Is it fair to compare a book with a movie? Especially a book with such a strong narrative voice? I was a little put-off by the idea of Nick talking to the doctor. But then, that was one way of getting the narrative voice loud and clear, I guess. It was exactly like the book and nothing like it. Long, rambling sections where I was bored. While reading a book, I can just skim, skip and flip. At a cinema hall, I couldn't fast-forward, so I took of my 3-D glasses and yawned. But there were parts that I thought were perfect. Gatsby's beautiful, flawed dream. The green light. And above all, hope.Daisy... Ah, Daisy, Daisy. With her voice full of money. What a description that was, and how well done! The carelessness, callousness, shallowness - all of that came through.It was long and overdone in so many parts, but it left that bitter-sad, yet fragile-hopeful taste in the mouth. … [Read more...]
Faerie Heart
Incredible. As a child, I did not like novels that were not divided into chapters. I have no idea why. The only exception was Mary Poppins. I somehow think this one would have been an exception too.What a visual treat! The imagination just blew me over. A coverlet and a bed made of insects' wings. Weaving ropes out of spider threads. Threading cobwebs together to sew the insects' wings. Curtains parting noiselessly - like clouds. Droplets of water hanging from grass - and whole shimmering worlds within.Livi Michael. I'll look out for the name. … [Read more...]
Oranges in No Man’s Land
I find that so may writers seem to have a compulsion to write long, complex, layered work. So many new books are thick paperbacks, full of things happening on every page.Oranges in No Man's Land is not like that. Not at all.Elizabeth Laird manages to write a beautiful, heart-warming story in the course of just about a hundred pages of large print. The setting and characters are just so powerful that the story becomes not a book, but a moment in time. It's an eternal, timeless moment, captured by language.I know nothing about the history of Lebanon. I know nothing about the 'Green Line' or what that meant, but I agree with the critic who says that Laird's Oranges in No Man's Land is 'A tribute to the human spirit'.Ten-year-old Ayesha lives in Beirut, ravaged by civil war. Between the two parts of the city is no man's land, and only military men dare go there. But Ayesha's … [Read more...]
Apricots at Midnight
Many would say that Apricots at Midnight is an outdated book: old-fashioned and preachy. Yet, the simple childlike stories made it altogether loveable.Imagine a patchwork quilt, in which each little bit of cloth has a story to tell. I wish I had one! Apricots at Midnight has the sense of a collection of stories, united by this idea. A young girl listens to her aunt Pinny talking about her childhood and the making of the grand quilt. Affection takes away the sordidness of poverty, and imagination makes every tiny bit of cloth a wonderful new world.There's nothing at all romantic and exciting about poverty, Aunt Pinny is quick to point out. Poverty coupled with the attempt to appear respectable makes everything even more difficult. Clothes need to be made out of old drapes and cushion covers. Even the tiniest sliver of soap is a treasure. Yet, the biggest … [Read more...]
Reflex
If I don't read, I can't write. It's as simple as that.My mother introduced me to Dick Francis years ago, and I never imagined I would like more than one odd book about jockeys. I'm not horse-mad, and I don't like the idea of horse races. It's a lifestyle about which I know nothing. In Reflex, Francis too answers the question as to how racing contributes anything at all to society and to humanity. Yet, I find myself turning to Dick Francis every now and then for different reasons - the stoicism of his characters, the simplicity of the narrative, and the pace of the story.Reflex, like so many other works by Francis, explores a world about which I know little, or rather, two worlds about which I know little. It is, as usual, set within the racing circle, but the narrator is also a passionate photographer, solving puzzles left to him by another photographer, George Millace. The … [Read more...]
The Ant Colony
Books that I've loved and re-read time and time again have nearly always emphasised character over plot. Take, for example, Anne, Emily, Little Lord Fauntleroy and the little princess. There's something about character that just warms me, perhaps because it's like discovering a friend, rather than having an experience. Stories with exciting plots are certainly a joy to read and do give me a thrill, but sometimes, I need more than that. I need to know all those people who are having those experiences.The Ant Colony was one of those books where I got to know the people in the book, and wanted to get to know them better. I just kept reading it until I had finished! It's one of those books that makes you smile and cry and wonder. So many books that I've read recently have concentrated on complexity of plot at the cost of fullness of character. This one had a simple plot … [Read more...]
My Name is Rose
I could say that Smarties Gold Medal winning author Sally Grindley's book is about a Romanian gypsy being integrated into a dysfunctional recomposed English family. Orphaned during a road accident, she has to find her way into the affections of a money-hungry man, an attention-seeking girl and a guilt-ridden woman. She has to surmount the obstacles of race and language, understanding that she is sometimes discriminated against only because she is a dirty gypsy. She has to construct her own identity, sometimes in deliberate negation of the English family around her.All of that would be true. And then, we could deal with the authenticity of the depiction of the Romanian girl, the life of a gypsy (as depicted in literature) and other stereotypes. Everyone would have an opinion and become excited about voicing it.Yet, maybe My Name is Rose is about non of this. Maybe it is, very … [Read more...]