A Book Blog by Books Do Furnish a Room 2012

[Books do furnish a room]

Washington Square by Henry James

An early work by Henry James (1880) and rather brief, The plot is straightforward. Dr Sloper lives with his daughter Catherine and hus widowed sister Mrs Penniman. They live in Washington Square and Sr Sloper is reasonably well off and Catherine also has some money left by her mother. Dr Sloper (and the narrator) describe Catherine as rather plain and unitelligent. Into this family scene enters Morris Townsend, a very handsome and penniless young man who woos Catherine (and charms Mrs Penniman) and wins her heart. Her father is implacably opposed to the match and makes his feelings clear both to Morris and Catherine. The romance plays out and ends and pretty much everyone remains unhappy.

Being by James, it is, of course well written, but apparently James disliked it. I am sure that James read Trollope and when I first noted the names of the main characters, Dr and Miss Sloper, I immediately thought of Slope in Barchester Towers. There seems to be no particular link, though both are cruel and sure of the own rightness, but the names are strikingly similar. James is said to have based it on a true story. The men are irredeemably awful, but the women are not much better for putting up with them.

I have a vague recollection of Albert Finney being in the film as Dr Sloper and there has even been an opera I think. Anyway, I enjoyed it. a good book for a dyed in the wool cynic to read; I told you it would end in tears!!

8 out of 10

starting The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant

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Shattered by Dean Koontz

Fairly standard fare, but only my second Dean Koontz. Reminded me a bit of the film Hitcher. The formula for a thriller is run through pretty well. Psychotic (or possibly just physically ill) ex-boyfriend. New love in life, new start on the other side of the country, cute child (in this case eleven year old brother), who is very intelligent but "difficult" in an undefined sort of way. Why not get the girl to fly to California and let the lads do a road trip to bond. Then psycho ex-boyfriend can follow them. New boyfriend is obviouly a planner who has the route set out with all the motels on the way.This means psycho can get hold of the route and follow them in a bloody great van. Cat and mouse chase ensues with its conclusion in California. Throw in some eye-popping coincidences, some spectacularly stupid law enforcement officers and a bit of general mayhem and there you have it.

I musn't complain too much, it's sent me to sleep for the past few nights (so much for the thriller bit!)

4 out of 10

Starting A Crime in the Neighbourhood by Suzanne Berne

[~Andrea~]

Oh dear. I think I'll give Shattered a miss. I usually like Dean Koontz but I've heard he's a bit hit and miss.

[Books do furnish a room]

I will try again with Koontz at some point; perhaps the odd thomas series.

The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric

A remarkable book with a grand sweep of almost 500 years from the building of the bridge over the Drina in the 1560s to the First World War. There are human stories throughout interwoven with the political upheavals with various factions gaining and losing ascendancy.

In the town Turks, Serbs and Bosnians mix, as do Christians and Muslims.

The centre of the bridge is wider and this kapia becomes the meeting point for parts of the community over the centuries. It is the lives, loves and tragedies of the ordinary people of the town that dom inate the book and Andric writes with great warmth about all sections of the community.

There is periodic brutslity and armies move to and fro; rebellions and executions ensue, but the bridge is ever present. Change is slow over the first centuries, but the coming of the railway changes all that and the outside world begins to intrude. The book ends around the time of the First World War when the bridge is partially destroyed.

The historical parts of the book and the stories illustrate the despite the townspeoples innate feeling for each other and their ability to live together; the factionalism projected on them from political and religious movements sow the seeds for later conflicts.

An epic novel broad in its scope and execution and it suceeds in its objectives.

8 and a half out of 10

Starting The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

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The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

A brief novella read in one sitting almost. I was more impressed than I expected to be. This is a novel about time and memory and how as we grow older we edit our own memories of who we are and how we came to be where we are. I suspect I would not have appreciated this as much when I was younger.

Tony is retired, about 60, happily divorced with a daughter he rarely sees. He is an unreliable narrator who believes he has led a fairly blameless life, until one day he receives a solicitor's letter telling him the mother of an ex-girlfriend has left him £500 and a diary of a schoolfriend who took his life almost 40 years ago. However the diary is in the hands of an the ex and she isn't giving it up.

