Urban Book Review

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

2005-11-18T15:55:00.000Z

This unusual novel is written in the form of an autobiography but is wholly fictitious; the author has spent many years studying Japanese culture and brings this to the reader in the form of a life story of a girl from 1920's Japan who becomes a geisha. The harsh conditions in which she grew up then onto the city to train as a Geisha are portrayed in rich detail with the main character really standing out from the pages. The grim struggle as a child and the intrigue of her early adulthood told in the narrative make a really good read and it's easy to forget that it is a work of fiction. The descriptive passages really show the detailed background work that has gone into the book as the author brings to the western reader the sometimes-closed world of Japanese culture especially in pre WW2 Japan before its dominance of late 20th century technology. Essentially the tradition of Geisha goes back hundreds of years accompanying the Teahouse as one of Japans more recognisable features. Often in the west Geisha are misunderstood to be prostitutes, throughout the book this is explained to be wrong as the name really means artist or artisan. There cannot be any doubt though that in many places the culture we are shown is abusive and exploitative. The young central character is sold into slavery really and her sister is sold as a prostitute, she is beaten and abused and lives a life of misery in her early years whilst training to be a Geisha. A Geisha that whilst shown in the narrative to be some kind of corner stone of Japanese culture really comes across as mental physical and sexual abuse of children for the entertainment of rich Japanese men. The matter of fact way the girls' virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder whilst she is very young - the winner being the rich dirty old man with the most money - and the price setting up the girls future life as a top Geisha. Throughout the novel the young Geisha vie for the attentions of frankly old men (rich old men) in Tearooms. The narrative attempts to draw a parallel between the western kept woman or mistress and the Geisha. For me as a reader the earlier western supposed mistake of thinking them prostitutes is actually closer to the mark. I found it more than annoying as a reader to read the characters endless intrigue to defeat other Geisha to get the attentions of men that had to be 20 years older just so they could get money to continue living the life of the Geisha; the fine silk kimono that feature throughout the book, the expensive perfumes and make up, all to perpetuate the Geisha culture and the training houses they support.

In all then a well written but frankly disturbing book that shows a ages old system of abuse as a cultural norm masquerading as tradition. It portrays well the struggle of women in a male dominated society but those same women then perpetuate the problem so it becomes a cycle. The book is set pre war and after the war much of this was swept away (I hope) with the integration of Japan into western spheres of influence. Worth a read for the quality of writing even if the subject matter leaves a bad taste.

A Passage to India - E.M. Forster

2005-09-05T19:03:00.000Z

This superb novel written in 1924 has a surprisingly modern feel to it and has been quoted as being the inspiration for Paul Scott's outstanding Raj Quartet. I was delighted to find it was a novel I could read now in the 21st century and is not at all dated - indeed I was surprised how far it went. Written in the 20's when the British Empire in India was very powerful and the Empire largely intact. It must have caused some ripples of concern and it did according to the Introduction in my Penguin copy written by Oliver Stallybrass. Critical indeed of the British ruling classes in India it challenges head on views on racism and class culture. The late Paul Scott felt this book laid the foundation in intellectual culture in Britain for the British Raj to be seen as morally and racially wrong whereas before the Raj was seen as a moral duty - god given right to rule India. The novel manages to get across several superb views yet never loses sight of the fact it is a novel and not a political treatise.

The narrative concerns the visit to India of a young woman not familiar with the strict unwritten rules of the British in India. She wants and does meet educated Indians but trouble starts with her prospective fiancé a local magistrate. Beautiful descriptive passages of India are woven in with the story that gets quite tense in places. These descriptions of the Indian countryside coupled with the narrative between the English girl and the local Indians both Muslim and Hindu are done with such skill that for me the novel appeared modern indeed. Having just read the Raj Quartet and Vickram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" in the past the description of India, the use of the familiar Indian words and descriptive phrases made reading this like visiting a loved location all over again. Couple this with the introduction and several Essays by the late Peter Burra this short novel was a special treat to read and I thoroughly recommend it. Reading this before the Raj Quartet then moving onto the modern India with Suitable Boy should be a reading journey almost as good as a visit to that wonderful country (well cheaper!) - Or at least they should be required reading before a visit!.

