A Good Day to Die - Amen Alonge

Gut wrenching, pistol packing, hard-hitting, fast acting,

Butt clenching, rifle toting, diamond dangling, crazy driving,

Gangs ganging, money talking, bouncers bouncing, women walking,

 Hearts pumping, legs pounding, heads buzzing, minds fuzzing,

Drug dooming, fear looming, bakers doesn’t, cheesecake slicing,

London’s earning, ears burning, kneecap zapping, cowards flapping, 

Lucas dukas , Yellow bellow, Topper stopper, Sean yawn,

Revenge not sweet,

Pretty Boy no cheat

In the ‘hood and the street,

Is this A Good Day To Die?

My thanks to Ana McLaughlin at Quercus Books for a copy of this incredible debut novel.

The Richmond Papers - Sam Simpson

 

I’m not a fan of politics.Most of the problems in the world are caused by politics it seems to me.

Politics in my own country mystifies me so any attempts to understand the system in the USA have been utterly fruitless! My American friends have tried to educate me but I still don’t know one end of Congress from the other. And don’t get me started on what the Senate is. So you might think that I would be put off by Sam Simpson’s Richmond papers because there’s a lot of politics in it.But I wasn’t, not at all, because it was also a work of  historical fiction

With timeframes that predate the American Civil War, through to the present day the book examines the journey of confederate gold and inflammatory documents that would expose the credibility of the USA and its constitution. Location sends our protagonists, Tom and Sally, in an almost Dan Brown frenzy across the USA, England, Scotland and New Zealand before reaching the truth. There’s thrills and spills from sinister factions, official and unofficial, in both timeframes and leave the reader in little doubt that corruption in politics is universal and timeless.

That could make for depressing reading but the book has a liveliness in the narrative that allows the reader to hover over the serious indictments contained within it so it comes across as lighter than it could do potentially. It was an entertaining book and struck a fair balance between fact and fiction.

My thanks to Library thing for a copy.

The Movement - Ayisha Malik

 

When I first began this book I was reminded of The Power by Naomi Alderman winner of the women’s prize for fiction a few years ago. However the comparison didn’t endure for long but the power did, the power of the story, that is. It’s pertinent and frighteningly topical. It looks at the lives of three different women, Sara, Grace and Zainab. It succeeds on several different levels; as a feminist fiction, as an observation on social media and global phenomena, and the nature of communication itself. The premise is original, Sara, an author, decides to become silent, properly silent that is. This seemingly simple act sparks a global phenomenon that becomes known as the Silent Movement. And the world becomes divided into people who are Verbals and Non-Verbals. And as we have seen with most events there are supporters and non-supporters and the conflicts that arise from such things are far-reaching and the inevitable protests ensue. It’s an intelligent, clever book that taps into the contemporary attitudes of today. It’s a cleverly constructed work  that uses third person narrative along with TV scripting, online forums, social media exchanges and so on. Allusions to topics such as Brexit and anti-vaxxers places the novel very firmly as a book of Today. Peppered throughout are some astute observations that have credence beyond the fictional world from whence they derive. ‘.. the times we live in, where everyone speaks but no one listens.‘ Considerations of race and gender are also never far from the surface.‘…..women like me have always been told our voices don’t matter.Whenever given the same opportunities; we are talked over when we are.’ Observations of the society in which we live,’….one has a debt to the world in which they live, and there comes a time when it must be paid.That was just good manners.’

 It’s a thought provoking book to spark some animated discussions, I would think. I loved it. 

My thanks to Team Bookends for a proof.

Shadow - Gurpreet Kaur Sidhu

I was fortunate enough to win a copy of this book in a Librarything early reviewers’ draw. This was back in March and as the weeks meandered by it seemed that it might be a no-show until a neatly wrapped package arrived from the USA a couple of weeks ago. Inside the book was a signed inscription from the author suggesting I read the first book in the series, Storm, as Shadow would make more sense. I thought it was the least I could do given the cost of shipping the book to the UK. And I’m so glad I did! For not only does reading Storm enhance the understanding of Shadow it’s made me hungry for Book 3 of the series now.

Shadow is a complex thriller, and although the book is ostensibly rooted in a 1930s past and the present day it has elements of the futuristic, the paranormal and the almost dystopian. As I have read the books back to back it’s hard to separate the two in a way. But Shadow cleverly begins by echoing the ending of Storm. Many issues are dealt with concerning greed, power and corruption, companies, family dynamics, past lives – and that’s just for starters!

