The Sound of Waves by Yukio MishimaThe Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima

Let me begin by telling you that I enjoyed ‘The Sound of Waves’ so much that when I finished it last night, I went back to the start and read it again.

‘The Sound of Waves’ tell the story of Shinji Kubo, a eighteen year old fisherman who lives on Uta~Jima island which means ‘Song Island’ with his widowed mother and his younger brother. Shinji is very quiet and hardworking, he works hard on the ship, ‘Taihei~maru’ with his master, Jukichi and Ryuji, a fellow fisherman.

Shinji falls in love with Hatsue Miyata, the only daughter of Old Uncle Teru, the wealthiest man in Uta~Jima, Hatsue has returned from Oizaki in Shima after training to be a pearl diver, ‘a diving woman’ and she works alongside Shinji’s mother who is a diving woman. The return of Hatsue is the talk of the villagers, everyone wants to know who will Hatsue married, the obvious choice seems to be Yasuo Kawamoto, the son of one of the leading families in the village but Hatsue falls in love with Shinju, soon they become the talk of the village and Shinkju must prove his worth.

‘The Sound of Waves’ is a story of first love but it is also a story about tradition, life, love, family and what you can do if you want something enough. Shinji is a mature eighteen year old but as the story continues, you see him changing, discovering his love for Hatsue. Shinji and Hatsue are both lovely characters, you want them to be together so much, you feel every disappointment they experience. I also like Jukichi, Shinji ship master, who was a father figure to Shinji and despite his way of saying things, he always knows the right thing to say.

I loved the way Yukio Mishima describes the village, the traditions, it was all written perfectly, Yukio Mishima was a strong traditionalist and it shows in the book.

A truly lovely read.

Reviewed by:  Gyre (Paula)

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller

Synopsis from Amazon:

When the new teacher first arrives, Barbara immediately senses that this woman will be different from the rest of her staff-room colleagues. But Barbara is not the only one to feel that Sheba is special, and before too long Sheba is involved in an illicit affair with a pupil. Barbara finds the relationship abhorrent, of course, but she is the only adult in whom Sheba can properly confide. So when the liaison is found out and Sheba’s life falls apart, Barbara is there…

Sheba is a new teacher at school; she is a pottery teacher and is instantly spotted by Barbara. She is different from the other new teachers, she keeps herself to her room and doesn’t participate in staff room gossip. Sheba meets Steven Connolly in detention, where she discovers he has some artist talent. She starts giving him tutorials after school, where their relationship blossoms. Soon they are having a sexual affair, a pupil and a teacher. During this time the friendship between Sheba and Barbara has been blossoming. Sheba confides in Barbara about Connolly. This affair cannot remain hidden forever, and when the people find out what has happened Barbara is there for Sheba; but what is her motivation?

This is a book which focuses on a controversial issue – pupils having sex with students when they are underage. Heller is brave writing this book, especially as she questions the portrayal of these teachers, and the different treatment male and female offenders receive. Heller looks at reasons why teachers would enter into this relationship, the effect feelings have over a person, regardless of age and who will stand beside you whatever you have done. She also studiesspinstership, how the woman is portrayed and what it could do to you.

I enjoyed this book but I didn’t like the characters – I was gripped by the story and what the outcome would be. I found it an interesting read; a sensitive subject manner and I wanted to know how Heller would write it. I found Barbara manipulating and judgmental and Sheba delusional and a liar. This is a good read because even though I didn’t like the characters they did spark a reaction.

This was not a fast read but a well written book and a good read.

8/10

Born Bad by Josephine Cox

Harry Blake and his young son Tom suffer a tragedy when Harry’s wife Sara dies after a painful illness.

Harry  returns to Fishers Hill, the village where he spent his childhood, in order to recover from the heartbreak and find comfort for himself and his son.  But coming back only brings Harry more turmoil as he finds himself urgently seeking out Judy Roberts, the woman he abandoned in Fishers Hill 18 years earlier when he was just a young man.

