Poppy's Paperbacks 2010

[poppyshake]

 

Girl in a Blue Dress - Gaynor Arnold

 

Book Blurb Synopsis: Alfred Gibson's funeral has taken place at Westminster Abbey, and his wife of twenty years, Dorothea, has not been invited. Dorothea is comforted by her feisty daughter Kitty, until an invitation for a private audience with Queen Victoria arrives, and she begins to examine her own life more closely.

She uncovers the deviousness and hypnotic power of her celebrity author husband. But now Dodo will need to face her grown-up children, and worse, her redoubtable younger sister Sissy and the charming actress Miss Ricketts.

In Alfred Gibson, the fierce energy and brilliance of the most famous of the Victorian novelists is recreated, in a heart warming story of first love - of a cocky young writer smitten by a pretty girl in a blue dress.

 

Review: Another historical fiction book, this time about Charles Dickens (re-named Alfred Gibson) and, more importantly, his wife Catherine (here called Dorothea, or more commonly Dodo).

 

I read Peter Ackroyd's book on Dickens last year and so was fairly familiar with the story of Catherine. She was married to Dicken's for twenty two years and bore him ten children. But towards the latter half of their marriage, the things he had once found so attractive in her - her placid temperament and docile nature .. have begun to irk him, he now thinks her dull, stupid and lazy. This coupled by the fact that she has been worn down by the birth of their ten children (he is constantly irritated at her for becoming pregnant .. as if she is all to blame) and has become plump and matronly, leads to him cutting her out of his life, and as far as possible, their children's.

The novel follows this line pretty closely, Alfred Gibson (or the 'One and Only' or 'Great Original' as he is called, mostly by himself) has just died, and his widow is reflecting on their life together. The chapters are a mixture of flashback and present day (though of course, present day is sometime in the 1870's), Dorothea thinks back to the time when Alfred first courted her and how, when they were forbidden to continue seeing each other by her parent's, they set up a clandestine correspondence, using a hole in the garden wall as a postbox, and Dodo's younger sister Alice, as their postman.

 

Back in the present day, Dorothea has not been invited to Alfred's funeral, she sits in the modest room's that she has lived in ever since Alfred persuaded her, ten years or so ago, that they would be better living apart ... 'I fear Dodo, that we were never made for each other from the beginning, and with each year we become more unsuited'. Dorothea, hoping that their separation was going to be of short duration, and that his obsession with the actress, Miss Ricketts would soon be over, agreed to leave. 'Two days later I left my house for the last time. I went out by the side door while it was still dark. My belongings - such as they were - were already in the carriage. No servants were yet up except Bessie (who stood in her nightgown at the doorway, a handkerchief pressed to her face) and John the coachman, who was silent as usual. No other member of the household was awake. Alfred was not at home.'

The only people who she has had constant contact with since then are her daughter Kitty, who following an unsuitable marriage has fallen out with her father, and Dorothea and Alfred's old friend Michael O'Rourke. Kitty is in a wild temper after the funeral, absolutely incensed that her mother should have been kept away from it and that his 'blessed public' should have so overtaken it.

 

Alfred was a literary genius and a tireless campaigner for those less fortunate. He was also vain, punctilious, sarcastic, insensitive, exacting, flirtatious and arrogant. He was extremely sharp and witty but could sometimes use this wit to hurt or belittle others. He was a total control freak and couldn't endure anything which didn't go according to his plans and wishes. Dickens I know shared many of these attributes, but I don't think he was quite as bad as Alfred, he would've been completely insufferable if he had been. I have to admit that Alfred was another literary figure that I wanted to 'box the ears of' (that makes three in a row!).

Dorothea tries to look for ways in which she can reassure herself that the love Alfred once showed her was real, she is wife now in name only. She cannot bear to think ill of him, she tries to justify his actions and quell the bitter resentment that she feel's. This leads her, after his death, to visit her sister Sissy who has long since usurped her as matriarch of the family and who chose to stay on with Alfred after Dorothea left, and Miss Ricketts, the young actress who Alfred had for many years been so enamoured with, and who Dorothea believes to have been his mistress.

 

As well as being about Dickens, it has all the flavour of a Dicken's novel, though not much of their complexity it has to be said. Gaynor Arnold has invented some new characters and new situations (including, following Alfred's death, a visit by Dorothea to Queen Victoria) but there is a lot here that will be familiar to anybody who has read a Dicken's biography. I remember feeling a great sadness for Catherine when I read that after the separation she used to buy her own copy of Charles's new books and would write and tell him how much she enjoyed them only to receive back terse little notes of acknowledgment. She also, upon her deathbed, urged her daughter Kate to give her collection of Charles's letters to the British Museum, that the world might know 'he loved me once'. I felt similarly sad here for Dodo, publicly humiliated and estranged from those she loved. It's hugely readable but you can't help but feel that some of the fictionalised situations are highly unlikely

towards the end of the book, Dorothea is visited by Alfred's ghost - a la Jacob Marley - and he urges her to complete his unfinished novel, and though this is half passed off as a dream, it still left me wincing

.

 

7/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke read by Allan Corduner

 

Audible Synopsis: Life in the Inkworld has been far from easy since the extraordinary events of Inkspell, when the story of Inkheart magically drew Meggie, Mo, and Dustfinger back into its pages.

With Dustfinger dead, and the evil Adderhead in control, the story in which they are all caught has taken an unhappy turn.

