brookworms - reviews
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Daughter of the River by Hong Ying - an account of Mao's
China seen through the eyes of a teenager. We had quite a short discussion on this book as
we were of very similar opinions about it, namely that Hong Ying seemed a selfish, amoral
and passionless girl, acting very coldly towards all her relations with whom we had more
sympathy than Hong Ying had. She seemed brutalised by a level of poverty almost impossible
for us to imagine - maybe we too would think only of ourselves in her situation. We felt
the book was more like "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang than Amy Tan's "Joy Luck
Club", and felt that Wild Swans gave us a useful background from which to work out
what was happening in "Daughter of the River". We did wonder what happened in
the nine years following her eighteenth birthday, which took her from utter poverty in
China, to best selling author in America! read Amazon's review
Crucifix Lane by Kate Mosse - a
futuristic thriller set in both 1997 and 2008 where ecological disaster looms. We all
enjoyed reading this, some read it very quickly. For once I thought less of this book
after discussing it, as many of us had holes to pick in the plot - which, after
discussion, seemed very thin. Many interesting themes stayed undeveloped, other bits
seemed rather contrived for purposes of the plot. There seemed to be a lack of sympathetic
male characters - they seemed drawn from the James Bond School of Villains. Would a child
who had been pushed in the river by his brother really have nurtured that grudge over so
many years? That said, the book was very descriptive - we all had vivid pictures of
various scenes - though some of us found the grammar poor! read Amazon's review
Telling Liddy
by Anne Fine - about 4 sisters, three
of who know something about the fourth's boyfriend. Should they tell her? What will happen
when they do? Definitely worth reading. We disagreed about the ending, and about the
husband's reaction to the wedding present. We also felt that the whole situation could
have been avoided if the sisters had investigated the allegation at the beginning - but
then there wouldn't have been a story! Several of us recommended some of Anne Fine's
children's' books, particularly "Bill's New Frock", "Goggle Eyes" and
"Crummy Mummy and Me". read Amazon's review
Man or Mango by Lucy Ellman
This is
about Eloise, a hermit, and the arrival of George, poet and ex-lover. Almost everyone
(except me!) found this to have been rather a waste of time. People found it too
disjointed and the lists drove some of us up the wall! Most thought the plot very
contrived. On the other hand (mine) we found it very clever - especially the poetry, and
some bits were really funny. Generally we didn't like the CAPITAL LETTERS, but we
empathised with the author's sentiments about housework. read Amazon's review
The Magician's Wife
by Brian Moore This had been on our list of possibles for a while and we hadn't realised
that Brian Moore has been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize (not for this book, I
hasten to add!). The Magician's Wife is set in 1856 when a French Christian magician is
sent to war-torn Algeria with his wife by Napoleon III.
Opinion was very divided about the book; some having liked it so much they were
immediately reading more by the same author, others finding the heroine a bit insipid. We
thought the descriptions of food and clothes were excellent. We expected a stronger ending
- and felt that events rather fizzled out. read Amazon's review
Enduring Love
by Ian McEwan -
about Jed Rose, a scientific journalist who is involved in a ballooning accident. Another
would-be rescuer becomes infatuated with him.
We thought that the opening scenes of the book were amongst the best we had ever read,
and the book was very well written although we had a faint suspicion that some extra
strands to the story may have been there to fill up space! As we agreed that the book was
a good read, our main discussion was over Clarissa, some of us feeling she was
unsympathetic and unreasonable, others having much more sympathy for her.
Later we found out that the entire book is fictional and De Clerambout's Syndrome was
made up by Ian McEwan. We were completely taken in - in company with many reviewers,
readers and psychiatrists. read Amazon's review
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve -
To quote the review ... "In 1873, on a small bleak island off New Hampshire, two
Norwegian women are murdered in a fit of brutal passion. A third escapes to witness a
local man's execution for the crime. More than a century later, Jean, a young
photo-journalist, becomes fascinated by the crime..."
We found it very atmospheric and we had sympathy with the Norwegian heroine. There were
a few significant events that we felt just wouldn't have happened like that in real life,
but they didn't detract from the drama. Definitely worth reading. read Amazon's review
Intimate Letters
by
Bel Mooney - about a woman who discovers, after her husband's death, that he has been
unfaithful. To quote the review "Mooney's argument for the naturalness of infidelity
might unsettle married readers" - so read it at your peril! As forewarned, we had
quite a heated argument about adultery in general, and agreed the book was thought
provoking and definitely worth reading. read Amazon's review
The Drowner by Robert Drewe
- about an
engineer, "the last of his line to practice the ancient art of irrigation", set
in Australia, Bath and Rhodesia. On the whole, we were disappointed in this book - we felt
the watery theme was belaboured and wondered how the author has won so many literary
prizes in Australia. Maybe his other books are better!
read Amazon's review
The Magic Flute
by Alan Spence As often happens, the book was much deeper, and contained far more
discussion matter than I had thought at first. We generally found it depressing rather
than humorous as per the back page reviews, but thought it very cleverly crafted. read Amazon's review
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