we see Liesel experience the normal angst of childhood; struggling through school, going on adventures with her best friend Rudy Steiner and helping her Mama raise funds by collecting laundry from neighbours. It is in this last role that she is truly able to give in to her love of books, and she eventually begins stealing them from the mayors house, after she makes friends with the mayor's wife. It is this act, and the further acts of book thievery that lead Death to give her the name of  'The Book Thief''.

There is a darker side to her life though. She lives in a town a short distance from Dachau, and witnesses Jews being marched through her city. We witness her and Rudy's involvement in the Hitler Youth Movement, and cringe at the insidious way in which Nazism infects their daily lives. Nazism has a more significant impact upon her life when her family begins to shelter a Jew, Max Vandenberg.

This book is undoubtedly about the experience of human misery in WWII, and Zusak does a brilliant job of describing the realities and intricacies of the lives of German people during Hitler's reign. We see acts of cruelty and acts of kindness and love.

And yet, The Book Thief is also about the power of language. It is books that allow Liesel to recover after her brothers death and her mothers abandonment. Books and language bring her closer to her Papa and become integral to her relationship with Max Vandenberg and to a lesser degree the Mayor's wife. It is though books and storytelling that she brings comfort to those that she shares the bomb shelters with, and it is books that play an important role in those transgressions against the Nazi state that she and others are willing to commit. Significantly, it is because of books that Death is able to tell us Liesel's story at all.

This is a book that had tears rolling down my face on three different occasions. It is a powerful but sad story about human suffering and the importance of language in the modern world. If you are a book lover, and a lover of language, then I not only recommend this book to you, I ask you to read it.

Summary

What kind of read is this?
It is an easy read, but it is emotionally challenging. It is very different to anything I have read before, largely in terms of the style in which it is written.

Do I recommend this book?
Yes, I couldn't recommend another book more strongly. You absolutely must read this.

Do I recommend that you buy this book?
Again, yes, absolutely, without hesitation. My book collection is all the more stronger for having this book.

Star Rating

8 / 8

One of the best books I have ever read. Everyone should read it - it is totally amazing. I am in love.

Book Details: Paperback, 584 pages, published by Pan MacMillan Australia, published in 2008, English

The Double Crown by Marie Heese

I received this book free of charge in return for an honest review.

The book was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2010, and in fact has won the Best Book of Africa.

I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to do an author interview with Marie Heese about her book, which you can read here.

Book Details

Paperback
Pages: 376
Publisher: Human & Rousseau
Published: 2009
Language: English
ISBN: 978 0 7981 5036 1

Book Review

I was a little bit worried when I first discovered what this book was about - ancient history has never been something that I have ever had a particular interest in, but I was very happily surprised once I got stuck into this book.

The back cover states succinctly what this book is about: "Set in ancient Egypt, this is the fascinating story of Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh who ruled over Upper and Lower Egypt for two decades around 1500 BC".

The story was cleverly written from the perspective of Hatshepsut through a collection of secret scrolls she has decided to write when her reign as Pharaoh of Egypt begins to be threatened by unknown forces. These scrolls record the current events in her reign as Pharaoh, as well as those that have occurred in the past, those that have bought her to where she is. I thought this was a very effective way of telling her story. It made it very personal and provided a direct insight into her experiences.

Hatshepsut entrusts these secret scrolls into the hands of her scribe Mahu, who is given the task of keeping them secure. Mahu, however, cannot overcome his own curiosity and breaks the King's seal to read her secret writings. The reader is then provided with a more objective perspective of the thoughts and experiences of Hateshepsut provided by Mahu's own commentary on her scrolls.

I was a bit nervous that reading the book would become a little like a history lesson, where the author did everything they could to make sure the reader knew all the little details of the research they did before writing the novel. Fortunately, The Double Crown didn't feel like that at all. Instead, the characters, the lifestyle, the rituals, the past times, to foods and the general realities of this time in history were bought to life.

The story went very smoothly between the past and the present whilst searching for answers to a true historical story. How did a woman come to be the Pharaoh? Why was reference to her reign as King deleted? Why were her monuments destroyed? The Double Crown provided fictional answers to these questions that were convincing and realistic. Not just because it considered the social and political realities that Hatshepsut would have experienced, but also because it looked at her from a personal perspective, depicting her rise to power and then slowly the loss of her children, close friends and true love.

The Double Crown is a wonderful title. At first glance it refers to the Double Crown that she wears as Pharaoh, declaring her the King of The Upper Lands and The Lower Lands. But I think that it is also a clever way of referring to the dual nature of many aspects of her life. Pharaoh vs individual. Man vs woman. Power vs loneliness. All these tensions are explored in this book.

