Recently Reading: The Thing Around Your Neck

This was my introduction to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's writing. I'd heard Bey feature her Ted talk 'We should all be Feminists' on Flawless of course, and seen countless instagram pics of her books Half A Yellow Sun and Americanah (now on my to-read list), but I'd never actually read any of her work. Sytlist Magazine's recent book issue featured The Thing Around Your Neck in their pick of short story collections and said 'Adichie's is an important voice and we want to hear it again and again'. Adichie was the only writer on the list of 100 holiday reads to be featured twice; they love her that much.

And now I can see why. The quote on the cover from the Telegraph 'She makes storyelling seem as easy as birdsong' could not be more accurate, Adichie weaves authentic tales using such lyrical language that stories flow effortlessly. Settings, whether in the city of Lagos, suburbs of America or rural Nigerian towns are painted vividly in this collection of short stories which largely feature female protagonists. It was a delight to feel the strong sense of Nigerian identity that ran through all the stories for example through mentions of different Nigerian languages and customs, whether the stories were set there or in the States. The different facets of the immigrant experience are explored throroughly, from the expectations of family and the presumed grattitude one must exhibit for the help with a visa to trying to find African food or black hairdressers in white neighbourhoods.

Stories of war and homosexuality are handled as delicately as adultery. Adichie's characters are imbued with a subtle intelligence and the only flaw I could find is that although all very different, I found the women mostly to be passive until the very last story, The Headstrong Historian, which featured two strong women, Nwamgba and her grand daughter Grace/Afamefuna.

Divides in Nigeria due to class or education were interesting to discover and having not read much literature by African writers, The Thing Around Your Neck was a polished intorduction. I can't wait to read more of Adichie's work.

Recently Reading: The Hand That Feeds You

 

I was disappointed by this thriller from pretty much the first page unfortunately.

Written as a collaboration between two writers, Amy Hempel and Jill Ciment under the name A J Rich, a lot of the inspiration came from a third writer friend, but unfortunately the blended writing meant that at times it felt distinctly written by different people and neither writer went quite deep enough.

The book opens with 30 year old Morgan Prager who is styudying victimology, who comes home to find her fiancee Bennett unrecognisable, completely mauled by her dogs and very, very dead. Morgan has a soft spot for dogs and her adopted dog Cloud and two fostered pit bulls are covered in blood...when law enforcement eventually arrives, one dog is killed immediately and the other two taken away as dangerous dogs. Morgan is devastated at this multiple loss, but when she tries to notify Bennett's parents she can't find them...the further she looks into the man she thought she knew the more she realises she didn't know him at all. Although, for Morgan this is given weight by the fact that she always goes for unsuitable guys, it just didn't ring true for me. Who in this day and age never meets their partners friends and family, goes to their house or workplace, has them meet the important people in their life and yet says yes to a diamond ring and a wedding? The fact that as Morgan researches further, more women who have had the exact same fake relationship are uncovered rings so false to me. I mean, really? What kinda woman? I just couldn't buy it.

Impeccably researched, I found the information about dog breeds, the process of looking after or fighting for a dangerous dog and also the theories around victims and sociopaths incredibly researched and this is where the book is strongest. Unfortunately, the character of Morgan is not fleshed out enough and as it is a first person narration there never seems to be enough depth to her thoughts or feelings to make us really care about her or to differentiate between the telling of the banal details. It is revealed that Morgan was raped as a young woman with the exact same tone as she would describe doing her shopping or hacking her ex lovers email account. This also hinders the build up of suspense, crucial to a thriller like this. I worked out the killer around 50 pages before the end, which was a definite anti-climax.

All in all, it's not too thrilling when you care more about the dogs than their owner.

Recently Reading: Us

 

The protagonist in 'Us' by David Nicholls of 'One Day' fame, is a middle-aged, middle class and very, very suburban man. Not the kind of voice I'd usually find particularly interesting, but Nicholls' skill at pulling together a complete character means that this novel about family is genuinely touching and entertaining in the most normal and relatable of ways.

We meet biochemist Douglas Peterson as his wife Connie tells him that after almost 25 years of marriage, she thinks she'd quite like to break up. When their arty and angsty son Albie goes off to uni after the summer she doesn't really see the point in staying together. Except Douglas really, really loves his arty, liberal wife and can't imagine life without her, so that rather scuppers his plans. They had planned a Grand Tour around Europe, taking in all the cultural sights and delicacies of Italy, France and Spain as a family, before Albie heads off to study photography at uni (a bone of contention with Douglas already). Connie decides they should still go ahead with the trip as she hasn't quite made her mind up and Douglas thinks he can use the time to repair the damage done to his relationship with his son and make his wife realise she should stay with him. What could go wrong? A lot, obviously.

Nicholls intercuts the present day possible break up anxiety of Douglas and the awkward moments of their holiday with the love story of Douglas and Connie. These were actually my favourite parts of the book, a look back at how a couple who were and still are so different came to fall in love. Douglas, staid, steady and responsible is instantly enamoured by free sprited, artist Connie; his life of boring dependability a world apart from her bohemian lifestyle of sex, drugs, parties and bad relationship choices. It was so interesting to have the whole relationship told frrom one point of view, although we only ever see Connie through Douglas eyes, we are able to glean so much about her personality through their interactions. While he remains devoted, and I am drawn to Connie's non-conformist personality, the reader can still see her snappy, often self-righteous behaviour in a way that Douglas cannot. Personally, it served as a warning of mismatching relationships (I'm single and looking for meaning everywhere lol)

While 'Us' takes us through the heady days of first falling in love, Douglas' jealousy and insecurity into eventual married life, we see a portrait of family life as it really is. Arguments and selling out for financial security, the loss of a child and of parents. Douglas' narration as a fairly 'normal' guy who just wants to get on with life, for his son to work hard and get a well paid job rather than something arty, for his family to stay together and bumble on and on; it's strangely charming. He doesn't like hot food, he can't resist arguing with his son, he is a stickler for rules and regs (there's a hilarious scene where he thinks it's acceptable to demand a recount at a parents quiz at Albie's school. Connie and Albie are mortified; he doesn't clock.) He has turned into his father without meaning to.

