The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki

 It is little wonder that a book as philosophically ambitious and substantial as this should be short listed for a major award. Sprinkled with Zen spirituality and the very essence of books themselves, The Book of Form and Emptiness will tear at your heart and soul as you accompany Benny and Annabelle through their journey of grief.

‘After the tragic death of his father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house and sound variously pleasant, angry or sad. The his mother develops a hoarding problem, and the voices grow more clamorous. So Benny seeks refuge in the silence of a large, public library.There he meets a mesmerising street artist with a smug pet ferret; a homeless philosopher-poet; and his very own Book, who narrates Benny’s life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.

Blending unforgettable characters with jazz, climate change and ourattachment to material possessions, this is classic Ruth Ozeki - bold, humane and heartbreaking.’

Functioning on several levels the book could be seen as a coming of age story, an exploration of grief, an examination of mental health perceptions, an indictment of contemporary materialism and a celebration of the beauty, solace and wisdom of books. Cementing all of these together is the pure philosophy of the Book - the form and emptiness -  of all things.

There is a subtle and nuanced beauty in the writing in spite of the troubled circumstances and problems bombarding the characters. There are times when there seems to be a sense of despair for both Benny and Annabelle but we go beyond that veneer to understand the dignity of being different, being yourself, being true to yourself when all around people would prefer to bend you into a compartment of conformity. 

There is an interesting passage where a Zen monk talks about earthquakes in Japan and the tsunami in Indonesia and I saw a parallel with the seismic waves of human life and how we are all struggling to survive our own personal storms. 

And the narrative itself was like a piece of improvised jazz where all players knew when to play their part, accentuating their own virtuosity but knowing that, ultimately, everything is part of one big whole. 

The idea of books having a voice is a paradox since we believe that by the very words we read we are ‘hearing’ them. Ruth Ozeki takes that further by allowing the books to speak and offer their opinions so much so that the Book is as much a character as The Bottleman and the Aleph. But the concept that all things have a voice is somehow extremely attractive to me. And it’s made me sit and wonder what these artefacts I have surrounding me might have to say were I like Benny and could hear them.

It’s a masterful achievement, a book that is unusual yet universal in the truths it has to offer us. 

My thanks to Canongate Books for a copy and a chance to join in the readalong. 

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the award winning author of four novels: My Year of Meats, All Over Creation, A Tale for the Time Being -which was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize and translated into 28 languages - and The Book of Form and Emptiness, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She has also written a short memoir, Timecode of a Face. She is affiliated with the Everyday Zen Foundation and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she teaches creative writing at Smith College and is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities 

The Young Pretender - Michael Arditti - Social Blast

 

Mobbed by the masses, lionised by the aristocracy, courted by royalty and lusted after by patrons of both sexes, the child actor William Henry West Betty was one of the most famous people in Georgian Britain.

 

At the age of thirteen, he played leading roles, including Romeo, Macbeth and Richard III, in theatres across the country. Prime Minister William Pitt adjourned the House of Commons so that its members could attend his debut as Hamlet at Covent Garden. Then, as rivals turned on him and scandal engulfed him, he suffered a fall as merciless as his rise had been meteoric.

 

The Young Pretender takes place during Betty's attempted comeback at the age of twenty-one. As he seeks to relaunch his career, he is forced to confront the painful truths behind his boyhood triumphs. Michael Arditti's revelatory new novel puts this long forgotten figure back in the limelight. In addition to its rich and poignant portrait of Betty himself, it offers an engrossing insight into both the theatre and society of the age. The nature of celebrity, the power of publicity and the cult of youth are laid bare in a story that is more pertinent now than ever.

Michael Arditti’s pedigree as a noted theatre critic presents as a transferable skill almost as the theatre is a dominant force in this immersive novel of child prodigy, Master Betty. What struck me very quickly was the sustained and authentic Georgian vernacular. The skilful use of language transported me back in time to an age where people ‘spoke proper’. I feel it made the narrative all the more potent. 

I was familiar with some of the theatre players in the novel, Mrs. Siddons and David Garrick, for example, but I confess I had not heard of Master Betty. But as I read I found myself more  and more intrigued. I find that, for me, the mark of good historical fiction is when it makes me scuttle off to find out more. I did here; I over worked Google and Wikipedia! Indeed I feel motivated to visit Highgate Cemetery to see William Betty’s grave.