The sex scenes were pretty cheesy I thought, and the end came very suddenly, but all in all this was a really wonderful and clever book.

Summary

What kind of read is this?
It is an easy read, and a quick one, but very interesting.

Do I recommend this book?
Yes, absolutely. It was really good and I would recommend it to people.

Do I recommend that you buy it?
Unless you have a very real interest in Egyptian history or ancient history in general, I think this is the kind of book that it would be sufficient enough to borrow from the library.

Star Rating

6 / 8

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

 A lot of people have been saying that they are looking forward to me review of Cold Mountain so here it is!

I don't know what really made me choose this book. I purchased it last year at the Sydney Book Fair. I knew when I saw it that I vaguely recognised the title, but I didn't honestly realise that it was the title of a movie that I recognised. The back of the book seemed really interesting and I like the cover (the cover pictured is the one on my book), it is very mysterious.

When I talked about my reading this book during memes such as 'Its Monday! What are your reading?' and 'Teaser Tuesday', everyone left me comments saying that they really loved it. I have now become one of you - I really loved this book. When I first started reading it, I wasn't as taken with it as everyone else seemed to be, but as the book progressed I felt like had increasingly more vested in the lives in Inman and Ada, and eventually I was swept away by their story.

I think the back of the book describes the story in the most appropriate way:

"A soldier wounded in the Civil War, Inman turns his back on the carnage of the battlefield and begins the treacherous journey home to Cold Mountain, and to Ada, the woman he loved before the war began. As Inman attempts to make his way across the mountains, through the devastated landscape of a soon-to-be-defeated South, Ada struggles to make a living from the land her once-wealthy father left when he died. Neither knows if the other is still alive."

And this is it, the two are preoccupied by their separate existences, moving forward with their immediate concerns in the hopes that they will once again see each other (more so on Inman's part I think than Ada's anyway).

I think what I loved most about this book was the way in which the story was told. Each chapter alternates as between Inman's and Ada's perspective. I loved reading about Ada's and then Ruby's life - I kept wondering throughout the book whether if I were in their position I would be able to take up the reins of a farm in the way that they did. Ruby seemed to have a level of self possession I only wish that I could ever have, and Ada tried and tried and learnt and learnt until she came to love the land as much as Ruby. Their story was a story of the bravery and courage of women, and I am sure they are an example of the lives that many women would have had to lead during those times.

I do have to admit though, that it was Inman's story that particularly effected me. What I loved most was how it was written. I love a story that is told not through conversation between different characters, but simply by description - description of the people, description of the situation and description of what passes between them. It was also through Inman that Frazier as able to paint a bigger picture of how the civil war effected people in different ways. as Inman travels through the south, he meets all kinds of people, and those people recount their stories to him. In this way, the story of the civil war's real effect on the population is told, bit by bit, through almost case studies of the lives of the citizens.

This book was definitely a special one, well written, and emotional (I cried at the end).

Summary

What kind of read is it?
Historical and romantic, but most importantly for me, thoroughly detailed and emotional. It takes longer to read than you might expect, being more challenging than you might think.

Do I recommend it?
Yes, very much so. I think it is a wonderful read and a wonderful story.

Do I recommend that you buy it?
With that one, it's hard to recommend to either way. I can see this as a book I will definitely re-read and am grateful that I have on my bookshelf. It's hard to know if other would feel the same though.

Star Rating

6/8 stars

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it.

A Blast from the Past: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

A Blast From the Past is a meme for people to review a book that they read before they started blogging. It doesn't have to be a favourite, it might be that you didn't enjoy it. It is about sharing a book from your past with others.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

This book is one of my absolute all time favourites. I fell in love with it the first time that I ever read it, and I have read it many many times since without my love of it ever changing.

It is one of the most special books that I have ever read, in the sense that it takes you back in time almost as if it is a true history of someones real life. It is the story of Chiyo, born into poverty in rural Japan. After an accident, she is discovered as a beauty by Mr Tanaka, a Japanese business man. She and her sister are sold by her family to Mr Tanaka, who takes the two of them to the city, where Chiyo is trained to be a Geisha (I won't spoil what happens to her sister), becoming Sayuri. The story then recounts her journey as she is trained to become a Geisha and in fact becomes one of the most popular Geisha in the city. She is bullied by her 'sister' in the Geisha house, and is cared for by her mentor, who takes her on out of a sense of competition with her.

There is love and loss throughout the journey. It is educative as well as imaginative. I have very rarely read a book where the characters and their world and experiences are painted to vividly by the author. Very few books have had as large an impact upon me as this book has, and I have rarely re-read any book as much as I have re-read this one.

