Katniss has always been a survivor - after her father died and her mother withdrew almost to the point of catatonia, it was only her daring and ingenuity that put food on the table and kept her and Prim, her little sister, alive. With her closest friend, Gale, Katniss picks, gathers and uses her father's bow and arrows to illegal hunt in the wilderness alongside District 12. Some of their bounty is divided between them, and the rest is bartered, but it's still not enough to do much more than keep starvation at bay. Which is why, along with most of the children of the District, Katniss receives three tessera, meager portions of oil and grain, enough to supplement a diet for a year. But tesserae are not free - in exchange, Katniss's name is added more times to the selection pool for the reaping, the selection process for the annual Hunger Games. As a sixteen-year-old her name would be entered seven times, anyway, but thanks to four years of tesserae the total this year is twenty; Gale, at eighteen and with more dependents, has forty-two entries and Prim, just twelve, has only one.
When Prim's name is drawn, Katniss volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games in her stead. With two participants, a boy and a girl, from each of the Districts, Prim has no chance. For the Hunger Games are an annual, compulsory event combining skill, physical and mental strength, prowess, guile, thousands of cameras, and great reward for the winner and his or her home District. But to get there the winner has to be the sole survivor.
This justifiably renown novel is a triumph - from the set up and characterisation through to the action seasons and the twists, every note is perfect. The star, of course, is Katniss, but all the supporting characters are equally vivid, flawed and realistic.
Realism is, of course, at the heart of the concept, for the Hunger Games are reality TV writ large - voyeurism at a remove, with an audience relating to but removed from the participants, and each series promising something new to keep the viewers hooked. Instead of votes for elimination, supporters can proffer presents - supplies, food, medicine - to favoured contestants, but everything goes through a mentor, a Hunger Games survivor from a previous season. To get supporters contestants have to make a connection with the audience, and each contestant has a styling team prior to entry in the arena.
I was reminded of several other novels while reading The Hunger Games, particularly the Star Trek novel Kobayashi Maru (where a no-win scenario is defeated by a young James T Kirk) and Westerfeld's Uglies series. This was not because The Hunger Games is at all derivative but because there are similar elements, differently handled. Additionally, the premise of a reality program that devolves into a race for survival is similar to that of the 2001 film Series 7; where the Hunger Games differs, apart from the age of its protagonists, is the exploration of a culture where this arrangement could not only be tolerated but state sponsored. Narrated in the first person, Katniss gives the reader background that sites the societal set up for the Hunger Games, and she struggles with the concept throughout. The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy, and I strongly suspect that the manipulation Katniss uses to beat the game will be echoed in a larger form in the sequel. I've reserved a copy at my library, and will find out soon enough. - Alex
Wednesday, October 27
Tuesday, October 26
Phil Rickman: The Chalice
When a young aristocrat feels she is being ‘called’ home to Glastonbury she breaks her engagement and returns with a convoy of New Age companions. But the town isn’t the same sacred place she remembers. Tensions between the locals and the ‘pilgrims’ have escalated to fever pitch. A creeping darkness is engulfing the town in violence and death. Even her hitherto easy going New Age companions have embraced the dark side.
For her this all points to the reactivation of the legendary anti-Grail. A dark chalice rumoured to be hidden somewhere within the town’s confines and a source of untold power and wealth for whosoever should claim it.
Together a rag-tag bunch of friends must face both physical and spiritual attack in order to prevent the dark chalice from seeing the light of day and unleashing untold evil upon the village and eventually, the world.
This is one of Rickman’s earlier works and like all his books this one has a much deeper and more complex plot than I could summarise here. It is as much a story of small town politics as anything else yet the supernatural overlay fits perfectly. There are a number of plot threads running concurrently but each disparate element is slowly woven into the fabric of the story until the final picture is revealed.
The characters are wonderfully drawn, each with an integrity that brings them to life. And all are completely believable, from the psychologically fragile heroine to the visitor’s three legged dog.
Needless to say I enjoyed The Chalice very much and would not hesitate to recommend it-Lynn
For her this all points to the reactivation of the legendary anti-Grail. A dark chalice rumoured to be hidden somewhere within the town’s confines and a source of untold power and wealth for whosoever should claim it.
Together a rag-tag bunch of friends must face both physical and spiritual attack in order to prevent the dark chalice from seeing the light of day and unleashing untold evil upon the village and eventually, the world.
This is one of Rickman’s earlier works and like all his books this one has a much deeper and more complex plot than I could summarise here. It is as much a story of small town politics as anything else yet the supernatural overlay fits perfectly. There are a number of plot threads running concurrently but each disparate element is slowly woven into the fabric of the story until the final picture is revealed.
The characters are wonderfully drawn, each with an integrity that brings them to life. And all are completely believable, from the psychologically fragile heroine to the visitor’s three legged dog.
Needless to say I enjoyed The Chalice very much and would not hesitate to recommend it-Lynn
Saturday, October 23
Out of the Deep I Cry - Julia Spencer-Fleming
The past ripples through time to the present, wherever one is. When Clare Fergusson, Episcopal priest of Millers Kill, melting snow trickling down the embrasure and puddling on the sill of the stained glass window, it's the first sign of impending trouble - the roof of St. Alban's can no longer be patched but must be comprehensively repaired - no mean feat when money's tight everywhere. Her pleas for funding are met by elderly Mrs Marshall, who offers to dissolve the Ketcham Family Trust, created by her mother in the fifties and used until now to fund a health clinic for the poor and uninsured.
As a contemporary mystery - the disappearance of clinic doctor Allan Rouse, perhaps at the hands of anti-vaccine campaigner Debba Clowe - is investigated by Millers Kill police chief Russ van Alstyne, details of a tragedy almost eighty years old begin to emerge; and threaded throughout is the ongoing, deepening attraction between Clare and the inconveniently married Russ, a connection that a brush with almost certain death forces them to acknowledge, and to finally name - love.
Spencer-Fleming packs so much into her novels - i intertwining plots, strong characters, forbidden romance and pitch-perfect dialogue. Deftly woven in are details about Prohibition and other historical accuracies, and she has a keen understanding of human psychology, particularly parental.
The heart of Out of the Deep I Cry, though, is epidemic illness and vaccination - fears about the use of the first antidiphtheria serum in 1924, the wildfire speed with which unchecked illness rampages, the devastating swathe it cuts, the inability of contemporary culture to appreciate this after decades safe from pandemic disease, and the fallacy of a thiomersal/autism connection. The writing is so incisive, clear and evocative that I feel strongly that Spencer-Fleming intended to convey a clear message, one I fully support.
In lesser hands this could have been strident, diminishing the power of the text as a whole. Here, however, it is an integral part of the plot, seamlessly integrated and beautifully conveyed. The passages where modern concerns about the alleged ills of vaccinations are contrasted with strikingly similar (and identically baseless) concerns from over eight decades ago, are subtle and well crafted.
The novel is chronologically layered, so that each time line unfolds with internal linearity but the present is interfolded with the seventies, the fifties and the twenties. This technique allows the precipitating events, some eighty-five years ago, to only slowly emerge, devastatingly exposed almost at the end.
The novel finishes, though, with its engine. The driving heart of the series is the relationship between Russ and Clare, both honourable people committed to the vows they took long before they met. An affair is an anathema to them both, but the measures they've taken thus far have done naught to dampen the mutual feelings of respect, attraction and intellectual pull they feel. I so look forward to seeing where Spencer-Fleming takes them next. - Alex
The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series:
1. In the Bleak Midwinter
2. A Fountain Filled with Blood
3. Out of the Deep I Cry
4. To Darkness and to Death
5. All Mortal Flesh
6. I Shall Not Want
As a contemporary mystery - the disappearance of clinic doctor Allan Rouse, perhaps at the hands of anti-vaccine campaigner Debba Clowe - is investigated by Millers Kill police chief Russ van Alstyne, details of a tragedy almost eighty years old begin to emerge; and threaded throughout is the ongoing, deepening attraction between Clare and the inconveniently married Russ, a connection that a brush with almost certain death forces them to acknowledge, and to finally name - love.
Spencer-Fleming packs so much into her novels - i intertwining plots, strong characters, forbidden romance and pitch-perfect dialogue. Deftly woven in are details about Prohibition and other historical accuracies, and she has a keen understanding of human psychology, particularly parental.
The heart of Out of the Deep I Cry, though, is epidemic illness and vaccination - fears about the use of the first antidiphtheria serum in 1924, the wildfire speed with which unchecked illness rampages, the devastating swathe it cuts, the inability of contemporary culture to appreciate this after decades safe from pandemic disease, and the fallacy of a thiomersal/autism connection. The writing is so incisive, clear and evocative that I feel strongly that Spencer-Fleming intended to convey a clear message, one I fully support.
In lesser hands this could have been strident, diminishing the power of the text as a whole. Here, however, it is an integral part of the plot, seamlessly integrated and beautifully conveyed. The passages where modern concerns about the alleged ills of vaccinations are contrasted with strikingly similar (and identically baseless) concerns from over eight decades ago, are subtle and well crafted.
The novel is chronologically layered, so that each time line unfolds with internal linearity but the present is interfolded with the seventies, the fifties and the twenties. This technique allows the precipitating events, some eighty-five years ago, to only slowly emerge, devastatingly exposed almost at the end.
The novel finishes, though, with its engine. The driving heart of the series is the relationship between Russ and Clare, both honourable people committed to the vows they took long before they met. An affair is an anathema to them both, but the measures they've taken thus far have done naught to dampen the mutual feelings of respect, attraction and intellectual pull they feel. I so look forward to seeing where Spencer-Fleming takes them next. - Alex
The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series:
1. In the Bleak Midwinter
2. A Fountain Filled with Blood
3. Out of the Deep I Cry
4. To Darkness and to Death
5. All Mortal Flesh
6. I Shall Not Want
Thursday, October 21
Blindman's Bluff - Faye Kellerman
Billionaire developer Guy Kaffey, his wife and four employees have been shot to death on Kaffey's compound; critically wounded is older son Gil. The case is high profile,which is why LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker is woken at 3AM. There are several perplexing elements to the case, and Decker finds aid from an unlikely source - his wife.
