Poppy's Paperbacks 2011

[poppyshake]

 

A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Waterstones Synopsis: In his highly acclaimed debut, "A Pale View of Hills", Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko - a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy - the memories take on a disturbing cast.

 

Review: I loved it, it's atmospheric, chilling and very subtle. Etsuko, a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, is reflecting back on her life. She is old now and living in England. One of her daughters, Niki, has come for a visit, her other daughter Keiko is dead having recently committed suicide. Surprisingly Etsuko is not wrapped up in thinking about Keiko (in fact there's a great amount of denial going on about Keiko,) her thoughts instead drift back to Nagasaki and in particular to Sachiko - a woman she briefly knew there. Sachiko was once rich but when Etsuko knew her she was living in reduced circumstances. She has an only daughter, Mariko, but is neglectful and seemingly unconcerned about her. She's a difficult woman to get to know, a difficult woman to help but Etsuko does her best (more than her best really given that she is heavily pregnant with Keiko at the time) especially with Mariko who is not only lonely but a little bit wayward and disturbed. Sachiko thinks the answer lies in America, but is this the right choice for Mariko? This is how things seem to begin with according to Etsuko's narration, but then you begin to wonder whether her recollections can be trusted. The lines become blurred between past and present and you begin to see parallels between the story she is relating and her own relationship with Keiko ... are these truths she's telling us or is this tale just a smokescreen to hide a deeper guilt? There are startling narrative shifts .. third person turns to first and then back again .. you're not quite sure what's happening and that has the effect of making you reassess all that's gone before.

I loved the way in which Ishiguro doesn't explain everything and how, though he conjures up some wonderful imagery, he's not overly descriptive. Sometimes stories like that can be frustrating, but this one never was, it just made me all the more intrigued and added to the mystery. It's a slow story, moving at a snails pace really and not at all action packed but there's a creeping menace that draws you in and keeps you turning pages. It's a strange book and one that stays in your mind long after. I really need to re-read it to see if, in hindsight, I can spot any clues that will make it all clearer (though I think it's meant to be ambiguous) because I didn't understand everything (I could probably write those words in every book review and it would be true!) Sometimes that frustrates me but in this case it didn't, there's a calm about his writing that somehow transfers to the reader.

 

9/10

[Weave]

 

A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Waterstones Synopsis: In his highly acclaimed debut, "A Pale View of Hills", Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko - a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy - the memories take on a disturbing cast.

 

Review: I loved it, it's atmospheric, chilling and very subtle. Etsuko, a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, is reflecting back on her life. She is old now and living in England. One of her daughters, Niki, has come for a visit, her other daughter Keiko is dead having recently committed suicide. Surprisingly Etsuko is not wrapped up in thinking about Keiko (in fact there's a great amount of denial going on about Keiko,) her thoughts instead drift back to Nagasaki and in particular to Sachiko - a woman she briefly knew there. Sachiko was once rich but when Etsuko knew her she was living in reduced circumstances. She has an only daughter, Mariko, but is neglectful and seemingly unconcerned about her. She's a difficult woman to get to know, a difficult woman to help but Etsuko does her best (more than her best really given that she is heavily pregnant with Keiko at the time) especially with Mariko who is not only lonely but a little bit wayward and disturbed. Sachiko thinks the answer lies in America, but is this the right choice for Mariko? This is how things seem to begin with according to Etsuko's narration, but then you begin to wonder whether her recollections can be trusted. The lines become blurred between past and present and you begin to see parallels between the story she is relating and her own relationship with Keiko ... are these truths she's telling us or is this tale just a smokescreen to hide a deeper guilt? There are startling narrative shifts .. third person turns to first and then back again .. you're not quite sure what's happening and that has the effect of making you reassess all that's gone before.

I loved the way in which Ishiguro doesn't explain everything and how, though he conjures up some wonderful imagery, he's not overly descriptive. Sometimes stories like that can be frustrating, but this one never was, it just made me all the more intrigued and added to the mystery. It's a slow story, moving at a snails pace really and not at all action packed but there's a creeping menace that draws you in and keeps you turning pages. It's a strange book and one that stays in your mind long after. I really need to re-read it to see if, in hindsight, I can spot any clues that will make it all clearer (though I think it's meant to be ambiguous) because I didn't understand everything (I could probably write those words in every book review and it would be true!) Sometimes that frustrates me but in this case it didn't, there's a calm about his writing that somehow transfers to the reader.