One one level this is a fictional story of a notable theatrical figure with palpable historical detail and research. But I thought it was more that. As I read of Mr. Betty and his memories, his desire to revisit the past and understand his fame and standing as child it made me think of a recent TV programme I watched about the boy who played Tadzio in Visconti’s adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, Bjorn Andresen and his life following that meteoric rise to fame. I saw a pattern of exploitation and the inevitable plummeting that can follow precocious success. That rendered The Young Pretender so much more poignant. Told from Betty’s perspective in the first person, the reader walks along side this young man as he tries to make a comeback on the stage hoping, perhaps to recreate the heady success of his tender years. As a character Betty presents initially almost as an idealist, an optimist, he doesn’t seem to want to think ill of those he trusted and who may have exploited that trust. He presses his reluctant mother to offer up her perceptions of the past and certain truths are revealed through her and other persons from his former days. I warmed to him, especially when he comes to the ultimate realisation at the end of the book saying ‘I was not an actor but a sideshow.’ 

The book is also a marvellous account of theatre in Georgian England and also offers a potent social history perspective. For such a slender volume it contains a great deal. 

My thanks to Corinna Zifko at MacLeHose Press for a copy of The Young Pretender published by Arcadia Books.

MICHAEL ARDITTI is the author of twelve highly acclaimed novels and a collection of short stories.  His novels have been short- and long-listed for several literary prizes and Easter won the inaugural Waterstones Mardi Gras award.  He was the theatre critic of the Sunday Express and has been a prolific book reviewer.  Arcadia will publish his novel, The Choice, in spring 2023.

Little Sister - Gytha Lodge - blog tour

Okay, Ms Gytha Lodge, just stop it. Okay?  Stop it. It isn’t fair. How dare you write a book that is so good I couldn’t put it down. How could you write a book so gripping that I couldn’t risk going to sleep until I’d finished it? I’m just a poor, innocent reader! And to cap it all, I enjoyed it so much I’ve had to go out and get the rest in the series! 

It’s got me wondering though. What is it that makes a book ‘unputdownable’? It doesn’t happen with every book. I mean how many people have picked up James Joyce‘s Ulysses and said of it that they couldn’t put it down? Not many, I’m willing to bet. But when you get a thriller like this, the way it grips and carries you along on a tidal wave of bibliophilic bliss it renders reading akin to a white knuckle ride. Or do I need to get out more? 😉

Little Sister is the fourth in the DCI Jonah Sheen series. I didn’t know that at the time and it really doesn’t matter if you haven’t read the other three. It’s apparent from reading it that there are past histories for some of the police personnel but because the current mystery is so good you’re not dwelling on any of that.

One of the problems reviewing a book like this is that you run the risk of winning the Spoiler of the Year award. It’s tightly plotted and with such detail that you need to pay attention the whole way through. It’s very cleverly done. But I think that no matter how much attention you pay and how clever you think you are you can’t possibly anticipate some of these twists. They are audacious! But whereas with some books of this genre you get the feeling that the writer is always trying to ‘get one over’ on the reader, I didn’t get that feeling here. I felt as a reader I was working alongside the police. And if I made a mistake in suspecting this or suspecting that and I was wrong the police were making similar errors of judgement.

The basic premise is that two sisters disappear from a children’s home. One emerges from the woods covered in blood claiming that she is absolutely fine but the concern should be for her sister. It seems clear that she knows where her sister is but doesn’t seem willing to tell. And I’m not willing to tell any more about the plot than that! 

The two sisters are wonderful portrayals. You think you’re able to discern something of their characters but you’re constantly left wondering. The police team are great. The bond between them and the way they work together is very satisfying. And there’s just enough of their own personal stories to strike a really good balance with the thrust of the main story. It adds a substance to the book as a whole. And I’m sure that’s in part why I am desperate to read the other books.

It’s a perfectly paced book too. I think that’s another factor that makes it ‘unputdownable’. There’s no hiatus, no let up. It’s tight, substantial narrative writing as well. You are given enough but not too much detail. You’re not bogged down by grand yet irrelevant descriptions. It’s challenging in places because some of the subject matter is dark. But that somehow made it all the more important to reach a satisfactory conclusion. 

I finished the book on a wave of euphoria. Because it was simply such a satisfying experience. And I’m excited too because I have three more books to read and I’m hoping they are as gripping and as exciting as this one. And having just started the first in the series called She Lies in Wait I loved it that on the back cover it says ‘Seven teenagers went down to the woods. Only six came back.’, and on the cover of Little Sister it says ‘Two girls went into the woods, only one came back.’! 

My thanks to Michael Joseph books for a proof copy of Little Sister and a place upon the blog tour.

The Perfect Find - Tia Williams

 Although originally published in 2016 this republication doesn’t feel out of place within the context of today’s obsession with media and influencers. I will confess that during the early stages of the book I was reminded of The Devil Wears Prada but the book evolved into its own self and left behind any potential comparisons. Apparently it’s soon to be a Netflix film. I can see it translate to the screen very well. As a story it has a lot of appeal. It’s raunchy, witty and contemporary. As a book it is undemanding, entertaining. The characters are lively, vibrant. Thematically I suppose it’s about an age gap romance. But there’s more to it than that. It has a lot to say about what goes on in the workplace, about ambition, families, the fashion industry and social media. And I guess it also has something to say about how tenuous life can be. When you’re up how far you can fall type of thing. But ultimately it’s a fun read possibly not intended to be taken seriously. There was an element of predictability about what happened but I think that’s part of the fun.The reader gets to anticipate the outcome. 

Hand on heart I couldn’t say it’s a well written book but I think that because the other elements are so strong it doesn’t become a major issue. Although Jenna seems to be the main character I felt that Eric was given an equal voice and that doesn’t always happen. I liked that the author gave careful consideration to both points of view. 

My thanks to Quercus Books for a gifted proof. 

Miss Aldridge Regrets - Louise Hare

 

Everything happens in threes doesn’t it? Can you believe that this is the third book this year that I’ve read where the action takes place on board ship! Doesn’t seem possible does it? And I’m wondering what the significance of that is! Am I destined maybe to take a cruise soon? If I do I wouldn’t mind it being in the company of Miss Lena Aldridge. 

Louise Hare first hit the book waves with a laudable debut, This Lovely City, a book that perfectly captured the mood of a postwar South London. I wrote about the book on my blog in 2020. Here’s the link if you’re interested to read it.

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2020/03/this-lovely-city-louise-hare-blog-tour.html

If This Lovely City excited you and you were anxiously waiting to see what Louise Hare would come up with next, well, you won’t be disappointed. This is a murder mystery to delight. An historical novel set in 1936 with a dual timeframe comprising of events before the start of the cruise interspersed with the events on the cruise itself. It’s a slow reveal on both counts and it’s wonderfully engrossing. Tightly plotted, the reader is fed an abundant diet of red herrings as you first suspect this person, then that person. 

‘London, 1936

Lena Aldridge is wondering if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho and her married lover has just left her. She has nothing to look forward to until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York.

After a murder at the club, the timing couldn’t be better and Lena jumps at the chance to escape England. Until death follows her onto the ship and she realises that her greatest performance has already begun.

Because someone is making manoeuvres behind the scenes, and there’s only one thing on their mind…

MURDER’

Although thematically the book has much in common with This Lovely City there is no sense of the repetitive. The author has taken a fresh canvas and a new set of paints to look at the same concept but with a different palette. And if you loved the hint of jazz in the first book you’ll be happy to find it’s a subtle soundtrack to this one too. Jazz aficionados will immediately think of the song by Cole Porter, Miss Otis Regrets in the title of this book. But does the lyric of the song have any relevance to the book? I’m not saying.😉

I was often reminded of the Golden Age of Crime stories, that stalwart praxis of unencumbered storytelling and, by today’s standards, primitive policing methods should they even be available on a cruise. As far as mysteries go it follows the tradition of locked room stories as indeed one might expect if the action takes place on board a ship!

The characters are rich, vibrant, they step off the page at you. And I had the strangest feeling of some kind of Cluedo game set on board a ship; was it Doctor Wilding with the dagger on the poop deck!? 😉 But Lena Aldridge is a meritorious heroine, bright, brave and possessed of more humanity than some of the other characters we come across. 

It’s entertaining. It’s well written with a perfectly paced narrative that has you wanting to read on. There’s little to dislike about it. It’s the kind of book you can lose yourself in on a gloomy afternoon and find yourself completely enveloped in the history of the time and the customs of the age.

My thanks to Joe Thomas at HQ stories for a proof and - fanfare - the author herself for slipping a handwritten card into the book which I shall treasure. I also have a spot upon the blog tour. 

The Former Boy Wonder - Robert Graham Blog Tour

‘With his 50th birthday approaching and his career in tatters, Peter Duffy is hard at work trying to

 repair his marriage when an invitation arrives in the post. Caitlin, one of his university friends, is having a party at the country house where he met his first love, the exotic Sanchia Page. If all his old friends are going to be there, there’s a slim chance that – just maybe – she will, too. Faced with this possibility, re-living his time with Sanchia threatens to turn his head and ruin all his good intentions. Set in the new Manchester of the 21st century and the old Manchester of 25 years before,

The Former Boy Wonder takes a wry look at mid-life men and the women who have to live with them.’

 I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It took me through a range of emotions, made me laugh, made me cry and made me think. But I believe I also enjoyed it because of my age, and my affinity with many of the cultural and musical allusions. Music is such a memory trigger, reading a book like this set my heart scuttling down some overgrown memory pathways which was good. I also loved the film script type extracts that were scattered through the narrative, usually at some incredibly poignant moment and seemed to express the situation so aptly that it was the perfect technique to use.