The difficulty of reviewing books like these is in not giving too much away in terms of the plot. It is a convoluted and complex plot with some family and relationship lineage that demands the reader concentrate. I would guess that more will be revealed in Book 3. I certainly hope so! 

It is both plot and character driven. There is some excellent characterisations making it easy to like some characters and to loathe and fear some of the others. Those of, shall we say, a sinister nature had shivers going down my spine when they popped up in the story. The plot is complicated and my admiration for the authors effort here is boundless. There is a lot of action and the tension is palpable on occasions. There are some upsetting moments that are crucial to the plot. But the twists and secrets, revelations and choices to be made keep all of the characters, and readers too, on their toes the whole time. Relax at your peril! 

To pare the story down it is about a family whose lives are affected by the SEA (Secret Eye Agency). The family lock horns with agents of the SEA and there is an attempt to bring down this insidious organisation by members of the family. That is reducing it to the minimum because so much more goes on.  I was gripped by both books and I’m looking forward to see how the series continues and develops.

If you’re looking for absolute realism then maybe you’d best look away but if you have an expansive imagination open to all the possibilities that fiction can throw at you then you’ll find a lot to entertain you in this series.

My thanks to Librarything for facilitating my copy of this book and to the author herself for my copy and endowing me with a new moniker - Agent 778! 

Fool’s Paradise - Zoe Brooks

‘For what is the world

But a string of bloody pearls?

And I lay them on the ground

To play marbles.‘

  I wasn’t sure what to expect from Fool’s Paradise when I was offered a copy for review. Described as a “long form poem“, which has also been performed, piqued my curiosity. But nothing could have prepared me for the depth and insights, along with the rich imagery and metaphor contained within these verses. I just loved it!

The catalyst for the work was apparently the poet’s trip to Prague shortly after the Velvet Revolution. Given the situation today in the Ukraine the broad premise seems topical and pertinent.

I read most of the book out loud and it was more enriching than a merely linear read. And in so doing such a wealth of allusions, memories and feelings were aroused in me. 

Three travellers and a Fool meet, The travellers appear to be fleeing some kind of conflict. And the exchanges between the travellers somehow reminded me of Waiting for Godot initially, then of the witches in Macbeth, indeed the language of the opening verses seemed to echo Shakespeare.

‘Between two rocks at a crossroads,

where the gibbet drips bones

and the sky is grey and heavy

and the curtain is not rent

and the hand of God is indiscernible

and the breath of God is fiery

upon the bare heads of the people

there begins the road.’

But before I could relax fully into Bard mode,  I was reminded of Dante, Heaven and Hell, Milton, Paradise Lost. Then the Fool enters! And whilst Shakespeare is conjured again the fact that the Fool has a dog made me think of Mr Bojangles!! Sublime? Ridiculous? Moi? Echoes of a biblical landscape flickered through my head when Damascus is mentioned and English folklore when the Lyke Wake dirge is sung by the Travellers. (And, yes, I sung it too as I read!) Folklore and traditions were reinforced with references to Punch and Judy and nursery rhymes,

The travellers visit a church and the guardian of the church – Woman in the text – begins quoting Oranges and Lemons.

The language overall is an exciting juxtaposition of modern vernacular and a more stylised poetic language that conjures poets past. References to an “electric razor“ for example. Also the Fool’s first speech that seems so whimsical almost until he speaks of “beating the shit’ out of some stones. But these all nestle so perfectly within the more timeless language.

‘This I have given you. For it is the truth

That when men see terrible things

They laugh. 

And this is a terrible place.’

Thematically the book pulls a punch too, the nature of refugees, perhaps, travelling through necessity rather than pleasure, a sense of displacement, a descent into hell. The characters don’t need names for they are all of us and they are none of us with the Fool to synthesise between all, perplexing and infuriating in his iteration, yet as he informs us he only ‘says what he’s meant to say“. And that offers a sense of inevitability to proceedings. Structurally the book is divided into four parts with an epilogue that is an emotional and oblique retrospective of the entire work. 

There is a deeply spiritual feel to the poem underpinned quite subtly with a political sense of displacement from a conflict. References to the city of angels suggest a past which was peaceful. The travellers tell of their dreams but for me the verses already had a dreamlike quality. I also felt there was much unsaid in the poem, the onus on the reader to intuit and perceive what happens and why it happens.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It satisfies on so many levels. And the joy of reading these words aloud is sublime. Thanks to Isabelle Kenyon and Zoe Brooks for a copy of the book.