Tony looks back over his school and university life and recalls three friends he had at school. They all went to different universities in the 60s. Adrian, always fascinated by Camus's dictum about suicide, was the one who took his own life.

In the present day a sort of detective thriller develops as Tony tries to persuade his ex-girlfriend, Veronica of 40 years ago to give him the diary, mostly by e-mail. The said Veronica had dumped Tony and taken up with Adrian and we discover that when Adrian had written to tell Tony and ask his permission, Tony sent a really vicious letter in response which may have pushed Adrian towards his death. There is a sharp twist at the end which is very good.

The themes are all the great ones of literature, just in a mundane setting with a rather boring main character; love, sex, death and betrayal; all thrown in the pot! I got a sense that the character of Tony was not quite strong enough to carry all Barnes throws at him. He commits an act of adolescent stupidity and selfishness (when he reads the letter he has almost forgotten writing it), but the ripples affect the lives of a number of others for the rest of their lives; without Tony even knowing.

We all edit our past; mainly because we cannot retain all the information; also because we use the information to build a sense of ourselves over time. We sit in our own pantopnicons, but as Tony finds out, we are not all seeing and bits we do not remember because they are not significant to us, have vast significance to others.

Tony is an easy character to dislike and despise, but he is an everyman; admittedly without much of a clue, but that could describe a lot of us. I think we miss the point if we think to ourselves "What a 'ooh, that's rude'/idiot/slimeball" because for all we know we may have done something akin to him and we cannot see the ripples.

Reflections on death and mortality in middle and late middle age generally involve some stocktaking; philosophical or otherwise. There are lots of little side thoughts and avenues that can be followed up and this would probably repay being read again. An excellent little book; fade to Mick Jagger singing "time, time time is on my side, yes it is!". A spot of irony from Barnes. Poor Tony really is clueless; then aren't we all!

8 out of 10

Starting Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

Edited August 5, 2012 by Books do furnish a room

[Chrissy]

I love coming into your thread and reading your reviews BDFAR. Your writing style makes reading them such a pleasure.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Chrissy

[Books do furnish a room]

Thank you Chrissy; that is very kind of you!

[Books do furnish a room]

A Crime in the Neighbourhood by Suzanne Berne

You know you're getting on a bit when a novel set in the early 1970s can be described as a period piece! This is set in suburban Washington DC in 1972/3 around the time Watergate was developing. It won the Orange prize in 1999 and has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird and Hitchcock's Rear Window. Don't get either of these comparison's, because in my opinion it is not that good.

The story is narrated by nine year old Marsha, looking back as an adult. Marsha, it soon becomes clear is a spectacularly unreliable narrator. Marsha parent's are splitting up because her father has had an affair with one of her aunts; the absent father is a "presence" throughout the novel. Marsha's two siblings are older, twins and tease her, so she is very much alone. She also has broken her ankle and so watches events as they unfold.

As her father leaves, a new neighbour moves in next door, Mr Green, a single, middle-aged and balding man who Marsha instantly dislikes. Then a child is murdered near the local shopping mall, a child Marsha knows (but dislikes). There follows a description of the tensions in the area, the responses of the local community and the search for the killer. Marsha keeps a diary and puts all the newspaper clippings in it. As time goes on Marsha becomes convinced Mr Green is the killer and she tells the police.

Marsha is not at all likeable and feels just a little too knowing for a nine year old at that time. Although the novel is fairly short, I think it would have been better as a short story. the scene setting and feel just don't add enough. There is a general haziness about the whole thing and I am not even sure Marsha was nine; she could have been ten or eleven.

Much of the story is based on the cruelty of children, the pervasiveness of rumour and the scapegoating of stereotypes. However, I'm not sure the story went anywhere and it wasn't memorable.