Staying On - Paul Scott

2005-08-31T19:52:00.000Z

This outstanding novel is a superb read as a stand-alone Booker winner (1978) and it was as this I first read it but I have re read it as a sequel to Paul Scott's outstanding Raj Quartet (The Jewel in the Crown), which I have just completed. Re visiting albeit in hearsay main characters from the Raj Quartet was quite wonderful, how the author blends the old characters in , introducing them so that even if one hasn't read the Raj Quartet you can easily follow the story . His theme in this book is again India but this time in the 1970's from the perspective of a retired Colonel "Tusker" Smalley and his long-suffering wife Lucy. These characters made half paragraph appearances in the Raj Quartets third book "The Towers of Silence". When I read their names there I was astonished at how perfectly Paul Scott was able to weave a completely new story. Full of wit and pathos it takes in several new characters both Indian and British in the small hill station (Pankot- scene of much of the Raj Quartet storylines) largely forgotten after the end of the British Empire. Street scenes and areas used in the Raj Quartet (even the evocative "Rose Cottage" much used in the Third of the Quartet) reappear one last time to beautiful effect.

Opening in the hill station with the death of the Colonel the story is told in flashback - the long suffering Wife of the Colonel, a man who has served all his life in the Indian army but didn't go home after Indian Independence hence the title "Staying On". Their manservant and bearer Ibrahim a proud man who has seen the Raj in action and now sees how India has changed, the comic observations he makes of the irascible Colonel and the various Indian doctors and officials are genuinely hilarious yet told with great understatement. There is the grotesque yet powerful Indian wife and henpecked husband running the next-door hotel, a hotel far past its best and crumbling. Add to this an overgrown garden and a conspiracy with a young gardener to tend it and the story takes off on its own. A simple story often told in flashback it's really superb how Paul Scott brings the story together yet never forgets this can be read as a stand alone novel - I read it as such the first time and was stunned then by the quality of the writing and storyline.

Each character goes over their lives and we see by what means they ended up in the mountains forgotten in time, often in comic storylines but often quite sad and touching, lost lives, wasted youth and unfulfilled dreams. Moving away from the oft used Imperial storylines the novel shows how the world turns round and things usually end up reversed to where peoples expectations are. Beautifully written and paced yet evocative, this is an appealing novel well worth the time as a stand alone novel but as a final closing chapter on the Raj Quartet it is outstanding in every respect.. I loved this book and I shall miss the characters I have grown to like over the last five books I have read by Paul Scott - sadly Paul Scott died in 1978 but the Raj Quartet and the final closing chapter - Staying On are surely fit memorials to this superb writer.

The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott

2005-08-28T17:40:00.000Z

Four impressive books make the Raj quartet, "The Jewel in the Crown" (480pgs) "The Day of the Scorpion" (495 pgs) "The Towers of Silence" (397pgs) "A Division of the Spoils" (720pgs). A lot to read - over 2000 pages - but of such quality, such perfectly interlocking storylines spread over the four books . Characters and situations in the first book carry through to the last in a beautifully natural way. The huge cast of characters become familiar over the four books so as a reader you get so involved, so engrossed that you really begin to care about these people. Such superb intricate detail is described throughout the novels that the beauty and magnificence of India is brought to life. Set in India during the British Empire - The Raj - it spans a time from the early 30's throughout the war to Independence of India and the partition in to Pakistan and India. It’s a series of events told from several different perspectives both British and Indian. We get intricate backgrounds of the many characters in scrumptious detail then intricate plotting that intrigues and entertains. It is both warm and heartrending yet through provoking as it explores the many facets of the Indian Empire ruled by really only a handful of British civilians and soldiers. We are taken into their lives and we see all sides to them as they try to react to events and history unfolding around them.