Elinor, left alone in the real world, believes her family to be lost - lost between the covers of a book. But as winter comes there is reason to hope - if only Meggie and Mo can rewrite the wrongs of the past and make a dangerous deal with death....

Here is the fantastic finale to the epic Inkheart Trilogy from best-selling author Cornelia Funke.

 

Review: Although I bought this in paperback I eventually decided to download the audio. The main reason for this was that I found reading 'Inkspell' a trial, I enjoyed it, but because I couldn't commit the time to reading it, I picked it up and put it down far too often and literally got lost in the story, but not in a good way. Anyhow, I'm glad I did because listening to Allan Corduner's reading of Inkdeath was an absolute pleasure. At first it was a bit odd, having read the first two books, I had my own voices for the characters and they weren't for the most part anything like Alan's but after a couple of chapters I forgot about my versions.

I was glad to have a copy of the book to use for reference, it has a synopsis of both Inkheart and Inkspell at the start and a comprehensive A-Z list of characters and place names which came in pretty handy especially at the beginning.

 

I'm going to put all of this review in spoiler wrappers because it mentions things that happened in Inkspell which some FM's may not have read yet.

 

 

Back to the story then, since the death of Cosima the Fair, Ombra has been ruled by the decaying but immortal, Adderhead, and governed by his brother in-law, the Milksop. Farid is still mourning the death of Dustfinger, and now slaves away working for Orpheus, desperately hoping that he can persuade him to somehow read Dustfinger back into the story. Orpheus has started to put his own stamp on the story, he creates riches for himself and does his best to ingratiate himself to the Milksop. He conjures up weird and wonderful creatures that had only ever been heard of in fairy tales before. He finds all the right words to use from Fenoglio's original text, he rearranges and mixes them to suit himself. He finds himself growing rich on 'what he can entice from another man's word's'.

 

 

 

Fenoglio is living in Minerva's little attic room, he has turned to drink and lazes about in bed for most of the time, he is despondent and has given up writing, whatever his good intentions Inkworld has started to shape it's own story. Orpheus uses his glass man to spy on Fenoglio, he fears that he may take up his pen again and then he will lose some of the control and influence he has gained.

 

 

 

Mortimer, Meggie and Resa are living with the Black Prince and his band of robbers who are trying to protect the citizens of Ombra from the Milksop and his army. Mo has assumed the identity of the mythical Bluejay, an outlaw immortalised in verse by Fenoglio in Inkheart, strangely though it feels as though the Bluejay has always been a part of him, merely sleeping until Fenoglio's world had brought him to life. At the end of Inkspell, the Adderhead, using Meggie and Resa as bait, had forced Mo to bind a book for him which would make him immortal. He wrote his name in the blank pages but what he didn't know is that Mo had ensured that the book itself was dying. As the book begins to decay, so does the Adderhead, sunlight hurts his skin, his limbs are bloated, every step and every breath is painful to him, he emits a rotting stench so powerful and repellent that it is torture to be anywhere near him. And he knows that this agony will continue forever. He cannot sleep and he spends his time plotting revenge on the Bluejay, he needs to capture him and force him to bind another book that will restore him to full health, and then he will kill him.

 

 

Mo also knows that he needs to re-visit the Castle Of Night and write the three words in the book that will permanently rid Inkworld of the Adderhead. But it's dangerous, the Adderhead keeps the blood soaked book with him at all times, how will Mo ever be able to get hold of it? He is surprised when he is offered help in his quest from an unlikely source, the Adderheads daughter ... Her Ugliness ... Violante also want's to see her father destroyed. But can Mo trust her?

 

Meggie is in turmoil also, would they all be better off returning to this world?, can she persuade Fenoglio to take up his pen again and can she read his words to help keep the Bluejay safe? She's annoyed with Farid, who spends most of his time with Orpheus obsessing about Dustfinger. There is another boy that has caught her eye, the Strong Mans younger brother Doria, is it possible to love two boys at the same time?

 

 

I loved the twists and turns of the story, Cornelia manages to tie everything up together beautifully and she keeps the suspense building. The question I most wanted answered (or was most fearful of finding out the answer to) was 'will Dustfinger be brought back to life'?, he's got to be everyone's favourite character hasn't he? but I was also eager to find out whether the Folchart's would return to this world or stay in Inkworld. The quality of Cornelia's writing shines out. I still think that Inkheart was the best book of the trilogy, I just thought it was storytelling at it's most perfect, but I really enjoyed this one too. The ending won't be to everyone's taste, there's one outcome in particular that is disappointing, but it felt right for the story as it developed. I liked the way that she hints at adventures yet to come involving new characters, that we've only just met. We probably won't hear about these adventures, but they will be happening just the same.

 

 

Magical, enchanting and enthralling.

 

9/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

Ark Baby - Liz Jensen

 

Amazon Synopsis: Liz Jensen's second novel, Ark Baby, is a dark, randy and riotous romp back to the future featuring twin plot lines as tightly twisted as a double helix. The novel (if not the story) kicks into gear on New Year's Eve 1999 when a sudden, heavy rainfall over Britain signals the end of fertility on the sceptred isle; with the turn of the millennium, every last specimen of British womanhood is rendered mysteriously barren. In the aftermath of this event, child-starved couples start turning to lower primates to satisfy their baby lust; enter veterinarian Bobby Sullivan, the hapless hero of Jensen's quirky meditation on evolution and survival of the fittest. After accidentally killing a client's beloved macaque monkey and being charged with murder, Bobby escapes to a remote northern seaside town called Thunder Spit and eventually gets involved with two slightly hirsute twins whom he manages to impregnate--the first fertile women in England since the millennium.