6 out of 10

Starting Property by Valerie Martin

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American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Thoroughly enjoyable romp through America and mythology. This story is stuffed with gods from all cultures and mythical beings of all types. They came to America in the minds of people moving to America and took shape there. They still inhabit America , mostly unbelieved in, often rather old, some doing menial jobs or semi-retired. There are also new gods, media, TV, internet and there are tensions between old and new. Into all this comes Shadow, an ex-con, hired by Mr Wednesday (aka Odin). There ensues a breathtaking road trip with mayhem, murder, sex, coin tricks, an undead spouse, some ricketty cars, checkers, tenderness and betrayal.

There are dozens of old gods to look up if you so wish; some quite profound moments; the bit about religions being metaphors. There are some laugh loud moments. The vignette about I Love Lucy is deliciously wicked and very funny. Shadow is a fairly winning main character, but he is remarkably gullible. Other characters come and go quite quickly and you need a good memory to keep track.

Don't take it too seriously, it's great fun and can be over-analysed. Pretty much most of what you want in light read. Loved it!

8 out of 10

Starting White Noise by Don DeLillo

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The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant

Eccentric and unusual novel, not well enough known and wonderful. It takes you to the depths of despair with a redemptive ending.

Norman Moonbloom is in his thirties and very much alone. he has been a student for years and now works for his brother irwin; a strong character who orders norman around. Irwin owns a number of delapidated apartment blocks and norman is employed to collect the rent and in theory to keep them in repair, but has not enough budget to do so.

The novel follows Norman as he visits the residents to collect the rents. The residents are a remarkable collection; a gay black jazz musician who also works as a gigolo, a very old Jewish man (104) who lives in squalor, two sisters and their nephew on whom they dote, an ex child movie star, writers, couples with children, a holocaust survivor and many more. Wallant tells us about their lives and struggles, their hopes, dreams and mostly their despairs. They also complain about the awful state of the buildings and their apartments. Norman isn't a cipher in all this, but feels helpless in the face of all this misery. Norman's journey is described by Wallant;

"He had become drunk on the idea of God and found only theology. He had risen several times on the subtle and powerful wings of lust, expectant of magnificence, achieving only discharge. A few times he had extended friendship with palpitating hope, only to find that no one quite knew what he had in mind."

Wallant died young and left only four novels. He was contemporary with Roth, Mailer, bellow and the like. Had he lived I suspect he may have been ranked with them or above. The prose is lovely and so well written.

Norman decides to defy his brother and make the apartments habitable. There are still losses and Norman manages to mislay his virginity, but the ending is marvellous. No easy resolutions or neat resolving, but there is hope and great warmth. A deeply humanistic and knowing novel. I would like to have known Mr Wallant.

9 and a half out of 10

Starting If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

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Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally

Not an easy book to review or to categorize. Is it fiction, history, a bit of both. Keneally has clearly taken the historical account and stuck to it fairly closely, but has fictionalised the dialogue. It has also been overshadowed by Spileberg's remarkable film.

Schindler did nothing remarkable before or after the war and without his wartime efforts would have been remembered as a womaniser, drinker and bankrupt. However his efforts to save the Jews who worked in his factory and his treatment of them compared with what was going on around him means he will always be remembered. The story behind the book; the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg to get the book written and the film made are also remarkable. Keneally went into Pfefferberg's shop to look at briefcases and was persuaded to write the book!

The book is at times pedestrian, but there is no getting away from the horrors being described. It is the individual details that stand out; the boy who hid in the latrine, the girl in red, the casual cruelty of Goeth and the descriptions of some of the executions. It didn't have the gut wrenching effect of If This Is a Man by Primo Levi but it was powerful enough.

Schindler himself comes across as the larger than life character he clearly was and his character flaws even seemed to assist in what he was trying to do. His opposition to Nazism was clear from an early stage and the historical detail relating to his passing information about the camps to Jewish bodies monitoring the treatment of the Jews in germany and Poland, at quite an early stage. The most shocking part of the book for me was the epilogue. This describes Schindler in the 60s and 70s being hissed on the streets of Frankfurt, having stones thrown at him and workmen shouting he ought to have been burnt with the Jews. In typical Schindler fashion he was charged with assualt when he punched a factory worker who called him a Jew-kisser. Those reactions were really very shocking.

A remarkable record which should be required reading.