Rina Lazarus could probably have avoided jury duty thanks to her husband's career, but she likes the idea of contributing to her community. The case she's serving on has a number of Hispanic witnesses, and interpreting for them in the enigmatic, and blind, Brett Harriman - when Harriman overhears a couple of men speaking about the murders, particularly about someone called el patrón being angry that there were survivors, he asks a nearby woman to describe the men, one of whom is speaking Spanish with a Mexican accent, the other with Cuban intonation. The woman is Rina.
I loved this series from the beginning - unlike more famous husband Jonathan's Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis series, the mystery/crime plots are strongly tempered by character development and the rites and ritual of orthodox Judaism. In the very first novels, where Peter and Rina meet, fall in love, and he learns about his unknown heritage, this was particularly beautifully done.
Sadly neither series feel fresh to me any more - though I finished Blindman's Bluff, I never felt engaged with, interested in the mystery, or connected to the characters. Given the central relationship is now up to its nineteenth outing, and that I've been reading about them for over twenty years, this is not a good sign. I heartily recommend the early novels (The Ritual Bath, Sacred and Profane, Milk and Honey and Day of Atonement in particular), but have to pass on this. - Alex
Rina Lazarus could probably have avoided jury duty thanks to her husband's career, but she likes the idea of contributing to her community. The case she's serving on has a number of Hispanic witnesses, and interpreting for them in the enigmatic, and blind, Brett Harriman - when Harriman overhears a couple of men speaking about the murders, particularly about someone called el patrón being angry that there were survivors, he asks a nearby woman to describe the men, one of whom is speaking Spanish with a Mexican accent, the other with Cuban intonation. The woman is Rina.
I loved this series from the beginning - unlike more famous husband Jonathan's Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis series, the mystery/crime plots are strongly tempered by character development and the rites and ritual of orthodox Judaism. In the very first novels, where Peter and Rina meet, fall in love, and he learns about his unknown heritage, this was particularly beautifully done.
Sadly neither series feel fresh to me any more - though I finished Blindman's Bluff, I never felt engaged with, interested in the mystery, or connected to the characters. Given the central relationship is now up to its nineteenth outing, and that I've been reading about them for over twenty years, this is not a good sign. I heartily recommend the early novels (The Ritual Bath, Sacred and Profane, Milk and Honey and Day of Atonement in particular), but have to pass on this. - Alex
Wednesday, October 20
Laura Anne Gilman: Free Fall
After the events of the last book in this series, Burning Bridges, the magical community is in disarray and the target of increasingly violent vigilante attacks. But that is the last thing on one woman’s mind. Her partner/lover has apparently been unable to let past loyalties go and has left her alone just when she needs him more than ever.
In order to take her mind off things she accepts what should be a simple retrieval job. She soon finds her mission wasn’t what she’d thought it to be and comes to the conclusion her people can no longer hide.
They are at war for their very survival and don’t stand a chance at open warfare. So she decides to fight back her own way-save those she can and inflict maximum damage to the enemy in the process. The battle is brutal and there are major losses on both sides and she is far from unscathed. But at the end of the day she knows who her real friends are and is relieved that her old partner/lover is amongst their number.
This is the second last book in this series and it reads very much as a continuation of the previous novel, so unlike earlier episodes it does not stand alone.
There is plenty of action and danger is ever present making for a fast paced read that is somehow less satisfying than it should be. There is a lot going on as the overarching plot reaches its zenith and I think perhaps character development suffers a little due to the rapid plot pace. A shame because the main character faces significant personal issues that I would have liked to have seen explored.
Overall this wasn’t a bad book but it was far from the best in the series. To be honest it felt a bit experimental, as if the author wanted to push the characters in a direction they didn’t want to go and their resistance shines through making the story feel false.
I can only hope that the final book in the series sees everyone back on track.-Lynn
In order to take her mind off things she accepts what should be a simple retrieval job. She soon finds her mission wasn’t what she’d thought it to be and comes to the conclusion her people can no longer hide.
They are at war for their very survival and don’t stand a chance at open warfare. So she decides to fight back her own way-save those she can and inflict maximum damage to the enemy in the process. The battle is brutal and there are major losses on both sides and she is far from unscathed. But at the end of the day she knows who her real friends are and is relieved that her old partner/lover is amongst their number.
This is the second last book in this series and it reads very much as a continuation of the previous novel, so unlike earlier episodes it does not stand alone.
There is plenty of action and danger is ever present making for a fast paced read that is somehow less satisfying than it should be. There is a lot going on as the overarching plot reaches its zenith and I think perhaps character development suffers a little due to the rapid plot pace. A shame because the main character faces significant personal issues that I would have liked to have seen explored.
Overall this wasn’t a bad book but it was far from the best in the series. To be honest it felt a bit experimental, as if the author wanted to push the characters in a direction they didn’t want to go and their resistance shines through making the story feel false.
I can only hope that the final book in the series sees everyone back on track.-Lynn
Saturday, October 16
Hollywood Hustle - Gordon Korman
Vince Luca wants to be a director, but that's only part of the reason he chose to go to college in California - the other reason is to get as far away as possible from his father, cappo of a New York mob. He and his girlfriend drop his best friend Alex off in Las Vegas before driving west; Kendra's starting at a music academy - she's gorgeous, plays piano beautifully and has a great but untrained voice. She's also the daughter of an FBI agent more interested in bringing down Anthony Luca than almost anything else, so Romeo and Juliet have nothing on this couple.
College life strains their relationship more than Vince anticipated - Kendra has no time for him but apparently endless hours to star in would-be-director and Vince's classmate P. Richard Shapiro's (a real P-Rick) student film. And though he's trying hard to be strong, roommate Trey's new, gorgeous, older girlfriend Willow seems to be throwing herself at him. Trey can't stand his father, US senator William Sutter, but the straight life fascinates Vince, who desperately wants to expunge every aspect of his father's involvement in The Life from his life.
This sequel to Son of the Mob is as funny and fun as the original - in common with most of Korman's longer novels, it's peopled with distinctive characters who have agendas that bewilder the Everyman hero, tilting him a little off the unobtrusive path he has in mind for himself. for Vince this starts with his rebellious roommate and the host of characters who inhabit his college aerie, but the arrival of his connected brother Tommy, apparently interested in going straight, is only the second in a series of appearances of family (both blood and Family) who pop up, reminding Vince that you can never really leave.
I've said before that Korman should be more widely read, particularly by reluctant male readers - his writing is accessible but nuanced, his plots are twisty but easily followed, his dialogue is realistic and funny, his protagonists are everymen, and his supporting characters are just a little larger than life. - Alex
College life strains their relationship more than Vince anticipated - Kendra has no time for him but apparently endless hours to star in would-be-director and Vince's classmate P. Richard Shapiro's (a real P-Rick) student film. And though he's trying hard to be strong, roommate Trey's new, gorgeous, older girlfriend Willow seems to be throwing herself at him. Trey can't stand his father, US senator William Sutter, but the straight life fascinates Vince, who desperately wants to expunge every aspect of his father's involvement in The Life from his life.
This sequel to Son of the Mob is as funny and fun as the original - in common with most of Korman's longer novels, it's peopled with distinctive characters who have agendas that bewilder the Everyman hero, tilting him a little off the unobtrusive path he has in mind for himself. for Vince this starts with his rebellious roommate and the host of characters who inhabit his college aerie, but the arrival of his connected brother Tommy, apparently interested in going straight, is only the second in a series of appearances of family (both blood and Family) who pop up, reminding Vince that you can never really leave.
I've said before that Korman should be more widely read, particularly by reluctant male readers - his writing is accessible but nuanced, his plots are twisty but easily followed, his dialogue is realistic and funny, his protagonists are everymen, and his supporting characters are just a little larger than life. - Alex
Tuesday, October 12
Sammy Margo: The Good Sleep Guide
From the back of the book-
Increase your energy levels and banish fatigue from your life forever.
Do you toss and turn at night?
Do you find it hard to get out of bed in the morning?
Do you use caffeine to help you stay alert?
Do you feel tired most of the time?
If your answer to two or more of these questions is yes then you are not getting enough sleep. Written by sought-after physiotherapist Sammy Margo, this essential guide to getting a good night’s sleep will help you:
Understand the importance of the right environment, bedding and sleep position
Discover the best over-the-counter sleep remedies
Combat jet lag
Say goodbye to sleep disorders, such as insomnia and sleep apnoea
Written by a physiotherapist, you would expect this book to focus on the physical aspects of getting a good night’s sleep and you would be right. It covers topics such as how to choose the right bed, mattress and pillow for optimal spinal alignment and the benefits and disadvantages of assorted sleeping positions. It addresses some of the more common physical complaints that may result in poor quality sleep and how an individual might effectively deal with them using both medicinal and lifestyle elements. It also emphasises the importance of creating a good pre sleep routine.
While the book offers nothing new (or at least nothing I haven’t heard before in my quest for a decent night’s sleep) it is easy to read and presented in a logical format.