Not content to chronicle Bobby's adventures in Thunder Spit around the dawn of the new millennium, Jensen weaves in the 19th-century adventures of foundling Tobias Phelps as counterpoint. Discovered abandoned in the Thunder Spit church by a childless vicar and his wife, Tobias is raised by the couple as their own, but his unusual appearance (squashed features, odd feet, hairy body) spur him to find his biological parents. As Bobby muddles towards 21st-century parenthood and Tobias gets tangled up in Victorian England's fascination with the theories of Darwin, the two plots begin to converge in a welter of diary entries, exotic recipes, strange artefacts and curious coincidences. By the end of Ark Baby readers might well conclude that far from being "red in tooth and claw", nature has one hell of a sense of humour.

 

Review: The book blurb for 'Ark Baby' has a comment from the New York Times which tells you to think of this book as 'Monty Python's Origin of Species' which is spot on. This is an absolutely bonkers take on Darwin's theory of evolution. Though not long, it's a great stew of a book with lots of ingredients. You don't quite know how they're all going to come together although there are dark hints of what's to come.

Firstly comes the prologue, a short dark passage telling a bizarre story of an Ark (not that one, this is the 1800's) full of animals, sailing towards England. On board the captain hears some disconcerting noises coming from below, including growls, snarls and a woman's scream. Not long after a live but frozen woman finds her way to the nuns at a Greenwich workhouse, they attempt to defrost her with a tub of warm water but noticing her condition they call for a midwife, something's amiss with the child though, surely it's the offspring of the Devil. The woman and child are thrown out and make their way to the nearby Travelling Fair of Danger and Delight which shortly leaves Greenwich and travels northwards. The book alternates between the 1800's and 2005, mostly in consecutive chapters but sometimes mid chapter. In the present day (or more accurately 2005) all British women have become infertile. Bobby Sullivan is a vet working in London, he accepts a bribe from a client to put a pink dressed little macaque monkey to sleep (monkey's now being regarded as surrogate children by some British women) but when the client's wife finds out and threatens legal action, Bobby has to leave quick sharp, he changes his name to Buck de Savile and heads for Thunder Spit.

 

Staying in Thunder Spit but back in the 1800's we are introduced to Tobias Phelps, an abandoned child with a hideous lower back wound, found by Parson Phelps in the church. Tobias is an odd child, he's covered in hair for one thing and can only grunt for the first five years of his life, he has odd shaped feet too and an awkward gait (you already know where this is going don't you?). All he knows is that he must not, whatever else he does, ever visit the Travelling Fair of Danger and Delight, but of course the temptation proves too great.

Also in 1845 in London, we meet Dr Scrapie, his wife Mrs Charlotte Scrapie or the 'Laudanum Empress' as she is known (a nickname which alludes to the chronic addiction which helps fuel her psychic abilities) and their daughter Violet. Dr Scrapie is chief taxidermist to Queen Victoria (or the Royal Hippopotamus as he calls her) and he is currently working on a ridiculous project stuffing animals from around the globe, removing their genitalia, dressing them in clothes and giving them blue glass eyes, for part of her Animal Kingdom collection. Also newly introduced to the household is Monsieur Cabillaud, a chef who, as luck would have it, has no objection to cooking 'unusual meats', in fact he has a flair for it. The Empress has to be my favourite character, she's hilarious. She's full of proclamations and psychic predictions, which nobody else believes or pays heed to. 'There will be two world wars. As a result, a million skulls will be strewn all over France. But on the more positive side, there will be something known as long-life milk' ... 'There will be heat seeking missiles, and split crotch panties. Not to mention a substance called Play-Doh'' ... 'There will be gambling machines called one-armed bandits. And artists will display their own excrement in galleries'.

 

Somehow all these ingredients are mixed together until their connections become clear. The Empress remains in the story even after she's dead (this time she's addicted to Pepto Bismol!), as a ghost inhabiting her old residence which now belongs to the parent's of Bobby Sullivan's new girlfriends (who are a pair of hirsute twin's with an odd habit of keeping their socks on at all times). After an unexpected encounter involving a strange woman, blackmail and a pickle jar, Parson Phelps abandons Tobias, he abandons religion too and is taken raving to the local sanatorium. Tobias doesn't quite know what to make of it, who was the woman and what is pickled in the jar? Charles Darwin has just published his 'Origin of Species' (indeed both he and Henry Salt get talking parts in this novel) to a general outcry. In 2005 the pregnant twins (but then at least half of the British female population are experiencing phantom pregnancies in what is known as a nine month period of insanity .. there is a 'Euro Fertility Reward' of five million euro's) are busy researching their family tree and Bobby (or Buck as we now call him) is wondering about the stuffed 'Gentleman Monkey' that was in the Scrapie's loft, at first he thinks it might be valuable but after some intensive research he realises it's much more important than that. As the synopsis says this is a bit of a bawdy romp, reminiscent at times of Tristram Shandy etc, but I didn't mind that because Liz Jensen has a deft comic touch and it was totally in keeping with the story. It's dark, humorous, clever and really enjoyable.

 

9/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[Jessi]

Poppyshake, thanks for writing such detailed reviews, there really good! I'm going to give Girl in the Blue Dress and Amenable Women a go!

[poppyshake]

Thanks Jessi, I hope you enjoy them If you like historical fiction then I'm sure you will.

[Jessi]

I love historical fiction so I'm sure I will! Thanks again!