Each of the four novels could be read as a stand-alone novel but to really appreciate what the author Paul Scott (who died in 1978) was trying to achieve a back-to-back read of all four is necessary. I was lucky having spent many months finding these novels in matching covers then being able to read them as a holiday read all together. We are taken in the storyline through a series of key events small and large that shapes the lives of those concerned against a backdrop of war and forthcoming Indian independence. Forbidden relationships between a white British woman of the ruling Raj class and an educated Indian who has been to the best British boarding school have a tragic outcome and set in turn a series events that follow key characters around India till independence. Key events and characters dip in and out of the novels - someone in the first novel may reappear in the third yet it all happens seamlessly and not at all contrived. The massive groundwork done in the first novel is carried through to fruition in the final three works. The first novel (The Jewel in the Crown) is told a lot of the time in flashback giving the tragic events that unfold a view from several different perspectives. This admittedly slows the pace somewhat in this first novel but the strength of the narrative and the beauty of the descriptive passages carries the day. Having set the tragic scene we move on a short while in the second novel (The day of the Scorpion) and introduce a lot of the later characters on which the consequences of the first novels outcome rest. This is a truly fantastic read setting out the early life of many of the characters - young men and women whom the fall of the British empire in India would affect the most. A whole exotic world of hill station life and people going out to India form England is recreated here all of it now passed into history. The author gets right into the mind of the characters with all the certainties and doubts of the British empire that come apart at the seams when war breaks out in the far east. A gripping and entertaining novel it was a superb unforgettable read that I could not put down - never dull for a moment the story and evocation of life in India just flowed of the pages. The third novel (The Towers of Silence) brings in extra but vitally important characters that are themselves on the periphery of Raj life which was hopelessly class ridden yet held together only really by the idea that white British people were chosen almost by god to rule India. Yet not having the "correct" background or money meant there were layers within white society that were hardly acceptable - this novel explores these concepts in riveting detail. Moving yet amusing in places this really gets to grips with the whole Raj experience of Empire and the different classes of people who administered it. Yet whilst it explores these levels of snobbery it also links all the other characters stories together so when in the final novel the strands come together it all becomes clear. The fourth and final novel "A Division of the Spoils" is concerned with the coming Independence of India and its partition. The people whose lives have been spent in India ruling and administrating face the twilight of the British Raj with uncertainty as the Muslims and Hindus that make up India's population battle it out in dreadful intercommunity slaughter. With all the previously certain things in their lives turned upside down the problems affect ruling Indians too in the princely states whose existence was guaranteed by British rule. Political intrigue and betrayal as well as a coming together of threads fist started in the first novel all occur in this the final novel. For me this last novel cleared up many of the uncertainties but still left a few enigmas. By far the most gripping of all the novels mainly because of the finalisation of the story the many twists and turns of the saga carried on right until the end. At no time throughout the books could I have foreseen the outcome or the reasoning behind it.

Power, Love, Sex, Betrayal, War, wasted lives, dashed hopes all set in an exotic world long forgotten, a powerful moving gripping saga that I feel has been overlooked in recent years dealing as it does with the largely forgotten British Empire in India. At no time does this glorify Empire - in fact it is damning in its criticism of both sides of the racial divide, the central tenet of the whole work is absurdity of those in the British community who see their role in India far too seriously, as if God had ordained them to rule and the tragic consequences of this to themselves and those around them. Altogether a superb read rich in detail, beautiful narrative and a wonderful sense of an on going story. A beautiful touch was the inclusion early in the third book of a couple of ancillary characters that later went on to be the basis of Paul Scott's Booker prize winning book Staying On six years later along with other characters form the Raj Quartet. I'll recommend the Raj Quartet for a superb holiday read - it is available as a large all in one volume, I read mine as the Granada paperbacks from the early 80's that were republished to compliment the 14 part TV series "The Jewel in the Crown".

