Our Fathers - Rebecca Wait

As a reader you sometimes get that indefinable frisson of anticipation about a book without really knowing why, it just hits you. And so it was with Our Fathers. I hadn’t read either of Rebecca Wait’s previous two novels so it wasn’t a prior experience thing. The book seemed to lurch out at me from numerous feeds on social media. So I was delighted when Katya Ellis from Quercus Books sent me a copy.

But did my intuition hit the mark? Our Fathers is one of those beautifully considered and impeccably structured pieces of work that stuns the reader with its abundance of paradoxes. An extreme and tragic event occurs within a small, sequestered community in the Hebrides. It’s the stuff of major news headlines. All are affected to a degree but none more so than the child who survives the familial massacre. Escaping the island of Litta as a young, damaged man Tom returns after twenty years still seeking answers and closures.

The story that follows is an eloquent exploration of extreme trauma and grief that invites the reader to consider the age old topic of nature versus nurture.

‘He had already realized in a vague way that you got your idea of yourself from other people. You didn’t choose it yourself.’

Considerations, too, of domestic abuse, potential gaslighting, and the effect on the children. 

‘And Tommy had thought all fathers were like this, but behind closed doors this was how all men treated their wives.’

Tommy also struggles with the unenviable dilemma of who he really is intrinsically and to what degree he should fear his future.

‘It was a strange form of cognitive dissonance, being able to recognize his father’s attitudes as hideous while finding them living within himself. But he would not pass this sickness on to his child.’

With evocative yet economic prose Ms. Waits subtly uses location as metaphor for the conflict within Tommy Baird’s head. A landscape wild and unforgiving at times yet with an innate beauty and peace that has the potential to heal and sustain. Avoiding the temptation to offer extravagance in the descriptions the impact is all the more potent. 

The characterisations are understated, ordinary people pursuing  their everyday existences with routines and rituals that shape the framework of their lives, understanding that when that framework gets bent out of shape for whatever reason they must quietly, unashamedly strive to restore the balance, no matter what. Punished by the arch enemy hindsight and its absence when they need it they endure as best they can. Malcolm and Tom will tug at your heart. Drawn with compassion and a subtle, almost imperceptible humour these people demand a humility and respect from the reader. 

This is a ‘quiet’ book but with a loud voice for it is one of those stories that can have you searching inside yourself to ask those impossible questions about who you are and how you are. For most of us the unthinkable doesn’t necessarily happen, the tragedy depicted here is one of those things you watch on TV never believing it could happen to you. But  this book illustrates vividly how it can happen. 

Was I alone in finding that the title made me think of the Lord’s Prayer? Forgiving those who trespass against us? No matter. I am certain I am not alone in finding this a book of substance, an elegant work with a powerful intent. 

Highfire - Eoin Colfer BLOG TOUR

High five to Highfire! The scales are tipped in its favour but I don’t want to drag on or sound like I’m winging it. I’m on fire. Puns and Dragons? Wasn’t there a game of that name? Oh no, that was Dungeons and Dragons. Enough.

Listen very carefully for I will say this only once. Artemis Fowl. There. That’s got it over and done with and we’ll say no more. Forget about it. This is an adult fantasy novel. Hmm. I’ll rephrase that for I don’t wish to mislead. A fantasy novel for adults. But if you’ve clocked the dragon thing and the fantasy thing then maybe you’ve a cute little image in your head of mists and mountains, fairy castles and enchantments, knights and dragons, portals to another land and ……..STOP! Think again. It’s no Game of Thrones either. Okay. I’ve told you what it isn’t, how about what it is!

It’s Honey Island in the Louisiana swamps. It’s minding the ‘gators and poppin’ the Pringles. It’s Flashdance T shirts and reality TV. It’s Vern the vodka drinker or Wyvern if we’re gonna get formal or even Lord Highfire. He is the last living Cajun dragon. And he totally rocks!

This is an experienced storyteller at work offering a crescendo of action and intrigue that should keep the reader riveted until the end. It’s funny, sometimes witty, sometimes almost farcical, it’s fantasy so anything can happen and it does. It boasts a cast of some memorable characters, heroes, Waxman, Squib, Elodie, Bodi and villains, Regency Hooke (how perfect a name is that for a dastard, yep, I did mean dastard) but all headed by the inimitable Vern. It has some underlying sentiments about a boy and his mom, rooting for your friends, getting an education as well as being a rollicking good read. 

I love, what I like to call ‘fringe fantasy’ where the setting is very much real world; Louisiana and the swamps, fishin’ off the bayou, with a generous helping of ‘normal’ human characters, plenty of fast paced action and ammunition fuelled pyrotechnics and then you get the anomaly - a dragon, the last of his kind. Whether there are any other fantasy elements I am not prepared to disclose. But trust me. It just works.

The dialogue is lively and tips its hat to the literate amongst us-

‘I’m like Boo fuckin’ Radley on crack…….’

‘Specially the book. Something happens to my Faulkners and that's the final nail in the coffin as far as this here is concerned.’

Laugh?! I nearly peed myself! And speaking of pee didya know that dragon’s piss is like aloe vera times a million? That's what Vern says. And if Vern says it then I'm not gonna argue!   Colfer’s wit meanders through the prose like the alligators in the swamp. It’s an enjoyable read without pretension. It’s escapism and entertainment. It’s like being in a literary theme park but there’s no queues for the rides, you just jump right in and hang right on for the ride of your life. 

Oh, thank, thank you, Quercus Books for this proof. And thank thank you, Milly Reid for giving me a place upon this blog tour. However I am  but one lowly blogger amongst many. Do check out what other bloggers have to say about HighFire.

The Base of Reflections - AE Warren

This review was originally part of the nbmagazine.co.uk blog tour for Tomorrow's Ancestors.  I suppose I should've put the two reviews in the one post. But I figured each book really deserved a separate post.  And, it's my blog so I'll do what I want! 😉

Oh, chortle, chortle, glee, glee, glee! Well readers, at the end of my review of The Museum of Second Chances I was bemoaning the fact that I had not signed up to participate in the blog tour for this second in this series. Thought I was being greedy, too many other books to review, blah, blah, blah. Then I read the first book. And I wanted, no, I NEEDED to know what happened next. So I mentioned this to the ever alert online managing director of New Books Magazine, Erin Britton,  who, bless her heart , secured me a copy of THIS, the second in the Tomorrow’s Ancestors series. May the Force Be With Me! And Erin, too.

It can be hard reviewing the second of a series when you’re reading it fairly hot on the heels of the first because it’s like a continuation of the first. And I’ll admit i was after nothing more than seeing what happened next. But that ain’t the stuff that reviews are made of. So it is interesting to see how well an author sustains firstly, the mood, secondly, a consistency in the narrative style and thirdly characters created in the first of the series. Characters need to be developed, I think, to keep a reader not just interested but rooting for them. New characters need to be introduced and new scenes set. (The main new location here reminded me of the Ewok settlement in The Return of the Jedi.The Force is with AE Warren, ;-) )

So as well as finding out what happened next, I have found out but I’m not going to tell you ;), I wanted to tick those boxes. And ask these questions. Was the first book a fluke? Is AE Warren the real deal?

Okay, so it was very much like reading a continuation of the first book, the writing style familiar now. I would think that to enjoy this book fully a reader does need to have read the first. However there are some ‘what happened previously’ moments that might fill the necessary gaps. The mood is typically dystopian and this book develops seamlessly from the first with no hiccups in mood. It’s action packed with some tense situations that felt more intense than the previous book. More exciting. Our established characters are all here and we learn more about all of them. Elise continues to prove herself as a worthy colleague of Katniss and Tris and you feel that the influence of dystopia and scifi worlds are never far away from the mind of this writer. 

Unsurprisingly the premise remains the same, reversing extinction and preserving species creating a caste system of the world’s inhabitants who live in defined bases. The premise is sustained and developed and we get a more detailed glimpse into the minds of those who seek to perpetuate this hierarchical existence. Friendships and family loyalties are explored, moralities and behaviours, too, examined and left for the reader to ponder. 

So, I hear you anxiously ask;

Did this tick all the boxes? Yes.

Was the first book a fluke? No. 

Is AE Warren the real deal? Yes.

Now I want the third book. No, I don’t. I NEED the third book? 

The Museum of Second Chances - AE Warren

This review originally appeared on nbmagazine.co.uk  as part of their blog tour for the Tomorrow's Ancestors Series. 

There’s something about dystopian fiction that creates an indefinable mood that endures no matter what the situation or who the protagonists may be. And reading this debut from AE Warren did nothing to swerve me from that opinion! Reading this it was as if the spirit of Katniss, Tris and Thomas even were watching over this narrative nodding approvingly as Elise diverges her way through a maze of typical dystopian hierarchies. 

The setting is The Museum of Evolution, and that set me wondering how prophetic that might be in years to come if we continue to annihilate our planet. It’s an original premise. With the aim of reversing extinction and creating a kind of conservation zoo for extinct species the museum is not the cuddly place you might expect. Or maybe it is if you are a visitor. But there’s much going on in terms of bureaucracies and conventions that suggest one slip and you’ll be on the receiving end of potential extinction yourself. 