9 out of 10

Starting Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham

[Kylie]

Starting If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

 

I look forward to your thoughts on this. I fell totally in love with it (and Calvino) when I read it. It's such a unique book.

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Property by Valerie Martin

This won the orange prize in 2003. The novel is from the perspective of Manon Gaudet, a plantation owners wife. It is set in 1828 in Louisiana. It is rather brief and reads very easily, despite the horrors it describes. The book is in three parts; the build up to the slave revolt, the revolt and the aftermath.

Soilers ahead

Manon is the daughter of a slave owner and her husband (who she hates). She describes the difficulties of her life with him; he has a child with one of the house slaves, Sarah. She also watches him through a spyglass while he plays sadistic, semi-sexual games with the early teenage male slaves. She hates plantation life and following her husband's death moves to the small town house left by her mother.

The book has been criticised because there is no redemption at the end, the slaves have no voice and it is unremittingly bleak. I think this misses the point. This story is an analysis of the slaveowner mentality, of someone who does not even begin to question slave-owning and all that goes with it. The slaves are commodities to be bought and sold, killed if necessary. They are property. Manon is not as physically cruel as her husband, but her house slaves are valued for what they can do for her. The vindictiveness with which she pursues her slave Sarah, when she escapes during the revolt is chilling. There is no economic imperative, just a desire to make Sarah suffer. There is also a sense that Manon too is property, being a woman. She is never likely to marry again; the one man she does like following her husband's death marries someone else because of her wealth. Manon does not question her situation and just has her husband wielded power, she too wields the power she has over her slaves, with similar effect.

As an analysis of the slaveowner it comes to rather a bleak and very sudden ending. The reader is left with the conclusion that the battle of ideas will have no effect on this class of people and change will have to come by force.

7 and a half out of 10

Starting Dark Fire by C J Sansom

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Edith Sitwell by Richard Greene

Pretty good attempt at capturing the essence of a complex and fascinating character. Edith Sitwell packed so much into her life that even a 400 page biography is going to struggle to do justice to her. Born into an aristocratic family, whose country seat was Renishaw Hall near Sheffield; Sitwell always said she fell she was a changeling. Over six foot tall with an extraordinary voice she had a commanding physical presence. Her style of dress and looks made her stand out. She was brought up in privilege and never really understood money. As most of her life she had comparatively little of it, she spent much time owing money with the bank pressing her about her overdraft and the taxman appearing as baffled about her finances as she was.

She was , of course, one of the foremost English female poets of the twentieth century and Greene does integrate her poetry into her life.

The list of people she influenced and mixed with is fascinating; Yeats, Dylan Thomas (she was one of the early champions of his poetry), Eliot, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Gore Vidal, Marilyn Monroe (I kid you not; she strenuously defended her over posing for the infamous calendar), Allen Ginsberg, William Walton, Siegfried Sassoon, Spender, Virginia Woolf, Britten, Gertrude Stein, Lawrence, Graham Greene; to name a few. She fell out with a few of them and made up. She hated critics; calling them the pipsqueakery.

Her poetry has had a mixed reception at times, but some very good poets rate her very highly. Greene points out that her poetry is designed to be read out loud. The poem she wrote as a response to the blitz, "Still Falls the Rain" is an example. It reads o0k, but listen to Sitwell reading it out loud, the difference is remarkable.

Her collaboration with the composer William Walton which resulted in Facade also illustrates the importance of the vocal performance.

Greene also examines her relationship with the artist Pavel Tchelitchew, which was complex to say the least.

Sitwell was an eccentric and Richard Greene captures her oddness and eccentricity as well as her deep humanity, loneliness and her rather bizarre family. Her childhood was difficult and she never got on with her parents. Her relationship with her two equally famous brothers was fractious at times. However she was always supportive of Osbert and his sexuality. Osbert was gay and made no real secret of it at a time when it was illegal. Edith was a little hazy at first (it all had to be exp0lained to her!), but stood with her brother and spoke out when the Wolfenden report of 1957 recommending legalisation was not acted on.

Sitwell is a fascinating character with many flaws, but a joy to read about. Richard Greene has done a good job.