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

2005-08-24T18:24:00.000Z

I was stunned by the quality of this 1939 novel, I could not have guessed at strength both of the writing and the message it gave me. Set in the depression of 30's America it is a powerful and gripping read - goodness knows what the shockwave must have been when it was written in 1939. I realise that it was banned as too controversial in many states - I was stunned by it in places so what vested interests must of made it in the places mentioned in the book is anyone’s guess. It concerns poor farmers driven off their land by a viscous combination of drought, share cropping (growing cash crops usually cotton for the part owners of the land then getting part of the profit - if any), debt from unrealistic lending by banks as part of a wider plan to own vast areas of land so it can be turned over to cotton. Eventually their farms no longer supply a living and the banks foreclose making them homeless. They are simple farmers and many see California as a land of plenty that waits with open arms. Cruel landowners there needing cheap almost slave labour advertise in the debt and drought stricken areas of Oklahoma thus encouraging those poor desperate people to take to the road in a dreadful trek to a supposed promised land. These are the facts that frame this stunning novel - Steinbeck spent time in some of the roadside camps the thousands of disposed people flooded to as their hopes of a new start in California were dashed when they realise they are unwanted and abused as slave labour. Reviled as dirty thieving people abused as “Okies” many died of starvation and disease, a tragedy that influenced writers like Steinbeck to speak out.I was genuinely moved by the plight of the characters, the sheer weight of circumstance building against them is heartbreaking. Poor but proud they hope for salvation but their hopes a cruelly dashed. Steinbeck in one of the most heartrending novels I have read intricately plots the descent to almost starvation and death never flinching from gritty realism that shocks now let alone over 60yrs ago. The sheer excellence of the smallest detail – from cooking in a roadside camp to trying to repair the old worn out vehicles they use (after being swindled when purchasing them) is a testament to one of Americas foremost novelists. Grim it is but fantastically readable – unputdownable is a cliché I can use here and not be wrong. The superb and almost unbreakable spirit of the farmers as they desperately try to work in awful conditions where they aren’t given money but vouchers they can only use in the landowners own shops. Its hard to think this was actually happening in the 1930’s in the USA but it must remembered that the US is a very young country as we know it – this kind of tied labour was made illegal in the UK in the middle of the 19th century with the Truck Acts that required payment in coin only. The indifference of their countrymen to their plight with a few exceptions must have upset a lot of people at the time and the banning of it in some places (looking back from now) was inevitable. A grim read indeed but a marvellous one at that – a quality of writing that some modern novelists can only hint at. I was stunned and shocked in equal measure but at the same time marvelled at the power and quality of the writing. The ending is as shocking as anything I have ever read in a modern novel and must have served as a wake up call to US society then – in fact the novel I believe has many lessons about tolerance and standards in a caring society for us even now 60yrs later. Brilliant and shocking in equal measure this novel must be on any readers list – if only as a benchmark against which other authors work is judged.

'You Shall Know Our Velocity' - Dave Eggers

2005-08-24T02:25:00.000Z

Starting in America and ending Mexico, this book covers a lot of ground. It's a breathless tour around the world in the company of two truly American travellers who look at the world from the view point of people who rarely leave their own state, let alone their own continent. Don't let this deter you. These characters are well sculpted, dislikable and cruel and at the same time refreshingly and even lovably niave and thrill seeking.
This book is fast paced and slightly psychotic in the way it leaps between the journey they are taking and the mental torture of Will (one of the two main protagonists.) We learn as much about what has happened in the past as about what is going on in the present as the story unfolds. This is one of the strengths of this work - It doesn't dwell for long on any given point or moral before skipping somewhere else - if not to the past then to the inside of Will's head.
Will is troubled, guilt ridden and grieving for his friend and his internal monologues and conversations punctuate the actual dialogue of the book to great effect. Eggers portrays him in enough pain to elicit sympathy, but with enough humour to prevent the book becoming weighed down.
Will is looking for something he knows he isn't going to find, and ultimately this is a book about a hopeless quest. It is as much about tiring yourself out to escape the tortures of your mind as it is anything spiritual. Their is just enough lust for life in the two main characters to allow the actual journey to be more important and more satisfying than the reasons for it. In some ways Will and his companion 'Hand' appear much like crazy characters from a film, pulling stupid stunts and adopting a kind of deliberate ignorance of the world arround them, losing themselves in homespun (but often charming) explanations of events. In other ways, they have enough depth, enough genuine pain and convincing feeling for each other and the world they interact with to overcome this potential flaw.

I'm not entirely sure what this book was about, I do know I really enjoyed it and was rivited by the many diferent stories and settings - which seems such an un-intelectual thing to say but sums up how I felt quite nicely.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

2005-07-11T14:33:00.000Z

This is a stunning tale of a future genetically modified and gene spliced on its way to oblivion. Margaret Atwood's dystopian tale of the future "The Handmaids Tale " told of a society altered by fundamentalist religion and politics. Here in Oryx and Crake the society is home to rampant capitalism and consumerism with genetically altered foods and drugs being pushed onto the market as the environment is collapsing. Not actually covered in the novel but alluded to, the worlds weather has changed with global warming making large parts of the world uninhabitable but with a growing population the answers to food and disease all come from huge global genetic companies. There is an elite part of society, those that live in the safe sterile gated communities owned by the Genetic corporations and work for the corporations. Outside these havens are the pleeblands – where all the rest of the population live. I couldn’t help thinking of the plebeian masses in 1984 – the corporations have their own security police and monitor all movements.

Living in this supposed paradise are the two main characters – teenage boys at odds with their surroundings using the Internet to escape their increasingly bizarre world. Alienated from their parents they find solace in each other talents in school and beyond on the Internet. Growing up they appear to have joined the consumer rat race they appeared to despise but we soon find out they are working toward a whole new destiny – the problem is they haven’t fully grasped the dreadful possibilities of their new world. Or so they would have us believe.