Sensible and sound advice succinctly summarized for the newly sleepless-Lynn
Monday, October 11
Fortune and Fate – Sharon Shinn
The war against the crown was hard-fought, and won at a great price – King Baryn was slain, and his mystic daughter now leads Gillengaria. Peace is cause for relief and joy for most of the country, but for King’s Rider Wen, Baryn’s death and her survival mean she was unfit for her role. She should have died defending him, and being severely wounded doesn’t count. So she has exiled herself from the region and the people she loves. She wanders Gillengaria, working as a bodyguard for hire and aiding strangers in distress, and moving on whenever she starts to feel comfortable. The first disruption comes when Wen sees a marlady in distress at an inn and comes to her aid – Kerryn is the under-age serramarra of Fortunalt, and has been kidnapped by a suitor more interested in her title than herself. Wen returns her to Fortune castle, and the lax protection of her uncle and guardian, the bookish Jasper Paladar. With a few choice observations about the marked lapses in adequate security, Wen leaves, but keeps being drawn back to Forten City despite her intentions. Coming to the assistance of a half-starved young boy, Wen evades a trap only to find herself connected to a pair of abused siblings reluctant to let her leave. And almost before she knows how it happened, Wen becomes connected – first to the children, then to the serramarra, and finally to Jasper Paladar. The fifth in the Twelve Houses series, Fortune and Fate combines the story of Wen with the overarching plot of the series. The focus shifts from Wen’s unfolding narrative to events in the capital, where we rejoin Queen Amalie, her mystic consort Cammon, and the Queen’s Riders. Though the war has been won, the aftermath is far from resolved, and Cammon decides to take a preliminary journey before allowing Amalie to travel through Gillengaria, making herself known to her citizens. Nothing Cammon does, though, is ever as straightforward as it seems. Every aspect of this book is brilliant, from the nuanced, three-dimensional characterisation to the multiple, intertwined plots. There is a little extension of Shinn’s world building into neighbouring countries, but for the most part Gillengaria is world enough. The relationships of the previous series novels continue to mature and develop, most notably that of Cammon and Amalie, who are discovering new applications of their mystic powers. But it is the contrast between woman of action Wen and academic Jasper that I found most compelling, and the way Shinn portrays the effect they have on each other – Wen begins to enjoy reading for pleasure, and sees the usefulness of wider thinking and differences, while Jasper discovers strategies outside the sphere of board games, the necessity of action, and the complexities of defense. Tactics and strategy run through the novel, as characters and the author “lay out all the pieces in a manner that seemed completely random, and then, with a single move, destroy the unprepared opponent” and thoroughly entertain the reader. The writing has humour and lightness, which contrasts with sub-plots of betrayal and thirst for power, and every moment rings true. The romance is bumpy, the payoff truly satisfying, and the hero hot - “Japar Paladar kissed the way he talked, with subtle shades of nuance and an extensive vocabulary.” I tagged multiple pages that had examples I wanted to include, but after several drafts I realise that I really can’t do Fate and Fortune justice, though I’ve certainly tried – I even reread the novel after a month, which was a pleasure but not something I generally do, because there are so many books and so little time in which to read them. One thing I will reproduce is Wen’s advice to Karryn about ensuring loyal service – “feed them well, pay them on time, never put them in unnecessary danger, and treat them with respect,” which strikes me as a suggestion employers in all industries would do well to follow. I have no doubt that Fate and Fortune would be enjoyable to readers new to Shinn, and it’s certainly accessible to anyone unfamiliar with the four previous novels, but the depth of satisfaction I felt came in no small part from reuniting with old friends, seeing the story lines extend, and building on a universe I already knew well. For maximum enjoyment I recommend starting with the first Twelve Houses novel and working joyfully down the list. - Alex
1. Mystic and Rider
2. The Thirteenth House
3. Dark Moon Defender
4. Reader and Raelynx
5. Fortune and Fate
1. Mystic and Rider
2. The Thirteenth House
3. Dark Moon Defender
4. Reader and Raelynx
5. Fortune and Fate
Saturday, October 9
Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones
Andrew Hope had always dimmly know his grandfather was a magician, but he'd never really thought about what would happen to his home and, more importantly, his field of care after the old man died. So it came as something of a shock when he sees his grandfather in the middle of the road, clearly no longer in this world and flags his down with a wax-sealed document. And thus Andrew left his life of academia and entered a village that, though apparently normal on the surface, is filled with eccentric characters, giant marrows, fetes, things that go bump in the night, and the unrelated Stocks who tended not unkindly to his grandfather, in their way. Most of all there's young Aidan Cain, an orphan fleeing a large, supportive but impersonal foster home. Aidan came looking for Jocelyn and was most distressed to learn that the old man had died, so Andrew took the boy under his wing. It was as they were tracing the perimeter of Andrew's field of care (the boarder between it and normal space almost fizzles when walked through), Andrew discovers a barbed wire fence running through a copse on his grounds - a fence that, to add rather insult to injuy, is also patrolled by a vicious groundsman and an equal unfriendly dog.
As is her wont, Jones has used tales and elements from folklore and fairytales to frame her thoroughly original story - in this case the fairy king Oberon, his consort Titania, and trickster Puck. But there's a lot more here, too - from feuds large and small, unusual aptitudes, and even an incipeint romance. I didn't find Enchanted Glass quite as much as some of Jones's other works, but even an average Jones is better than many writers at their best. - Alex
As is her wont, Jones has used tales and elements from folklore and fairytales to frame her thoroughly original story - in this case the fairy king Oberon, his consort Titania, and trickster Puck. But there's a lot more here, too - from feuds large and small, unusual aptitudes, and even an incipeint romance. I didn't find Enchanted Glass quite as much as some of Jones's other works, but even an average Jones is better than many writers at their best. - Alex
Wednesday, October 6
Carol Goodman: Arcadia Falls
A young widow battling to make ends meet accepts a dream job at an exclusive arts school, a place where not only can she pursue her doctoral thesis (which addresses the life and work of the school’s co-founders) but ensure the quality of her daughter’s education.
No sooner does she arrive when a tragic accident claims the life of one of the school’s most promising students. Reminded of her own recent loss and troubled by her daughter’s emotional distance, she throws herself into her research and soon discovers the private diary of one of the school’s founders. What she reads within its pages, together with what she picks up from the student body and the attitude of the local sheriff, leads her to suspect that the student’s death was no accident after all. But she has no real proof and the school is riddled with suspects, from the elderly head mistress right down to a competitive classmate of the dead girl.
The more she investigates the past, the more enlightened she becomes about the present, until finally, with the ‘suicide’ of a colleague, everything falls into place. However, her knowledge has put her, and by proxy, her daughter, in grave danger.
It is only with the help of the sheriff that she eventually manages to save herself, her daughter and another student from murderous intent and achieve the life she had hoped to have when she first accepted the teaching position.
I feel this mystery novel, with decidedly gothic overtones, overreaches itself. The plot is unnecessarily convoluted and the characters’ motivation thin at best. I couldn’t relate to the heroine at all. She, like most of the other characters, simply didn’t have enough depth to create any real interest. And the romance subplot was completely unconvincing.
However, to damn with faint praise, the story wasn’t really that bad. Though I feel it was poorly executed there was a lot of potential. With a less contorted plot, more developed characters and a greater sense of place this could have been an outstanding work rather than an average one.
Simply due to that potential I would consider another of Goodman’s works but I’ll not be rushing out for one.-Lynn
No sooner does she arrive when a tragic accident claims the life of one of the school’s most promising students. Reminded of her own recent loss and troubled by her daughter’s emotional distance, she throws herself into her research and soon discovers the private diary of one of the school’s founders. What she reads within its pages, together with what she picks up from the student body and the attitude of the local sheriff, leads her to suspect that the student’s death was no accident after all. But she has no real proof and the school is riddled with suspects, from the elderly head mistress right down to a competitive classmate of the dead girl.
The more she investigates the past, the more enlightened she becomes about the present, until finally, with the ‘suicide’ of a colleague, everything falls into place. However, her knowledge has put her, and by proxy, her daughter, in grave danger.
It is only with the help of the sheriff that she eventually manages to save herself, her daughter and another student from murderous intent and achieve the life she had hoped to have when she first accepted the teaching position.
I feel this mystery novel, with decidedly gothic overtones, overreaches itself. The plot is unnecessarily convoluted and the characters’ motivation thin at best. I couldn’t relate to the heroine at all. She, like most of the other characters, simply didn’t have enough depth to create any real interest. And the romance subplot was completely unconvincing.
However, to damn with faint praise, the story wasn’t really that bad. Though I feel it was poorly executed there was a lot of potential. With a less contorted plot, more developed characters and a greater sense of place this could have been an outstanding work rather than an average one.
Simply due to that potential I would consider another of Goodman’s works but I’ll not be rushing out for one.-Lynn
Monday, October 4
Michael Crichton - Pirate Latitudes
Privateer Captain Charles Hunter has been hired by Jamaica's governor to explore the Mantaceros, an island fortress, where a treasure-laden (apparently) galleon awaits protection for her journey home to Spain.
Set in the mid seventeenth century, Pirate Latitudes is a significant departure on many fronts from Crichton's usual work, which tends to explore intersections of two or more of modern culture, health care, contentious issues, and emerging technologies. The manuscript was found on a computer and was apparently completed before his death, along with another novel (to be published in 2012, which suggests a lack of completion). I certainly found it less satisfying or engrossing than his other works, which I generally found absorbing and well-written. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into Pirate Latitudes, which I abandoned about 100 pages. - Alex
Set in the mid seventeenth century, Pirate Latitudes is a significant departure on many fronts from Crichton's usual work, which tends to explore intersections of two or more of modern culture, health care, contentious issues, and emerging technologies. The manuscript was found on a computer and was apparently completed before his death, along with another novel (to be published in 2012, which suggests a lack of completion). I certainly found it less satisfying or engrossing than his other works, which I generally found absorbing and well-written. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into Pirate Latitudes, which I abandoned about 100 pages. - Alex
Sunday, October 3
oh my goth - Gena Showalter
Though there are many types of Goth ("cemetery... Oriental, diva, dark fairy, Kindergoth, Egyptian... punk... vampire..."), they have their individuality in common, and they scorn the sheep-like mainstream. Jade Leigh dreads conformity more than anything - her friends feel the same way, and external pressure to make them abandon the clothing and ethos they embrace causes them only to cling harder, regardless of whether it's from parents, peers, teachers or school administrators.
