We Need New Names, NoViolet Bulawayo

The third of the books from my Man Booker Prize short list birthday present, after The Testament of Mary and Harvest.

Darling lives in a shanty town in Zimbabwe.  Her home is made of tin, her mother treks to the border to sell things to get money, her father is away in South Africa, but seems to have forgotten all about his family.  Nevertheless, Darling and her friends make the most of every day with their games and songs, and stealing fruit from the trees in the rich neighbourhoods, since they no longer go to school.

The first part of the book draws some detailed sketches of life in Zimbabwe, covering Religion, AIDS, the role of NGOs. Once more I find myself convinced by a child narrator in a debut novel (see also The Land of Decoration).  

In the second half of the book, Darling moves to America to live with her aunt and her Ghanian husband.  Her voice becomes more mature, as she faces the problems of living as an immigrant. This part of the book was more fragmented, with tales of a family wedding, visiting the mall, and dealing with her uncle's mental instability.

I wasn't sure that this book came to any conclusions, except that the grass is always greener.

Harvest, Jim Crace

Read in hardback, the second from the Man Booker Prize short list I had for my birthday.

I have enjoyed many of Jim Crace's books, including most recently Being Dead.

Set in an unnamed English country hamlet, in an unspecified year, this is the story of Walter Thirsk.  He has come to the village as manservant to the gentleman who marries the daughter of the local Manor house keeper.  Walter falls in love with one of the local girls and with the land, and so marries and settles in the village.  His former master, now lord of the manor himself, is recently widowed, and finds out that his position is now not secure.

Three strangers come into the village, and trigger a series of events that will lead to death and destruction.  One of the strengths of the book is a descent into chaos so rapid and yet believable that it made me dizzy.

There's no knocking Jim Crace off my list of favourite authors any time soon.

The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín

I was very lucky to be given the whole of the Man Booker 2013 short list for my birthday.  All of the books are in hardback. The longest book was the winner, so I decided to tackle them in length order.

The Testament of Mary is the shortest by a long way.

Narrated by Mary, mother of Jesus, this is her take on some of the gospel stories.  The raising of Lazarus is included, as is the Wedding at Cana, before we get to Jesus' final days and his crucifixion.

Mary has two men with her who seem to be there to watch over her, but also to record her stories.  They get agitated when she tries to tell things the way that she sees them, if they don't fit in with the myth that the writers are trying to create.

I can see how this book would divide people, with many seeing it as blasphemous, but I can admire such a quantity of elegant writing in such a short book.

The Land of Decoration, Grace McLeen

Read on the Kindle. Not sure where I heard about it, but it won the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Writing in 2012.

Judith McPherson lives alone with her father.  Her mother is dead, but is a presence in the house due to old photographs and some of her possessions still being around.

Judith's father is devoutly religious, and he and Judith belong to a congregation, which, whilst never identified, bears a resemblance to the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Judith is making a model in her bedroom, called "The Land of Decoration", after the promised land in the Bible.  Judith believes the end of the world is coming, but in the meantime she has drawn the attention of the school bullies.  Judith is dreading school on Monday, and makes it snow in the Land of Decoration.  When she wakes up to snow on Monday morning, she believes she has performed a miracle.  The book continues with the effect that the bullying has on Judith and on her father.

This is a very assured first novel.  It has a small, but effective cast of characters, and although the story is narrated by Judith, in her voice, from her childish viewpoint, that never becomes annoying.

Dark Places, Gillian Flynn

Read on the Kindle, purchased on Kindle daily deal along with Sharp Objects.

Libby Day is the only survivor of the massacre that wiped out her whole family.  Her brother Ben is in prison for life, convicted of the crime.

When the book opens, Libby is in her 20's and the money from the charitable fund set up to help her has all but run out.  Ill equipped to stand on her own two feet, she is contacted by members of the "Kill Club" who want to pay her for a personal appearance.

Once she meets them, she discovers that the Kill Club believe her brother is innocent, and they want her to help them prove it.

Again, I enjoyed the atmosphere of menace in this book.  I liked the structure, which wove in chronological flashbacks to the night of the massacre with the present day time line.  Credulity was stretched a little towards the end.

Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn

Read on the Kindle.  Gone Girl is on our book club list for next year, so when Gillian Flynn's other novels were on Kindle daily deal I got them for 99p each.

Camille Preaker works for a newspaper with falling circulation.  When one little girl is murdered and another goes missing, her editor sends her back to her home town to see if she can get a scoop, and the story that will revive the paper's fortunes.

Still living in her home town is her mother, her step father and her teenage half sister.  Since the newspaper editor will not stump up for more than one night's accommodation, Camille ends up going back to stay at her childhood home whilst she investigates the crimes.

I understand that this is Gillian Flynn's first novel, and as such I feel it was a good effort.  The central character has been deeply affected by her upbringing and has her own mental demons to contend with.  The characters in her small town are sufficiently sketched in to make them real and believable And there's a real feeling of menace in the book.

Skios, Michael Frayn

Read on the Kindle - my choice for book club.  From the Booker Prize 2012 long list.

Oliver Fox is travelling to Skios for a rendezvous with Georgie, his latest squeeze.  Dr Norman Wilfred is travelling to Skios to give a lecture on 'scientometrics' at a foundation set up to promote culture and learning.

A mix up at the airport sees the two men heading in opposite directions, and thus stumbling into each other's lives.

This is a pure farce, and a cracking holiday read. Hope the ladies of Book Club enjoy it too.

It Would be Wrong to Steal My Sister's Boyfriend (Wouldn't It?), Sophie Ranald

Read on the Kindle, after reading about it on a blog.

I don't generally read a lot of 'chick lit', but I do like to indulge every so often.

Ellie is the caring sister, working in PR for a charity, spending evenings in with her friend Ben.  Her sister Rose is the glamorous one, beautiful, slim and working for an art dealer.  Once Ellie meets Rose's new boyfriend Oliver, all thoughts of sisterhood are out of the window as Ellie falls hook, line and sinker.

Ellie's method of winning Oliver is to make herself into her sister's image, underlined by a scene where she literally mistakes Rose for her own reflection.

If you enjoy your fiction where all the ends are neatly tucked in, and everyone in the story gets exactly their just desserts in the end, then this is the book for you.

Broken Voices, Andrew Taylor

Read on the Kindle - a Kindle Singles recommendation. Having read and enjoyed The American Boy, I thought I would give a Kindle Single a go.

Two boys at an East Anglian Cathedral School are forced to spend Christmas together with an elderly master. One has no living relatives to go to, the other is in disgrace after his voice breaks and he commits a petty theft as revenge on the boy who has replaced him as head of choir.

These two boys, with nothing to keep them occupied, go chasing after musical score, lost back in the school's past.

A bit of a disappointment, really.  I knew it was a short book from the start, but the story didn't ever seem to really get going, and the supposedly spooky atmosphere never really grabbed me.