Review: "Never Let Me Go" - Hard to let it go

It was seriously hard to let go of "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro, when I had finished the last sentence. It almost clung to my hand and I re-read pages and paragraphs over again. It is strange because when I first started out reading the novel, I gave up a few pages in and thought that it would be one of those books that end up gathering dust without me ever getting them read. However, when I gave it a second try something clicked and I became absorbed in the story. I will try to write a brief review here with no spoilers because this is one of those novels that deserve to exist in a spoiler-free environment.

It is England as we know it and then not really. Kathy H., a women in her late twenties, is reminiscing about her idyllic childhood at the oh-so-English boarding school Hailsham. Her memories are full of afternoons playing rounders, doing arts and crafts projects and hanging out with the other children, especially Ruth and Tommy who becomes Kathy's two closest friends. However, as the plot evolves, it becomes apparent that something is going on. It is not all as perfect and peaceful as it seems on the surface, actually something rather sinister is looming just around the corner.

I won't tell you anymore but if you like a book to surprise you, to keep you on your toes, to engage you and leave you breathless, you simply need to read this book. Especially as it has been made into a film starring Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan. I really want to see it now that I have read the book - and I hope that you will also feel the need to see it when you have read this incredible novel.

Review: "Bonjour Tristesse" - The troubled teenager

I read this beautiful little novel on a sunny Saturday last week. It is set in a summer decades ago in the south of France and I read it lying on the floor in a patch of sunshine. We have panoramic windows in our flat and when the sun shone through them, it was warm and golden so that when I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine that it was summertime in France and not early spring in Scandinavia.
"Bonjour Tristesse" by Francoise Sagan is a classic, one of those books that have popped up on my book-radar several times over the years and after reading a review of it by Simon at Stuck in a Book, http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2011/02/from-mouths-of-babes.html. You should read his review, it is as always well-written.

Now there were several reasons why I wanted to read this:
1) It is set in France in the summer, the perfect escapism for someone like me who is craving sunshine
2) It caused a lot of controversy when it was published in 1954.
3) The author was 18 when she wrote it and it has become a classic

Cecile is a precocious teenage girl who lives with her Don Juan father Raymond whose goal in life seems to be staying forever 25. Togther they drift through a life of hedonism, partying and enjoying entertaining dinners. Raymond has a string of lady frinds that Cecile happily tolerates until the day one of the these relationships ends in a marriage proposal. Suddenly Cecile sees her days of indulgence disappear and be substituted by a life of routine and deference to her new step-mother. Therefore she concocts a scheme with her lover Cyril to scare off his fathers fiancée by tempting him into the arms of another woman.

This coming-of-age tale is brutal in its honest portrayal of Cecile. She is a selfish girl with little thought for anything but her own entertainment, however, as she is confronted with a different way of life where intelligence and cultured manners count more than good looks and youth, she sees the shallowness of the life that she is used to and it unsettles her. She is constantly veering between fighting and embracing change, not sure what she really wants to do with her life and in the end somebody else ends up paying the price for Cecile's actions.

I enjoyed reading it even though I found it difficult to like Cecile. It reminded me of one of my favourite films: "Pauline a la Plage" but where Pauline is a likeable clever young women who refuses to be caught in the games of the adults, Cecile is the opposite.
However, I think it will serve well as an antidote to much of the bad YA fiction on the market at the moment. It is not long so will not be too daunting for teenagers to read and I think it is an appropriate reminder of the consequences of not thinking about the consequences, wrapped up in a beautiful language and wonderful descriptions of the joys of summer in France.

Review: "London Fields" - City of lies

"London Fields" is one of those books that I have had waiting for me for a loooooong time. Like a really long time. i remember seeing it on a friend's shelf about five years ago, then I bought it probably about a year ago and I finally started reading it last week. And then it went fast because I completely lost all time and priority to this book. It is cool. It was published in 1989 but apart from the odd mention of leg warmers and the political situation I never felt that. It seems like it could have been written last year, it felt somehow modern and it is cool, so cool.

The plot is really complicated and it thickens as you turn the pages. The narrator, Samson Young, is a writer with a heavy writer's block and a bad health. He is also very unreliable and keeps mixing up his own life with the story that he is trying to tell. A love story, a murder story, a mystery, a thriller. And - he tries to convince - the utter truth. It is the story of the murderee Nicola who knows that she will die on her 35th birthday and who ventures out to meet her murderer. In a smoky pub she meets Keith Talent - whose talents including small time crimes, violence, cheating on his wife and playing darts - and Guy Clinch, a rich man with a snobbish wife and a violent toddler. Samson Young gets his hands on Nicola's diaries and from then on he chronicles the action that plays out among Nicola, Keith and Guy as she entangles them in her web of lies to get them to play the parts she has laid out for them.

Capturing all of the details in this amazing book is impossible in a blog post. I had a hard time keeping track of it all as I was reading it but that was actually part of the attraction. It made me lose myself because I had to concentrate to follow the action and though none of the main characters are really likeable, they are all intriguing! Nicola has all men in her thrall, they seem unable to resist her and she uses her power, yet she is constantly somewhat sad. Keith is a crook and a thug with no regards for other people who will do anything to become a local/national dart champion - even if it means sacrificing his friends, wife and child. Guy is basically naive and lets himself get caught up in Nicola's web, he has no backbone, no resistance. Samson Young is... difficult. A man close to the end of his life who has been disappointed too many times. None of them are truthful, all of them are egoist. Combined they make a powerful cast who had me confused about the ending until the very last page.
I will definitely be reading more of Mr. Amis's novels because this was a great pleasure to read!

Another year, another challenge

Cruising around the web on this Friday night I came across a really cool challenge that I will definitely join. So far I have only joined one challenge for 2011 - Back to the Classics Challenge 2011 - but this one will be really great, I think.

The challenge is called 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Named after a book about - well, title gives it away - I do find the title a little dramatic for my taste but I like the idea. It is hosted by Pub Writes at http://www.caitieflum.wordpress.com/ and I think you should join!

The challenge is simple – read some books from the list! Yyou can find a simple list online - I am using the Listology list.

Levels:
High School Diplomal: 5 books from the list
Bachelor’s Degree: 6-10 books from the list
Master’s Degree: 11-15 books from the list:
PHd: 16+

Rules:
Challenge runs January 1 2011 – Decemeber 31 2011.
You don’t have to make a list beforehand.
You can use any version of the list, not just the current, since they update it every couple years

Love this simple format and the great amount of wonderful books to choose from. I think it makes for good inspiration!

Here are the 46 that I have already read - still many to go...
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Fury – Salman Rushdie
The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
The Graduate – Charles Webb
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
The Story of O – Pauline Réage
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Emma – Jane Austen
Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Justine – Marquis de Sade
Fanny Hill – John Cleland