Being different certainly comes at a high cost - from the scorn of jock star Bobby, who she crushed on for years, to the uncompromising ill-favour of her teachers, and the disapproval of her widowed father, the only people in Jade's life who accept her for who she really is are her friends. When a clash with her trig teacher sends Jade to the principal's office one time too many, Jade expected consequences, even if Mr Parton's treatment of her was totally unfair. What she didn't expect was that her universe would be turned upside down, nor that the only other person aware that everything was now wrong would be her arch-enemy, Barbie girl and Miss Popularity Mercedes Turner. As Jade battles against her popularity, including the more seductive aspects of unearned approval, Mercedes struggles with her abrupt transition to outsider status and near-universal disapproval from the cohort who were once her more adoring friends.
I liked the concept behind oh my goth, of an alternative universe were being Goth was the norm and all the things that set Jade apart before were now the very things that made her popular. Yet, as I read I found myself feeling increasingly detached from the novel; a little reflection allowed me to recognise that this was due, at least in part, to the expectations I didn't realise I had about where Showalter was going to take the novel. The universe inversion mechanism (induction of a virtual reality by a discredited scientist) was fine, and certainly able to be incorporated into the suspension of disbelief inherent in the premise, and it gave Jade and Mercedes a reason to work together, but I didn't buy that they were able to interact with each other and a third character, nor that the time they spent in the VR world was shorter than in real life, nor that it occurred to neither of them that the drug-enhanced alternate reality would need to be monitored by someone, who would then be well aware of the escape plans they made.
But I could have overlooked that had the novel itself been more substantial. I'd hoped for something that dug into the deeper aspects of popularity, non-conformity and peer pressure, particularly regarding teens. Instead I found oh my goth to be disappointingly superficial, starting with Jade herself, whose first diary entry bemoans appearance-based judgement but on the very same page judges the "Barbies" at school. Her raison d'etre seems to be individuality for the sake of it, but her style is purely reactionary rather than reflective of what she wants, and designed purely to proclaim that she is a non-conformist.
Jade's father, like every character in the novel, is barely two-dimensional - he seems to have no understanding of why Jade is traumatised by the idea of driving, or why she might be preoccupied with death, instead fixated on the way she dresses. He's also, it transpired through the novel, in a relationship with Mercedes' mother, a relationship that apparently pre-dates the death of his wife, and which is part of the reason for Mercedes' intensive dislike of Jade. Yet somehow this significant aspect isn't addressed.
And that's really emblematic of the novel in toto for me - there are opportunities to explore issues in some depth, but instead only the most superficial and hackneyed messaged are conveyed: popular guys can screw you over, Barbie clones can have intellect and insight, judging by appearances doesn't necessarily tell you what's going on with someone, and walking in someone else's shoes can give you an idea about their reality and allow you to transcend the barriers you imposed. Oh, and some discussion about how the different kinds of Goth vary would have been nice - all we got was that cyber goths are lovers "of all things futuristic," which is surely a simplification at best.- Alex
Being different certainly comes at a high cost - from the scorn of jock star Bobby, who she crushed on for years, to the uncompromising ill-favour of her teachers, and the disapproval of her widowed father, the only people in Jade's life who accept her for who she really is are her friends. When a clash with her trig teacher sends Jade to the principal's office one time too many, Jade expected consequences, even if Mr Parton's treatment of her was totally unfair. What she didn't expect was that her universe would be turned upside down, nor that the only other person aware that everything was now wrong would be her arch-enemy, Barbie girl and Miss Popularity Mercedes Turner. As Jade battles against her popularity, including the more seductive aspects of unearned approval, Mercedes struggles with her abrupt transition to outsider status and near-universal disapproval from the cohort who were once her more adoring friends.
I liked the concept behind oh my goth, of an alternative universe were being Goth was the norm and all the things that set Jade apart before were now the very things that made her popular. Yet, as I read I found myself feeling increasingly detached from the novel; a little reflection allowed me to recognise that this was due, at least in part, to the expectations I didn't realise I had about where Showalter was going to take the novel. The universe inversion mechanism (induction of a virtual reality by a discredited scientist) was fine, and certainly able to be incorporated into the suspension of disbelief inherent in the premise, and it gave Jade and Mercedes a reason to work together, but I didn't buy that they were able to interact with each other and a third character, nor that the time they spent in the VR world was shorter than in real life, nor that it occurred to neither of them that the drug-enhanced alternate reality would need to be monitored by someone, who would then be well aware of the escape plans they made.
But I could have overlooked that had the novel itself been more substantial. I'd hoped for something that dug into the deeper aspects of popularity, non-conformity and peer pressure, particularly regarding teens. Instead I found oh my goth to be disappointingly superficial, starting with Jade herself, whose first diary entry bemoans appearance-based judgement but on the very same page judges the "Barbies" at school. Her raison d'etre seems to be individuality for the sake of it, but her style is purely reactionary rather than reflective of what she wants, and designed purely to proclaim that she is a non-conformist.
Jade's friends are still outcasts but now dress in preppy and pretty outfits and are branded trouble-makers by adults, while police and other authority figures wear black eyeliner and darken their hair. For me this undermined any actual individualism the Goth characters may have had - Showalter seemed to be saying that unequal power structures with exist in all high schools, with the majority following trends like sheep and picking on the outliers, who in turn bring it on themselves by being different only for the sake of being different.
Jade's mother died in a car accident two years earlier, in the midst of teaching Jade how to drive, with the dying words "... stand up for yourself... Be strong. Be brave. Be you." It wasn't clear in the text if Jade was already Goth, or if her interest in the macabre and in death started then, but it's hammered home through the text that she took this call to individuality to heart. What could have been a powerful event, though, felt to me as though it had been included to add depth to Jade, and failed in the process. Jade's father, like every character in the novel, is barely two-dimensional - he seems to have no understanding of why Jade is traumatised by the idea of driving, or why she might be preoccupied with death, instead fixated on the way she dresses. He's also, it transpired through the novel, in a relationship with Mercedes' mother, a relationship that apparently pre-dates the death of his wife, and which is part of the reason for Mercedes' intensive dislike of Jade. Yet somehow this significant aspect isn't addressed.
And that's really emblematic of the novel in toto for me - there are opportunities to explore issues in some depth, but instead only the most superficial and hackneyed messaged are conveyed: popular guys can screw you over, Barbie clones can have intellect and insight, judging by appearances doesn't necessarily tell you what's going on with someone, and walking in someone else's shoes can give you an idea about their reality and allow you to transcend the barriers you imposed. Oh, and some discussion about how the different kinds of Goth vary would have been nice - all we got was that cyber goths are lovers "of all things futuristic," which is surely a simplification at best.- Alex
Saturday, October 2
Killing Floor - Lee Child
Former MP and army brat Jack Reacher's not long out of a down-sized military - after a lifetime of relentless travel nowhere feels like home, and being in one place to long makes him antsy. So Jack's taking it a day at a time, travelling as the mood takes him and stopping the same way. That's how he wound up in Margrave, a tiny town in the middle of Georgia - as the Greyhound he was on passed by he remembered his brother, Joe, telling him that legendary guitarist Blind Blake was rumoured to have died in Margrave and so Jack got off. He hadn't seen Joe in years, or heard from him for almost as long, but Jack remembered that.
What Jack didn't expect was to be embroiled, on his very first day in town, in a brutal murder that saw him in jail, that almost got him killed, that triggered a wave of violence through the apparently peaceful town, and that was committed to cover up a massive criminal enterprise.
Killing Floor is the first in what is now over a dozen Jack Reacher novels, and it's a worthy opening - the writing is arresting from the opening line - "I was arrested in Eno's diner." (I swear that when I typed that I had no thought of wordplay in mind). Child conveys a sense of purpose to this aimless-looking man, imbues him with strengths and weaknesses, and shows the reader how an experienced and intelligent cop can size up and manipulate virtually any situation.
I really liked the character of Jack, and although there was more of a crowd of secondary characters than usual, I thought they were fairly well drawn. I also liked the smaller mysteries (like what happened to Blind Blake) scattered through and tied into the larger narrative.
There are genuine moments of shock, chief among which is the identity of the initial murder victim, and while there was a little more reliance on coincidence than I'd like, that aspect's not flagrant and is used fairly judiciously. I was a little disappointed in to spots (the first when I guessed how the scam was bring run, and when I picked up a point that indicated there was an inside man), but overall enjoyed Jack's first foray. Having now read the series thoroughly out of order I'd have to say my enjoyment of the later ones wasn't in any way hampered by my nonconsecutive reading. - Alex
The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For
What Jack didn't expect was to be embroiled, on his very first day in town, in a brutal murder that saw him in jail, that almost got him killed, that triggered a wave of violence through the apparently peaceful town, and that was committed to cover up a massive criminal enterprise.
Killing Floor is the first in what is now over a dozen Jack Reacher novels, and it's a worthy opening - the writing is arresting from the opening line - "I was arrested in Eno's diner." (I swear that when I typed that I had no thought of wordplay in mind). Child conveys a sense of purpose to this aimless-looking man, imbues him with strengths and weaknesses, and shows the reader how an experienced and intelligent cop can size up and manipulate virtually any situation.
I really liked the character of Jack, and although there was more of a crowd of secondary characters than usual, I thought they were fairly well drawn. I also liked the smaller mysteries (like what happened to Blind Blake) scattered through and tied into the larger narrative.