8 out of 10

Starting Efforts at Truth by Nicholas Moseley

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If on a winter's night a traveller by Italo Calvino

Very clever and kn owing book that invites parody and a clever review in the same vein; however life is too short. Imagine this is not a review and go and read the book. It is worth reading and is very well structured.

Calvino invites the reader into the books in a very self conscious way to participate and reflect on the nature of reading itself. The book is a series of interlinked incomplete stories held together by the participation of the reader. I found the ending a bit of a let down, but very much enjoyed the book.

Some of Calvino's inventions are true; Cimmerian and Cimbrian are both languages that have existed. Calvino was influenced by Nabakov and by an organisation called Oulipo (look it up, it's rather odd and explains a lot about Calvino's writing). Oulipo members use certain types of writing techniques to produce creative works. Another book on my tbr list, Perec's "A Void", a rather long novel which does not use the letter e, is another example. Interestingly members of Oulipo remain members, even after death.

The plot contrivances are interesting and hold the attention; very enjoyable.

8 out of 10

Starting Mr Weston's Good Wine by T F Powys

[Kylie]

Great review. That was the first book by Calvino that I read, and I completely fell in love with his writing. I have several Perec books on my TBR pile, and A Void is the one I'm most anxious to read. I recently bought a book called The Oulipo Compendium so I can learn more about it all. I don't know if you're on Goodreads, but there's a good list there of Oulipo books.

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks Kylie; I am on goodreads; where is the list? I keep looking at the Perec; I will get round to it soon!

White Noise by Don DeLillo

This is supposed to be a postmodern classic; I'm not so sure. It's meant to be a literary classic; one of the great novels of the twentieth century. Again I'm not sure, but I really enjoyed it. It is a very funny novel about very serious subjects.

Jack and Babette Gladney, live in a typical american town where Jack is an academic who teaches Hitler Studies (without knowing any German). They have assorted children from previous characters; all of whom are interesting characters in their own right. Jack and Babette are both iin middle age and both terrified of death. They both wonder who will die first; not an uncommon question, I suspect; even if it isn't asked. After the initial scenesetting there is an "airborne toxic event" and the town is evacuated. Jack seems to have been exposed to the chemical and is told he may or may not be in trouble and may or may not die from it at some point in the future, Jack discovers that Babette is so afraid of death that she has contacted a rather dubious scientist who has a drug that may "cure" the fear of death. She sleeps with him to pay for it. There are lots of comedic toings and froings. The german lessons are hilarious. Jack's friend Murray provides the philosophy and is equally funny. The children entertain by being typically obsessive/irritating/lovely. Various ex spouses wander through in a random manner, as does Babette's father.

There are some wonderful reflections on modern life. The passage describing bewildered shoppers when the supermarket moves all the goods around is priceless; we all know supermarkets are modern cathedrals and DeLillo illustrates this well. The reflections on death are funny and profound;

"Doesn't our knowledge of death make life more precious?'

What good is a preciousness based on fear and anxiety? It's an anxious quivering thing”

There are some very funny moments; and it's a good way to ponder death and the cessation of being without getting too morbid. The ending is pants (that's a technical term)and I think Delillo got up one day and said; that's enough. Despite that it is a very accomplished analysis of modern fears and alienation.

8 out of 10

Starting In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

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Efforts at Truth by Nicholas Mosley

This is a tough one to review. Having read it I'm still not sure about how I feel about Mosley. This is a brutally honest autobiography, but there are so many gaps where I wanted to say; why did you do that?

The elephant in the room of course is Mosley's father Sir Oswald Mosley and his effect on Nicholas, his eldest son is clear. His shadow falls on the book as well.

This is not a conventional autobiography. Mosley is a novelist and writer and he uses his own novels and writing to analyse his own life and loves. He effectively starts the book just after the Second World War at the time of his marraige. It is worth noting that while his infamous father and stepmother were in detention because they were felt to be a threat to the country, Nicholas was in the army and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery whilst fighting in Italy.