I’m Sorry You Feel That Way - Rebecca Wait

 

There’s something almost perversely satisfying about reading stories of dysfunctional families because you end up feeling that perhaps your own family was not, perhaps, as dysfunctional as you thought! Rebecca Wait’s moving account of one dysfunctional family is piercingly perceptive as she demonstrates again, as she did in Our Fathers, that her observation of human behaviour and the human condition is astute and intelligent.

I guess that, as in Our Fathers, I found the theme of nature versus nurture raised; how far do genetics play a part in the people that we are and the people that we become? It’s a conundrum that has consumed me for most of my adult life I think and maybe it’s the same for Rebecca Wait? Although I feel having read this book that she comes down more strongly on the nature side. 

And how perfect to have as the main characters a set of non-identical twins. For that raises another batch of questions in the reader’s head. For these twins do not conform to one’s stereotypical notion of the kinship of twins. At least not on the surface, but let’s allow the blurb to set the scene.

‘ For Alice and Hanna, saint and sinner, growing up is a trial. Their mother takes a divide and conquer approach to child-rearing, and their father, and absent one. There is their older brother Michael, who disapproval is a force to be reckoned with. And there is a catastrophe that is never spoken of, but which has shaped everything.

As adults, Alice and Hanna must negotiate increasingly complicated family tensions, while longing for connection and stability. They must find a way to repair their own fractured relationship, and they must finally choose their own approach to their dominant mother: submit or burn the house down. And they must decide at last whether life is really anything more than a tragedy with a few hilarious moments’

And I guess to an extent that last phrase does sum up the book – ‘…..more than a tragedy with a few hilarious moments.’ There is a great deal of sadness in the book or I certainly found there to be so. My heart just broke for Hanna (and her aunt Katy) and I found some of those sequences in the book quite hard to read for the compassion in me wanted to try and make everything better for them. However that’s not to say that the book is enduringly depressing. The conclusion is redemptive and lifted my heart.

There are dual narratives which allow us to piece these jigsaw puzzle lives together. All of the characters are flawed in some way and some of them appear to be unpleasant or certainly they behave in ways that are questionable but because we know that they all have problems you don’t actually end up disliking them, even poor Celia, the twins’ mother. But it does raise many questions about the nature of abuse and highlights the fact that not all abuse is conscious or intentional. 

It is an extremely well written book. I’ve previously alluded to the author’s perceptions but she has tapped into how painful it is sometimes with family dynamics and relationships as each member of the family strives to understand not just their relatives’ behaviours but their own too. This book looks at extremes I guess of what happens when dysfunctional parents raise dysfunctional children. It’s also a very emotional book. I experienced an incredible sense of being powerless to intervene when I could see that this was a runaway train out of control. It was quite tiring! But in a satisfying way, if that’s not a paradox. Because by the end of the book you felt that there was an element of hope. That people could maybe learn, could maybe find some understanding.

My thanks to the wonderful Ana McLaughlin at riverrun for a gifted proof of this book.

The Museum of Ordinary People - Mike Gayle

  I’m sure I’m not alone when I say how deep a chord this book has struck with me. Having been in the position of clearing the family home and wanting to hang onto much more than I ever had space for I would’ve given anything for the Museum of Ordinary People (although I could’ve filled the entire museum!) This book, whilst it does deal with loss and grief, is a heartwarming celebration of love, friendship and determination. There are moving moments, it’s not a saccharin read, but there is a sense of optimism, and of rendering mourning and bereavement into something meaningful and positive if that’s not a contradiction. It also made me think about our disposable society and how we potentially throw away our memories.

Jess is a delightful character and somebody I warmed to straight away. She interweaves with the narrative that sparkles along with a “then“ and “now“ structure that works perfectly. It’s consummate storytelling allowing the reader to completely connect with the story and the characters. I don’t think there’s a single unpleasant character in the book, apart from the “bloke from the council“ (hiss, boo) and he was just doing his job.  There are characters who are a little flawed and have secrets to tell but that simply adds to the somewhat quirky nature of the book. And I know the museum is for ordinary people but I think the book highlights how the most ordinary of people can also be extraordinary. It’s a lovely novel that strikes a balance between the escapism of reading but also the challenges of real life.

My thanks to team Bookends  for a copy of this book.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply - Victoria Selman - Blog Tour

 This is not so much a “whodunnit“ but a “didhedidn’thedoit“! Truly, Darkly, Deeply is a psychological thriller about a serial killer rampaging the streets of London, almost Ripper style.

‘ 12-year-old Sophie and her mother, Amelia-Rose, move to London from Massachusetts where they meet the charismatic Matty Melgren, who quickly becomes an intrinsic part of their lives. But as the relationship between the two adults fractures, a serial killer begins targeting young women with a striking resemblance to Amelia-Rose.