[poppyshake]

 

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

 

Amazon Synopsis: Set in the deep American south between the wars, this is the classic tale of Celie, a young poor black girl. Raped repeatedly by her father, she loses two children and then is married off to a man who treats her no better than a slave. She is separated from her sister Nettie and dreams of becoming like the glamorous Shug Avery, a singer and rebellious black woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually Celie discovers the support of women that enables her to leave the past behind and begin a new life.

 

Review: The story begins with Celie's first letter to God .. 'You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy' .. she's fourteen years old, her mama's has just given birth to her baby sister and she's not recovering well. She leaves Celie and the other children to travel to Macon to see the doctor. This is the day that Celie is raped by her father for the first time. She asks God 'Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me'.

Celie twice becomes pregnant and gives birth. Her mama is really sick now, dying. She want's to know who the father is of Celie's children. Celie doesn't say. Her father takes the babies into the wood, Celie presumes he kills them.

 

The person Celie is closest to in the world is her younger sister Nettie, Celie lives in dread that their father will begin abusing Nettie, she want's to save her if she can. Nettie is pretty and smart, Mr _____ ,a widower with three children, has seen her in church and is now calling at the house. Celie urges her sister to keep studying, she want's more for her than to be a housemaid bringing up somebody else's children. But then she see's the way her father looks at Nettie and she tell's her to marry Mr _____. But their pa says Nettie's too young to marry, he want's her to have more schooling and anyway what about Shug Avery. Mr _____ carries a picture around of Shug which he has accidentally dropped, she's the most beautiful woman Celie has even seen, she stares at her picture and dreams about her.

 

Mr _____ comes again to ask for Nettie's hand, but their father is adamant the answer is no, he offers Celie as a replacement.

 

'She the oldest anyway. She ought to marry first. She ain't fresh tho, but I specs you know that. She spoiled. Twice. She ugly. But she ain't no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And God done fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain't gonna make you feed it or clothe it. Fact is, I got to get rid of her. She a bad influence on my other girl's. She ugly. Don't even look like she kin to Nettie. She ain't smart either. But she can work like a man. She near twenty. And another thing ... She tell lies'

 

Celie marries Mr _____, his children hate her and throw rocks at her and Mr _____ beats her. Nettie runs away from home to live with them but Mr _____ doesn't want her living there so she stays only a short time. Celie gives her the name of a local Reverend and his wife who she hopes will take her in. She doesn't hear from Nettie for a long time and thinks she must be dead.

 

Mr _____ is still obsessed with Shug Avery, she's a singer and a former lover of his (they have three children together who are being raised by Shug's parents), and when she comes back into town he takes himself along to see her and stays away all weekend. Celie doesn't mind this at all, she just wishes she could see Shug for herself, some folk in the town call Shug names 'strumpet, hussy, heifer, streetcleaner' this doesn't matter to Celie, she feels protective towards her. When Shug becomes sick, Mr _____ goes off to fetch her and bring her home. After a tentative beginning Celie and Shug become friends, well a lot more than friends. It seems to Celie that nobody, bar Nettie, has ever really loved her, ever really taken the time to know her. Shug awakens in Celie both emotional and sexual love and she starts to blossom. With Shug's help, Celie finally learns the truth about what has happened to Nettie and her two long lost children and she begins to break free from a lifetime of oppression.

 

The book is considered to be a feminist novel, the woman characters are strong and for the most part right thinking and the men are mostly despicable, weak, bullies. It's true that some men in the book (one in particular) are horrific but some of the others do get the chance to redeem themselves. The language is pretty ripe and there is a fair bit of adult content, but it's not there to shock, just to add authenticity. The title refers to the following word's spoken by Shug and Celie, when they are discussing God, or Shug's perception of God.

 

'God love everything you love - and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God loves admiration'. 'You saying God vain?' I ask 'Naw' she say. 'Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it p*sses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it'

 

At times it's a harrowing and uncomfortable read but ultimately it's inspiring and hopeful.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales

 

Amazon Synopsis: Once upon a time fairy tales weren't meant just for children, and neither is Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales. This stunning collection contains lyrical tales, bloody tales and hilariously funny and ripely bawdy stories from countries all around the world- from the Arctic to Asia - and no dippy princesses or soppy fairies. Instead, we have pretty maids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls; enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters. This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning, black arts and dirty tricks could only have been collected by the unique and much- missed Angela Carter.

 

Review: An exquisite collection of fairy tales for adults. This book brings together two collections of fairy tales that were edited by Angela, 'The Virago Book of Fairy Tales' and 'The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales'. Sadly Angela died just before the second collection was ready though she worked on it right up to the end, collecting the stories and grouping them under her chosen headings. She wasn't able to write the new introduction though or finish the notes.

 

Her chosen headings are ..

1. Brave, Bold and Wilful

2. Clever Women, Resourceful Girls and Desperate Stratagems

3. Sillies

4. Good Girls and Where it Gets Them

5. Witches

6. Unhappy Families

7. Moral Tales

8. Strong Minds and Low Cunning

9. Up to Something - Black Arts and Dirty Tricks

10. Beautiful People

11. Mothers and Daughters

12. Married Women

13. Useful Stories

... and there is a collection of stories under each heading totalling 103 in all.