I very much recommend this book to everyone - I think that if you haven't read it then you are really missing out.

If you have a book from the past that you want to share with everyone, why not write your own Blast from the Past post and leave a link to in the comments field below?

The Secret River by Kate Grenville

I had long wanted to read a book by Kate Grenville. I had heard her speak at the Sydney Book Fair and also on various pod casts that I had downloaded and had always thought that she sounded so articulate and intelligent.

The book itself has won many awards and been shortlisted for others; Commonwealth Writers Prize 2006, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize and Community Relations Award, Fellowship of Australian Writers' Christina Stead Award, Literary Fiction Book of the Year and Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards 2006, shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award 2006 and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2006.

My friends had also recommended her books to me so when I finally had the opportunity to purchase The Secret River, I jumped at the chance.

From the back cover: "William Thornhill is sentenced in 1806 to be transported to New South Wales, for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and children in tow, he arrives in a harsh land that feels, at first, like a death sentence. But among the convicts there is a whisper, that freedom can be bought - an opportunity to start afresh." For William Thornhill, starting afresh means the purchasing of land along the Hawkesbury and fighting for it when the true owners of the land, the Aboriginals, assert their own ownership.

The feelings I had about this book encapsulate how I have been feeling about a few books recently. The story caught my attention and drew me into it to the point where I needed to keep reading, but somehow it still didn't quite meet up to my expectations. I have heard of The Secret River as becoming part of the Australian tradition of historical fiction; comparing it to books like The True History of the Kelly Gang and books by Thomas Keneally. With such high recommendations, great comparisons and so many awards, I was expecting something a little more dense, with a little more analysis of the social circumstances at the time of the 'colonisation' of Sydney, and in turn greater analysis of the colonisation as it affected the Aboriginal population. I know this is a novel, not a non-fiction book, but having heard Kate Grenville speak in such an intelligent and analytical way on so many interesting issues, I think I just expected something with greater depth.

The story had such potential to be an epic novel, but it fell just short of short of that. When I think about it, this book would have been better as even a short tighter story or else a longer more epic story (but then again, who am I to give advice!).

This all sounds very negative, but please don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book.

Aboriginals This book did tackle issues surrounding the 'colonisation' of Sydney from a different perspective from what I am used to. It explores the practical reality of the appropriation of Aboriginal land at the hands of the whites. This is really what the book is about, so I won't go into it too much because I don't want to spoil the story. I am glad that the book made me think about this from a more practical perspective than I have before, but I still think that it is in this aspect of the story that the book particularly fell down for me in some ways. It wasn't quite emotive or detailed enough to make me really feel what the characters would have been. I wanted to feel like I was there with them, but I couldn't.

Love and Family One of the things I did love was the relationship between William and Sal, and the growth of their family. It was so simple, not sappy like it could have been. They fell in love as children, married, were sent to Australia, raised a large and happy family and stayed true to each other through enormous hardship. Their love was real. Although the final events of the book had an impact upon their relationship it was done in such a realistic, true to life way I appreciated.

Sal and the longing for home I liked that no matter how hard their life had been, and no matter how difficult the challenges they faced making a life in Australia, Sal still pined for home, which was particularly palpable in the final scenes. Sal dealt with her circumstances with a determination and self possession that I only wish I had, and I think that her story is an important lesson in doing the best that you can with what you have.

William William is another issue altogether. I didn't feel for him in the way that I did for Sal, but I liked that despite everything he did, particularly in relation to the final events of the book, he was a good man trying to make the most of his situation for his family. His craving for land was undoubtedly selfish and some without regard for his wife's feelings, but I still believe that he thought he was doing the right thing for them. He reminded me of my legal clients in some ways. When forced into a situation from circumstances largely out of their control, people are often left with no choice but to turn to crime. It is an important message - good people can do bad things, but we all have to do the best we can and live with the consequences of our actions.

Summary

What kind of read is it?
It is an easy read, it's enjoyable and well written. Don't expect an epic tale though.

Do I recommend the book?
Despite some misgivings I still recommend reading it. It is by a wonderful Australian author and covers Aboriginal issues from a different perspective to what you would normally read.

Do I recommend that you buy it?
No. Borrow it from the library or a friend.

Star Rating

5 / 8

Good and worth reading if you have the opportunity, but there's no need to prioritise it.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Book Details
Paperback: 507 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Inc (USA), Faber and Faber Ltd (Great Britain)
Published: First edition 2009Language: English

ISBN:

Book Review

I really enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and so I was very excited when my friends purchased her latest novel for me as my birthday present last month.

