FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

TITLE: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

AUTHOR: E.L. JAMES

Pages: 514

Date: 09/05/2012

Grade: 4-

Details: no. 1 Fifty Shades

            Received from BookGeeks

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Anastasia Steele, a young literature student, is reluctantly drafted by her friend Katherine to interview Christian Grey, a very successful and even more attractive business man. When she literary falls through his office door and subsequently makes a mess of some of the questions she’s supposed to be asking she is convinced that the man must be disgusted with her.

Much to her surprise though, Grey shows up in the shop where she has a part-time job and asks her out. Ana finds herself very attracted to this intriguing man and agrees to meet him, only for Grey to warn her that she should be keeping her distance from him.

It seems though that Grey can’t stay away from Ana, despite what he told her, and it isn’t long before Ana finds herself getting very close to the sexy man.

But while Ana is new to love affairs and sex, Grey is a very troubled man who claims to be incapable of having normal relationships, hates being touched and demands to be in full control of both Ana and their relationship. What Grey wants is a relationship where he will be the Dominant to her role as a Submissive and he’s drawn up the contract to control how that should work.

Ana finds herself very confused. While she is extremely attracted to Grey and experiencing great pleasure every time they get together, the idea of being dominated and having to endure pain scares her and makes her want to run away. At the same time another part of her thinks that she might be able to safe this man from the demons that haunt him.

Both Ana and Christian will find themselves experiencing a lot of firsts during their time together, but is their obvious attraction to each other enough to overcome the huge differences between them?

Phew, what to say about this book?

From all the attention this author and her books have been receiving lately, I had a pretty good idea what to expect and it is safe to say I got just that.

Yes, this is one very steamy story with lots of rather graphic descriptions of far from ordinary sexual relations.

Yes, the similarities between Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” and this book are clear. Both books deal with an innocent young girl falling for a man with a very obvious dark-side who she should probably stay well away from but is incapable of ignoring.

And yes, this book is unlikely to ever win a literary prize.

However, I also found this to be an entertaining story that kept me turning the pages. If you read beyond the sex scenes this is basically a love story about two people who desperately want and need to be together but are being kept apart by differences in their backgrounds and expectations that they may or may not be able to overcome. I guess E.L. James just uses a different, and rather more graphic than usual, devise to point those differences out.

While I’m sure there would have been a lot of other ways in which Christian’s need to control Ana could have been depicted, the author has chosen one which, while graphic, also makes quite clear how deep seated his issues are.

I have to admit that there were a few things in this book that had me exasperated. The references to Ana’s “Inner Goddess” and “Sub-conscious” got old very fast after the first few mentions. Yes, the girl is having a rather lively debate going on inside herself about the sense in having a relationship with this obviously very complicated and damaged man, but do the two sides of that argument really have to have separate identities as if they are extra characters in the story?

I guess there comes a time in any book reviewer’s life when they have to reflect on the standards by which they actually judge a book. Is it literary merit? Is it the quality of words and sentences used? Is it just a question of whether or not the book delivers a good and/or captivating story? Is it a little bit of all of those or does even that depend on the book they happen to be reading? I decided that for me, with this book, judging was to take place purely on whether or not I enjoyed the reading experience. And I did.

Readers can be divided into a whole host of categories. For the purpose of this review I’d like to highlight two; those who enjoy (explicit) sex-scenes and those who don’t. Any reader falling into the later category would do well to steer clear of this book since there are at least as many descriptions of, rather unorthodox, sex as there is overall story. Anybody who enjoys reading such scenes, for whatever reason, will get more then their fill in this story.

This is probably the first time ever that I almost feel the need to apologise for enjoying a book. Objectively there is so much wrong with this book while subjectively, I found myself unable to stop turning the pages and forced to buy the two sequels.

I guess this book should be filed under the label: guilty pleasures.

ISLAND OF BONES

TITLE: ISLAND OF BONES

AUTHOR: IMOGEN ROBERTSON

Pages: 466

Date: 07/05/2012

Grade: 5

Details: no. 3 Crowther & Westerman

            Received from Real Readers

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In 1751 Charles Penhaligon watches as his brother Adair, 2^nd Baron Keswick, is hanged for murdering their father. Charles is convinced of his older brother’s guilt although he insists he is innocent. As soon as the public execution is over Charles sells his family’s estate, changes his name to Gabriel Crowther and commences a life of scientific research and seclusion.

More then 30 years later Mrs. Briggs, the present owner of the estate, opens an old tomb and discovers one body too many. Knowing about Crowther’s interest in anatomy and solving mysteries as well has his past connection to the place, an invitation is send to him to visit his old home and investigate the matter. An invention that also extends to  the recently widowed Harriet Westerman.