There are genuine moments of shock, chief among which is the identity of the initial murder victim, and while there was a little more reliance on coincidence than I'd like, that aspect's not flagrant and is used fairly judiciously. I was a little disappointed in to spots (the first when I guessed how the scam was bring run, and when I picked up a point that indicated there was an inside man), but overall enjoyed Jack's first foray. Having now read the series thoroughly out of order I'd have to say my enjoyment of the later ones wasn't in any way hampered by my nonconsecutive reading. - Alex
The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For
Thursday, September 30
Beyond Heaving Bossoms - Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan
As is clear from a quick perusal of our blog, both Lynn and I enjoy romance novels, from the unquestionably Mills & Boon end through to modern variants where the strong romantic narrative is intertwined with another genre like suspense or mystery, from Regency-era froth to contemporary settings, and even the odd Old Skool ridiculousness (Carole Mortimer, anyone?). We both have Masters degrees (one of us has two) and both have our eyes on Ph.D.’s in the relatively near future. We also both enjoy popping in on Wendell and Tan’s website – there’s a link in the left hand column, if you’re interested.
Like the website, Beyond Heaving Bosoms (subtitled The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels) sets out to explore the world of the romance novel or, as they title it, Romancelandia. Wendell and Tan’s starting point is that readers of romance novels are inappropriately ridiculed for their literary tastes, typecast as dowdy spinsters of a Certain Age and plumpness, desperate for a little romance in their bleak and lonely worlds. The reality is that romance novels constitute the biggest part of the publishing market, in terms of both volume and revenue. Like us, the majority of readers have a tertiary education and a comfortable income. Yes, there is something of a formula, in the same way every genre has conventions and formulas. Romance novels are ridiculed primarily, though, because they’re overwhelming written and read by women.
This is not to say that Wendell and Tan don’t take the odd jab at the genre themselves though, from ludicrous cover art to the healing powers of the hero’s untameable Mighty Wang of Mighty Lovin’ and the heroine’s Magic Hoo Hoo.
However, mixed in with the lighter moments are relatively serious discussions, including: the bewildering persistence of sex myths and tropes, from the painfully pierced and misplaced hymen (which generally moves half way up the vagina) through to the heroine incapable of enjoying sex, ever, with anyone but the hero, and the ridiculousness of the Simultaneous Orgasm (which I think is often short-hand for ‘they’re just massively compatible on every level and meant to be together forever’); several discussions about the use and frequency of rape in Old Skool romance novels (including discussion about why they were written and how they’re still defended); the impact and underlying bias of shelving non-white romance fiction in other parts of bricks-and-mortar stores; the bizarre concept that everyone critiquing in the field ought - with a full moral imperative - to Be Nice, a fact Lynn and I became aware of in the earliest days of our still wholly amateur writing; and an introduction, for newcomers, to the Smart Bitches Plagiarism Debate.
Which isn’t at all a debate, except in as much as there still seems in some corners to be some people who continue to question whether plagiarism is acceptable. In a nutshell for those newcomers – two years ago a friend of one of the authors borrowed a selection of romance novels to get a feel for the genre. As an example of bad romance writing the woman was given a copy of prolific author Cassie Edwards’ Shadow Bear. The reader, a classic student, was struck by a distinct change in tone in the midst of one scene and, inspired to look a little further, discovered through Google that Edwards had lifted slabs of writing from an article on wildlife. See here for a recap of just some of the total drama that ensued.
I predominantly enjoyed my reading of Beyond Heaving Bosoms, though I have a couple of quibbles. The first is that the audience isn’t entirely clear – there’s certainly an assumption of some degree of knowledge of the genre going in. Certainly there are discussions about the evolution and history of the romance novel, including a description of types of heroine (doormat, plain and strong, antiheroine, ingénue), and exemplars a plenty. However, I suspect that readers who aren’t familiar at all with the field will find some things a little confusing. Perhaps the target audience is the more experienced romance reader, and these aspects are there as refreshers and reminders of aspects of the genre outside the readers’ usual material.
The tone is also a little conflicted, so that serious discussion of the elements I mentioned above are nestled between a game allowing the reader to scour second hand book shops for bad covers to score (“is the heroine’s eye shadow a color you’ve never before witnessed on a human being? 4 points”) and a choose-your-own-romance (“As you sleep, you dream. Do you: see Hawkings in your dream? Turn to option 13 - page 223”), accompanied by MadLibs across an arrays of sub-genres. And I very quickly got tired of the entendre remarks: (“insert ‘more open’ joke here… insert joke about ‘insert’ here… oh, never mind” and “swelled head. No, not that head, the other one”). The activities were, I imagine, far more fun to create than I found them to read, and the former could certainly have been significantly shorter, and funnier. I did find the latter, where the choices of heroine description dictated the sub-genre (contemporary, urban, supernatural and much sexxoring,™ historic classic, historic pirate), valuable but think it could have come earlier. I also think it would have been more relevant if it had been used as an exemplar to illustrate some of the sub-genres of the field.
Perhaps that’s because I found the more academic aspects of the text interesting, for all that I was fairly familiar with the feminist aspects of writing, the demography of the readerships, and need no convincing about the worth of the genre. I found the comparison of Old Skool rape with current paranormal trend of heroines being unwillingly and non-consensually transformed really interesting and hadn’t identified it previously myself. I have to applaud their inclusion of fantasy authors, and personal favourites, Bujold and Shinn, and I did discover the latter through reader recommendations on the blog. I was also interested in Wendell and Tan’s predictions for the future of romance novels, which includes: an increasing emphasis on non-traditional romances (male/male, female/female/trios and more); the mainstreaming of anal sex and bondage; more historicals set in the Victorian age and fewer in Regency England; and a move away from vampires and werewolves to other creatures from the paranormal pantheon – they tip zombies. On their five point concluding wish list is also something I’d like to see, the demise of the alpha hero and the rise of the beta male (or, as Candy frames it, the hipster). Whatever the future of romance, there’s no question it will continue to thrive, on paper and in e-publishing. But pretty much everything I got out of Beyond Heaving Bosoms I could have read on the blog, albeit in a less condensed format, so it’s a good thing I borrowed it from my awesome library. – Alex
Tuesday, September 28
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs
In post war London an ex-army nurse sets herself up as a private detective. Her first case is a husband who suspects his wife of being unfaithful. Investigation proves the wife’s innocence but opens up a greater mystery-what is really happening at a rest home for disfigured war veterans?
The more she uncovers, the greater her worry about her old comrades-in-arms becomes. With her worst fears confirmed it is up to her to save the lives of these men who have lost so much, facing her own demons in the process.
With a little help from her mentor and the local constabulary she manages to set things to rights and put her fledgling business on the map.
It took me quite a long time to read this because I kept comparing Maisie Dobbs with antipodean counterpart Phryne Fisher and Maisie came off a decided second best. The writing I associate with 1920s female detectives is much stronger and more subtle than this author’s, who has a 'tell rather than show' style. However, I eventually managed to give Maisie her due and ended up enjoying the story.
The initial case is simply a lead in to the greater mystery and is solved in the first quarter of the book. The story then regresses to tell us of the main character’s history from her early childhood through to the present day and while it gives great insight into her motivation, it makes the entire book feel like a prequel/prologue.
There is, however, a most satisfying conclusion to the many story threads.
I can’t say I’m sold on this series. Although it has many elements that I like in a story the author’s voice just misses the mark for me. I would consider giving another book in this highly successful series a go simply because, as I said earlier, this one felt like a prelude (or, to borrow TV terminology, a pilot episode) and I’d like to read a story dedicated entirely to a case.-Lynn
The more she uncovers, the greater her worry about her old comrades-in-arms becomes. With her worst fears confirmed it is up to her to save the lives of these men who have lost so much, facing her own demons in the process.
With a little help from her mentor and the local constabulary she manages to set things to rights and put her fledgling business on the map.
It took me quite a long time to read this because I kept comparing Maisie Dobbs with antipodean counterpart Phryne Fisher and Maisie came off a decided second best. The writing I associate with 1920s female detectives is much stronger and more subtle than this author’s, who has a 'tell rather than show' style. However, I eventually managed to give Maisie her due and ended up enjoying the story.
The initial case is simply a lead in to the greater mystery and is solved in the first quarter of the book. The story then regresses to tell us of the main character’s history from her early childhood through to the present day and while it gives great insight into her motivation, it makes the entire book feel like a prequel/prologue.
There is, however, a most satisfying conclusion to the many story threads.
I can’t say I’m sold on this series. Although it has many elements that I like in a story the author’s voice just misses the mark for me. I would consider giving another book in this highly successful series a go simply because, as I said earlier, this one felt like a prelude (or, to borrow TV terminology, a pilot episode) and I’d like to read a story dedicated entirely to a case.-Lynn
Monday, September 27
Undead and Unwelcome - MaryJanice Davidson
Marc Spangler's become used to life with paranormal creatures, but he's becoming increasingly concerned about the Satanists coming to pay homage to Laura. Sure, his brilliant idea to put them to work doing good deeds seemed to get them out from underfoot, but Laura's acting kind of weird, and Tina has most uncharacteristically vanished. He can't ring Betsy, because Laura's done something to all their cell phones, and even though he keeps emailing Betsy she stubbornly won't reply.
Reluctant vampire queen Betsy (not Elizabeth!) Taylor and her husband Sinclair, accompanied by their ward and her half-brother BabyJon, are accompanying the body of Betsy's friend Antonia to her estranged family, a pack of werewolves in Cape Cod. Antonia died saving Betsy from an assassination attempt, which has made the wolves none to happy to see her, and with a potential vampire/werewolf war on the horizon Betsy has only a little space to ponder the wolves' weird responses to BabyJon. She has no time at all for the increasingly text-jargon-heavy emails coming from her housemate, Marc, and refuses to respond until he sends one in English, with actual grammar. With Sinclair's factotum Tina, and her half-sister Laura (technically the devil's daughter, but a sweet girl) at home, how much trouble could there be, anyway?