 

There are a lot of tales which are familiar although with slightly different characters, origins and outcomes. Different takes on the stories of 'Cinderella', 'Snow White/Rose Red', 'Red Riding Hood' etc (though 'Red Riding Hood' is one of the few stories printed here that is recognisable as the version we know), stories that have seeded themselves all around the world. They come from Europe, Scandinavia, the Carribean, USA, the Arctic, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Make no mistake these are not tales to be told to children, these are grimmer than grimm, and also fairly graphic and crude. Angela says in her introduction (from the first original Virago fairy tales book) that the removal of coarse expressions was a common nineteenth century pastime, and she believes this denaturised the tales.

 

The tales, almost without exception, feature women as the main protagonists.

 

'The stories in this book, with scarcely an exception, have their roots in the pre-industrialised past, and unreconstructed theories of human nature. In this world, milk comes from the cow, water from the well, and only the intervention of the supernatural can change the relations of women to men and, above all, of women to their own fertility. I don't offer these stories in a spirit of nostalgia; that past was hard, cruel and especially inimical to women, whatever desperate stratagems we employed to get a little bit of our own way. But I do offer them in a valedictory spirit, as a reminder of how wise, clever, perceptive, occasionally lyrical, eccentric, sometimes downright crazy our great grandmothers were, and their great grandmothers; and of the contributions to literature of Mother Goose and her goslings.'

 

Some of my favourites were 'Kate Crackernuts', a Scottish tale about a King and his two daughters, Kate and Anne. Kate was the Queen's daughter, she was less beautiful than Anne (the Queen's step-daughter) and the Queen, being rather jealous and resentful (aren't they always), tried her best to destroy this beauty. Kate on the other hand loved her sister, and did everything she could to thwart her mothers plans, rather successfully as it turned out. 'The Three Sillies' is a tale about a farmer, his wife, his daughter and a travelling gentleman who is courting the daughter. The gentleman (and they give him good cause) has reason to believe that these are the silliest three people he has ever met. He want's to continue on his journey but makes them a promise that if he can find three sillier people than them on his travels, he'll come back and marry the daughter. Luckily for the girl, the gentlemen soon stumbles across a whole raft of people that would make Mr Bean look sensible and he soon returns to ask for her hand. And despite it being the most bizarre thing I've ever read, I couldn't help smiling at 'Blubber Boy' an Inuit tale about a girl whose boyfriend had drowned in the sea. She was inconsolable but then carved his likeness out of blubber and rubbed it on her genitals whereby it came to life (don't try this at home!). Unfortunately a side effect of being made out of blubber is that, on very sunny days, you have a tendency to melt. Blubber boy does this and the girl is upset again but luckily blubber is plentiful where she comes from.

 

The stories are illustrated beautifully in black and white lino cut style by Angela's friend, illustrator, Corinna Sargood.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[BookJumper]

... you know me by now would I object to this? It's one I've picked up in bookshops many a time because it looks pretty and interesting but have never invested on due to the possible graphicness...

[poppyshake]

That's a difficult one Giulia I think I'd say don't buy it. Although the really graphic tales are in the minority, they are fairly shocking.

It's a bit like Neil Gaiman's short stories, some you'd be fine with and others not, though I think Neil's are a lot more graphic, these are more coarse than anything.

Having said that I think you'd be ok with at least half of the tales if not three quarters, but it is a bit shocking to be reading about wicked stepmothers one minute and ladies private parts, to use a denaturalising phrase, and women of easy virtue, to use another, next.

[Kylie]

I'm a bit torn about getting this. I originally thought the fairy tales were written by Carter but if they're just a collection of other tales is it worth the effort? I have the Complete Brothers Grimm, which I enjoyed, but even despite your lovely review, I'm still not sure whether it's worth investing in. What do you think Poppyshake?

[pickle]

Have you read The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter as those are some of her takes on fairy tales and folklore. I loved it but am a fan of her work anyway.

[Kylie]

I have it on my TBR pile. I guess I should read that first and then decide.

[poppyshake]

I'm a bit torn about getting this. I originally thought the fairy tales were written by Carter but if they're just a collection of other tales is it worth the effort? I have the Complete Brothers Grimm, which I enjoyed, but even despite your lovely review, I'm still not sure whether it's worth investing in. What do you think Poppyshake?

 

I thought the same and was a bit disappointed to find out that they weren't written by Angela, but I haven't got the complete Grimm's or any other fairy tale collection so was glad to have it. If you've already got the complete Grimm's then I wouldn't invest Kylie, because a lot of the tales are bound to be the same or similar.

 

Have you read The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter as those are some of her takes on fairy tales and folklore. I loved it but am a fan of her work anyway.

 

I'm definitely going to get that one and I've also been looking at 'Wise Children' and 'Nights at the Circus'. I really liked 'The Magic Toyshop' and want to read more by her. Thanks for the recommendation Pickle

[Kylie]

Thanks Poppyshake. I guess I'll let this one pass then.

[poppyshake]

 

Tatty - Christine Dwyer Hickey

 

Amazon Synopsis: Hailed by the critics as a masterpiece, Tatty is a devastating, yet hilarious, depiction of a troubled Dublin family told through the lively, charismatic voice of a little girl. With brutal honesty, Tatty tells the story of her life with her beloved, feckless Dad, her tormented Mam, her five siblings and the booze that brings them down. This not just an entertaining tale, but also a heartbreaking account of a disturbed childhood that makes for compulsive reading.

 

Review: I loved this book from the start. The book is narrated by Tatty, a young Irish girl growing up in the 1960's. Tatty's 'voice' is absolutely convincing, she narrates the whole story so the reader is always with her, we know her innermost thoughts, her observations and all her little worries (which get larger). She has a lively, chatty, humorous style but for all that Tatty is incredibly lonely and fearful.

