BOOK: Love and Summer by William Trevor

Love and Summer by William Trevor, 212 pages

Man Booker Longlist 2009; Published in 2009

opening line:
On a June evening some years after the middle of the last century Mrs Eileen Connulty passed through the town of Rathmoye: from Number 4 The Square to Magennis Street, into Hurley Lane, along Irish Street, across Cloughjordan Road to the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer. Her night was spent there.

Mrs Connulty may have died as the book begins, but her reach travels all through the book, and her presence is still in the town. Her two children are inheriting her positions in town. A stranger arrives in town, taking pictures at the funeral, and makes friends with a young married girl. The back story on all the characters was well done, and enlightening as to their choices and decisions. Trevor allows us to meet the people and get an impression, and then he lets us see where they came from and why they are they way they are. As I try to summarize the plot and characters, I realize how much Trevor has packed into this short book, while evoking a time and place of Ireland. A lot of sad lives, but they don't even realize that they are sad for the most part.

Well-written, lots left unsaid, interesting characters - I can understand why this is on the Booker longlist, but I would still prefer to read the same story told by Maeve Binchy. It's just the kind that she would write - small town, nosy and judgemental characters, adultery, and difficult decisions. It is fun to watch all the developments and hope for some characters, but I like a little more expository to the plot. In the end, I am ambivalent to the book - I neither liked nor disliked it; it just didn't match my head.

I expect that there would be many people who would like this, so I don't want to dissuade anyone. I haven't read any William Trevor books before and this doesn't put me off them. I read this just after a historical fiction(In the Company of the Courtesan) and just before an extremely suspenseful, plot driven book(No Time for Goodbye), and it just didn't stand out, but it does a good job of what it is supposed to be - observing, describing, a slice of Irish life.


also reviewed at literary license, jackie at farmlanebooks

BOOK: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella, 435 pages

published in '09 (released July 21 in Canada)

Kinsella is getting better and better. I enjoyed her Shopaholic series, but Becky could be a little ridiculous, amusing but silly. I've enjoyed her stand alones even more - Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me? and now Twenties Girl may be the best of them.

This is a ghost story of sorts, as Lara Lington discovers her 105 year old great-aunt Sadie appears to her at her funeral. Sadie wants to find her missing necklace before she will be at rest, and Lara must deal with Sadie and her demands. Lara is a twenty-something Londoner, in over her head with a fledgling business, started with her best mate who has taken off, leaving Lara to try and operate in the business world.

There are boys - good and bad, rich family members and a bit of a mystery with the necklace. I had a great romp with Lara as she learns to make friends with her great aunt, finds the right guy and rights a family wrong. Sadie was quite the chick, remembering her fun days as a girl in the 1920s and making Lara relive some of her glory days. Sadie provides some very funny situations, as only Lara can see and hear her and Sadie can be rather demanding at times. Sadie makes Lara ask out a guy so she can go dancing with him, then snuggles up, with Lara to the guy. There is great potential for a funny movie here.

I laughed out loud, I was touched by the bitter sweet ending, and was charmed by the love story. Kinsella is really hitting her stride as I find each new character a bit more realistic. The book is fun, and light, and predictable in the way that makes it fun to read, because I want it to turn out the way it does. I don't read a lot of chick lit, but I have to think Kinsella is the master.

BOOK: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, 463 pages

published in '09

I looked up the meaning of Gothic literature at wikipedia, and would have to agree that this book is a classic Gothic novel. All the main characteristics are here: terror, mystery, ghosts, haunted houses, castles, decay, and madness. Waters has taken the time period, the 1940s post-war England, of her last novel The Night Watch, and used to to craft and suspenseful period piece which chronicles the changing of life in England, especially for the aristocracy.

The beauty of a suspenseful ghost story is having the story play out, with no awareness of what is to come. Any detail I give will lessen the experience for another reader, so not many details from me on that count. I liked the characters, and the life at Hundred's Hall, home of the Ayres, was vividly brought to life. It represents a period of British history that changed so dramatically after World War II. I was on the edge of my chair as the plot slowly unfolded, and like most mysteries, my imagination was going in many different directions, wondering what could be happening, and was generally more vivid than reality. My scientific brain tried to analyse what was happening, much like the doctor narrator, and it conflicted with the evidence at hand. I was left a little confused at the ending, but this would make a terrific movie - picture Pemberley Estate for the setting. (if you read this book, and want to discuss any details of the books, so I am not posting spoilers here, feel free to email me)

If you like slow building suspense tales, British castles and Gothic romance perfectly described, this book should be great.

also reviewed by Jackie at farmlane books, jenny at jennys books, nicola at back-to-books,

BOOK: Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw

Map of the Invisible World by Tash Aw, 342 pages

Published in '09; Orbis Terrarum: Malaysia/Indonesia

I don't know enough about the history in Indonesia to comment on what all happened in this book, but this book made me want to look up and read some other books about Indonesia in the 1960s. I know there was a movie called The Year of Living Dangerously, but I didn't realize it was based on a book based on a speech by the president and I wasn't aware that the Dutch 'owned' Indonesia before their independence. Indonesia in this tumultuous period is the setting for this novel, providing a backdrop for some broken lives.