Judy is now married to a thuggish brute named Phil Saunders, who has taken away all of her independence and strength.  She aches for Harry, her lost love, who she drove away when she had deceived him years earlier.  Little does she know that Harry is returning to the village, determined to make amends for the past…

This is the first novel by Josephine Cox that I have ever read.  Considering how prolific a writer she is, I expected far more from it, but was sadly disappointed.  There was virtually no characterisation – every person in the story either lacked any personality at all, or was a typical stereotype.  It also grated that the main character, who was so obviously being portrayed as a decent heroic man, seemed so able to forget his wife and immediately decide he was in love with another woman (there were a few cursory mentions of Sara later on in the book, which appeared to be there purely to remind the reader that Harry had loved Sara and had not instantly started to forget her, but they didn’t alter the fact that he seemed almost dismissive of their life together).  I also felt that the story went round and round in circles, and at times, I felt as though despite having read another 50 or pages, the plot was at exactly the same stage that it had been at before I had started them.  Finally, there was great deal of over-explaining – it was as though the author felt the need to explain to the reader exactly what was going on, even when it was completely obvious.

It’s not all bad however – there were two twists in the tale at the end, neither of which I saw coming.  Unfortunately though, it was too little too late for me, and I felt a sense of relief when I finished the book.

The Baby by James Briggs

The Baby

“Today of all days, right here in my mother’s kitchen,she gave me the news. ‘I think I might be pregnant,’ she said, as I tried to butter a piece of underdone toast. Six little words. Nothing to worry about. She just thinks she may be pregnant, that’s all. It’s not even as if she’s sure. That was the first thing I checked when consciousness returned to me on the cold stone tiles.”

Hence begins a journey through pregnancy.. but not told from the woman’s point of view, but rather the man’s. The male protagonist of this book isn’t sure he’s ready to face father-hood, in the same way that he’s not quite ready for marriage, a job, or even life without alcohol!

Over the course of roughly 9 months, the unnamed male faces up to various addictions, attempts to find a job, and generally tries to deal with life in a different country to the one he was born in. We discover how he met his girlfriend and moved from London to France, and are given an insight to life there, both good and bad. We meet various friends and family, and learn about their affects on his lifestyle.

Most importantly though, the book is a very honest journey into his thoughts and feelings, from birth to death, with just about everything inbetween. Despite his faults, the protagonist is actually a likeable man, and it’s easy to get caught up in his journey, hoping that he’ll make it in the end.

I think most of this likeability comes from both the openess, but also the humour.. there is a wit within the writing which makes the book a joy to read, and rather addictive itself.

I won’t tell you how the book or the journey ends, but the last few pages are incredibly touching.

This was a surprisingly good read, and is highly recommended.

Published by BeautifulBooks
Sept 2008 £7.99

Buy ‘The Baby’ at Amazon

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis from Amazon:

The story of a girl who needs to slow down. To find herself. To fall in love. And to discover what an iron is for…Samantha is a high-powered lawyer in London. She works all hours, has no home life, and cares only about getting a partnership. She thrives on the pressure and adrenalin. Until one day…she makes a mistake. A mistake so huge, it’ll wreck her career. She walks right out of the office, gets on the first train she sees, and finds herself in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she is mistaken for the interviewee housekeeper and finds herself being offered the job. They have no idea they’ve hired a Cambridge-educated lawyer with an IQ of 158 – Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. Disaster ensues. It’s chaos as Samantha battles with the washing machine…the ironing board…and attempts to cook a cordon bleu dinner. But gradually, she falls in love with her new life in a wholly unexpected way. Will her employers ever discover the truth? Will Samantha’s old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

Samantha is one of the best lawyers in England – then she discovers a memo on her desk that needed urgent attention a few weeks before. This is a £50 million mistake. When she realises what has happened, she flees. She jumps onto the first train and ends up in the countryside. When she stops at a house for help she is mistaken as a housekeeper. Not knowing what she is doing she accepts the job. Except she doesn’t even know how to use a toaster, how is she going to cope? And will London ever find her?

This was a fun book. This is easy chick-lit reading. I found it amusing and a quick read. It wasn’t particularly believable, but I was hooked anyway. Kinsella is great at this genre. She writes wonderful characters, amusing characters and ones you can easily fall in love with. I liked Nathaniel’s mother, a solid lady, happy to look out for her son and Samantha, and happy to help in every way.

I think you will only enjoy this if you like Kinsella’s work and if you like chick-lit. However, I loved it! It only took me a couple of days to finish it. Yes it was predictable and unrealistic, but thoroughly enjoyable.

9/10

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Housseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Housseini

Bloomsbury 2007

Synopisis (taken from back of book):  “A Thousand Splendid Suns is an unforgettable portrait of a wounded country and a deeply moving story of family friendship. It is a beautiful, heart wrenching story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond and an indestructable love.”

Review: This is a fantastic, heartbreaking, moving and informative story of life in Afghanistan from the mid 1900s up to the present and includes the effects of the Taliban rule, epsecially on the streets of Kabul.

I fear my review will not do this book the justice it deserves. The story centres on a young girl called Mariam who starts life in rural Afghanistan living with her mother, who was one of her father’s ‘accidental conquests’ and consequently rejected from his family. As a teenager, Mariam’s desire to get to know her father triggers tragedy and before she knows it she is being sent to the city of Kabul and forced into an arranged marriage with a man thirty years her senior. She is young, naive and vulnerable and we learn about the strict regimes of the Islamic religion along with the build up to the Taliban rule.

Two decades later Mariam and her husband take in fifteen year old Laila, no stranger to tragedy herself, homeless, orphaned and heartbroken. Laila and Mariam have a shaky start to thier relationship but over time become as close as mother and daughter. They are living through wartime in Kabul, in a tiny poky house as wives of an old man they both grow to despise for differing reasons. “Life is a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear,” but thier strength of bond enables them to triumph over this. It does however involve sacrifices and danger.

This book taught me a lot about ‘the other side’ of the war in Afghanistan, how it is for the residents of Kabul. I also learned about the Islamic religion and thier beliefs and realised just how naive I myself am about other cultures. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a complicated read – being eight months pregnant and with a toddler I am am hardly fit for heavy going reads at the moment (!). Housseini writes clearly enough to make his work not complicated.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is hard to put down and not easily forgotten. I cannot emphasise enough how well written it is and how much I would recommend it.

PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Synopsis:

A wonderfully warm and heartfelt debut from a stunning new talent. Everyone needs a guardian angel! Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry. Childhood sweethearts, they could finish eachother’s sentences and even when they fought, they laughed. No one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other. Until the unthinkable happens. Gerry’s death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He’s left her a bundle of notes, one for each of the months after his death, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed ‘PS, I Love You’. As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on. With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing — and being braver than ever before. Life is for living, she realises — but it always helps if there’s an angel watching over you.

Holly is lucky; she found her soul mate when she was young. Except she is unlucky – he dies young of a brain tumour. Her life is ripped apart. What is she going to do? Her husband has dead. Yet her mother is holding a letter for her, one from Gerry. There is a note for every month of the rest of the year, which will help her carrying on living.

This is a well written, touching book. To lose your u at a young age must be horrendous, and that is how Ahern writes it. It is so sad, very heartbreaking. Ahern looks at what losing your spouse does to you, how relationships change, who are your real friends, and how you can keep going. I loved the idea of notes, and everything Gerry set up for her to help her. What a lovely thing to do. It was so beautiful that he was there supporting her through these few lines a few.Ahern’s writing is gripping and draws you into the story. I felt the emotions Holly was feeling, and could have cried along with her.

I don’t think I have a favourite character in this book. Everyone was well written and I liked how they developed over the year. It was interesting to see how Gerry’s death affected everyone. It was good to see how Ahern remembered the other characters and incorporated their grief in the book too.

It is important to note that not all the book is sad, and there are moments of joy, fun and laughter. Ahern looks at a range of emotions and the rollercoaster of grief.

I really enjoyed this book. It is chick-lit, but it explores a hard issue. It did not take long to read this book – it was just a good novel.

9/10

9987. – Nik Jones.

‘Gripping, cinematic, voyeuristic. A delightfully disturbing debut.’

Synopsis.

The shop is everything to him – always neat and tidy, safe and reliable, the rental DVDs carefully categorised, alphabetised and memorised.
He thinks he knows his customers, until the bloodstains begin to appear – on grubby banknotes, on porn DVDs and on the shops fresh new carpet.
Then the girl comes into his life, green eyes and fresh scarlet slashed between her thin cotton blouse. He wants to rescue and protect her. He wants to be with her. Forever.

Review.