Undead and Unwelcome is the eighth in an ongoing series about the adventures of an accidental vampire who'd have been more interested collecting shoes and going to the beautician than deposing leaders and correcting barbaric practices. Though more substantial than many similar series, particularly now some of the deaths are striking closer to home, the Undead series does suffer the same problem common to the sub-genre - in addition to an introductory "The story so far" there are several expository sections catching the reader up on recent events, and some of these sections lack a little finesse. Not only that, when they continue at least to page 63 of a 236 page book it can get a little teeth grinding.
The majority of the novel is told in first person; to allow simultaneous description of what's happening in Minneapolis while Betsy et al are in Cape Cod, Marc conveniently starts a journal, addressed to "Dear Myself Dude" or Dude for short - the references to 'dude' became increasingly annoying the further I read. It's in these sections in particular that the exposition is chunkiest and clunkiest. And I'm not even going to address the fact that this doctor either has only one adrenal gland or doesn't know the normal human body comes with two (which I admit is a snarky note). I also found the use of TXT, though necessary for the plot, really irritating; I could decode GYBBH (get your behind back here) and IDKWTD (I don't know what to do) unaided, but TSIATHTF, CBRACBN and LHM? I was SOOL.
I did like the theory that vampirism is a virus that, among other things, induces severe suggestibility, explaining why even atheists who are turned can be deterred by crosses. I prefer the Westerfeld explanation in Peeps but this isn't bad. I also think the cross-over with Davidson's werewolf novel Derik's Bane (which I've not read) would please more dedicated readers, and more information on the reincarnation of Morgan le Fay would round out that (admittedly small) section. And I enjoyed the reading enough that I've got the ninth in the series out from the library, but going from something like Shinn's work to this is distinctly anticlimactic, and I think my future Davidson reading would benefit from being timed to follow weaker and less well enjoyed works. - Alex
Reluctant vampire queen Betsy (not Elizabeth!) Taylor and her husband Sinclair, accompanied by their ward and her half-brother BabyJon, are accompanying the body of Betsy's friend Antonia to her estranged family, a pack of werewolves in Cape Cod. Antonia died saving Betsy from an assassination attempt, which has made the wolves none to happy to see her, and with a potential vampire/werewolf war on the horizon Betsy has only a little space to ponder the wolves' weird responses to BabyJon. She has no time at all for the increasingly text-jargon-heavy emails coming from her housemate, Marc, and refuses to respond until he sends one in English, with actual grammar. With Sinclair's factotum Tina, and her half-sister Laura (technically the devil's daughter, but a sweet girl) at home, how much trouble could there be, anyway?
Undead and Unwelcome is the eighth in an ongoing series about the adventures of an accidental vampire who'd have been more interested collecting shoes and going to the beautician than deposing leaders and correcting barbaric practices. Though more substantial than many similar series, particularly now some of the deaths are striking closer to home, the Undead series does suffer the same problem common to the sub-genre - in addition to an introductory "The story so far" there are several expository sections catching the reader up on recent events, and some of these sections lack a little finesse. Not only that, when they continue at least to page 63 of a 236 page book it can get a little teeth grinding.
The majority of the novel is told in first person; to allow simultaneous description of what's happening in Minneapolis while Betsy et al are in Cape Cod, Marc conveniently starts a journal, addressed to "Dear Myself Dude" or Dude for short - the references to 'dude' became increasingly annoying the further I read. It's in these sections in particular that the exposition is chunkiest and clunkiest. And I'm not even going to address the fact that this doctor either has only one adrenal gland or doesn't know the normal human body comes with two (which I admit is a snarky note). I also found the use of TXT, though necessary for the plot, really irritating; I could decode GYBBH (get your behind back here) and IDKWTD (I don't know what to do) unaided, but TSIATHTF, CBRACBN and LHM? I was SOOL.
I did like the theory that vampirism is a virus that, among other things, induces severe suggestibility, explaining why even atheists who are turned can be deterred by crosses. I prefer the Westerfeld explanation in Peeps but this isn't bad. I also think the cross-over with Davidson's werewolf novel Derik's Bane (which I've not read) would please more dedicated readers, and more information on the reincarnation of Morgan le Fay would round out that (admittedly small) section. And I enjoyed the reading enough that I've got the ninth in the series out from the library, but going from something like Shinn's work to this is distinctly anticlimactic, and I think my future Davidson reading would benefit from being timed to follow weaker and less well enjoyed works. - Alex
Thursday, September 23
Persuader - Lee Child
Jack Reacher, former MP turned self-directed trouble shooter, happens to be unloading a van outside a New England college when he witnesses an attempted kidnapping - armed as always, he intervenes, rescuing the anxious target, Richard Beck. Unfortunately, Reacher accidentally shoots a cop in the process, and for the first time needs to lie low out of necessity rather than choice. When the skittish Beck, a survivor of a previous kidnapping in which he lost an ear, insists on being taken home to Maine, Reacher is persuaded by the possibility of a temporary refuge. But he has another agenda entirely, and this apparently coincidental intervention is only the first step in what proves to be one of Reacher's riskiest, most dangerous and most important escapades to date.
The seventh in the best-selling Reacher series, Persuader is engrossing and engagingly twisty. The novels are pure escapism, and to that end they serve their purpose beautifully - the action is relentless and believable within the confines of the genre, the characters are relatively well drawn, and if I felt a little sketchily informed about some of the details I was happy to gloss over them in pursuit of the fast-paced plot and unwinding conclusion. There's a little Reacher back story, and these thinly sown glimpses into his past that build his motivation and character development are always an interesting addition to my mental picture of the man.
There was a, possibly unintentional, light moment near the end, where Reacher's thought of "Can't go round it, can't go over it. Got to go around it" irresistibly and unexpectedly reminded me of Rosen and Oxenbury's children's classic. I was also jolted out of the action at another point:
Those two moment aside, however, and I was fully engaged with Persuader from the opening rescue scene to the final flashback and Reacher's plan to take off, alone again, going wherever the road takes him. My life is significantly encumbered, and I suspect Corinna Lawson's take on why Child has a large female readership is on the money. Sometimes there's nothing better than pure escapism, and you can't get much better than Reacher. - Alex
The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For
The seventh in the best-selling Reacher series, Persuader is engrossing and engagingly twisty. The novels are pure escapism, and to that end they serve their purpose beautifully - the action is relentless and believable within the confines of the genre, the characters are relatively well drawn, and if I felt a little sketchily informed about some of the details I was happy to gloss over them in pursuit of the fast-paced plot and unwinding conclusion. There's a little Reacher back story, and these thinly sown glimpses into his past that build his motivation and character development are always an interesting addition to my mental picture of the man.
There was a, possibly unintentional, light moment near the end, where Reacher's thought of "Can't go round it, can't go over it. Got to go around it" irresistibly and unexpectedly reminded me of Rosen and Oxenbury's children's classic. I was also jolted out of the action at another point:
Her butt looked spectacular in the jeans. I could see the label on the back: Waist 24. Leg 32. That made her inseam five inches short of mine, which I was prepared to accept. But a waist a whole foot smaller than mine was ridiculous. I carry almost no body fat. All I;ve got in there are the necessary organs, tight and dense. She must have had miniature versions. I see a waist like that and all I want to do is span it with my hands and marvel at it. Maybe bury my head somewhere a little higher up. I couldn't tell what that might feel like with her unless he turned around. But I suspected it might feel very nice indeed.Perhaps - but unless teeny tiny women's jeans are very different than plus-size women's jeans, the size tag is on the inside. Maybe those skinny bitches are happy to show their measurements off!
Those two moment aside, however, and I was fully engaged with Persuader from the opening rescue scene to the final flashback and Reacher's plan to take off, alone again, going wherever the road takes him. My life is significantly encumbered, and I suspect Corinna Lawson's take on why Child has a large female readership is on the money. Sometimes there's nothing better than pure escapism, and you can't get much better than Reacher. - Alex
The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For
Tuesday, September 21
Tobsha Learner: Soul
When a geneticist researching a possible genetic basis for violence kills a man in self defence without compunction she begins to believe that not only a tendency to violence, but also to remorselessness, may be hereditary and that she has inherited those traits from her great grandmother, a woman who was accused of murdering her husband.
In the wake of her action her life starts to spiral out of control. Her husband runs off with her best friend. She suffers from a traumatic miscarriage resulting in infertility. Her colleagues are not supportive of the military funding her research, a subject about which she is severely conflicted, particularly when she discovers the army is keeping information from her. She then discovers that her husband’s lover is pregnant. At each point violence becomes a more and more attractive option until she finds herself planning her ex-husband’s murder.
Interlaced throughout this story is the tale of her great grandmother’s life, from her engagement through to her trial for her husband’s murder.
The book culminates in a revelation about the importance of nurture’s impact on nature. And as vague as this summary is, I can’t really go into any more detail without giving too much away.
I was initially attracted to this story because of the main character’s ethical dilemma about the potential uses of her research and while this is an integral part of her character it isn’t the focus of the entire story and the book is none the worse for that.
This author is known for her erotica collections and there was a touch of erotica in this book but it is a distinctly minor element, thank goodness because her erotic writing style doesn’t appeal to me and is the reason I put off reading this for as long as I have.
I needn’t have worried. I really enjoyed watching the two interwoven stories unfold. The actions of each woman seemed not only completely believable but entirely reasonable from their point of view. Identifying with them as heroines makes the reader think about their own potential for violence in similar circumstances-where exactly would you draw the line.
The plot skips along at times and while that thinness is filled out by great characterization it is a fault that prevents this story from taking the step from very good to great.