 

9/10

 

Great review poppyshake I have only read 'Never let me go' so far, 'A Pale View of Hills' sounds great and I have added it to my wishlist.

[poppyshake]

Thanks Weave Though the subject matter is quite different, with respect to keeping the reader in the dark, it's quite similar to 'Never Let Me Go' ... it has that same tension build as well. I forgot to say in my review that frankie recommended it to me so my hopes were high from the start. Hope you enjoy it too

[Weave]

Thanks Weave Though the subject matter is quite different, with respect to keeping the reader in the dark, it's quite similar to 'Never Let Me Go' ... it has that same tension build as well. I forgot to say in my review that frankie recommended it to me so my hopes were high from the start. Hope you enjoy it too

 

Thanks poppyshake, I enjoyed 'Never Let Me Go' immensely, so its good to know that 'A Pale View of Hills' is similar. Thanks again.

[bobblybear]

Sounds like a brilliant read. I've added it to my wishlist.

[poppyshake]

Hope you enjoy it bobbly

 

Seriously behind with reviews (could just copy and paste this sentence in on a weekly basis .. save time ) will tackle the easy one's first.

 

Reading Circle Books

More detailed reviews and opinions can be read here (**but there are plenty of spoilers and revelations so don't read unless you are happy to know the outcome**)

Reading Lolita in Tehran - August Reading Circle

 

Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi

 

Amazon Synopsis: The inspirational tale of eight women who defied the confines of life in revolutionary Iran through the joy and power of literature. 'That room for all of us, became a place of transgression. What a wonderland it was! Sitting around the large coffee table covered with bouquets of flowers ! We were, to borrow from Nabokov, to experience how the ordinary pebble of ordinary life could be transformed into a jewel through the magic eye of fiction.' For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Azar Nafisi gathered seven young women at her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. They were all former students whom she had taught at university. Some came from conservative and religious families, others were progressive and secular; several had spent time in jail. Shy and uncomfortable at first, they soon began to open up and speak more freely, not only about the novels they were reading but also about themselves, their dreams and disappointments. Their stories intertwined with those they were reading -- 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Washington Square', 'Daisy Miller' and 'Lolita' -- their Lolita, as they imagined her in Tehran. Nafisi's account flashes back to the early days of the revolution when she first started teaching at the University of Tehran amid the swirl of protests and demonstrations. In those frenetic days, the students took control of the university, expelled faculty members and purged the curriculum. Azar Nafisi's luminous tale offers a fascinating portrait of the Iran-Iraq war viewed from Tehran and gives us a rare glimpse, from the inside, of women's lives in revolutionary Iran. It is a work of great passion and poetic beauty, written with a startlingly original voice.

 

Review: I read this as part of the August reading circle. I had my own pre-conceived idea of what I thought the book was about but what I wasn't prepared for was the harrowing accounts of the day to day lives of these women. It's an uncomfortable read and one that made me angry but I'm glad I read it. I'm like most other people, I moan and groan about the state of the country and the way in which the powers that be treat us like idiots, but after reading this book I came to realise that I'm living in paradise compared.

 

9/10

 

Edited November 21, 2011 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

More detailed reviews and opinions (and disappointed expectations) can be read here (**but, again, there are plenty of spoilers and revelations so don't read unless you are happy to know the outcome**)

The Ambassadors - October Reading Circle

 

 

The Ambassadors - Henry James

Amazon Synopsis: When Chadwick Newsome, a young American favoured with fortune and independence, becomes entangled in a liaison dangereux with a Parisian temptress, his overbearing mother deploys her future husband, the elderly, amiable Strether, as an ambassador to engineer his safe return. But seduced by the ambient charms of Paris and the bewitching comtesse de Vionnet, Strether soon deserts to Chadwick's side, initiating a sparkling tale of mistaken intentions, comic accident and false allegiances which culminates in the deployment of another, less fallible ambassador - the cold, glittering, ruthless Sarah Pocock.