The story is quite complex and is told from two people's perspectives. The book is comprised of the writings and personal diaries of Harrison Shepherd, who begins keeping a record of his life from a young age. His writings are compiled by his stenographer, Violet Brown, who supplements them with her own views as newspaper clippings that refer to Harrison in some way. Harrison Shepherd has lead an unusual life, moving between Mexico and the USA throughout his childhood and adulthood. The central event in his life is the assassination of Lev Trotsky, whom he meets and begins working for as a secretary of sorts. He meets Trotsky when he is working for a cook in the house of Diego Rivers and Frida Kahlo, both of whom agree to house Trotsky during his banishment from Russia. The assassination of Trotsky sees the house fall apart, and Harrison travels to the USA with Frida Kahlo's painting, delivers them to a gallery and then settles in an American town. He lives a quiet life as an author, where he hired Violet Brown as his assistant. His settled life, however, begins to go dramatically haywire when his links to Trotsky and the Rivera's come back to haunt him in the McCarthy era.

What is really interesting about the Harrison's diaries is that they focus on the small details of daily life; purchasing cigarettes for his mother, doing chores at boarding school, typing for Trotsky, watching Trotsky's assistant Van undress. Harrison isn't well education or particularly political like the people he is surrounded by. He is interested in the daily reality and it is the daily reality that Harrison gives us an insight into.

This means that you don't see a whole lot of Harrison himself in his writing, particularly in the beginning of the book. There are a couple of glimpses toward the beginning of his true feelings; for example, when his mother dies and when Van ruffles his hair. I did feel like there was some incongruity between the voice he uses in his diaries and the way in which he records the conversations he has with others (particularly with Frida). As the writer he seems shy but thoughtful and insightful. In his conversations with other he appears to be more sarcastic and quick witted. I'm not trying to say that this reduced the believability of Harrison as a character at all. On the contrary, the difference between his inner and outer voice (if you will) only makes him more real. The difference does reduce throughout the course of the novel, and I think that perhaps this could be attributed to the ageing process, as he becomes more comfortable with himself, his inner voice and outer voice become more similar.

For me, this difference (as well as a lot of the other events in the novel) are really embodied by the title The Lacuna. This means the gap - there are so many gaps and holes in his life. There's almost a sense of some sort of expanse between Harrison and the world. He seems to operate at a distance from the world and he tries not to let it effect him, until he can't control it any longer.

Summary

What kind of read is it?

It is a colourful read, really interesting style of writing that makes you want more.

Do I recommend it?

Absolutely, it was amazing and I hope everyone reads it.

Do I recommend buying it?

Definitely one for the bookshelf. I would definitely re-read this.

Star Rating

7 / 8

Brilliant, couldn't put it down. Recommend that you buy it.

The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox

Now this I can definitely say is one of the best reads I have had for a long time!

I bought this book at the Sydney Book Fair after having a read a review of its sequal in the Sydney Morning Herald. I thought that it sounded different to most books; dark and medieval, and that is how it was.

It follows the story of Sobran Jordeau, a vintner in early 19th Century France. One night in 1808, Sobran meets an angel, and there begins a relationship that spans for years, until the end of Sobran's life. Each year they meet each other on the anniversary of their first meeting, until that one yealy meeting is no longer enough for either of them. In the meantime, Sobran's life continues, we see him marry, survive the Napoleonic wars, have a family, take lovers and improve his vintages. His feelings for the angel invade every aspect of his life.

The story is dark and violent at time. There is a sexual undercurrent throughout the book, unerlying Sobran's relationship with his wife, lover and also the angel himself. It is also there in the story of the countryside girls who are brutally raped and murdered at the hands of someone in their community. The story has a complex and rich storyline, full of secrets and desires.

At the beginning of the book I wasn't sure that I really liked Sobran Jordeau. He was so young and selfish and reckless. There were times in fact where I wondered if he wasnt a bit dangerous. As he aged and matured, however, I came to understand him better; I believe that I had a better understanding of his motivations and desires. Xas, the angel, was a lot harder to come to know, but I think that given he is an angel the reader perhaps isn't supposed to fully understand him. He is a creature of God (the devil?) and therefore to some extent above understanding.

I won't spoil the story too much with this review, in fact, reading over I dont think I've really given anything significant away at all. I really want people to read this, especially if you're looking for something different to read. I would be really interested to know what someone religious thought of the concept in this book, particularly relating to Xas and his decscriptions of heaven and hell.

In looking for the picture to use for this post, I discovered that this book has been made into a movie that is being released in November 2009, and I am so excited about seeing it!

Please, if there is one book I have reviewed on this blog that I recommend you read, please make it The Vintner's Luck!

Star Rating

8 / 8

One of the best books I have ever read. Everyone should read it - it is totally amazing. I am in love.