It leans heavily towards the literary end of the scale but is highly enjoyable and I will be seeking out more of Ms Learner’s work.-Lynn
In the wake of her action her life starts to spiral out of control. Her husband runs off with her best friend. She suffers from a traumatic miscarriage resulting in infertility. Her colleagues are not supportive of the military funding her research, a subject about which she is severely conflicted, particularly when she discovers the army is keeping information from her. She then discovers that her husband’s lover is pregnant. At each point violence becomes a more and more attractive option until she finds herself planning her ex-husband’s murder.
Interlaced throughout this story is the tale of her great grandmother’s life, from her engagement through to her trial for her husband’s murder.
The book culminates in a revelation about the importance of nurture’s impact on nature. And as vague as this summary is, I can’t really go into any more detail without giving too much away.
I was initially attracted to this story because of the main character’s ethical dilemma about the potential uses of her research and while this is an integral part of her character it isn’t the focus of the entire story and the book is none the worse for that.
This author is known for her erotica collections and there was a touch of erotica in this book but it is a distinctly minor element, thank goodness because her erotic writing style doesn’t appeal to me and is the reason I put off reading this for as long as I have.
I needn’t have worried. I really enjoyed watching the two interwoven stories unfold. The actions of each woman seemed not only completely believable but entirely reasonable from their point of view. Identifying with them as heroines makes the reader think about their own potential for violence in similar circumstances-where exactly would you draw the line.
The plot skips along at times and while that thinness is filled out by great characterization it is a fault that prevents this story from taking the step from very good to great.
It leans heavily towards the literary end of the scale but is highly enjoyable and I will be seeking out more of Ms Learner’s work.-Lynn
Sunday, September 19
A Fountain Filled With Blood – Julia Spencer-Fleming
Now aware of her mutual attraction with the married police chief of Millers Kill, New York, town Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson is consciously concentrating on her duties as a pastor and community member, which is why she’s attending her first alderman’s meeting. Accompanied by Paul Foubert, nursing director of the town infirmary, Clare is both learning who’s who, thanks to Paul’s whispered commentary, and hearing for the first time about a controversial development that could significantly increase revenue, but possibly contribute to elevated PCB levels in the water supply. When the meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Russ Van Alstyne her heart, despite her best intentions, gladdens a little. But Russ brings devastating news – the town’s medical examiner, and Paul’s partner, Dr Emil Dvorak, has been found beaten almost to death.
When video store owner Todd MacPherson, also gay, is also severely beaten, Clare is convinced that a group of homophobes is on the loose. In both cases neither money nor valuables were taken, and Clare wants Russ to make an announcement warning any other gay townsfolk to be aware of the danger. Russ, on the other hand, believes there’s not yet any evidence that the sexual orientation of the victims is more than coincidence. His concern is that a premature declaration could lead to copycat attacks. With the discovery of a third victim, also gay, and still in shock from seeing the battered body, Clare is unable to stop herself from speaking to the press, gathered to cover a protest against the Millers Kill development. Almost as soon as she does she’s filled with remorse, fearful she’s damaged the dear but already delicate friendship she has with Russ. To atone, Clare throws herself into a parallel investigation into the attacks and, particularly under the influence of a couple of cocktails, gets herself into a truly dangerous predicament. But Bill Ingraham was also the development company head, and the situation is more complicated than either Clare or Russ imagined.
This is the second in the Reverend Clare Fergusson series, and I enjoyed it as much as the first, though I felt that this time the case receded to the background, giving centre stage to the relationship between Clare and Russ. Some of this constitutes part of their unfurling character development, so there are references to the sexist but relatively benign hostility Clare faced in the army, and flashes of Russ’s wartime experiences in Vietnam. We also get to see Clare’s love of flying, the greatest sacrifice made on the alter of her faith, and a striking contrast to Russ’s Vietnam war-influenced antipathy to helicopters. There are a couple of secondary plots, but much of the action served to throw them together, and there’s a nice hurt/comfort section quite late in the novel, though no vows come close to being broken except in the Jimmy Carter sense.
I did pick the perpetrator relatively early on which, as I don’t actively try to work out who dunnit, is usually indicative of poor writing. But in this case I was significantly less interest in that aspect of the story, and so didn’t particularly mind. I didn’t come close to working out all the intricacies of why, but didn’t really care about he motivation, which was at least internally consistent. Without the mystery this would have been a weak novel, and the attacks were definitely needed to drive the story, but that aspect is definitely a sub-plot. For that reason I think A Fountain Filled With Blood would be most disappointing if read alone, but read in context, and with In the Bleak Midwinter still very fresh in my mind I found the experience thoroughly enjoyable, and have already borrowed the third in the series. - Alex
The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series:
1. In the Bleak Midwinter
2. A Fountain Filled with Blood
3. Out of the Deep I Cry
4. To Darkness and to Death
5. All Mortal Flesh
6. I Shall Not Want
When video store owner Todd MacPherson, also gay, is also severely beaten, Clare is convinced that a group of homophobes is on the loose. In both cases neither money nor valuables were taken, and Clare wants Russ to make an announcement warning any other gay townsfolk to be aware of the danger. Russ, on the other hand, believes there’s not yet any evidence that the sexual orientation of the victims is more than coincidence. His concern is that a premature declaration could lead to copycat attacks. With the discovery of a third victim, also gay, and still in shock from seeing the battered body, Clare is unable to stop herself from speaking to the press, gathered to cover a protest against the Millers Kill development. Almost as soon as she does she’s filled with remorse, fearful she’s damaged the dear but already delicate friendship she has with Russ. To atone, Clare throws herself into a parallel investigation into the attacks and, particularly under the influence of a couple of cocktails, gets herself into a truly dangerous predicament. But Bill Ingraham was also the development company head, and the situation is more complicated than either Clare or Russ imagined.
This is the second in the Reverend Clare Fergusson series, and I enjoyed it as much as the first, though I felt that this time the case receded to the background, giving centre stage to the relationship between Clare and Russ. Some of this constitutes part of their unfurling character development, so there are references to the sexist but relatively benign hostility Clare faced in the army, and flashes of Russ’s wartime experiences in Vietnam. We also get to see Clare’s love of flying, the greatest sacrifice made on the alter of her faith, and a striking contrast to Russ’s Vietnam war-influenced antipathy to helicopters. There are a couple of secondary plots, but much of the action served to throw them together, and there’s a nice hurt/comfort section quite late in the novel, though no vows come close to being broken except in the Jimmy Carter sense.
I did pick the perpetrator relatively early on which, as I don’t actively try to work out who dunnit, is usually indicative of poor writing. But in this case I was significantly less interest in that aspect of the story, and so didn’t particularly mind. I didn’t come close to working out all the intricacies of why, but didn’t really care about he motivation, which was at least internally consistent. Without the mystery this would have been a weak novel, and the attacks were definitely needed to drive the story, but that aspect is definitely a sub-plot. For that reason I think A Fountain Filled With Blood would be most disappointing if read alone, but read in context, and with In the Bleak Midwinter still very fresh in my mind I found the experience thoroughly enjoyable, and have already borrowed the third in the series. - Alex
The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series:
1. In the Bleak Midwinter
2. A Fountain Filled with Blood
3. Out of the Deep I Cry
4. To Darkness and to Death
5. All Mortal Flesh
6. I Shall Not Want
Friday, September 17
Passage – Connie Willis
Joanna Lander is a psychologist investigating near-death experiences, a research field mired in pseudoscience and agenda. Located at Mercy General, her aim is to get to patients who’ve survived dying as quickly as possible, partly to record their experiences as accurately as she can while they’re still fresh, and partly so her data is uncontaminated by her biggest rival at Mercy General, Maurice Mandrake. Author of such erudite tomes as The Light at the End of the Tunnel, Mr Mandrake reshapes survivor’s memories to fit his theory, ruining any subsequent interviews Joanna manages. When she hears about another NDE researcher, Joanna goes to lengths to avoid him – in her experience even the fact he’s an MD is no evidence of sanity.
But Richard Wright is as scientifically based as she is. A neurologist convinced that NDE’s occur for a reason related to survival, he’s created a drug that seems to imitate the NDE experience without endangering the participants – they continuous brain scanning and blood collection while they undergo the induced NDE. His work would allow Joanna access to uncontaminated data from people undergoing repeated, manufactured NDE’s, if only they could get enough appropriate subjects. Instead their ever-shrinking pool includes a socialite to busy to ever undergo the process, a garrulous WW2 veteran more interested in telling tales of his experiences there than post-NDE, a taciturn man who seems to experience nothing when he goes under, and an increasingly skittish college student. Which is why, desperate to discover something before the first round of funding expires, Joanna becomes a subject.
Part of the advantage of having Joanna undergo the process was that she, unlike the other participants, would be able to describe the experience more accurately:
“I’d know if dark meant dark as in Carlsbad Caverns or the hospital parking lot at nine o’clock at night. I’d know if peaceful meant ‘tranquil’ or ‘anesthetized.’ And I’d know what they’re experiencing that they’re not even mentioning because they don’t realize it’s important, and I don’t know how to ask them about it.”
As a qualitative proto-researcher I understand that frustration, of your participants unable to usefully describe or articulate the elements of their experience or practice that you want to explore, and the difficulty of neither leading them nor letting them leave without saying something. So Joanna is all the more frustrated by her inability to capture many of the elements of her own experience, which Richard takes as support for his position that the NDE is a temporal lobe event – the temporal lobe has no connection with the brain’s language centre, and thus no way of articulating. But for Joanna, whose NDE’s built to a fuller, but metaphorical, experience, this focus distracts from her attempts to identify a familiarity she’s certain she has but can’t quite recall.