Mosley is very honest about his sucesses and failures as a writer; very honest about his marraiges and love affairs. He is honest enough to compare his own attitude to woment with that of his father. Mosley senior was notorious for his affairs and flirtations and Mosley describes his own approach as to take any opportunity which came along. Mosley is also very honest about the damage his actions caused to those he loved, serious damage that harmed the mental health of one or two of those involved. He describes what occured, tries to analyse it through his own fiction and pretty much says; I know my behaviour seems inexcusable; this is why I think I behaved this way. He then leaves it up to the reader to make a judgement. Mosley has a good deal of insight into his own behaviour.

Mosley also analyses his struggles with faith, belief and the Church in the 1950s and 60s. Again this is interesting, particularly his links with Mirfield and the Community of the Resurrection; Raymond Raynes and Trevor Huddleston. Both of these men I suspect much better known in South Africa than here because of the Community of the Resurrection's House in South Africa; Huddleston especially because of his bitter opposition to apartheid and support for the ANC. Mosley was at the Community's house in South Africa at the time of the Sharpeville massacre and describes his own recollections of this. However the struggles with faith appear to tail off later in the book and one doesn't really get a sense of how the journey continued.

There is lots to interest here, but there are so many gaps and as I said it is at times it is difficult to like Mosley.

I didn't get the urge to rush out and buy the novels; apart from Hopeful Monsters, which I've already read and is very good. However I may look out his two volume biography of his father.

i still don't quite know how I feel about this. I could easily have scored it three or nine out of ten

six out of 10

Starting Five days in London 1940 by John Lukacs

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Dark Fire by C J Sansom

Pretty reasonable Tudor detective thriller; better than the first in the series in my opinion. Sansom is a historian and lawyer who has obviously combined his two passions. This one is set in the summer of 1540 at the time of the fall of Cromwell.

Shardlake, the hero/detective is an honest lawyer (there's an oxymoron if ever there was one!)and is a likeable character. There is none of the mean moodiness and complex personal life here; Shardlake is a 40 year old hunchback who is unmarried. He does however, like Morse, fall for completely inappropriate women; an endearing trait.

In this book he receives a commission from Cromwell to investigate Greek Fire and find what is effectively a Tudor version of a flamethrower. The plot twists and revolves and there are plenty of suspects; Shardlake gains a new assistant (every decent detective should have one that complements their own gifts) who is streetwise, muscular and gets things done.

If you like decent detective novels this one fits the bill with the added bonus of a bit of Tudor history and some excellent descriptive passages.

7 out of 10

Starting A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre

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In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

Bizarre and surreal pretty much sums this up and I know many people see this as utopian, a Garden of Eden setting in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic world. Brautigan indicated that Bolinas, the town in California where he lived for a while, provided something of a template. It is notoriously reclusive and the abode of poets, artists and ecologists.

The commune is called iDEATH and the narrator has a shack nearby and a room in the commune. There;s his girlfriend Pauline, an ex-girlfriend Margaret, a chef who cooks mainly carrots and various assorted others. The sun is a different colour each day, most thi8ngs are made of watermelon sugar and pine and there is little room for books. Nearby there is a vast rubbish dump full of forgotten things from previous times. Margaret is thought of as odd as she goes and collects these things. There is also a rogue element led by inBOIL and his friends who live in shacks and make whiskey from forgotten things. I haven't even mentioned the watermelontrout oil, the talking tigers (now extinct) and the trout (Brautigan liked trout).

There is a very comfortable and comforting communal way of life which is very simple and has inspired lots of positives and was very much appreciated in the 60s and 70s.

However there is a moral vacuum at the heart of iDEATH and the message is that you must conform. Margaret's untimely death and the undercurrent of violence is disturbing. There is one classic scene, which is really the centrepoint of the book which is pure Monty Python; remember the scene in Life of Brian where Brian is on the cross and thinks he is about to be rescued, but the rescuers commit mass suicide? I wonder if this is where the writers got the idea. Love and death are central themes here. Paradise is not all it seems and the main characters whilstat peace with nature are narrow and parochial with no sense of wanting to learn or know; no sense of adventure.

