Book Review: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

         This is such a great debut from a new young author. It is based on real events that happened in Iceland in the early Nineteenth Century and Kent has put her own twist on things. And she does a great job of it too. It has had some really good reviews from some of the top newspapers and I would really like you to read it!

            So the story is two men are murdered and the farm they are on is burned to the ground. Then a man and two women are arrested for the crime and sentenced to execution. One of the women, Agnes, is sent to live on a farm with a family until her execution date, and here she is treated as a criminal and eventually her side of the story is told.

The novel shows real maturity for a debut, and I think it has a brilliant and important message to say. The difference between what we hear and believe and what is told directly to us is very significant and it is an issue that is relevant all the time and throughout history.

            I thoroughly enjoyed Kent’s writing style here, and the plotline had me constantly wanting to know more and so I cheesily say, I couldn’t put it down.

Blurbial Rites:

            “In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnusdottir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of her lover.

            Agnes is sent to wait out her final months on the farm of district officer Jon Jonsson, his wife and their two daughters. Horrified to have a convicted murderer in their midst, the family avoid contact with Agnes. Only Toti, the young assistant priest appointed Agnes’s spiritual guardian, is compelled to try to understand her. As the year progresses and the hardships of rural life force the household to work side by side, Agnes’s story begins to emerge – and with it the family’s terrible realization that all is not as they assumed…

            Based on actual events, Burial Rites is an astonishing and moving novel about the truths we claim to know and the ways in which we interpret what we’re told. In beautiful, cut-glass prose, Hannah Kent portrays Iceland’s formidable landscape, in which every day is a battle for survival, and asks, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?”

Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

            To be an absolute cliché about it, this book is such a page-turner. Once you immerse yourself in the world, the plot has so many twits and turns that it keeps you flicking those pages all the way till the end.

            So there’s a couple on their wedding anniversary and when the husband wakes up, the girl is gone. What follows is the fall-out from this event, and as I said before there’s twists and turns galore. Nothing is as it seems and this really paves the way for interesting, gripping and intense reading. You constantly flick your opinion of people back and forth and it really is a book you can’t put down!

            Things do take a completely bonkers route at the end, which having spoken to customers and colleagues about, some people find unbelievable and slightly too bonkers. Personally I think the ending fits for how each character story arc culminates. Gone Girl has been number 1 in our chart for ages now and it’s not slowing down either. It is definitely one I recommend for people who just want to read something a bit lighter, that’s fun and an easy read. Perfect for beaches and sun loungers and just as good tucked up in bed.

Bluuurby:

            “Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that’s she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren’t his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife?

            In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war…”

Reading Is Fundamental

Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

            This won the Booker Prize in 2011 and to be completely honest I’m not 100% sure why. Don’t get me wrong this is technically a very good book.

            There were really interesting elements to this book which I really enjoyed. I think Barnes is a talented writer and the crux of the plotline takes the story in an intriguing direction. However, that had nothing to do with the main character, who narrates the book. He is whiny and egotistical and extremely annoying. In a way, this just shows off Barnes’ talented writing skills - because essentially it is this character and the way he is that moves the story along - so in that sense Barnes is incredibly successful in his characterisation.

I felt like this was the only downside to a book that I actually quite enjoyed. This would be very good for a book club because I think it would spark some interesting talk. If anything it is one to read so you can make your own mind up…(!)

Back blurb-blurb-blurb:

            “Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry they would navigate the girl-less sixth from together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life.

            Now Tony is retired. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.

            The Sense of an Ending is the story of one man coming to terms with the mutable past. Laced with trademark precision and insight, it is the work of one of the world’s most distinguished writers.”

Book Review: Silk by Alessandro Baricco

Lord knows I love short chapters. Therefore I knew this book would please me. And lo, so it did.

Like it’s chapters, this book is very slim. Yet somehow, through the brilliant, subtle writing, this novel has an epic quality of huge scope as the main character, a French silkworm merchant, travels between France and Japan. It is on a trip to Japan that our silkworm merchant sees and falls in love with a woman he sees there. Infatuation ensues and what comes next challenges ideas of loyalty, desire, love and betrayal. Read it. End of story. Read it.

Blurb please and thank you:

 “This sensual and hypnotic novel tells a story of adventure and obsession. In 1861 French silkworm merchant Herve Joncour travels to Japan, where he encounters the mysterious Hara Kei. He develops a painful longing for Kei’s beautiful concubine – but they cannot touch: they do not even speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his own country. But the moment he does, Joncour is enslaved.

Subtle, tender and surprising, Silk is an evocative tale of erotic possession.”

Book Review: Alex by Pierre Lemaitre

            Apparently Scandi-Crime is o-v-e-r. It’s all about French Crime now. And you heard it here so give me credit when it happens thank you please.

Hold on to your wig and definitely don’t read after a meal because you will probably gag. This book is incredibly raw, violent and gory so be prepared, but don’t let that put you off because it’s a really good story. There are twists and turns galore here, from the first page to the big reveal twist at the end. There is a really good and even mix of the story of the victim – Alex -, and the story of the police who attempt to help her and solve the mystery of what happened.

If you don’t usually read crime novels then I really recommend this title because I did actually really enjoy it. Then again, if you do read crime novels then give this a go – apparently there’ll be plenty more in the series – and I think they will be a really good series to invest yourself in.

Back blurb time:

“Alex Prevost – kidnapped, savagely beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a wooden cage – is running out of time. Her abductor appears to want only to watch her die.

Apart from a shaky eyewitness report, Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no leads. To find the young woman, the detective – a man with a tragic past and extraordinary abilities as an investigator – must first understand more about her.

Beautiful, tough, resourceful, always two steps ahead – the enigma that is Alex will keep Verhoeven guessing till the bitter, bitter end. Before long, saving Alex’s life will be the least of Verhoeven’s considerable challenges.”

Book Review: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

            So last week I took my partner of a year to London to see Wicked The Musical. And oh my goodness it was absolutely incredible. So I managed to cram reading the book into the week before that because I always like to read the book first (you know so that I can judge how different it is and sit there all judgmental, constantly saying “well that didn’t happen in the book”). I was surprised, as I’m sure you can imagine, when I didn’t even say it once! I was too awestruck because it was AMAZING!

            The musical is very different from the book because, well, it’s a musical and they need to jazz things up and make them family friendly and what-not. Which was why I was so curious to see how they would adapt it for the stage because the book is very adult and there are some very prominent themes that are almost political and there’s a lot about equal rights in there too.

            I really enjoyed Maguire’s take on this story of how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West and the most hated person in Oz. the depth to which Maguire went was very impressive, and apart from that he just simply writes very well. Oh, oh, and also, if you enjoy this you’ll be pleased to know it’s only the first in a series! It’s oz-mazing.

Bluuuurb:

            “When Dorothy triumphed over The Wicked Witch of the West in the classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we heard only one side of the story. But what of her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch?

            Long before Dorothy drops in, a girl is born in Oz with emerald-green skin. Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous witch, is a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived ideas about the nature of good and evil.

            Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world, Gregory Maguire’s novel is a rich and triumphant feat of imagination and allegory. It is an acclaimed New York Times bestseller and the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical, and has sold over two million copies.