 

I grew so fond of her that it was painful to read about how isolated and sad she becomes. Tatty's real name is Caroline, her nickname comes from the phrase 'tell-tale-tattler' because she is always putting her foot in it and blurting out truths when the people around her would rather keep secrets. She's not malicious she just doesn't always know when to keep quiet.

 

'You get funny dinners in other people's kitchens. Dinners that don't taste the same as Mam's. It might be the same stuff, but they match it a different way on the plate. The woman who makes you your dinner might ask you your business. And even though Mam always warns her, "Don't be telling those noisy oulones all your business", sometimes she gets mixed up and forgets. And it's hard to know what you're allowed to tell or not, because one minute it's "tell the truth and shame the devil". The next minute it's: "Ah what did you have to go and tell them that for? I could kill you stone dead"

Her Aunties are the stuff of Bertie Woosters nightmares, Auntie Winnie is too handy with the sloppy slipper, Auntie Betty has a cane hanging behind the kitchen door that she's itching to use and Aunt June threatens to put mustard on her tongue.

 

Tatty has two older sisters, Jeannie and Deirdre, and three younger brothers, Luke, Brian and Michael. Jeannie is clever, domesticated and has lots of friends, Deirdre is mentally handicapped and suffers frequent fits, she's the 'special child' that 'Holy God sent to us because he loves us so much'. Her little brothers are all typical rough and tumble boys.

 

When she's put into a new school Tatty finds it hard to make friends, in fact she doesn't make any and is unhappy. Her Dad keeps asking her if she has any new pals, she doesn't like to tell him the truth. She needs to make up some names, she can't use the girls name's in her class incase her Dad gets to talking to their Dads, the only thing she can think of is to use the names of the girls in her favourite books ...

 

"Well" she says, "there's Dinah and Lucy-Ann, Georgina .. we call her George. And Daisy, Carlotta, Bobby .. her real name's Roberta. Then there's Hilary, Belinda and let's see Marjorie and, and ... that's all". "My God", dad goes, "they're fancy names, I must say". "Oh", well the twins have plain names". "Twins as well, TWINS! Didn't I tell you you'd make pals' didn't I tell you? And twins, if you don't mind". "Yes, Pat and Isobel O'Sullivan". "Oh, that's very good indeed"

She's the apple of her Dad's eye and they're the best of friends, but even he is neglectful of her. Their close relationship is just another source of irritation to her Mam. Mam and Dad are always fighting, he spends most of his time in the pub or at the races and Mam is slowly drowning in booze and becoming swipey. The fights and arguments increase until there is no end or beginning to them, they're just continuous. Tatty lies on her bunk bed listening to them screeching insults and recriminations at one another, her head aching. Her desperation to have a friend leads Tatty to do something deceitful and as a consequence she is sent away from home to boarding school, but things take a turn for the better there, she likes the teachers, she progresses with her schoolwork and she makes some friends at last.

The book reminded me a lot of Roddy Doyle's writing, comedy and tragedy all skilfully blended. The story has such an authentic feel that you really could be reading someone's memoirs.

I couldn't give it a completely perfect rating because

I was so saddened by the ending, there looked to be light at the end of the tunnel for Tatty but it really only highlighted her desperate situation. Any chance of happiness was snatched away from her and wrapped up as a blessing. I don't like happy ever after endings if they seem too convenient, but I hated to leave Tatty in that blank space to be perpetually lonely, scared and downtrodden. I wanted to know she had a bright future.

An emotional read, she got under my skin.

9/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver read by Dean Robertson

 

Audible Synopsis: The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them all they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil.

This tale of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction, over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa, is set against history's most dramatic political parables. The Poisonwood Bible dances between the darkly comic human failings and inspiring poetic justices of our times. In a compelling exploration of religion, conscience, imperialist arrogance, and the many paths to redemption, Barbara Kingsolver has brought forth her most ambitious work ever.

 

Review: I really loved listening to this one, Dean Robertson's narration was just spot on .. even though she did not alter her voice much for each of the girls, she was totally convincing.

 

Nathan Price is an American baptist preacher who takes his wife, Orleanna, and his four daughters, Rachel, Adah, Leah and Ruth May to the Congo to try and convert the 'tribes of Ham'. Orleanna narrates the first chapter in the present day, she is back home in America, and you can tell that something terrible happened during her time in Africa, something she is struggling to come to terms with.

 

The book is then alternately narrated by Orleanna and the four girls. We are taken right back to their arrival in the fictional village of Kalinga in the Belgian Congo. Whatever their pre-conceived ideas were of life in the Congo, they soon find out that it is much worse than they have been supposing. Disease, sickness and poverty are widespread, and then there's also the stifling heat and mosquitoes. They are fairly stuck in their own ways and at first are reluctant to take advice from the villagers about cooking and planting etc ... they had actually brought Betty Crocker cake mixes with them which failed miserably ... but soon come to realise that their Georgia way of life was not going to work here.

 

Nathan Price is a hellfire and brimstone kind of preacher, he wants to claim the village of Kalinga for Jesus. He's a bully, he accepts no other opinions or viewpoints other than his own and rules over his family with a rod of iron. His particular brand of bible bashing is never going to win over any converts. He has no respect for the Congolese or their ancient beliefs, they are just souls to be saved and he is determined to do it. He's the sort of fanatical religious nutjob that Louis Theroux would want to film a documentary about.