A sci fi warning novel waiting to be written given the present race to genetic engineering I think. Atwood is a brilliantly descriptive writer who appears to have been dying to write a truly sci fi novel for years. Combining her abilities to describe the human condition and to narrate a believable dystiopian future she manages to get a well-paced believable book with a streak of black humour that doesn’t allow the narrative to become bleak as it would if it took itself wholly seriously. As each twist and turn of the awful global mega corporations unfolds the genetic race gets worse and worse and the genetically altered chicken for the fast food restaurants is truly stomach churning. It gets worse when they decide to genetically re engineer the human race – playing God at its very worst. The narrative opens in the far future after a global holocaust that has left genetically altered humans to inherit the ruins with one of the main characters, Snowman, as a kind of post apocalypse tramp whom they look to as a Moses type character in the wilderness. Told in part as flash back the dreadful truth infolds and there are stark lessons for us all. Tense in places with superb dialogue, wit and black humour it could have been twice as long and still been too short. Enigmatic as only Atwood can be at least the ending makes sense – a criticism of Atwood not without foundation. A brilliant book indeed, which missed out on the Booker Prize but deserves high praise indeed for a superb take on a problem of mankind’s future that desperately needs discussion. At least in a novel the polarisation between Science and religion can be pushed to one side and the real fears can be aired in a neutral environment. A fantastic read which I’d recommend for everyone as well as those who were perhaps put off by Atwood’s other works.

What a Carve up! By Jonathan Coe

2005-07-03T18:07:00.000Z

This is a full on juicy farce - a satirical look at not just the eighties but big business, the media and the damage both of them do. Using as a framework old early sixties farcical movies featuring Sid James and friends, mainly the 1961 movie "What a carve up" featuring Shirley Eaton and Kenneth Connor too at times I wasn't sure whether the writer was imagining it all! The satire takes on the look of the movie as viewed by a reclusive writer attempting to write the history of a powerful and corrupt family who are big in the Arms industry, the media, politics and factory farming. There are a lot of characters and the time frame stretches from the 40's to the 90's - the early parts of the book were at first a little confusing but it all starts to fall into place just like the old movies used to in a corny way. Don't let my lack of reviewing ability deter anyone - it’s a funny novel, very funny indeed - its razor wit when applied to the Arms Industry and the rise of Saddam Hussein in the 80's is remarkable. BSE, the Health Service the decline of quality in the media are all covered and are as fresh and relevant now as they were when it was first published in 1994 in fact there is never a dull moment and the time shifts and character subplots keep up the pace quite well. I did think whilst reading this that even I should have lost track of all the goings on but the writing is so subtle that it just moves along so smoothly that I had got through it without really having to stop and "work it out" as it were.

I am a self confessed lover of novels with any kind of eighties theme so the coverage of Thatcher's government with all the shenanigans that went on like privatisation etc went down very well with me. This isn't to say that any in depth knowledge of the time is necessary as it's all explained - knowledge of the time merely adds to the admiration of Jonathan Coe as he weaves this web of intrigue around the characters. It soon starts to resemble a whodunit in its finest form and then it get really quite funny the final chapters are ludicrous in the extreme and this adds to enjoyment. Larger than life hate characters, full on stereotypes they are all here for the asking - though even with this the narrative is never cold or formulaic. Exciting yet silly in equal measure this was an entreating and thought provoking novel indeed - I found it a thoroughly interesting read indeed.!

FEERSUM ENDJINN by Ian M. Banks

2005-06-30T19:06:00.000Z

While many people might be familiar with books written by Ian Banks such as the "The Wasp Factory" and "Espedair Street", you might not know about his best work, writing science fiction as Ian M. Banks. I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking for an adventure novel or to those who've only read Ian Banks and are not aware of how inventive Mr Banks can be.

Story

Earth, set in the far future an encroachment is approaching threatening the solar system, once the encroachment blocks the sun Earth will enter a new ice age, despite this threat an increasingly desperate war is being fought for supreme control by two rival factions. Thrown into this mix is a computer network called the crypt, it allows people to download their personalities into the crypt giving them access to a virtual world and the option of more than one life (anyone who's seen the Matrix will be familiar with this idea). The story follows four characters who are trying to save the world in their own way, Chief Scientist Gadfium, Commander in Chief Count Sessine, Asura and a 4 year old teller called Bascule. Main feature I need to warn you about is Bascule's dialogue, the dialogue is written phonetically, for example

"A rikiti ole chare lif"

translated

"A rickety old chair lift"

I struggled to read the book the first time due to this gimmick, but the story is worth the effort.