 

Review: I don't remember ever being so frustrated by a book, I had a bit of a sinking feeling after the first two or three pages but lived in hopes that it would pick up. I abandoned it after struggling through the first two or three chapters but then picked it up again and ploughed on. All I can say is that it didn't reward me for my perseverance. It's not so much the story, it's the way the story is told ... it's vague, long winded and convoluted. The characters don't grip you (or they didn't grip me ... they didn't even loosely grasp me ) I didn't care for them or their situation. I had to read the story aloud in order to fix it in my head and to stop my brain from wandering off to greener pastures .. even the washing up tempted me away. Despite loathing it with every fibre of my being I haven't given up on Henry James (which I'm sure he's relieved about ) I've heard his books are written in different styles and I feel sure there will be one to suit me but I'm warning him, another experience like this one and I'm giving up on him. I would rather read Madame Bovary again than The Ambassadors

 

6/10 .... I've been generous here but I can't quite bring myself to give a master like Henry James less than six. Truthfully though I'd give it a 2

Edited November 22, 2011 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

More detailed reviews and opinions (and plot twist revelations) can be read here (**but, once more, there are plenty of spoilers so don't read unless you are happy to know the outcome**)

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - November Reading Circle

 

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

 

Amazon Synopsis: Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Now, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose. But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish the letter, he was stabbed to death!

 

Review: I don't normally read crime novels so this was a rare treat for me. I've seen quite a few Agatha Christie adaptations so that helped me get the period and setting fixed in my mind. This is a 'Poirot' mystery and a novel that appears frequently under the 'best plot twist' heading, a title that it very much deserves. I enjoyed it all though, it was a very comfy, cosy and 'crumpets at four o'clock' sort of read. I can cope with this sort of murder, there was only very minimal blood and guts and nothing to get squeamish about. It's all about mind games, red herrings and the incredibly sharp and all seeing eye of M Poirot. I'm not as clever as him because I didn't spot the murderer but then I don't have the advantage of having been created by Agatha. I feel like I have the opposite problem here to the Henry James dilemma in that I may have read Agatha's best story first and that would leave me nowhere to go but down. I've had some recommendations though since and I'm definitely going to give them a try because I love the way she writes and the atmosphere she creates. Perfect winter reading.

 

Thanks to everyone who joined with me in reading this for the November reading circle it was great fun.

 

9/10

Edited November 22, 2012 by poppyshake

[Ooshie]

I would rather read Madame Bovary again than The Ambassadors

 

You really made me laugh with that, poppyshake - Madame Bovary is one of my most hated books!

 

I found The Ambassadors a bit hard going although I did enjoy it, and like you I will try some of his other work to see how I get on. I have The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl, but I haven't decided which one I will try first. I read The Portrait of a Lady a few years ago - all I can remember is that I enjoyed it, I don't remember what his writing style was like at all, maybe it was just as difficult but my mind has kindly blocked that out for me!

[vodkafan]

Thanks to everyone who joined with me in reading this for the November reading circle it was great fun.

 

 

[/color]

 

It was fun thanks poppy. I have decide to stay away from The Ambassadors

[poppy]

What a pity The Ambassadors didn't live up to the Amazon synopsis. That sounded quite entertaining

[poppyshake]

You really made me laugh with that, poppyshake - Madame Bovary is one of my most hated books!

 

I found The Ambassadors a bit hard going although I did enjoy it, and like you I will try some of his other work to see how I get on. I have The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl, but I haven't decided which one I will try first. I read The Portrait of a Lady a few years ago - all I can remember is that I enjoyed it, I don't remember what his writing style was like at all, maybe it was just as difficult but my mind has kindly blocked that out for me!

