Andrea Levy - The Long Song

I apologise for my thoughts on this book at the very outset. I'm going through a bit of a stressful phase right now, and while normally, it doesn't affect the way I approach books, I'm not completely convinced that it hasn't this time 'round. I mean, The Long Song was longlisted for the Orange Prize, and it's on the Booker longlist as well. It's got to be a good book, right? Well, I didn't finish it, and it wasn't for lack of trying! I put it aside at 150 pages - my edition had 308 pages, so I did read about half of the book, and it failed to engage me at any level. Strange, because the subject matter is intense and well, more often than not, I end up empathising and sympathising with the protagonists and narrators of such stories. This time - absolutely nothing.

Set in the early nineteenth century, this book focuses on the final days of slavery in Jamaica. The primary voice is that of July, a slave born on the sugar plantation called Amity, after her mother was raped by the overseer of the plantation. July was separated from her mother, Kitty, when the plantation owner's sister, Caroline, found her utterly charming and wanted to groom her to be a lady's maid. Caroline, new to Jamaica and the rampant slavery, depended much on July, and the slave girl often took advantage of her mistress' dependence.

Personally, I thought that the writing lacked the intensity that the subject matter deserves, and almost treated the subject frivolously. I also did cringe, occasionally, on reading some of the lines, although I'm willing to bet that Levy intended to have that effect on the reader.

"Stuff up her mouth with rags, come on, come on," he insisted once more. Rose took a rag, dipping it in the water from the pail and brushed it against Kitty's lips. But Tam Dewar, exhaling with annoyance, commanded, "Not like that!" He snatched at the rag that Rose held, then forced the damp cloth down into Kitty's mouth. "Like this, you fool, like this."

Rose protested, "Massa, she birthin', she birthin'!" as Kitty choked to accommodate the bulk of cloth in her mouth.

I don't think I got used to the style of writing either, where the narrator constantly addressed me as "Reader," and it switched between first person (present) and third person (past). And, I really didn't care what happened to the characters - who survived, who didn't.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but despite the writing being simple, I found reading this book a chore, and didn't feel inclined to pick it up. I wish I'd finished this book, to see what the end objective was - and maybe, just maybe, the second half of the book would end up redeeming itself. Have you read this book? Do you think the second half is better/more engrossing than the first?

Have you read Levy's Small Island? I think it's her most talked about book. Would you recommend that over her latest?

Toni Morrison - A Mercy

I finished this book over two weeks ago, and have been struggling to write the review ever since. I honestly hoped I wouldn't have to drag it into the new year, but there you have it... This is the first Toni Morrison I've read, and I started the book with great trepidation. I've heard phenomenal things about Toni Morrison, and I was intimidated... unsure of what to expect. I really hoped I'd enjoy the book, and it would make me go out and buy more books by Morrison instantaneously, but unfortunately, I was left feeling fairly indifferent. I didn't like the book. I didn't dislike the book... and I'm not accustomed to having that kind of a reaction to a book - especially as I've mulled over it for about two weeks!

A reasonably short book (almost a novella), A Mercy is the story set in the 17th century, and provides insight into the life and times of four women living under Jacob Vaark's roof, prior to slavery becoming commonplace. Vaark is a Dutch trader, who has a farm in rural America, and he gets Florens (a young slave girl) as payment for a bad debt. Rebekka (his wife from England), Lina (a Native American who survived small pox, and now runs the farm), and Sorrow (another servant, who survived a shipwreck, and is grossly incompetent) make up the other three women.

The book starts with Florens' first person narrative, as she leaves the farm in search of the blacksmith, who has medical expertise - expertise needed to save the life of her mistress, Rebekka. However, Florens' primary reason for finding the blacksmith is her unequivocal love for him.

The narrative of each chapter  focuses on one or the other of the female characters (as well as Vaark). We hear their story, determine their origins, and figure out their co-dependencies on each other, as well as their insecurities. Be it Rebekka's ambivalence when she first arrives, and see that Lina runs the farm, or Lina's annoyance with Sorrow's lack of commitment to the jobs at hand; be it Lina's overprotectiveness about Florens, or Florens' desire to wear shoes - just like a lady!

There are multiple layers; a multitude of relationships and emotions explored; events of historical significance weaved into the story. However, I found the book lacking depth, and the characters to be fairly two-dimensional. There was a lot packed into the book, and I found that I couldn't relate to them. Frankly speaking, I didn't really care much about them... other than Florens. The opening chapter had me fascinated, and I found the final chapter to be redeeming, to an extent. But - can a book really tick with just two chapters, and some other captivating events?

Maybe I didn't get the book. Maybe it's just too intelligent for me. Or maybe, it's not one of Morrison's better works. I don't know - it's the first Morrison I've read! Would you recommend trying out another book by the much acclaimed Toni Morrison? Okay, that was a rhetorical question. The main question is: which one?

Rating : C

Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife

Contrary to popular opinion, I thought this book just wasn't all that. I know many people who have this book on their "best of" lists, and it's supposed to be amazing. And there are parts of it which are... specially the premise: Henry suffers from a genetic disorder, which allows him to time-travel, albeit the time-traveling isn't done at his will, but can happen anytime, with no heads up whatsoever. So, at the age of thirty-six, he goes back in time to meet Clare. the love of his life, who is six, but, in real terms, she is only eight years younger than him!

So, as I was saying, the premise in itself is interesting, and gripping. However, this book has disregarded the concept of space-time continuum completely - almost as though such a thing didn't exist, and time-traveling decided the course of events, as opposed to nature, fate, or life itself.

For example, Henry tells little Clare that he is her future husband. So, all her life, Clare is only seeking one man, as she doesn't see any point in dating other guys, for she already knows who she's going to end up with. So, if Henry hadn't gone back in time to tell Clare about their love, would Clare have even given him a second look when she met him in the library?

And, why would someone tell his future wife that they'll be together when she's a small easily impressionable child? Shouldn't some things just be left to chance? Personally speaking, I would have hated it if someone would have told me that in my pre-adolescent and adolescent days, for, it probably would've ended up trivializing a lot.

Second, I really didn't understand what the whole deal with shedding clothes and arriving naked in the non-real time zone was about? Was Henry moving so fast that the clothes didn't have a chance to keep up with him? Was that really that necessary a part of the book? Because, at times, there were some semi-pedophiliac moments.

And, how could Henry have told the number of people he told his 'secret', and not have it turn into a gigantic deal with the media? How did he manage to escape becoming a part of a scientific experiment? Gomez hated him. Dr. Kendrick would have had his own interests at heart, and a case like Henry's would have ensured him some well-deserved limelight.

I know, it's supposed to be a romantic sci-fi book, but the sci-fi bit isn't really, as it's too romanticized, and the romance is just dull. I couldn't relate to either of the protagonists (Clare or Henry), and I just couldn't fathom what made them tick. I know I'm in the minority here, but, this book just wasn't for me. Add to it that there are two narrators, and the book is constantly going back and forth in time, with some repetitions, and that's enough to confuse the living daylights out of me. In fact, I thought that the editors should've stripped at least 200 pages from the book.

Maybe I just didn't get the book, or maybe, I was expecting too much, or, maybe I was reading the book in a pragmatic frame of mind. I don't know. I know some of you loved this book, so I'd be interested to hear what made the book tick for you? And what made it really phenomenal, because as things stand, I honestly think I missed out on something fundamental, which is what ruined the experience for me.

Rating: 1

Catherine O'Flynn - What Was Lost

Catherine O' Flynn's much acclaimed debut novel probably has one of the most fascinating opening chapters I've ever read, which revolves around Kate Meaney, a ten year old aspiring detective. Following Kate, and her 'partner' Mickey (a soft toy),  through her 'stakeouts' as she looks for 'suspicious' people, simultaneously trying to determine their possible motives, her friendship with Adrian, the neighbor's twenty-two year old son, her friends at school, and her life with her dad, the book comes across as an innocent feel-good book.

Anyone who asked for a chocolate lime was a killer, according to Adrian, due to his abhorrence of the sweet and his belief that no law-abiding person could like such an unnatural combination.

Things have a habit of going disarray, though, and when Kate's father dies in suspicious circumstances, her maternal grandmother becomes Kate's official guardian. She thinks it would do Kate a world of good to go to boarding school and be around kids her own age. Kate has other ideas, although she does promise her grandmother that she'll do the entrance exam, and give it her best shot. Adrian drops her off to the school for the exam, and Kate's never seen after that. When they look through the entrance exam papers, they can't find Kate's.

Cut twenty years later to Green Oaks mall, a popular stakeout location for Kate, and the reader is introduced to the two 'actual' protagonists of the book: Lisa, a duty manager at 'Your Music', and Kurt, a security guard, who spends most of his time observing the CCTV videos. One night, a long time ago, he had seen a young girl with a monkey on the screen, but when he attempted to find her, he failed. When he meets Lisa, and sees that she's holding the same monkey, the two somehow find themselves developing a kind-of relationship, and together try to find the 'lost girl' - a girl who has affected both their lives, although they don't know it yet!

There seems to be a fair bit of indirect social commentary, with the author taking pains to explain how things work in a big mall, where the employees are always under great stress and pressure due to unreasonable customers, who insist it's illegal to charge non-Sale prices once the sale is over. There's also added stress when they keep expecting an inspection that keeps everyone on their toes - more often than not, these inspection-alerts turn out to be false alarms. It also gives the reader a quick peek into how "new developments" like the mall ends up influencing the lives of so many people, leaving them jobless, or having to find an alternate career which isn't necessarily what they want to do.

While I loved the opening section of the book, I wasn't quite impressed with the way the book turned out. The narration itself seems to be in a passive voice, which makes the book slightly less exciting, and despite the fact that the characters are echoing their thoughts, it's done in third person, and not in quotes, making it slightly bizarre. Call it a writer's license, if you like.

But every night after another shitty day at work she was filled with an urge that would not be denied to go to the orange back room and get lost in a blur of words and faces and alcohol. The room where everything was so fucking hilarious, and where time whipped by at ten times its normal awful speed.

The switchover from present-day to twenty years later (or twenty years earlier to today, depending on how you look at it) was sudden, and I was left baffled for a couple of minutes trying to figure out where the story had turned a corner, and which direction it was accelerating towards.

The characters aren't really built up and seem fairly two-dimensional. Kate and Adrian, in my opinion, are the only characters that seemed to have another dimension (and their roles lasted only seventy-odd pages!). It might have something to do with the other characters being caught up in the monotony of their daily lives while dealing with the past tragedies in a mechanical manner, which I can relate to - Since I've started working, I feel like my life's fairly robotic, and I just go about doing things without really thinking about them.

The mystery of Kate going missing does get solved (no surprises there), but the ending was unimpressive, and left me feeling like there was much to be desired.

Rating: 3

Anne Enright - The Gathering

I'm trying to read all the Booker winners, in the next couple of years. This painstakingly dull book, filled with unengaging characters and a pointless plot adds a serious blemish to my plan at the very outset. I struggled through the first thirty pages, and struggled some more 'til I hit page 89, in a week... And then... then I just gave up, and figured this book is not for me. I mean, what a gigantic waste of my reading time! 

I wonder if the Booker judges even read this book, and if they did, did they have exceptionally low standards? I must read the rest of the shortlist for 2007, for I really can't fathom how this book won any kind of prize. 

I mean, what kind of a person imagines the sex-life of her grandmother, and starts off a chapter saying she thought her grandmother was a prostitute? That's the narrator for you. She also judges her mum, and talks of the 'endless humping' in her family, which led to the number of siblings she had being in double-digits. 

I feel terrible, but, 0/10. If negative ratings work, I'd probably give this a -10. Argh! Ok, rant over. 

PS: I was almost tempted to create a new 'genre' called pointless reading for this!

Zoe Heller - Notes On A Scandal

Who doesn't love a good juicy scandal? The type that makes its way to the tabloids, and has everyone talking about it, and judging the protagonists of the impropriety. Everyone has an opinion, and more oft' than not, it's judging the miscreants. Society. Business as usual. 

So, what's the scandal? One newspaper headlines read:

Sex Teacher Passes Her Orals With Flying Colours

while another read:

Teacher Takes Keen Interest In Student Body. 

I'm sure you've heard about it: a teacher having an illicit affair with one of her high school students. Or, in this case, a happily married forty-one year old having an affair with a fifteen year old. 

But, the narrator isn't Sheba Hart, the forty-one year old teacher. Nor is it Steven Connolly, the student. Instead, it's Barbara Covett - a sixty-something year old woman, who has never married. Barbara is Sheba's friend, her defender, if you like. The Sun refers to her as the saucy school teacher's spin-doctor, despite the fact that she has had forty years of experience as a teacher, and has never been associated with anything scandalous prior to this. 

So, what prompts someone like Barbara to act as Sheba's defender? When Sheba walks into the school for the first time, Barbara feels like she's found her 'kindred spirit'. Jealousy overcomes her when she discovers that Sheba has befriended Susan, another teacher who Barbara dislikes. In fact, as the book progresses, the reader comes to find Barbara as an increasingly judgmental condescending character, who has a superiority complex, coupled with some major inhibitions about being single. She's overbearing, clingy, and tends to drive people away. Yet, her extremely high opinion of herself, and the way she manages to justify all her acts almost makes the reader feel sorry for her delusions of grandeur. 

Barbara uses gold stars to mark the timeline of her friendship with Sheba, in her notes; notes that she's writing in order to help Sheba's looming court case. She's almost subservient to Sheba, as she cooks for her, and looks after her, and takes great delight in Sheba's increasing dependence on her. Don't worry - these are not spoilers. In fact, this book is written retrospectively, so the thriller aspect of it is minimal. At the very outset, we know where the protagonists stand, and what has happened. 

Barbara (and subsequently, the reader) struggles to understand Sheba's infatuation with this semi-literate adolescent, who is marginally artistic. She has a devoted husband, a rebellious attractive teenage daughter, and a son with Downs' syndrome. Barbara at one point says that she'd bet they were happily married, and even according to Sheba, they are. In my opinion, what instigates Sheba is a combination of the innocence the boy has, as well as the adventure that a fling like this brings: sex sessions in Hampsted Heath (I kid you not!), meeting at his place when his parents are away, smuggling him into her basement studio, and finding some time in her art studio at school, where they drew the curtains.... Sheba isn't an idiot. She knows what the consequences of her actions are, if found out. But, that doesn't stop her. Incredible that people are ready to risk their entire life (as they know it) because someone finds them attractive, at a time when they're vulnerable to feeling otherwise due to a mid-life crisis of sorts.  

Why, then, was Sheba moved to such an extravagant estimate of his virtues? Why did shr insist on seeing him as her little Helen Keller in a sea of Yahoos. The papers will tell you that Sheba's judgment was clouded by desire: she was attracted to Connolly, and in order to explain that attraction, she convinced herself that he was some kind of genius. 

This is a fascinating gripping story of betrayal, sex, and infatuation. It's not a thriller, but yet you can't let go, and you're compelled to turn each page, and consume it all. It's well-written, funny at times, perverse, thought-provoking (specially in the beginning where they discuss why a woman being the deviant is funny, whereas if it was a man and a fifteen year old girl, it would be disturbing. Guess there is an element of truth in that), and truly shocking. Barbara's tone throughout the book is matter-of-fact and to the point, with minimal padding and meandering. So, while it's not as emotive as you'd expect it to be, it still makes a great read. 

Overall, four stars. 

Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones

This is Sebold’s debut novel, and while there’s lots of loopholes in the story, the premise in itself is interesting.

A 14 year old girl is raped and killed by a neighbor on her way home from school, one evening. In the story, the girl, Susie Salmon (the book does start: My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie), observes her family and her friends in the aftermath of her disappearance, from heaven, as they struggle to come to terms with it, and deal with it in a variety of ways. I say, ‘her disappearance’ as her body is not found, all the cops find is an elbow, which they identify as hers.

While the family falls apart; with the mother leaning on the cops for support, and eventually running away to California; the father correctly suspecting one of the neighbors and being hell-bent on proving his guilt; the sister swinging between missing her older sister and dealing with people staring at her and only noticing her dead sister; and her younger brother not knowing why his sister isn’t coming home. A very unlikely person takes on the role of trying to bring the family together...

The story touches on many interesting ideas, like how the dead watch their near and dear ones and want to be close to them, as much as possible; as well as, how their near and dear ones can actually sense them at times. It addresses ‘the cold chill’ that people feel when someone dies, and the soul touches them on its way to heaven, and how they’re perpetually haunted by them (imagine being a doctor in the ICU!). There are also traces of wistfulness in Susie’s narration, as she sees her friends and sister growing up, going to college, having their first love and everything else which she’ll never be able to do. Some of the detail and emotions present in the book (specially in the first chapter, when the rape and subsequent murder actually happens and the family reports her missing and later on, when her father remembers her) is well carved out (excuse the crass pun), and beautifully written. It does remind us that the author herself was a victim of sexual assault during her college days.

However, like I said, the premise is interesting, but... the book doesn’t work like a mystery story with people being intent on finding the guilty party (it only seems important to the father and sister). Then you have the whole chapter where Susie occupies her friend’s body, to kiss her crush, which, in my opinion, is pushing it. It’s not supposed to be the X-Files after all. And of course the whole idea of an ever-expanding heaven just seems like overkill.

It’s a book with potential, probably well-written for a first novel. Overall, a 6 on 10?