Summary

The basic elements of the story, a quest, an impending danger (which is impossible to defeat) and a possible savior, is nothing new in a fantasy adventure book but the end result is a fast paced and inventive story, brilliant.

Crash Guide to Sci Fi ideas

AI - Artificial Intelligence, a popular idea in Sci Fi, machines which can think like humans but without human limitations. If you could download your personality into one of these machines, you might be able to change the perception of time (and at the same time change the speed of your thought processes). For example, you might spend a year studying a subject with your personality running on the machine but only an hour has passed in the real world.

Space Elevator - Put a satellite into space so that it orbits the earth at the same speed as the earth rotates, to an observer on earth the satellite appears to hover over one point on the earth, this is called geosynchronous orbit. Build a tower up to this satellite, install an elevator and bingo, cheap way to get into space (ignoring the cost of the elevator). As you might guess, the technology to achieve this is not yet available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

Suitable Boy

2005-06-29T17:16:00.000Z

by Vickram Seth

How can one begin to describe a novel as vast almost as India itself? At nearly 1500 pages it enormous sweep attempts to take in the whole Indian subcontinent experience and in my view succeeds. A fantastic vivid picture is painted in the pages of people, food, religion, culture, music, caste, war, politics; taking in arranged marriages, Law courts, local elections, university life and India's industrial shoe making industry from the highest to the lowest level!. Superbly gripping entertainment but wondrously interesting as well the shattering intricate detail from a lowly peasant ploughing to the Chief Minister of the state mean that no part of the picture is left un explained by Seth. Flowers, plants and animals in a garden are explained beautifully as are meals, clothes and huge magnificent street scenes. I don't think Seth left a literal Indian stone unturned when writing this massive book and that is the real beauty of this book - I read it on holiday and it took the full two weeks yet I was sad that it had to end. I did wonder at the lack of a literary prize for this book though it did pick up the obscure Commonwealth writers prize, this was really ideal Booker prize materiel ( Roddy Doyle won that year with Paddy Clarke Ha ha ha ). The huge size of the work may have seemed off putting to the judges but it really did deserve recognition.

The main theme running though the work like the Ganges running through India is the search for a "Suitable Boy" or a really a suitable Hindu boy for a young upper class Indian Hindu woman from a good background. The girls mother uses the huge extended family to try an make a suitable match but the girl herself meets and begins to fall for a Muslim boy of good character. But mixed marriages in post partition 1950 India are out of the question. The extended families of the Mehras, Khans, Kapoors and Chatterjis with their children and uncles and friends and servants build into a huge and complex though surprisingly easy to follow story of love, betrayal and everyday life in 50's India after the British have left. There is a family tree at the beginning of the book that helps in the first chapters but once one is used to the different characters it just flows easily and I didn't need to refer to it again. The minute detail that goes into even the most basic part of each chapter is a joy to read - how much to pay a Ganges Boatman for instance after haggling or what native birds come to the extensive gardens of the characters houses after monsoon rains. The Indian back street shoe industry is part of the story and the awful toil of the poor low caste peasants who make the shoes then have to try and sell them to dealers so they and their families can eat is covered in vast and emotive detail. The toil of landless peasants under Zamindari Landlords (Muslim landowners who, for generations have owned the land and the peasants that work it) in the broiling Indian sun, the backbreaking labours vivid in detail make uncomfortable reading (especially if one is reading it whilst sitting in a 100 degree sun oneself!). The twists and turns of local and national politics as the political characters in the story attempt to force through a bill to reclaim land from the landowners to supposedly re distribute it to the peasants is played out in parliaments and in the Indian High court - the high court scenes are particularly interesting and gripping. University life with its internal politics of whether to teach Joyce or not are covered as is how to make a pair of leather brogue shoes!. The religious festivals involving biblical numbers of people bathing in the holy river Ganges and Shia Muslim festivals are featured but are explained too, you get a real understanding of Hindu and Muslim rites.

This detail serves to keep the reader fully enthralled with the characters and their lives; I can only think the thing that would make this better is to read it in India itself. To be fair a little knowledge of India's history makes this book a feast, before writing this I tested the theory with a small internet search and found simple sites with a chronological breakdown of modern post - war Indian history. I already had a fair knowledge so had no problems, the foods, clothes, street life etc has been well written about by authors such as Paul Scott, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and of course Salman Rushdie. That said the very explanations give the novel accessibility and ease of reading I have not found before, the smooth dialogue flowing easily not getting bogged down with metaphor. The simplicity of the plot coupled with the vastness of the background detail make for such a reading pleasure that I cannot think of a better book for a holiday read - it size alone means you may not need to take several books on holiday!.

This book has given me two weeks of unexpected pleasure, I had heard mixed reviews but I have found the book to be outstanding in every way possible - I didn't want it to end. Its sheer size may put some off but they should not be, it is never slow and thrills the reader with something new in every one of its many short chapters. A Suitable Boy is going into my all time top ten books and I thoroughly recommend it to all readers young or old.

White Teeth

2005-06-28T14:43:00.000Z

by Zadie Smith

This is a very ambitious, funny and thought-provoking novel that won Zadie Smith a much-deserved Whitbread First Novel prize in 2000. I had read some mixed reviews some time ago but approached this with an open mind and was really quite delighted with this humorous approach to race, religion, mixed marriage and the problems of first and second-generation immigrants to Britain. I would not have thought a writer could get such an eclectic mix of weird characters into a story and yet still manage to get through a few quite topical issues whilst remaining light and funny. Centring on Inner city London yet taking in Bangladesh and Jamaica too, the novel spans over a 100yrs and more yet keeps at its core the core characters that make up the main story.

There is so much in the narrative I’ve thought of it as a over stuffed suitcase – it’s all there, all over the place but there, nevertheless. It reminded me of Kate Atkinson mixed with Hanif Kurieshi and Salman Rushdie, the comic sweep of it and the farcical situations the characters are involved with keep the comedy flowing yet still covering those issues which in any other context would be deadly serious. Race and racial issues, not the funniest items are treated with a great gusto and it is genuinely hilarious at times. Religious fundamentalism, Christian as well as Islamic are covered too and very funny they are as well, the author getting right in there with the ironic humour. Just in case any bases went uncovered there is also genetic manipulation and animal rights!

Its very ambition as a novel is almost its undoing as there is just so much bursting from the pages that if the pace slows a little you can’t tell where its going next but it never drags, it twists and turns with humorous asides being thrown in right up to the end. Stereotypes abound but its so funny and the characters so well drawn and believable – up to a point! – that I found I was really engrossed as to what the various players were doing, it’s a good length too, over 500pages in paperback so you never feel short changed with the main characters. The ending is a little contrived but the whole contrived air about the various lives portrayed means that this isn’t a disappointment more of inevitability. Brilliantly descriptive passages about the different times – the 70’s for instance mean this is a delight to read and given that a few years have passed since it first appeared some of the hype has died down and we can appreciate this superb novel for what it is – a great first novel by an exciting new young author. I laughed a lot whilst enjoying this – try it yo White Teeth by Zadie Smith

This is a very ambitious, funny and thought-provoking novel that won Zadie Smith a much-deserved Whitbread First Novel prize in 2000. I had read some mixed reviews some time ago but approached this with an open mind and was really quite delighted with this humorous approach to race, religion, mixed marriage and the problems of first and second-generation immigrants to Britain. I would not have thought a writer could get such an eclectic mix of weird characters into a story and yet still manage to get through a few quite topical issues whilst remaining light and funny. Centring on Inner city London yet taking in Bangladesh and Jamaica too, the novel spans over a 100yrs and more yet keeps at its core the core characters that make up the main story.

There is so much in the narrative I’ve thought of it as a over stuffed suitcase – it’s all there, all over the place but there, nevertheless. It reminded me of Kate Atkinson mixed with Hanif Kurieshi and Salman Rushdie, the comic sweep of it and the farcical situations the characters are involved with keep the comedy flowing yet still covering those issues which in any other context would be deadly serious. Race and racial issues, not the funniest items are treated with a great gusto and it is genuinely hilarious at times. Religious fundamentalism, Christian as well as Islamic are covered too and very funny they are as well, the author getting right in there with the ironic humour. Just in case any bases went uncovered there is also genetic manipulation and animal rights!

Its very ambition as a novel is almost its undoing as there is just so much bursting from the pages that if the pace slows a little you can’t tell where its going next but it never drags, it twists and turns with humorous asides being thrown in right up to the end. Stereotypes abound but its so funny and the characters so well drawn and believable – up to a point! – that I found I was really engrossed as to what the various players were doing, it’s a good length too, over 500pages in paperback so you never feel short changed with the main characters. The ending is a little contrived but the whole contrived air about the various lives portrayed means that this isn’t a disappointment more of inevitability. Brilliantly descriptive passages about the different times – the 70’s for instance mean this is a delight to read and given that a few years have passed since it first appeared some of the hype has died down and we can appreciate this superb novel for what it is – a great first novel by an exciting new young author. I laughed a lot whilst enjoying this – try it you’ll like it too!

I'm at work - my amateur reviews

2005-06-28T14:10:00.000Z

I been very kindly asked to post some book reviews here , I have no literary education and my naeive and sometimes simple reviews should be seen as personal reccomendations based on my reading plan . I have been trying to read all the Booker, Whitbread First/Best and Orange prize winning books - this gives me a set list of books to read - like a course work reading list. This was for me after 20 years of reading just military history, autobiography and politics a great opportunity to discover the modern novel. As I have read through the list I have discovered authors then read their other work so my library has expanded.

To add to the hobby I try to buy all the books from charity shops which here in the suberbs of Birmingham we are well supplied.

To begin...

2005-06-23T17:19:00.000Z

I can't start my new life as a reviewer of books anywhere else other than with the majestic, sweeping vision of David Foster Wallace, and if I'm going to talk about Mr Wallace, I can't talk about anything other than the intriguing, infuriating, painful and spell binding 'Infinite Jest'

- I intend to review things as I read them, but for this book I have to make an exception -

Yes this may be a book that's been in fashion, yes it may at first glance appear to be nothing more than intelectual and linguistic masturbation, pointless and deliberately obtuse. Persevere and you find an intricate tapastry of naratives and an unparraleled observational genius. This is a book with the power to overwhelm you, and drown you in the sheer richness of it's warped vision.

Central to the story is the topic of addiction, much of the action is set in in the backwaters of the world, amongst recovering addicts of all forms and in the hiding places people go to indulge in their addictions. The notion of entertainment as addiction is key to the central thread of the book and binds the loose collection of character together. It's difficult to read it without considering the nature of your own habits and addictions.

This book exists to be read 3,4,5 times at least. Not only is there Wallace's style to contend with - why use one word, when twelve will do, "The rising astral venus, lit his face to the colour of pallid cheese..." It's also impossible to follow the plot in a conventional way. The text is full of footnotes, which take you to further storys and background, explanations of definitions and occaisional moments of wit where the authors voice appears to comment on the events.

The main joy of this work for me, is the precision with which Wallace carves his images and crafts the internal dialogue of his characters. Locations like the Enfield Tennis Academy and Ennet House become like a background for the readers life, nevermind the action of the book. It's impossible not to laugh at the wierdly dysfunctional and awkward characters, yet as with most of his work, that laughter is always with a wince.

With Wallace, more than any author, despite all the distance he creates through the way he constructs a convoluted and difficult work deliberately I get the sense of the author grappling with himself and his own sense of being. Perhaps that is why I love him so deeply, because he is confusing and complex and difficult.

This is an awkward book, by an awkward man, a self critical and at times obviously self loathing individual. Yet the highest praise I can possibly give it is to say it is a living, organic, evolving work of fiction, one that challenges and rewards the reader in equal measure. A book that never patronises or relies on cheap cliche' and one that had profound impact on the way I think of language and fiction today.

Maybe it won't change your life but it changed the way I think of the novel, changed the way I viewed writing. Janet Street Porter described his last collection of short storys by saying dreadful, self indulgent, what is the point? She writes lifestyle columns for broadsheets, I think that say's it all. The only phrase she's ever written that stuck in my head was along the lines 'Y'know when your in Knightsbridge....' I would call that pointless, dreadful and self indulgent. When she's written something I can read three times and still not feel like I've read, I will respect her opinion.

Just flicking through the work I'm reminded of locations and characters and feelings, journeys, colours, games, a freakish perspective that somehow holds truth. The book feels like electricity in my hands. If fiction this powerful is pointless then I'm all for self indulgence.
tangerinedream.