You were one of the few to enjoy it Oosh .. and I salute you for that because just reading it required liberal amounts of concentration ... enjoying it would have almost killed me I am probably going to ease myself in by reading 'the Turn of the Screw' .. it's short for one thing and I'm already slightly familiar with the tale so I feel I've at least got a head start. The Portrait of a Lady makes all the lists so it should be good ... I might try it after I've dipped into his shorter stories. Thanks for the recommendation .. I trust a fellow Bovary hater

 

I have decide to stay away from The Ambassadors

Wise man .. you'll thank me for it one day

[poppyshake]

What a pity The Ambassadors didn't live up to the Amazon synopsis. That sounded quite entertaining

The synopsis is very entertaining compared. I'm not sure where the 'comic accidents' came into it ... if anyone can find the page where they turned up let me know ... or anything comic for that matter ... I remember quite distictly that I didn't laugh once ... I cried plenty though

[poppy]

The synopsis is very entertaining compared. I'm not sure where the 'comic accidents' came into it ... if anyone can find the page where they turned up let me know ... or anything comic for that matter ... I remember quite distictly that I didn't laugh once ... I cried plenty though

 

 

There, there poppyshake. It's all over now. You showed admirable fortitude.

It sounded a bit like Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene, which was absolutely delightful.

[Kylie]

.. I trust a fellow Bovary hater

 

Does that mean you don't trust me?

[poppyshake]

Does that mean you don't trust me?

Of course not I'd trust you to pick books for me for the rest of my life .. we can't agree on all books .. that would just be freaky .. but as far as I'm concerned you have the bestest taste in books in all the world

[poppyshake]

There, there poppyshake. It's all over now. You showed admirable fortitude.

It sounded a bit like Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene, which was absolutely delightful.

Thanks poppy I wish it had been like 'Travels With My Aunt' ... I loved that. Some of the problem came from trying to rush it and it's not a book to be rushed .. more leisurely reading of it might have helped. I'm not revisiting it though .. like you say it's over now, no point in reliving old nightmares

[julie]

The synopsis is very entertaining compared. I'm not sure where the 'comic accidents' came into it ... if anyone can find the page where they turned up let me know ... or anything comic for that matter ... I remember quite distictly that I didn't laugh once ... I cried plenty though

 

Poppyshake

 

You are a hoot ~~~

[pickle]

I have to admit Poppyshake that I am a die hard non fan of Henry James I have had Portrait of a Lady on my bookshelves for years and its one of only a handful of books I own which I have never managed to get more than a a few chapters into so so so dull.....happy reading

[poppyshake]

He could actually be marketed as a sedative ... whenever I picked up his book my brain shut down and my eyes struggled to stay open .. and that was at 10am Although I do want to read more by him I definitely won't be elbowing anybody out of the way to get to the last copy of 'The Bostonians' at the library. He is about 1052nd on my TBR list, and that's an optimistic view

[Kylie]

Of course not I'd trust you to pick books for me for the rest of my life .. we can't agree on all books .. that would just be freaky .. but as far as I'm concerned you have the bestest taste in books in all the world

 

Aw shucks! Thanks Poppyshake!

 

I, of course, went out and bought just about everything Henry James ever wrote before I picked up The Ambassadors. I think I'll enjoy it if I can ever sit down long enough to read more than two pages in one go!

[poppyshake]

Aw shucks! Thanks Poppyshake!

 

I, of course, went out and bought just about everything Henry James ever wrote before I picked up The Ambassadors. I think I'll enjoy it if I can ever sit down long enough to read more than two pages in one go!

I think that's it .. you need to read him lesiurely and I was trying to read him in a hurry. I have the greatest of hopes for 'The Turn of the Screw' ... I already like the story and what's even better .. it's short

[~Andrea~]

Oh I loved The Turn of the Screw, very creepy - but I never really got on with his other stuff (I think I tried Washington Square and it sent me to sleep)

[Easy Reader]

Oh I loved The Turn of the Screw, very creepy - but I never really got on with his other stuff (I think I tried Washington Square and it sent me to sleep)

I though The Turn of the Screw was pointless and I am in no hurry to read anything else of his.

[Kylie]

I think I've heard good things about The Turn of the Screw before too (probably from Andrea ) and I'd also like to read Daisy Miller, which looks pretty short. My curiosity was piqued by Reading Lolita in Tehran.

 

Poppyshake, I noticed on Goodreads that you've read a biography on Evelyn Waugh. I can't remember the name of it now so I hope you've only read one (it has Brideshead Revisited in the title, I think). You rated it 4 stars, so I guess you would recommend it to me? I haven't actually read anything by Waugh yet but he's one of those authors I'm certain I'll like.