The story is about Peter Duffy,  Belfast born and then studying in Manchester where he settles as a music journalist. As the story begins he is approaching 50 years of age. If you’re keen for a genre or desire to compartmentalise then I guess this is the story of a midlife crisis. Peter receives an invitation which both promises and/or threatens to open up a past which initially we know little about but by the end of the book we know all. 

The title refers to the passion both Pete and his teenage son, Jack, have for the super heroes of DC and Marvel comics but I saw something of a metaphor about someone becoming aware of their self, grappling with being a son, a spouse and a parent and forced to question how all that’s happened has brought him to this point in his life. And somehow we know that the party invitation will be pivotal. The person you thought you were may not be the person that you actually are now.

It’s a first person narrative told purely from Peter’s perspective. Yet it’s clear that wife, Lucy, and son, Jack, not to mention Peter’s friends, would have a different viewpoint of the past and the present. I loved the relationship he has with his friends, friendships fostered from student days and endured through adult life. There’s something deeply satisfying about being with people who know you so well. I got the sense that Bill and Caitlin possibly knew Peter a lot better than he knew himself. 

It’s a very poignant story particularly for those of us who can identify with some aspects of the journey that Pete has been on, unrequited love, eroding career paths and filled with a sense of ‘what ifs’. I enjoyed the author’s style; it was accessible and relatable with a hefty punctuation of realism. The conclusion was very mildly enigmatic but offered more hope than hopelessness. 

My thanks to Isabel Kenyon and Lendal Press for a copy of this book and an opportunity to share my thoughts on a blog tour.

 Robert Graham is the author of the novel Holy Joe; the short story collections The Only Living Boy and When You Were a Mod, I Was A Rocker; and the novella A Man Walks Into A Kitchen. His play about fans of The Smiths, If You Have Five Seconds To Spare, was staged by Contact Theatre, Manchester. He is co-author, with Keith Baty, of Elvis – The Novel, a spoof biography; and, with Julie Armstrong, Heather Leach, Helen Newall et al, of The Road To Somewhere: A Creative Writing Companion; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Creative Writing; and How To Write A Short Story (And Think About It). He grew up in Northern Ireland and for most of his adult life has lived in Manchester. He teaches Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University. For more information please see www.robertgraham.life and follow Robert on Instagram @robert55graham

Zorrie - Laird Hunt

 

 There’s something almost exquisite about the satisfying completeness of this novella. Underpinned by a gentle humanity this story of Zorrie doesn’t seek to offer thrills and spills, twists and turns, it doesn’t seek to overtly shock or titillate, rather it offers a slice of life, a slice of life from one person’s perspective to be sure but that one person has lived a full and varied life. There are some shocks, emotional shocks, but whose life doesn’t throw emotional shocks at them at some point? But they are there to further and elaborate the narrative.

The central character, Zorrie, will tug at your heart. From her challenging early life she seems to weather all her storms, not unscathed, she experiences loss and sadness, but she deals with the crises that life hurls at us with such subtle dignity you can’t help but be humbled by her. She’s not afraid of hard work and she displays a loyalty to those people she encounters throughout her life.

It’s like witnessing a slice of life from, not so much a bygone age, but age of greater innocence and simplicity. There is no digital dominance in this book. It’s about people interacting person-to-person, by telephone, by letter and by postcard and how such real communication endures.

And it’s about people caring for each other. Trying to do they can when the chips are well and truly down. And sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail, but they always try.

It could be argued that perhaps the book is too simple, not enough happens. But I’ve noticed a growing trend in the appeal of books like these that depict ordinary, decent folk going about their lives doing the best they can. I suppose Leonard and Hungry Paul springs to mind as another example but, for me, certainly, these stories offer a comfort and upliftment.

The writing is a delight. There’s a flow to it that is uncontrived, natural, no unnecessary exuberance of language to try and impress the discerning reader. We are given enough, not too much, not too little, it’s nigh on perfect. There’s a nuanced intimacy in the prose that makes you feel as if you are the only person reading the book! And the text is peppered with some quotable maxims and observations.

‘ The fragile film of the present must be buttressed against the past‘ 

‘ You could get whiplash trying to watch time go by.‘

Having implied that perhaps not much happens I’m still loathe give away too much of the plot! However I loved the sustained metaphor derived from the luminous paint used for the clock faces in the factory where Zorrie worked. That occupation also gave rise to some social comment in the book, I guess, as to the devastating effect the radium had on some of the workforce. 

I became aware of this book on social media. That’s not unusual in itself but I had one of my “feelings“, I knew before I read it that I would love it. It makes no sense, I know, but it’s happened on several occasions and I’ve never yet been disappointed. consequently I suffered a great attack of FOMO!  So huge thanks to the wonderful publicist, Ana McLaughlin, at riverrun who sent me a copy. And it’s going on my forever shelf.