 

Their eldest daughter is Rachel, she's blonde, pretty and materialistic. All she can think about is herself and the life she's left behind. She could be attending dances or going on shopping trips to the mall to look at the latest fashions. Instead she is sweating, sweltering and eating inedible food, probably all to the detriment of her complexion, it fair makes her mad with rage! Like her father she has no respect for the villagers, she looks down on them but for different reasons. As soon as she is able (she's fifteen) she is hotfooting it back to the land of the free. She's a lot like Amy in 'Little Women' only Amy grew out of her selfish little ways.

Next in line is fourteen year old Leah, and in a way she's probably the principle narrator of the book, the one we learn most from or perhaps I viewed it that way because she became my favourite. When we are first introduced to Leah she's a bit of a Daddy's girl, she has a kind of idealistic view of him and what he's trying to do and she fervently supports him. It's Leah's compassionate nature that mistakenly leads her to think that her father is doing all he can for the villagers. As time passes, and she observes her father more closely, she starts to question his behaviour and her admiration turns to disgust. She also becomes aware of the political situation between the Congo and the USA as the Congo heads towards independence, as far as she can make out, the truth doesn't reflect well on her homeland and those in office.

Adah is Leah's twin, but an accident at birth has left her with a physical disability, she's also mute. She's the reverse of her twin, where Leah is positive, Adah is negative and looks at life backwards. Adah's disability becomes less obvious in the Congo amongst the natives who have more than their fair share of mutilated limbs and disfigurements, where she would be stared at at home her disability is hardly noticed here. She loves words and wordplay, especially palindromes, she likes to repeat the line ... 'live was I ere I saw evil' (repeat it to us that is). She has a poetic way of thinking and her favourite author is Emily Dickinson.

Ruth May is the youngest, she is just five years old when they reach the Congo and is lively, confident and playful. She's the one that connects best with the local people, especially the children. Before long she has them all lined up playing 'Mother May I'. She's also the glue that holds the family together during those first few months in the Congo.

 

Because of what amounts to a confession in Orleanna's opening chapter, you know something bad is coming. The book feels like it's building towards some great calamity (if it was a film the cello's would be working overtime). At several points you think that calamity has arrived but no, somehow it's resolved or averted until you finally get to the part where the tragedy takes place. I found this hard to take in, I thought it might be another red herring but sadly it wasn't. The fall out from this tragedy is just as interesting as the build up, the family end up scattered and each has to come to terms, or not, in their own way.

 

I loved listening to it, Barbara Kingsolver has brought all the sights, smells, culture, nature, flora and fauna of life in the Congo alive. I thought all the characters were well fleshed out even Nathan, who never speaks to us directly. Within a very short space of time I knew him well enough to know I hated him! I loved the fact that each of the girls and Orleanna narrated in turn, you got to know them inside out. The one thing I wasn't keen on was, what I thought was overuse of Rachel's malapropisms, at one point they were coming thick and fast with every sentence. But for the most part they did make me laugh .. she talks about Moses coming down from 'Mount Cyanide' for instance.

 

Nathan was too indifferent to learn the Kikongo language properly, he didn't allow for their words to have multiple meanings or for different pronunciations. His biggest disaster, during a sermon, was when instead of saying 'Jesus is precious' he actually said 'Jesus is poisonous' .. hence the book title. Adah points this out to us, her love of language makes her fairly fluent in Kikongo, though non verbally. She looks upon her fathers efforts with amusement and disdain.

 

As always with audiobooks part of the enjoyment is hearing a great story narrated brilliantly. How I would have got on with it had I tried to read it (which I almost did because it came home from the library with me once but I ran out of time) I don't know, I hope I would still have got as much enjoyment from it.

 

9/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[chesilbeach]

I definitely want to know what you think of this one. Everyone in my reading group loved this book when they read it (before I joined) and everyone tells me I must read it ... which, of course, puts me off

[Janet]

An emotional read, she got under my skin.

 

9/10

I totally agree! I wrote my thoughts in my own log before reading yours - and I also gave it 9/10 - and for the same reason.

[poppyshake]

I definitely want to know what you think of this one. Everyone in my reading group loved this book when they read it (before I joined) and everyone tells me I must read it ... which, of course, puts me off

 

Ha , I know what you mean. I think they may be right in this case though. Sorry the review was late, I ran out of daylight yesterday, and sorry it rambles on a bit, the short version is ... I really liked it.

 

I totally agree! I wrote my thoughts in my own log before reading yours - and I also gave it 9/10 - and for the same reason.

 

Great minds think alike Janet Now that the initial disappointment of the ending has died down, I feel like I should have given it 10/10. It's one of those books you miss when you've finished it.

Edited June 5, 2010 by poppyshake

[Janet]

Yes, I think it's definitely one that will stay with me.

[poppyshake]

 

Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie read by Lisette Lecat

 

Audible Synopsis: The limits of 15-year-old Kambili's world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her repressive and fanatically religious father. Her life is regulated by schedules: prayer, sleep, study, and more prayer. When Nigeria begins to fall apart during a military coup, Kambili's father, involved mysteriously in the political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother away to live with their aunt. In this house, full of energy and laughter, she discovers life and love - and a terrible, bruising secret deep within her family.

 

Review: Another book with a despot, tyrannically religious father, one who's actually worse than Nathan Price in The Poisonwood Bible.

 

I felt incredibly sad for Kambili, she's so withdrawn and serious that her cousins take her for a snob. You feel her fear as she brings home the end of term school test results which reveal that she came second overall. You already know by then that second will not be good enough for her father.