However our heroine, Elise, is made of strong stuff with a secret to keep that is both a blessing, and a curse if the ‘management’ were to discover it. She’s an intelligent protagonist and I guess the intention is that she mirrors our own thoughts about what is going in within the Museum. The action flits between the museum and Elise’s home where her parents and aurally challenged brother, Nathan, reside under a mantle of undisclosed anxiety that is revealed fully later in the book and precipitates a course of action for Elise that is the perfect springboard for another book in the series. Elise’s work in the Museum is that of Companion to an extinct species of human that is being ‘unextincted’. More than that I’ll not say! 

It’s a laudable debut with a sustained narrative and some solid characterisations that demand the reader keep on their toes and reevaluate these people as the action progresses. It is straightforward story telling, too, any past information is a ‘within the narrative reveal’ with no need for flashbacks. There is a goodly balance of nail biting moments and tender moments and for devotees of The Hunger Games, Maze Runner and Divergent this should satisfy. It satisfied me! But I’m sick! I was offered the chance to participate in both blogtours for this and the follow up book and I just went for this due to other commitments. Now I’m kicking myself because I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! And I want to know NOW! It has to be a good book that does that, doesn’t it?

The Hungry and the Fat - Timur Vermes (translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch)

‘Never in history has there been a country where things just kept getting better and better. Conversely, there hasn’t been a country where the lights suddenly went out. Usually it gets darker bit by bit.’

T’is a brave and fearless writer who deals with such a topical subject with a savage and merciless satire. Timur Vermes is such a writer. And thank goodness for him. Thank goodness for Jamie Bulloch, too, whose translation doesn’t allow any of the irony and satire to seep away diluted by the vagaries of another language.

Vermes’ homeland of Germany is the country, capping the numbers of asylum seekers. Other countries are closing their borders. It could be anywhere in Europe? Enter a popular, reality TV presenter who does a Comic Relief type trip to Africa. A young and ambitious refugee exploits the circumstances to organise a refugee march to Europe knowing that the media are keen to cover its progress. What follows is compelling. 

The politicians, the TV networks, the journalists, the racketeers all have a vested interest in seeing how this drama plays out. It’s a protracted study of conceit, laying bare prejudices and right wing politics whilst emphasising the desperation of misplaced peoples. 

It’s an absurdly funny book. But it’s also very worrying because it doesn’t seem so far removed from some of realities we’re living in. and it is one of those uncomfortable books that has you feeling slightly guilty for finding it funny. 

The many and diverse characters are one step short of becoming caricatures or stereotypes, very clever, they all work so well. Vermes is an acute observer of human life with a talent for finding just the right words, that hint and nudge the reader to the conclusions he wants us to reach, 

‘…..this is the actual reason for the triumph of the smartphone. Whereas children can close their eyes if there’s something they don’t want to see, adults have always had to face up to things… until now.’

He also has a knack for apt descriptions!

‘…..crunching on so many sweets it gives you tooth decay just listening to it.’

‘What were you stir frying in your think-wok when you put this together?’

The narrative progresses like the march of the refugees it describes, popping in on the machinations and exigencies of the various groups and parties, in turn, looking to see how this drama plays out. We see their weaknesses and their frailties that they seek to hide behind their egos and their arrogance. It is a substantial tome where the strength is in the detail that subtly mocks the veneers upon which our self aggrandising society pivots.

‘Nadeche feels fingers on her bra straps, then the straps are off. The fingers dig into the sleeves of her T-shirt. The sleeves hold. Quality product.’

But the conclusion is explosive and you can’t second guess exactly what will happen. It’s horrifying to contemplate. and  a book like this leaves the reader reluctantly chortling because it is cleverly funny but it’s also chilling and you are left wondering , could it actually happen?

My thanks to Corrine Zifko at MacLeHose Press for a copy of this entertaining and thought provoking book. 

The Black Ditch - Simon J Lancaster

This was part of blog tour for Nudge/New Books Magazine 

Offered as a dystopian novel showing a post climate change Britain, where London is a wall-less ghetto come prison for climate refugees and Birmingham has become the centre of government as sea levels rise, the opening sequences fulfil that promise and lure the reader in. The cover advises us that this is the first in a trilogy, (what self respecting dystopian novelist wouldn’t conceive of a trilogy - Hunger Games, Maze Runner , Delirium, Divergence - ;-) ? ) featuring Laurie Sterne so we know he and ourselves are in for the long haul. 

However what follows is less than a dystopian novel than an action thriller featuring gangland wars in a bleak, unforgiving future metropolis. Dystopia is there but it’s a backdrop against which this bloody, violent and duplicitous adventure is played out. It’s a complex plot that requires the reader pay attention and keep track of the characters whose allegiances are sometimes confusing. The reader, like Laurie, is persuaded to believe one thing, but then, often painfully, the opposite is apparent. 

Laurie, as a character, is what I like to call a ‘Houdini hero’. Against all the odds he summons envious strength to battle his oppressors and his many injuries to make it to the end of the novel. We know he will make it because this is but the first part of a trilogy but how is what absorbs us and requires us to suspend belief on occasions. You get to thinking that Laurie is some kind of paradoxical superhero but he doesn’t get changed in a phone box and he doesn’t wear his pants over his tights! No, his superpower is that he can see the future and see into minds. You might think that this would protect and support him, and it does to a degree, but, hey, we wouldn’t have a novel if he saw absolutely everything!

The depiction of London is cleverly done for it remains recognisable as the city we know today with the Tube trains and the areas and streets we might be familiar with but it is necessarily dark, dirty and sombre. There is little to uplift us. The city almost comes across as an additional character to thwart our hero’s intent. 

Putting the action and the violence to one side you get to see that this is a fictional opinion of what might happen to our environmentally beleaguered world. As the first in a series I am keen to see these aspects developed in the future novels of this trilogy since it couldn’t be more relevant and pertinent. 

Sometimes fiction is the perfect way to draw attention and raise a consciousness where drier, more turgid non-fiction tomes may lay dusty on the bookstore or library shelves. But if you take exception to blood and violence then this might not be the book for you but if you enjoy a fast paced, video game like action thriller with a point to make then you’ll devour this with turbo velocity. 

It’s a debut novel and bears many of the hall marks of such a work, an exuberance of detail and an enthusiasm to offer an intense experience for the reader. 

My thanks to New Books Magazine/Nudge for the opportunity to read this book and participate in the blog tour. 

Love, Lies and Lunch - Diana Kay

I always feel that the short story seldom gets the attention it deserves. Writers of fiction tend to favour the novel over the short story.  It’s a bit like playing Doubles in a tennis grand slam tournament;  the big guns don’t bother with the Doubles because they want to concentrate on the Singles. Yet it wasn’t always that way. Short stories seemed to be as much of an author’s arsenal as the mighty novel. One thinks of Kipling, Poe, Wilde, Kafka, Hemingway and so on but modern authors don’t seem so keen. Ishiguro embraces the genre as does Annie Proulx but rarely do short stories hit the best seller lists or ‘grace’ the TV/Radio book club recommendations. And yet they are a delight to read. Very satisfying as a compact reading experience.

So I was delighted to receive a copy of Diana Kay’s anthology. I will admit I was unfamiliar  with the writer so I did a little research especially as the rear cover detail advised that she is a blogger going by the name of Delia Despair! http://www.despairingdelia.com/322323222 In fact I found out more about Delia Despair than I did about Diana Kay including this video interview from YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXG8yR9JAI8 which is a marvellous companion to the stories since it puts them into context in terms of the author’s experiences and inspirations. 

Love, Lies and Lunch is a diverse collection of short stories that span what seems to be the writers’ whole career. And it needs to be stressed that some of these stories date back to the 1950’s which means that reading them today the attitudes and ideas described may appear dated. I fear this collection might not appeal to a feminist reader unless it is viewed historically when it becomes absolutely fascinating.

Frequently the review of a novel will comprise of a précis of the plot. The challenge for the reviewer of a short story collection is that you simply cannot summarise the entire collection. You can perhaps offer a flavour of what’s there by citing your favourite stories but the variety makes that an almost impossible task. Reader, I’ll try!

One of my favourites was the prize winning Rendezvous with Rory because of the humour and the twist in it that I didn’t see coming. You assume one thing and it isn’t until the final paragraph that you realise the complete opposite is in fact the case. The Lonely Rose was another favourite for it had a fairy tale quality. Both thematically and stylistically it reminded me of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and The Lonely Prince. There is another fairy tale like story which is an updated retelling of Cinderella where the prince is called, wait for it, Frank Incense! The two ugly sisters are Gold and Myrhh! 

I liked The Cherry Stone for its opening paragraph which caused a chuckle and a wry smile;-

‘When I was fifteen I thought falling in love with me the most romantic thing in the world, but now I’m 20 I know better. It isn’t romantic at all  - it’s just inconvenient.’

There were several tales that had quite dark outcomes and, indeed, many were submitted and published in Dark Tales. I enjoyed all of those very much. Love in its myriad guises feature predominantly in a great number of the stories often from the adolescent or young wife’s perspective. And there were a fair number of lunches enjoyed too as the anthology collection suggests! And the lies? Well,yes,there were several. Some stories with a faintly supernatural flavour nestle alongside the more worldly tales. 

There are 46 stories in total, an impressive oeuvre and a most enjoyable way to spend an hour or two. My thanks to Elly Donovan who sent me the book which I won in a social media giveaway. Always a thrill to win something!