Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Graham

Crome YellowIn his 1921 novel Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley skewers the socialite class of the day. Set during a Summer stay at an English country house it is full of the intrigues and preoccupations of the guests. Denis is the central character, a poet who is frustrated in his unrequited love for Anne. It is largely through Denis’s eyes that we view the self-interested past-times of the upper classes and the literary set. Continue reading →

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The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Graham

The Murders in the Rue MorgueEdgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, was first published in 1841, and pretty much invented the investigative detective genre. The depiction of the gruesome murders of two women in their Paris apartment, and the subsequent investigation of the crime by Monsieur Dupin, as narrated by his friend is almost a definition of the classic detective whodunnit. Continue reading →

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True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Graham

True History Of The Kelly GangPeter Carey’s 2001 Booker Prize winning True History of the Kelly Gang is a fictionalised account of the life of the Australian outlaw and folk-hero Ned Kelly. The book is presented in the form of manuscripts written by Kelly himself in an attempt to explain his background and actions to his unborn daughter.

The story presented by Ned Kelly begins with an account of his father, a poor Irish man transported to Van Diemens Land and after completion of his sentence hounded by the colonial police force. Ned’s hatred of the police grows early with the injustice he and other poor settlers feel at the hands of the law. After killing three police in self-defence Ned, his brother Dan, and some others become outlaws hiding in the bush, with the tacit support of large sections of the population. The fame and notoriety of the gang grows until the vast army of police is on their tail. Continue reading →

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The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Graham

The Art of FieldingChad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding is a sprawling novel about college baseball. Fortunately for British readers it requires very little knowledge about the sport to follow the story. It follows the progress of the Westish Harpooners, the team of a small college as they go on a run of form through the season. However, this is much more than a sports story and is really a Franzen-esque modern classic about the characters and their complex relations. Continue reading →

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Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Graham

Alone in BerlinIn Alone in Berlin Hans Fallada asks how ordinary Germans could put up resistance to the Nazi regime, and if there was any point in resisting at all. The actions of the individuals in the novel seem almost insignificant in the face of the all-powerful state. Based on a real case, Fallada’s story centers on Otto and Anna Quangel, a middle-aged working class couple living in Berlin in 1940. Otto doesn’t consider politics much until his only son is killed in the invasion of France. At that point the couple change into secret anti-Nazi propagandists. Continue reading →

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The Afterparty by Leo Benedictus

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Graham

The AfterpartyThe Afterparty is self-defined as a post-post modern book for which a new term is required. This is so post-modern that it is not meta-fiction, but hyperfiction. The plot(s) are layered and not easy to describe, but I will make an attempt. The main plot line in the book is about the fallout from a catastrophic celebrity party. Present at the party are a host of the rich and famous, both real and imagined, including Elton John and Gordon Ramsey. Even Rebekah Wade makes an appearance, as editor of The Sun. The principal characters are Hugo, a kind of Hugh Grant actor, his American supermodel wife Mellody, Calvin, an X-Factor contestant, and Michael, an interloping journalist. Continue reading →

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Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Graham

Pigeon EnglishIn Pigeon English Stephen Kelman has written a compelling and striking novel about the dangers many people face in modern Britain. With obvious parallels to the case of Damilola Taylor this is a book to make people think twice about the state of our society.

Harri is a young Ghanaian immigrant living in London who finds a purpose when a schoolboy is stabbed in his local area. With the police inquiries making little progress he sets out to find the killer. In doing so he ends up putting himself and his family in the way of harm. Harri is an innocent, but he faces decisions on whether to do “jobs” to join the local gang and winds up on the wrong side of local thugs. Violence is ever-present in this world. Continue reading →

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A Guest at the Feast by Colm Toibin

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Graham

A Guest at the FeastColm Toibin’s memoir A Guest at the Feast has been published as part of the Penguin Shorts ebook only series. This series comprises both fiction and non-fiction, and are only available in digital formats, and are all priced at £1.99. They are, as the name suggests, short, being either short-stories or extended essays on a range of subjects.

In A Guest at the Feast Toibin looks back on his childhood growing up in Enniscorthy, a small town in County Wexford in South-West Ireland, and also discusses aspects of his writing today. Toibin was at school during the 1960s and discusses the social changes that came about at that time. In particular the Irish censorship laws that existed which meant that many books were only available illicitly smuggled between people, and the sudden relaxation of that system. Continue reading →

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The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Graham

The Stranger's ChildThe Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst’s follow up to The Line of Beauty follows the interlinked stories of two families over the course of the twentieth century. The Valance family are the aristocratic residents of Corley Court, and the Sawles are a more middle class family from North London. Starting in the Edwardian era Cecil Valance and George Sawle meet at Cambridge and begin an affair. Valance becomes well known as a war poet, and Daphne, the sister of George, marries Cecil’s brother Dudley. Continue reading →

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The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Graham

The Sense of an EndingJulian Barnes’s Booker Prize winning novel The Sense of an Ending is a bit of a conundrum. Comprising of the recollections of a man growing old, it gradually becomes something more than a retrospective. More than anything it is about the narrative we invent for our own lives. When we look back at episodes from out past, what does our memory leave out, and is to what extent can forgetting be a conscious act?

The first part of this slim book consists of recollections of Anthony’s school and university days, and of his relationship with Veronica. The second part involves him reconsidering some of the past events as a result of being left some money and a diary unexpectedly in the will of Veronica’s mother. Continue reading →

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