Crowther is reluctant to revisit his past but curious about the mysterious body. His sister, who he hasn’t seen for over 30 years either, happens to be a house guest of Mrs. Briggs together with her son, Felix which gives Crowther an extra reason to make the journey.

Travelling back to the childhood home that holds so many bad memories is difficult though. Crowther’s sister turns out to be a rather unpleasant woman and her son a spoiled brat. This is also the one place where Crowther can’t escape his heritage or the title he’s been denying for so long. And it isn’t long after he and Harriet arrive that more death and violence occur. Are these fresh eruptions of crimes, or are they somehow related to what happened in the past?

Crowther will be forced to face his past once and for all in a part of the country where modern life still lives side by side with the ancient and the magical.

This is a fascinating historical mystery. The descriptions of life and the conventions of the time are detailed and give great insight into what it must have been like to live in those times.

The contrast between Crowther’s scientific approach to life at a time when the sciences where still in their infancy, and the old ways depending on cunning men, herbs and witches in an era when the church seriously frowned upon such believes, gives the story added interest. This is enhanced by the fact that different parts of the story are told from the perspective of different characters with very diverse backgrounds.

The mystery itself was well plotted and the investigation leading to the, to me not completely surprising, solution was well executed. The fact that historical detail, such as the rebellion in 1745, gets tied in with the mystery only adds to that interest.

Both Harriet Westerman and Gabriel Crowther are controversial characters in a time in which convention was second only to virtue, which makes them fascinating to read about as well as more accessible to modern day readers. Personally I found myself wondering on several occasions how a woman with any sense of her own worth and mind could possibly stay sane in those times without finding herself cast out of society.

This is not a quick or easy read. Because the cause of the problems in 1783 heralds back to events that took place up to 50 years earlier, there are a lot of names and events to keep separate and connections to pay attention to. While this no doubt adds depth and realism to the story it does require that the reader pays close attention.

I found this to be a great read, a book well worth taking my time with so that I could treasure every word, nuance and description.

I will certainly be on the look out for further adventures staring Crowther and Westerman.

BLEEDING HEARTS

TITLE: BLEEDING HEARS

AUTHOR: IAN RANKIN,

              Writing as JACK HARVEY

Pages: 402

Date: 04/05/2012

Grade: 3.5

Details: Received from Newbooks

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Michael Weston is a hired killer who made one, unfortunately fatal, mistake in his otherwise very “successful” career.

When the novel starts he is in London where his assignment is to shoot a TV reporter, whose clothes have been described to him in amazing detail, when she exits a hotel. His shot, straight through the heart, is spot on, but as soon as he has fired his rifle he hears police approaching, forcing him to flee and come up with a last-minute escape plan.

While Michael usually makes a habit of not lingering on his kills after he’s executed them, he finds himself struggling with a lot of questions this time around. Questions that won’t leave him alone; questions he needs to answer.

How is it possible that the police arrived on the scene so quickly? Had they been tipped off? Had the person who contracted him to kill the reporter also set him up to be caught? Who had paid him for this kill in the first place? How could his employer have known exactly what the woman would be wearing? And who would have wanted her death in the first place, and why?

Armed with only questions and very few clues, Michael sets out to find out what has been going on, assisted by Belinda, the daughter of one of his weapon suppliers.

On Michael’s tail is Leo Hoffer, a private investigator from New York who has been hired by the father of Weston’s only mistake to track down the killer and destroy him. Hoffer soon finds that his American ways don’t go down too well in London, but nevertheless discovers enough clues to stay hot on the trail of Weston, from London to Scotland and eventually to America where a big show down should mean the end to all the mysteries, but does it?

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book.

In many ways it is a fascinating story. Told from the perspective of Weston we’re dealing with a narrator who should be unsympathetic to us, but isn’t. At the same time, the investigator trying to find and stop him should be the obvious force of good here but is rather repulsive instead. I soon found myself rooting for the hired killer against those who would stop him, but never felt completely comfortable about that sentiment.

I’m also not completely convinced about this book’s merits as a thriller. While it has all the elements you’d expect in a good thriller – the hunter and the hunted, good versus bad, a chase across countries and continents and a final twist just when you think the story is over – they didn’t work to keep me turning the pages. At times the story seemed to get bogged down in too much detail; detailed descriptions of the weapons used, haemophilia and other subjects encountered along the way seemed to take the pace out of the story and made this book just a little too easy to put down.

Overall I say that this book left me mostly indifferent. Indifferent about the characters while I was reading the book, and indifferent about the story as a whole now that I’ve finished it.

It is not a bad book at all; the story idea is original and interesting and I had no problem finishing the book. It is not a great book either though. It was too easy to put this book down for me to be able to call this a page-turner.