I finished 9987 by Nik Jones not so long ago, and I have to admit it was one of murkiest reads I’ve had the – shall we say pleasure – in coming across, in a long time. It took me less than a day to read, and that has got to be purely a tribute to the author. From the first page the novel gripping me with grubby, blood-stained hands and kept me enthralled from start to finish. The novel is very confusing at first; however I found that if you just let yourself be swept up by the main protagonist, the store-manager, the narrator, then it all comes together in the most interesting and exciting way possible. Without giving too much away, not all is as it seems at the Total Rental store, and not all is as it seems with ‘him’, the narrator. In the end, Mr. Jones managed to leave me amazed as I did by no means see the finale coming. Maybe I’m gullible or maybe it is a tribute to such a well written novel and a chillingly written plot.

What I will say is this. It novel is written in a dirty manner, and not for the younger, less-matured audiance. There is many sexual references throughout the book; enough to annoy people that don’t enjoy that kind of story-line, but not enough in my opinion to draw the reader away from the action, away from the characters and plot. So just be careful, this fantastically well written debut novel from Mr. Jones, is certainly not for the faint-hearted. At a short 264 pages though, you’ll be left wondering where your day went as you get wrapped up in the pages.

9/10. A superb, bloodthirsty debut novel.

Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist

‘Let the right one in’ also by John Ajvide Lindqvist is one of my favourite reads of this year, a remarkable story, not just a vampire story but so much more. ‘Handling the Undead’ is just as good, another amazing story from John Ajvide Lindqvist.

‘Handling the Undead’ begins in Stockholm on a night when the weather is heavy and everyone can feel that something is about to happen and it does, in the worse way imaginable, people who have been dead for two months are returning from the dead, the government are not sure what to do, the families of the ‘reliving’ (as they are eventually called) are at a loss of what to do or how to feel about it?

‘Handling the Undead’ is a book that makes you think, what would you do? So much happens once the ‘reliving’ return, the government find themselves making the wrong decisions, how do you handle people who are technically alive but not alive, do they have rights? Do they have a place in the world? Can they return to their families?

‘Handling the Undead’ is more than a story about life after death, what do you do when you lose someone and they come back from the dead? All the characters in the story are conflicted, they have lost someone in some way and now they have returned but the ‘reliving’ are different, they are not the people they once were, they are a shell of what they were but at the same time there is a faint glimmer of the person they were.

All of the relationships are strong relationships, you can feel the strength as you read, and you feel their pain and their loss, their confusion, coming to terms with a loss and then their happiness when their loved ones return.

I found ‘Handling the Undead’ to be a powerful read, so many questions are raised and so many social problems are brought forward, you will get very engrossed in this story, there is so much to this book that you will find enjoyable, enlightening, scary and most of all make you look at the world around you.

A must read.

Reviewed by Paula Mc (Gyre)

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

This is the story of Anne Boleyn, told through the eyes of her sister Mary.  As a young girl, Mary finds herself manipulated by her avaricious family to become King Henry VIII’s lover, with an end to usurping Queen Katherine of Aragon.  The Boleyn’s believe that if Mary becomes queen, they will be vastly elevated in terms of wealth and social status.  Even after having two children by Henry, Mary finds his interest in her waning, and sees that he is turning his affections to her sister Anne.  There is no other choice for Mary than to assist Anne in dethroning Queen Katherine.  As she matures, Mary grows tired of the political games played in the royal court, and decides to make her own way in life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The Tudors have never been an exciting subject for me, but Philippa Gregory brings the era to life and makes it fascinating.  It should be remembered that this is a fictionalised account of events, and there are differences between what Mary tells and what current historians believe.  (For example, in the book Mary is portrayed as the younger sister, whereas in fact it is now widely accepted that she was older than Anne.  Also, while in the book there is no doubt that Henry is the father of Mary’s children, in truth it was never known for sure).

Each character is distinct and interesting.  Anne does not come out of this account well; she is portrayed as calculating and ruthless.  Mary is drawn more sympathetically (perhaps not surprising as the book is told from her point of view).  Another major character is their brother George, whose own fate is told in this story, and who is a charming and reckless man, who serves in the royal court.  Henry himself is brought to life as a headstrong, spoilt young man, who is utterly handsome and charming in his youth, but who, during the period which the book spans, becomes bloated and unwell.

The story moves along at a steady pace, and even though I knew the ultimate outcome, I still found myself turning the pages quickly, wanting to know what new developments were around the corner.  I would recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the Tudors (and if you have no interest, this might be a book to change your mind).  After reading it, I found myself wanting find out more about this fascinating and brutal time in England’s history.