 

A brutal story about a young girl, growing up in Nigeria under the tyrannical rule of her father. A father who can be loving and kind one moment, and a vindictive, spiteful bully the next. She finds some respite during a holiday visit to her aunts and you find yourself wishing she could stay there forever. I loved the character of Kambili's aunt Ifeoma, a wonderfully wise and caring person, very funny too.

 

The author describes fifteen year old Kambili so well, it's a crying shame that this bright, intelligent, polite girl should be so withdrawn and fearful. She doesn't even know how to laugh or participate in sports or games, she has no idea how to interact with people, they take her quietness for snobbery. You will her on to do something that will change the course of events, you almost wish her life away so that she can see how she is being manipulated and make a stand against it. I was hoping against hope that her brother Jaja, who you know is getting more and more resentful, would eventually snap and give the father back some of his own medicine.

 

Again, the author has captured the sights and sounds of Africa wonderfully well.

I was disappointed with the narrator though, she just didn't capture Kambili for me .. sounding more like a middle aged white woman (which I imagine she is) than a fifteen year old Nigerian girl. There were sound quality issues too, I could hear her breathing and swallowing a lot which was uncomfortable to listen to.

 

One of the occasions when it would've been better to read rather than listen.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[cosychair]

 

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver read by Dean Robertson

 

9/10

 

 

I've had this book sitting on my book shelf for years, your review has reignited my interest in it. It's going right to the top of my TBR pile.

[poppyshake]

I've had this book sitting on my book shelf for years, your review has reignited my interest in it. It's going right to the top of my TBR pile.

 

Thanks, it's a great book. I really hope you enjoy it

[poppyshake]

 

The Room of Lost Things - Stella Duffy

 

Waterstones Synopsis: Under his railway arch in Loughborough Junction, South London, Robert Sutton is taking leave of a lifetime of hard work. His dry-cleaning shop lies at the heart of a lively community, a fixed point in a changing world. And, as he explains to his successor, young East Londoner Akeel, it is also the resting place for the contents of his customers' pockets - and for their secrets and lies. As he helps Akeel to make a new life out of his old one, Robert also hands on all he knows of his world: the dirty dip of the Thames; the parks, rare green oases in a desert of high-rises and decaying mansion blocks; and the varied lives that converge at the junction. Humming with life, packed tight with detail, The Room of Lost Things is a hymn of love to a great and overflowing city, and a profoundly human story that holds us in its grip from the first sentence until the last.

 

Review: A very readable warm story about Robert, who has owned a dry cleaning shop at Loughborough Junction, South London for years, and whose mother owned it before him. He has decided it's time to call it a day and sell the shop. He finally settles on selling to Akeel Khan, a young British Muslim from east London, but it's going to be a wrench. The place is full of memories and full of lost things, things that careless customers have left behind. Robert's mother Alice started a filing system for all these things years ago, a box full of keys, one full of shopping lists and one with best man speeches in etc etc, she never threw anything away .. bus tickets, lottery tickets, hankies, earrings, receipts, letters and so on (are people really that careless?, I'm sure I'll check my pockets from now on). But Alice is long dead and Robert has been steadily adding to this collection for years. Akeel will come and work with Robert for a while, so that Robert can show him the ropes and fill him in on all the secrets and tricks of the trade.

 

Robert's customers are a mish mash of people, he knows them all well, likes some and disapproves of others. There is Australian au pair Helen, her employers Claire and Andrew, Stefan a gay fitness instructor, social worker Marylin, poor confused Mrs Ryan .. one of Marylin's clients and Dean a family man with a shady past (and present). They pop into the shop with their various items of clothing, or walk past the shop and give a cheery wave to Robert, but then we stay with them and follow them home. Most of them have secrets or problems they are struggling with. These are quite Lilac Busish in feel ... little vignettes within the main story whereby we get to see behind the polite conversations in the dry cleaners.

 

There are sundry other characters too, Charlie and Dan are encamped on a sofa placed at right angles to the road (exactly 3.15 miles from the statue of Eros as the crow flies) drinking body warmed beer, the new owner of the halal meat and veg shop owner just across the street and a Rastafarian man named The Poet who journeys all day long on the 345 bus talking and singing his own compositions, sometimes singing a little Bob Marley, Sir Bob ... messenger of Jah. Some people smile at him, some move away. I'd like to think I'd be a smiler but I know I'd be one of the one's that would be uncomfortable with it. We learn a lot too about Alice, Robert's mother and Jean and Katie, Robert's ex wife and daughter.

 

I loved the relationship betwen Akeel and Robert, polite and formal to begin - Akeel a bit in awe of Robert and Robert not quite sure about how to behave around a Muslim - softening with familiarity into a quiet confidence, both men revealing their anxieties and fears for the future and Robert especially revealing secrets from his past. It was very touching in places, I loved how Robert gave Mrs Ryan an old uncollected overcoat, when she had come in to pick up her husband's coat, not remembering that he had died years ago. Everything about Mrs Ryan was affecting, the way she had to have her key and address tied into her handbag, the way she knew the cold wet white stuff that was falling outside her window but couldn't remember the name of it, the way that she got anxious and lost her way when out shopping and couldn't remember where she lived only remembering when she eventually saw her address label, the way she only remembered what she had gone out shopping for when she made herself a calming cup of tea and found there was no milk.

 

Enjoyable story but sad in places. It has an unusual ending in that one minute you have your heart in your mouth, the next she's given you a different, more happy version.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake