Bernard MacLaverty's Cal - 150 pages that are as densely packed with passion and tension as any I've read in Dostoyevsky or Hardy. The 19-year-old title character lives in Northern Ireland. A Roman Catholic, he is hounded and physically attacked by the Protestant Orangemen. His friends have joined the IRA in response to the violence with which they are threatened. Cal finds the violence too much for him. The struggles of nations would not be important if they didn't effect the lives of individual people. This book is about the converging of conflicts political and personal - the political and religious struggles of an oppressed people, a first great passionate love, and the dilemmas of a sensitive and thoughtful teenager as he makes the moral choices that are going to shape his whole life. I felt deeply the greatness of these struggles as I read. Read my full rave here.
This book has everything - love, suspense, moral conflict, social criticism, psychological acuity, and crack writing. It is pitch-perfect on the a fast-paced, ostentatious, brutal beauty of Rome. Lambert's writing is rich with observations both interior and exterior that imbue character and place with clarity and instantaneous complexity. This novel, though entertaining to read, is an unambiguous critique of the moral hypocrisy that infects the powerful and the nature of crime which combines an abuse of power with the dehumanization of innocent people. Read my full rave here.
Molly Fox is a celebrated actress - a woman who delves deep into what makes up a 'self.' It is her profession to create characters from that knowledge through the medium of her self. Yet, when it comes to letting others truly know her, she does not. 'Can we ever know another?', this novel asks. The Irish novelist Deirdre Madden fashions a deep and beautiful book on this potentially abstract musing that is redolent with the pain of the distance we have from all others - even those we love most - and simultaneously rich with the rewards of the communion we can make through long acquaintance. She is particularly good at using the processes of the actor and writer to reflect on the ways we can inhabit the inherent contradiction of knowing another, but the mechanisms are so integrated with the events of this narrative that it is difficult to reveal them without ruining your reading of this book. This book is a powerful work of art with an undisturbable sense of wholeness. Read my full rave here.
The struggle to keep the champagne bubbling when it's gone flat is the action filling Evelyn Waugh's 1930 satire Vile Bodies. Stephen Fry's brilliant film adaptation, Bright Young Things released in 2003 captures the feel of a breathless, manic party. Jim Broadbent, Stockard Channing, Peter O'Toole, Simon Callow, Stephen Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer, James Mcavoy, Imelda Stuanton, and Fenella Woolgar are some of the beautifully cast actors who maintain an understated hysteria, if you can imagine understated hysteria. The love that director and cast have for these characters is what impresses me the most. It would be so easy to show us how vile these people are - how silly, how louche, how fey - but instead they love them to death. Raveworthy. Read my full rave here.
Tell Me Everything by Sarah Salway . I opened this book last night and didn't stop reading it until I had finished it. The nearest voice I can think to compare Sarah Salway's to is Lorrie Moore's, and coming from me that is a big compliment. In it Molly experiences a few breaches of trust as a young woman that leave her seriously wounded. She closes down and protects herself by eating. When we meet her she has become one of life's castaways, seriously overweight without a job, a home, or any sense of herself. She meets five people - Mr. Roberts who gives her a job, Mrs. Roberts, Tim - a man of mystery, Liz - a librarian who recommends French authors, and Miranda, a hairdresser. With these relationships she begins to reclaim herself. The story is full of perfectly wrought descriptions, complex observations of human pain and fantasy, and cogent storytelling. Read my full rave here.
10 comments:
I love love love that you have started blogging. It's so awesome. And congrats on 10,000!
Thanks friend, due largely to you!
I've been on a YA urban fantasy run lately...
Tithe was fun (and there's a sequel, Ironside, that I'm waiting to get back to)
Twilight was much, much better than I expected (teenage vampire)
Marked was cotton candy (also teen vampire, but very different)
I've heard really good things about The Looking Glass Wars (a take on Alice in Wonderland), Wicked Lovely (urban faerie), and The Wee Free Men (more straightforward sci-fi/fantasy). I have them checked out, and I plan to get to them soon, so you'll be able to read my reviews!
Thanks, Eva - I'll take a look at some of those.
Congrats on turning that nice round number, Ted. I'm one of your regular readers and enjoy your thoughts. Thanks.
Thank you Sam! For the wishes and being a regular. I'm a fan of your site as well, you always have something interesting to say.
Congrats on the 10,000 visit!
Regarding YA, I'll second Eva's recommendation of Twilight. I have read the first Aremis Fowl book and I wasn't very impressed but maybe that was just me.
Congratulations on the milestone Ted!
The Garth Nix Abhorsen trilogy, of which Sabriel is the first book, is pretty much excellent. Opinions vary on the strength of the second book, Lirael (I think it's pretty good, but not as excellent as the other two, my ex thought it was splendid), but the trilogy is worth your time and money.
William Nicholson's Wind on Fire trilogy is a real nice one as well. Great interpretation on bureaucratic education but just a lot of fun in general. He has another trilogy out now, but I haven't read it yet.
Edith Pattou wrote an incredible novel, East, a second look at the East of the Moon, West of the Sun Norwegian folktale. Besides the beautiful writing -- not something I come across very often in YA fantasy -- the characters are memorable and stick with you for a long time. The themes are well developed in this one too, linked to imagery and symbols in a wonderful way. It's a favourite.
I'm about to start a trilogy by Helen Dunmore, as the second book (Tide Knot) was on the New Statesman's Best books of 2006 as given by writers. I expect to like, from what I've skimmed. No doubt I'll mention it on my blog at some point.
Did you ever write about the Bartimaeus trilogy? I must search your blog. I adored it.
Wow - thanks Imani! Thanks for those several recommendations. That should keep me in fantasy for months. I haven't written on Bartimaeus actually, I read it before I started blogging.
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