One thing this book did succeed in though, was arousing my curiosity about the Rebus novels by Rankin and their huge popularity. I will have to read a few titles in that series soon, if only to find out how they compare to this story.

SHADOWSTORY

TITLE: SHADOWSTORY

AUTHOR: JENNIFER JOHNSTON

Pages: 233

Date: 29/04/2012

Grade: 4+

Details: Dialogues Through Literature title

Library

“That is all there is, really. Not much of a story, I’m afraid.”

Contrary to that quote, taken from the last pages of Shadowstory, there actually is quite a story here. A story about growing up and learning life-lessons along the way. A story about love and loyalty and the ties that bind us to others.

This is Polly’s (also known as baby) story. Born in 1940 when her father’s youngest brother, Sam, is only five years old, Polly lives her life in two places. The main part of her life, but a minor part of the story, takes place in Dublin where she lives with her mother, after her father dies in the Second World War. When her mother remarries and has two further children, Polly feels a bit like an outsider in her own home.

Most of Polly’s holidays are spend in Kildaragh and the house where her father grew up and his parents and youngest brother, Sam, still live.

Polly loves her grandparents, her young uncle Sam and the freedom and peace she experiences while in the west of Ireland.

As Polly grows up this peaceful idyll is slowly disturbed. When Sam decides to disappear from his family’s life without a word to anyone except Polly, he burdens her with a secret and a responsibility that is really too big for someone so young and innocent. With her grandparents desperate to know where Sam may be, it is all Polly can do not to blurb out the little she knows.

At the same time other tensions come to the surface in the house in Kildaragh. Polly has lot of growing up to do in very little time.

On the surface this is, as the quote above suggests, a very simple story. Told in minimal and subdued yet very beautiful and almost poetic language, it is easy for the reader to just flow with the narrative and be seduced by the idyllic surroundings and people in Kildaragh. It is only upon reflection that the reader realises how much is actually contained in this bare story.

This is a book that deals with growing up, first love, death, religion and family loyalty. This is a book that deals with, and is true to, life. It doesn’t offer unrealistic happy endings but it does deliver a very satisfying read.

Bailieborough Reading Group Discusses The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman.

On April 26 the Bailieborough Reading Group got together to discuss "The Pianist", our second title in the Dialogues Through Literature programme. Within minutes it became clear that we were all in absolute agreement about this book; this is a very powerful book containing the heartbreaking true story about how one man managed to survive the German occupation in Warsaw, Poland.

Some members commented on the fact that the way in which the story is told seemed somewhat detached, while others pointed out that this was because Szpilman wrote the book almost as soon as the war was over, without allowing time for long reflection on what he had just gone through. And, some members felt, it was probably easier on the reader that the story was told in this way. There are more than enough heartbreaking and horrific aspects to this narrative to think that it might have been next to impossible to read if it had been any less detached.

Special mention was made of the role the one German officer plays in Szpilman’s survival and we all felt that it was a horrible shame that Szpilman didn’t know the officer’s name and wasn’t able to find him again after the war. 

And that thought brought us on to the observation that if we had to point at a similarity between this book and our previous read for Dialogues Through Literature – “Bear in Mind These Dead” – it would have to be that no matter what the conflict, it is never a case of everybody on the one side being completely right with all those on the other side being wrong. While it is tempting and easy to think in terms of “us against them” or “white versus black” in any conflict, that is never the way it really is. A message that will be re-enforced in our next read in this programme: “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.

Fear in the Sunlight

TITLE: FEAR IN THE SUNLIGHT

AUTHOR: NICOLA UPSON

Pages: 410

Date: 26/04/2012

Grade: 5+

Details: no. 4 Josephine Tey Mystery

            Received from BookGeeks

Own

“Fear of the dark is natural, we all have it, but fear in the sunlight where it is so unexpected – that is interesting”

Alfred Hitchock

London 1954, and Chief Inspector Archie Penrose, about to retire from Scotland Yard, is visited by an American investigator who wants to know about events that took place in the summer of 1936 when Josephine Tey celebrated her 40^th birthday in Portmeirion with Penrose and other close friends. Remembering is hard for Archie. Josephine has since died and having to look back means facing the pain of losing his close friend full on again. But the American has come with a surprising revelation about the events that took place during their stay there, and the curiosity that always made him such a good investigator takes Archie back to that shocking holiday in the beautiful surroundings in North Wales.

In 1936 celebrating her birthday with friends wasn’t Josephine’s only reason for staying in Portmeirion. She was also meeting Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma, to talk about selling the rights to her novel “A Shilling for Candles” to the already famous director.

During a dinner party Hitchcock decides to play a rather cruel game with his guests. A game that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth of those involved as well as those witnessing it and a game which will have horrible consequences.

The next day the bodies of two women, a leading actress and a local girl working in the resort, are found. Both have been murdered in horrible, although different, ways. When shortly after the discovery a third person dies, it appears that the case may have already solved itself. However Archie can’t help having niggling doubts about the solution and also has strong reservations about the way in which the case has been, barely, investigated. But since this is neither his case nor his jurisdiction, there is nothing he can do about it.

It is only in 1954 with the arrival of the mysterious American investigator that all the threads of what exactly was going on in 1936 come together and Archie at last finds the answers to all the questions. Answers that will lead him back to Portmeirion and to him making a decision he didn’t think he would ever be able to make.

This is the fourth book in a series featuring Josephine Tey and it is, once again, a wonderful book.

Yes, it is a murder mystery, but it is so much more. In fact, we are almost 200 pages into the story when the first murder occurs.

This is first and foremost a book about Josephine Tey and her life. We see her struggle with the decision whether or not to sell the rights to her book. And we are witness to her dilemma when it comes to her love life.

This is also a story about the relationships between people and the tangled webs those create. About the ways in which people hurt and fail each other, hide parts of themselves as well as the lengths people will go to in order to protect someone they are close to, despite knowing better.

This author has a way with words. Her sentences flow, her conversations are natural and her descriptions are vivid. She takes her time describing surroundings, moods and thoughts and yet she maintains the suspense that keeps the reader turning the pages.

While Upson obviously likes and admires her main character, she doesn’t idolise her. Tey, as described in this book is a human and rounded character. She’s is mostly a very likeable person to read about, but she has her less beautiful sides and there are moments that the reader would like to shake her and tell her exactly what she should be doing. All of this makes her very real and leaves me willing to believe that the Josephine Tey described on this pages is as close to the real thing as anyone could come. In fact, there were times when I had to remind myself that I was reading a work of fiction featuring real historical figures. There is such detail in the descriptions in this story that it is quite possible to believe that all of it really happened.

The fact that the author has part of this book set after Josephine’s death worries me a bit. Does this mean Upson does not intend to write anymore books in this series? I certainly hope that is not the case.

On the other hand, the mystery in this book is set in 1936 when Tey still had years to live, which should leave room for several other instalments. Books that will be fictional while also giving the reader an inside into Josephine Tey’s life. Books that I very much look forward to reading.

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING

TITLE: THE SENSE OF AN ENDING

AUTHOR: JULIAN BARNES

Pages: 150

Date: 25/04/2012

Grade: 4.5

Details: Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2011

Library

Tony Webster and his friends Colin and Alex form a tight clique during their final year of secondary school and don’t think there’s room for anybody else. But new pupil Adrian fits right in, without ever actively trying to befriend them. Typical teenagers and products of the 60’s the four boys are sex-hungry, philosophical, well-read, convinced that they will succeed in changing the world where their parents failed and sure that their friendship will last forever.

Forty years later Tony has retired and finds himself reflecting on his life. He didn’t change the world or achieve anything remarkable. In fact he led an unremarkable, quiet life consisting of a career that didn’t set the world on fire, a single marriage and a calm and friendly divorce. He may not have achieved anything special, but neither did he ever harm anybody, or so he likes to believe.

An unexpected and mysterious bequest from a person he hasn’t seen or even thought about in 40 years leads Tony to reconsider his memories and the way he has defined his past and himself. Suddenly what he always thought to be true about himself and the people around him isn’t so clear cut anymore.  The apparently innocent and easy to explain actions during his student years suddenly take on a different meaning. And it is quite possible that he has drawn wrong conclusions about people, their motives and the outcomes of actions.

As he revisits his past and his memories he tries to discover if and where his recollections are wrong only to discover that his wrong assumptions in the past result in wrong conclusions in his present.

This is a book about memories and how about how what we remember isn’t necessarily true. Tony, the narrator keeps on running into the fact that the things he remembers don’t correspond with truths held by others and as such are unreliable. This is expressed in various statements and thoughts about the past and the way in which we approach our memories at various stages during our lives, such as:

 “It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age; when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.”

“How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but – mainly – to ourselves.”

“Discovering, for example, that as the witnesses to your life diminish, there is less corroboration, and therefore less certainty as to what you are or have been.”

This is a beautifully written book. It is also quite deceptive. What at first appears to be a rather simple story turns out to be a deep, almost philosophical, study of memory as well as a forensic investigation of the past.

Although rather short, there is a lot to this book. This is not a book to read quickly, or a story that will be easily forgotten. I know that I will be thinking, not so much about the story itself but about memory and in how far I can trust my own, for a long time yet.