Lots of hidden messages and warnings for such a short book

7 out of 10

Starting A House in Pondicherry by Lee Langley

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Mr Weston's Good Wine by Theodore Powys

 

This is a remarkable book; I wasn’t expecting a great deal from it, but despite my low expectations I was impressed. I must admit I knew little of Theodore Powys, apart from the fact that he was John Cowper Powys’s brother. He was the son of a clergyman, born in 1875. He tried and failed at farming and eventually settled to writing in rural Dorset. He was a voracious reader and was influenced by the Bible, Bunyan, Hardy, Nietzsche and Freud amongst others.

 

The book is allegorical and on the surface seems to be a Christian allegory, but any story that treats Christianity as myth has much more going on. The story is a simple one, set in one evening in the village of Folly Down in Dorset. It is uncomfortable and makes one uneasy. It has been compared to the film “A Wonderful Life”, the rural characters are brilliantly drawn and remind one of Hardy, there is a strong vein running through it which is pure Hammer House of Horror, Nietzsche’s influence stands out a mile.

 

Mr Weston is a wine merchant who drives a Ford van, travelling round to sell his wares with his assistant Michael. Mr Weston is actually the creator of the world, God, and his assistant is an angel. Mr Weston sells two wines; the light, sweet, white wine of love and the dark, rich red wine of death. Mr Weston seems very fond of the villagers of Folly Down, but he envies them mortality; God wishes that he could die and says that he will drink his own wine of death one day.

 

The villagers are a set of very colourful characters; the vicar Revd Nicholas Grobe, does not believe in God since the death of his wife in childbirth, his daughter Tamar is an innocent who wishes nothing more than to be loved by an angel; preferably the one in blue trousers on the sign of the local pub. Mrs Vosper is probably one of the nastier creations in literature. Together with Squire Mumby’s two sons, Martin and John, she plots the downfall of virtuous young women. She befriends young women from the village and lures them to the old oak at night, where Martin and John rape them whilst Mrs Vosper watches on. This has happened to the three Kiddle sisters. The eldest Ada became pregnant and killed herself by throwing herself into the village pond (at Mrs Vosper’s suggestion. Jenny Bunce is the landlord of the pubs daughter, who is young and innocent and next on Mrs Vosper’s list. Luke Bird is a young man who believes he is called to preach the gospel and believing men to have no soul, he preaches to animals. Mr Grunter is the gravedigger and general handyman at the church; Mrs Vosper blames him for deflowering the women, a charge he doesn’t deny as he quite likes the notoriety. There are various other worthies in the local pub. Time stops at 7pm when Mr Weston arrives.

 

There is sensuality in the writing; Powys is very open about sex as he is about the place of women and relations between the sexes; in society and in Christianity. A sort of justice is meted out. Luke Bird discovers love and sex with Jenny Bunce (after she is saved from the Mumby’s and Mrs Vosper) and so stops preaching. Revd Grobe drinks the heavy wine of death and is at peace. Tamar finds her angel (Michael) and consummates her love and in doing so dies. Mrs Vosper’s demise is chilling (I saw a rather bad horror movie called Drag Me to Hell recently and the very last scene of that film was brought to mind when Mrs Vosper is judged. The remaining Kiddle sisters suddenly find the Mumby brothers are entirely at their beck and call and they marry them. As for Ada Kiddle; Mr Grunter is instructed to dig her up. He speaks to her remains;

 

“Ada,” he said, stepping to the coffin again, “’tain’t I that have moulded ‘ee, ‘tain’t I that have rotted thee’s merry ways wi’ wormy clay. I bain’t to be talked of no more.”

 

God is on trial here; and is found guilty, as is much of the panoply of religion and its patriarchalism. The messages here are complex and there is lots of symbolism. At the end of the book Mr Weston sits in his van and asks Michael to put a match into the petrol tank. Does God die; you decide. Clearly Powys does not believe in immortality and here wrestles with myth, spirituality, philosophy and theology and comes up with as many questions as answers.

 

Leavis, the doyen of literary critics approved of Powys and he has been called England’s Tolstoy. On this reading I will look out more of his work. This is an excellent and thought provoking novel.

10 out of 10

Starting Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

[Books do furnish a room]

Five Days in London, May 1940 by John Lukacs

Very competent historical analysis of a five day period in May 1940 (24th to 28th). This was early in Churchill's premiership, the BEF was in retreat and had reached Dunkirk, France was about to fall and Churchill had opposition within the cabinet from those who wanted to explore whether peace terms were possible.

This is history in detail and Lukacs does it rather well. The relationships between Churchill, Chamberlain and Halifax are examined in detail. Churchill was by no means secure at this time; most of the conservatives were supporters of Chamberlain and hated Churchill. Many pundits expected him to be a temporary PM. There was also stong feeling in the war cabinet that if peace negotiations were possible they should be pursued. This was a pivotal time, which Churchill survived, strengthening his position. Lukacs, whilst a Churchill fan, is not blind to his faults and Halifax, always painted as an arch-appeaser, is also given a fair hearing. The point is again made thet whilst Russia and the US won the war, Churchill ensured Britain did not lose it.

Lukacs is a historian I often disagree with, but here he does a good job marshalling all the detail and presenting his case. He also does a good line in sideswipes at other historians and commentators when he demolishes their arguments.

7 out of 10

Starting Vita by Victoria Glendinning

[Kylie]

Thanks Kylie; I am on goodreads; where is the list? I keep looking at the Perec; I will get round to it soon!

 

Sorry, I've only just caught up on your thread. The Oulipo list can be found here.

 

I've enjoyed your reviews and will be adding White Noise and Watermelon Sugar to my wish list. Have you read anything else by Brautigan?

[Books do furnish a room]

Kylie; I've read Trout Fishing In America (earlier this year I think), which I also enjoyed.

 

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham

This book grew on me; it sort of seeps into you. Maugham is a good story teller and his characters are drawn well. It is a story of obsession, desire and yearning for something beyond the ordinary run of life. The hero, Philip Carey is not a conventional hero; he has a difficult childhood, a club foot which deeply affects him, he's awkward and often uncomfortable with people. We follow Philip from childhood, the death of his parents, living with his very religious aunt and uncle, boarding school, his attempts at jobs, Paris trying to be an artist, studying medicine, poverty and back to medicine. Interspersed are friendships, relationships with women and especially the intense and doomed relationship with Mildred which dominates the second half of the book. The 1934 film had Bette Davis as Mildred; wonderful piece of casting. There is a slightly awlward ending which I found satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time.

So why did the book strike a chord with me? Mainly because I identified so much with Philip Carey. I wasn't orphaned, but there was the intensely religious upbringing. Then, more importantly, there was Philip's club foot which blighted his school days; children are cruel; I have a disbility which affects the way I walk (I stand out) and made school grim hell. Philip used reading to escape; as I did and many others do. Our career paths were different, apart from a period of unemployment; but there was a realisation that ultimately the negativity could either destroy one, or it could be turned to positivity and empathy for the pain and suffering of others. Philip survives and becomes stronger. Of course, Philip also falls in love with or becomes involved with totally inappropriate women; not, of course that I've ever done that (Ha!).

There is a redemptive theme running through, although Philip loses his religious beliefs. This is a powerful novel and is well worth the effort.

Nine out of ten

Starting The Shooting Party by Chekov

[Books do furnish a room]

Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

In two minds about this one; it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be.

Simran Singh is a social worker asked to look into a mass murder of a family; a 14 year old girl is suspected, but is she being set up. Simran has to work through prejudice and tradition to find a solution. The problem is that the book doesn't really know what it is. Desai clearly has strong views about the subject she is addressing and she is passionate about it. The role of women in a certain part of Indian society is cantral; however the book is also a detective story and Simran is trying to solve a puzzle. The problem is that the book doesn't make its mind up whether it is a crime novel or a social critique.

There is a devastating point to make about the place of women in Indian society and the demand for sons rather than daughters. Simran is somewhat slow at times but she is likeable; especially because she has loveable flaws and mostly finds the truth by pure accident. This was Desai's first novel and I think she intends to revive Simran in the next novel. I think I will suspend judgement until the next novekl; but this is worth a try; there are some good passages and strong characters. I would like to see some other opinions on this one.

6 out of 10

starting The man in the picture by Susan Hill