Adam's foster father Karl, has been taken into custody as a part of a repatriation program, and Adam hasn't seen his brother since they were separated at the orphanage ten years earlier. He goes to Margaret, an American who has lived in Indonesia for most of her life and has a connection to Karl from her teenage years, for help in finding Karl. Margaret and her American contacts are in a bad spot as the climate between US and Indonesia are not good. Adam ends up meeting some students from Margaret's university and gets caught up some revolutionary activities.

It sounds a bit complicated, but it is not. The book looks at the growing pains in Indonesia in 1960s through the lives a small number of people. Some interesting questions of what makes a person a citizen of a country - by birth or by choice, as well as families made by birth or by choice are raised. Margaret is white but has Indonesia in her heart and really understands the land, but is considered an outsider. Karl is Dutch by heritage, but has lived a quiet life on an outer island and not part of any ruling class except by his heritage. Adam is Indonesian but doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere. His real brother, living a privileged life in Malaysia, is the biggest outsider within his adopted family.

All in all a good read. The setting and history in Indonesia were very good, and the main character of Margaret was independent and strong. Adam was a smaller character even though it is his life that is the center of the book. With the immigration of people all around the world, it is a good idea to think about what makes a person a citizen of a town or country, and it isn't just being born there. It must get very complicated in countries that were colonies of the European nations, with generations that have lived in and grown up there, but are still considered outsiders.

BOOK: The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, 180 pages
translated by Stephen Snyder

herding cats; What's in a Name? profession; Orbis Terrarum: Japan; published in 2009

A never named housekeeper comes to work for a never named math professor. The professor had a head injury in a car accident many years before and only has eighty minutes of short term memory. The housekeeper and her son, nicknamed Root for his flat headed resemblance to the square root sign, form a little family with the professor.

This was a delightful little novel about families and what makes them, about being educated and life long learning, and a bit about math and baseball. I'm sure not everyone finds math a selling point as a topic, but I loved it. The professor falls back on math when he doesn't know what to do or say as it is the one area of his life that he knows, that he has some control over. Plus, we learn a little bit about prime numbers and perfect numbers and solving problems.

Librarything predicted I would love it, and it was bang on. Keep an eye out, I bought it at Costco, so it must have been mass published recently.

also reviewed by thoughts of joy, 3M at onemorecchapter,

BOOK: Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason, 344 pages
translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb

in the pub '09; Orbis Terrarum: Iceland

continuing mystery series review questions:

Give a brief summary of the book:
A young Thai boy has been found stabbed on the playground. Erlunder, Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli investigate, looking into possible racial motives. Erlunder has another missing person investigation, his personal interest, he is also working on.

Likes?
The mystery was good. We really are a part of the detectives investigation in this book and only get to know what they know, making this a real police procedural. The story moves along pretty quickly as the police follow one clue after another. There was lots of discussion about immigration in Iceland and the attitudes and prejudices that can happen. I think in some ways I can identify with the Icelanders; living on an island really isolates a place and on PEI we deal with some of the same type of issues in terms of culture and 'the Island way of life.' Also, the extreme weather can shape a people. I'm not saying that our weather is as bad but it helps to define culture and people. The weather is lack of sunlight is a real part of the atmosphere in these stories.

I really like the three main characters and their ongoing stories. I can't say much about that, but Erlundur is slowly, oh so slowly, growing and becoming more socially aware of the people around him. There is more development in the possible mystery surrounding his brother's death when they were children.

Dislikes?
Not much to add here. When you get a good mystery series going it's like good times with old friends, so you don't really notice any of their faults.
I dislike that there is only one more book, after Hypothermia which according to Wikipedia, will be published in 2009, left to be translated.

Additional Thoughts:
I noticed the dedication was to Bernard Scudder, the translator who died in 2008, hence the two names for translation. That's really sad, because I would imagine the translator of a series greatly contributes to the atmosphere and tone and overall impression of the books. The fact that Indridason dedicated this newest translation speaks to the respect and appreciation that he must have felt to Scudder for his translations.

BOOK: Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, 304 pages

published in '09

What a hoot! From the opening mugging to the final, extremely unbelievable but exciting - I can't believe he did that! scene, I grinned and turned page after page, very quickly. I read somewhere it was described as House meets The Sopranos and that is a pretty good description.

Short, snappy, violent and crude, Peter Brown, doctor at a Manhattan hospital and member of the Witness Protection Program may have been identified and spends the rest of the book trying to decide what he should do. I preferred the present day story to his remembrance of what got him into the WPP, but the back story was necessary to set up the ending.

Bazell is a medical doctor who had written his first book, so the experience of interns in a hospital rings true, but I wouldn't want to be in that hospital! Footnotes appear now and then to elaborate on the medical information and was a neat addition and some might even be clues to future events in the story. I read through his quickly in one day and quite enjoyed it. If a book gets a good rating based on entertainment value, this gets full marks. Credulity and realism? Not so much, but loads of fun for people who don't mind crude language and lots of violence and have faith that their doctor would never be like that.

I just read at IMDB that Leonardo diCaprio has optioned the book and may star in the movie version. Very interesting. Also, there is a website, www.beattehreaper.com that has a fun game of 'play the intern and survive the day'. I didn't do so well on my first try.