When Matty is eventually sent down for multiple murders, questions remain as to his guilt – questions which ultimately destroy both women. Nearly twenty years later, Sophie receives a letter from Battlemouth prison informing her Matty is dying and wants to meet. It looks like Sophie might finally get the answers she craves. But will the truth set her free – or bury her deeper?

The story is Sophie‘s. Told from the young Sophie’s perspective and the older, adult Sophie‘s viewpoint the reader is treated to what she sees, what she feels and what she thinks. As with all psychological thrillers are we getting the full story? The author skilfully points the reader in certain directions and then casts doubt upon it all. Tensions are ramped up to bursting point almost and the palpable sense of a region in fear is wonderfully created and sustained throughout. Like Sophie, the reader wants the truth but do we get it? Aha! The real danger with a book like this is that an innocent reviewer like myself might give too much away so I’m saying little. Except that you’ll have to wait till the end to find out exactly what happens. But I what I will say is there’s an intrepid little twist at the end that I’m pretty sure few people would’ve seen coming. I certainly didn’t. 

Throughout the book we are encouraged to empathise with Sophie. To see things through her eyes and understand why she is confused by the potential truths. A sense of unease and a twisted equilibrium persists throughout the novel that is quite unnerving. You know something is wrong, something is out of kilter but, like Sophie, can you put your finger on it exactly?

I enjoyed the writer’s narrative style. It’s well paced and I like the way that an almost humdrum, normal life was embellished with doubts and fears. When we read about serial killers we are often shown how dysfunctional they are and how their early lives may have impacted upon their poor ‘career’ choice? But here the very normality of things makes the book even creepier. I also enjoyed the little devices used to keep the book balanced, for example the introduction of online forums discussing whether Matty Melgren was guilty or innocent, or a report from an Evidence Revisited Project, these devices serve to reinforce not just Sophie‘s dichotomy but the reader’s too.

What I also found interesting was that the story as a whole does encourage the reader to consider that those close to a perpetrator in these kind of cases are also victims, of a kind. Once Matty was convicted Sophie and her mother was seen as pariahs within their social circles. 

It is a dark, disturbing read. But also an incredibly compelling one. My thanks to Quercus Books for a highly treasured limited edition proof. Highly treasured because the writer herself has signed it! And my thanks to Joe Christie for a spot upon the blog tour. 

The Halfways - Nilopar Uddin - Blog Tour

 

‘Nasrin and Sabrina are two sisters, who on the face of things live successful and enviable lives in London and New York. When their father, Shamsur suddenly dies, they rush to be with their mother at the family home and restaurant in Wales, and reluctantly step back into the stifling world of their childhood.

When Shamsur’s will is read, a devastating secret is revealed that challenges all that people thought and loved about him. It also profoundly changes the lives and identities of the sisters, and creates an irreparable family rift…

Moving between London, Wales, New York and Bangladesh, this is an epic family drama that spans over four decades. A story of mothers and daughters, of fathers and daughters, of sisterhood, it is a tale that explores belonging, family and what makes forgiveness and redemption possible.’

 Although I had requested a physical copy of this book there was a delay due to a warehouse error. As time was running short I resorted to the most dreaded of devices – the kindle! I don’t enjoy e- reading. I will admit that often it’s a slog. However there are the odd occasions when the book just takes over and The Halfways was just such a book. I’m glad to say that the physical copy has now arrived. It is quite beautiful and I will look forward to reading it again, properly! 😉

I found this to be a moving book that works on several levels. It’s a story of family secrets and family rifts. It’s a story of relationships and the fragile threads that bind people together. It’s a story of friendships and understandings. It explores how cultures can collide and illustrates the difficulties when culture fusion is attempted, obliquely or knowingly.

Sisters, Nasrin and Sabrina appear to have a strong relationship although they are living on different continents. Their heritage is strong but so is the pull of the western world and the inevitable conflicts conspire to disturb the equilibrium of both girls. Coupled with family expectations and interrelations an unexpected event puts all the characters to the test. It’s a substantial story written in salient detail with perception and compassion. I found it very moving.

Hard to believe that this is a debut novel for it is confidently written and structured with a narrative that allows glimpses of the past as well as the present. Characters so believable you feel you would recognise them if you met them in the street but, more importantly, characters you care about. 

The authors adds a useful glossary to aid the readers understanding of some Bangladeshi words and phrases so necessary in the narrative to enhance the dialogue and emphasise the sense of how displaced people can become when they are trapped within an interculture. 

My thanks to HQ Stories for an e copy and a place upon the blog tour.