Her frustration about these teasing almost connections is extremely effectively portrayed – every time she was close to consciously realising what something meant she was interrupted and the fleeting proto-thought vanished again. This aspect was combined with an element that frequently recurs is Willis’s work: as in The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, in particular, there’s a terrific state of urgency, enhanced by obstacles and people to avoid. While reading the novel I had much the same feeling as one of those dreams where I need to get somewhere in a frantic hurry but am obstructed at every turn. Though caught up in the rush, I also felt irritated by it – the research, though potentially life-saving, didn’t require that kind of immediacy, and I kept being annoyed that Joanna’s priorities were directed toward that rather than the truly time-constrained situation of Maisie, a disaster-obsessed young girl with worsening heart failure.
It is this narrowed, urgent focus that leads to the biggest twist in Passage – having finally discovered the purpose of NDE’s, Joanna frantically searches Mercy General for Richard; hearing that another doctor with whom he’s associated has gone to the ER, where her best friend Vielle works as a senior nurse, she rushes down there. Joanna doesn’t see Richard, but she does see an anxious-looking Vielle talking with a young man – anxious to find Richard and tell him of her discovery, she interrupts the pair, only to find that the young man is armed with a knife, with which he stabs her. As the ER staff swings into action to try to save her, Joanna tries just as desperately to convey the information to Vielle, an effort that she takes with her into her final NDE.
And though I enjoyed Passage as a whole, this is where I detached from the text, because really – apart from the needs of the narrative, what was the rush? There aren’t going to be real world applications of any scientific advance, let alone one as esoteric as this, in anything under a couple of years, so waiting less than an hour for her next scheduled meeting with Richard wouldn’t have delayed anything.
The remaining couple of chapters alternate between Joanna’s new perspective, frantically trying to communicate her findings to Richard before it’s too late, and Richard’s attempts (assisted by Maisie, Vielle, another character whose plot thread I’ve not had space to explore and, unwittingly, Mandrake) to piece together what Joanna did for a missing hour and what relevance it had. This was interesting, and complemented the sense of haste woven through the novel, but I alternated my reading with thinking about what the book would have been like without this twist.
Each chapter opens with a death-related quote, from the last words of historical figures to the last letters of the famous, last messages from lost planes and sunk ships to live reports from broadcasters seeing a tragedy unfold before them. The characters are rounded and well drawn, and I found the research topic fascinating, particularly as it’s related to my own area of academic interest. I’ve yet to have any direct contact with a death survivor who talked about having an NDE, but was prepared to let that aspect go.
Despite its somewhat grim subject matter, there are touches of comedy in Passage. Joanna distresses Richard when, weeding through his participant list looking for Mandrakian ringers, she finds half a dozen who seemed find on Richard’s initial screening but who are True Believers associated with the near-death community, spies for Mandrake, or believe they’ve been abducted by aliens, or otherwise tainted. When Richard, outraged by her revelations, is surprised they weren’t all picked up by the preliminary psych profile, Joanna replies “Believing in the afterlife isn’t a mental illness; a number of major religions have been doing it for centuries.” There is also a romantic undertone, so that although nothing completely develops the reader is left with a strong sense of potential.
I also really enjoyed a thread I alluded to above and haven’t been able to explore here, which involved Mr Briarly, Joanna’s favourite high school teacher, now struggling with Alzheimer’s, and his niece Kit. Both the characters and the situation were beautifully portrayed, and I particularly liked the depiction of Alzheimer’s as a progressive death of personhood. There is also a recurring motif throughout the novel, clear in retrospect, that hints at the purpose of NDE’s; the characters in the book, like this reader, were equally blind to them, and in the last section they were also deaf to Mr Briarly’s remarks that, in a metaphysical communication with Joanna and with the part of him already gone, desperately tried to pass on a message.
I feel as though I’ve failed to capture all the elements of Passage that I’d like to – I haven’t, for example, given Maisie a fraction of the time she deserves, nor her fascination with disasters, the apparently tangential recurring Titanic/disaster motif, or even mentioned the confabulating Mrs Davenport. On the other hand perhaps, by having difficulty directly communicating what I intend, I’m doing Passage greater justice than I think. – Alex
To read Lynn’s review of Passage click here.
But Richard Wright is as scientifically based as she is. A neurologist convinced that NDE’s occur for a reason related to survival, he’s created a drug that seems to imitate the NDE experience without endangering the participants – they continuous brain scanning and blood collection while they undergo the induced NDE. His work would allow Joanna access to uncontaminated data from people undergoing repeated, manufactured NDE’s, if only they could get enough appropriate subjects. Instead their ever-shrinking pool includes a socialite to busy to ever undergo the process, a garrulous WW2 veteran more interested in telling tales of his experiences there than post-NDE, a taciturn man who seems to experience nothing when he goes under, and an increasingly skittish college student. Which is why, desperate to discover something before the first round of funding expires, Joanna becomes a subject.
Part of the advantage of having Joanna undergo the process was that she, unlike the other participants, would be able to describe the experience more accurately:
“I’d know if dark meant dark as in Carlsbad Caverns or the hospital parking lot at nine o’clock at night. I’d know if peaceful meant ‘tranquil’ or ‘anesthetized.’ And I’d know what they’re experiencing that they’re not even mentioning because they don’t realize it’s important, and I don’t know how to ask them about it.”
As a qualitative proto-researcher I understand that frustration, of your participants unable to usefully describe or articulate the elements of their experience or practice that you want to explore, and the difficulty of neither leading them nor letting them leave without saying something. So Joanna is all the more frustrated by her inability to capture many of the elements of her own experience, which Richard takes as support for his position that the NDE is a temporal lobe event – the temporal lobe has no connection with the brain’s language centre, and thus no way of articulating. But for Joanna, whose NDE’s built to a fuller, but metaphorical, experience, this focus distracts from her attempts to identify a familiarity she’s certain she has but can’t quite recall.
Her frustration about these teasing almost connections is extremely effectively portrayed – every time she was close to consciously realising what something meant she was interrupted and the fleeting proto-thought vanished again. This aspect was combined with an element that frequently recurs is Willis’s work: as in The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, in particular, there’s a terrific state of urgency, enhanced by obstacles and people to avoid. While reading the novel I had much the same feeling as one of those dreams where I need to get somewhere in a frantic hurry but am obstructed at every turn. Though caught up in the rush, I also felt irritated by it – the research, though potentially life-saving, didn’t require that kind of immediacy, and I kept being annoyed that Joanna’s priorities were directed toward that rather than the truly time-constrained situation of Maisie, a disaster-obsessed young girl with worsening heart failure.
It is this narrowed, urgent focus that leads to the biggest twist in Passage – having finally discovered the purpose of NDE’s, Joanna frantically searches Mercy General for Richard; hearing that another doctor with whom he’s associated has gone to the ER, where her best friend Vielle works as a senior nurse, she rushes down there. Joanna doesn’t see Richard, but she does see an anxious-looking Vielle talking with a young man – anxious to find Richard and tell him of her discovery, she interrupts the pair, only to find that the young man is armed with a knife, with which he stabs her. As the ER staff swings into action to try to save her, Joanna tries just as desperately to convey the information to Vielle, an effort that she takes with her into her final NDE.
And though I enjoyed Passage as a whole, this is where I detached from the text, because really – apart from the needs of the narrative, what was the rush? There aren’t going to be real world applications of any scientific advance, let alone one as esoteric as this, in anything under a couple of years, so waiting less than an hour for her next scheduled meeting with Richard wouldn’t have delayed anything.
The remaining couple of chapters alternate between Joanna’s new perspective, frantically trying to communicate her findings to Richard before it’s too late, and Richard’s attempts (assisted by Maisie, Vielle, another character whose plot thread I’ve not had space to explore and, unwittingly, Mandrake) to piece together what Joanna did for a missing hour and what relevance it had. This was interesting, and complemented the sense of haste woven through the novel, but I alternated my reading with thinking about what the book would have been like without this twist.
Each chapter opens with a death-related quote, from the last words of historical figures to the last letters of the famous, last messages from lost planes and sunk ships to live reports from broadcasters seeing a tragedy unfold before them. The characters are rounded and well drawn, and I found the research topic fascinating, particularly as it’s related to my own area of academic interest. I’ve yet to have any direct contact with a death survivor who talked about having an NDE, but was prepared to let that aspect go.
Despite its somewhat grim subject matter, there are touches of comedy in Passage. Joanna distresses Richard when, weeding through his participant list looking for Mandrakian ringers, she finds half a dozen who seemed find on Richard’s initial screening but who are True Believers associated with the near-death community, spies for Mandrake, or believe they’ve been abducted by aliens, or otherwise tainted. When Richard, outraged by her revelations, is surprised they weren’t all picked up by the preliminary psych profile, Joanna replies “Believing in the afterlife isn’t a mental illness; a number of major religions have been doing it for centuries.” There is also a romantic undertone, so that although nothing completely develops the reader is left with a strong sense of potential.
I also really enjoyed a thread I alluded to above and haven’t been able to explore here, which involved Mr Briarly, Joanna’s favourite high school teacher, now struggling with Alzheimer’s, and his niece Kit. Both the characters and the situation were beautifully portrayed, and I particularly liked the depiction of Alzheimer’s as a progressive death of personhood. There is also a recurring motif throughout the novel, clear in retrospect, that hints at the purpose of NDE’s; the characters in the book, like this reader, were equally blind to them, and in the last section they were also deaf to Mr Briarly’s remarks that, in a metaphysical communication with Joanna and with the part of him already gone, desperately tried to pass on a message.
I feel as though I’ve failed to capture all the elements of Passage that I’d like to – I haven’t, for example, given Maisie a fraction of the time she deserves, nor her fascination with disasters, the apparently tangential recurring Titanic/disaster motif, or even mentioned the confabulating Mrs Davenport. On the other hand perhaps, by having difficulty directly communicating what I intend, I’m doing Passage greater justice than I think. – Alex
To read Lynn’s review of Passage click here.
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