The Grand Tour of course goes tits up and Douglas thinks that he can somehow turn it into salvation for his family. By the end of the book you have grown so fond of Douglas and his nerdy little ways and are hopeful for the couple as he really does love his family. Nicholls then throws in a series of unexpected plot twists and revelations towards the end so expertly you almost fall off the bed but it all ties in perfectly. Some writers do this for shock value and you are left unsatisfied or feel cheated; not so here. It seems it all works out as it should, even if you hadn't expected it.

A sensitive tale of love and family from an ordinary guy.

Recently Reading: The Kite Runner

I read Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini's second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns years ago and was incredibly touched but have only just read his debut novel, the hugely successful The Kite Runner and again was moved by the plight of the characters against the larger backdrop of the hell of war.

Told from the perspective of Amir, the wealthy, pampered son of a respected businessman the book spans three decades and takes us from a prosperous Afhanistan to Pakistan, to America and back again, Afghanistan by then almost unrecognisable as a country ravaged by war and currently under Taliban rule. Amir, who loves storytelling and goes on to become a writer, is presented as a tender and thoughtful child much to the disappointment of his father but he is also jealous, cruel and cowardly as many young boys can be. This side of his character is shown almost always in respect to Hassan, the Hazara servant boy he has been raised alongside. The book really delves into themes of the father - son relationship, of feeling inadequate and the desperation to make a parent proud at any cost.

After a dramatic turn of events with a local bully, things are never the same for Amir and Hassan...and when Amir and his father escape Afghanistan before things turn really nasty, he is running away from so much more than just political unrest. Amir would likely never return to Afghanistan but many years later he has to...and it may just provide the redemption for the guilt that has riddled him for years. I don't want to give too much away but some of the story is heartbreaking, a country corrupted and destroyed. I found the experience of Amir and his father landing in America as migrants so interesting and relevant with all the migrant stories in the news at the moment. Having held positions of wealth and power, to see the characters adapt to their new lives as a student and his rich father now holding a menial job..the inner strength needed was painted beautifully.

Hosseini writes Afhganistan and the Afghan people beautifully, almost lyrically, whether he is describing the community coming together for the local tradition of kite racing, the wedding customs or even the decaying neighbourhoods when he returns many years later; every word is laden with reverence and respect for the country and its people. If the book is a love song to Afghanistan, it is one of heartbreak; when the relationship goes bad and is almost completely destroyed...but the ending has the tiniest flicker of hope.

Recently Reading: The Girl on the Train

  

What can I tell you about The Girl On The Train that you haven't already heard? Not a lot really, other than to say you should defo read it. I actually wasn't sure if I should get it because I'm not a hardback fan and that's what was on offer in Sainsbury's but, well, it wasn't the number 1 hardback in the UK for 20 weeks (longest ever) for nothing.

Like I said, you've probably heard that it's being made into a film and the incessant comparisons to Gone Girl. I get that to a certain extent, but The Girl on the Train actually feels more realistic, not least because it's set over here in the UK and also because the crazy and tragic things that unfold in the book all seem like things that could, in our own lives, happen, by accident. You know, without backdating years worth of diary entries and faking your own death.

The device of the unrelialable female narrator is used to brilliant effect; the narrative is told primarily through Rachel, a drunken divorcee without much to smile about, her enigmatic would-be neighbour Megan and her ex's new wife Anna, who takes just a little bit too much pleasure in Rachel's spiral into dispair.

Rachel has lost her husband, her flat and her job due to her descent into alcoholism and while at first the reader is a little sympathetic you soon start to tire of her self-pitying, indulgent and careless behaviour and just want to give her a 'fix-up' slap. She perves on a couple she can see from the train on her commute, a kind of real life Instagram stalk, giving them names and creating a love story for them...until the woman, Megan, goes missing and Rachel turns all True Detective. Her drunken past means the she becomes a literal unreliable witness. Tut. Rachel gets deeper and deeper into something she's not too sure she can handle...and along the way begins to question some of her memories about her marriage to her hard done by ex, marred by tragedy and hampered by alcohol fuelled blackouts.

Hawkins brilliantly constructs an unlikeable character but manages to get us back onside as the book progresses, weaving the three women's pasts and presents together to a tense and terrifying climax.

I read this book in one weekend and probably could have done it in a few hours if I didn't put it down to go out partying. Books and booze make for a pretty good weekend really!

Read it. Instagram the book if you're really cool (Reese Witherspoon did). You could wait for the film but you'd be missing a trick.

Recently Reading...

I'm always reading and it's one of the greatest pleasures in my life.

I thought I'd share some of the books I've been reading lately and maybe get some suggestions of books to read next!

First up is The Rosie Project which I read on holiday a couple of months ago and it is the perfect holiday read. Set in Australia, Don Tillman is a genetics professor on the autistic spectrum, most likely Aspergers Syndrome, but he doesn't know it (a funny moment is when he delivers a lecture on Aspergers, listing quality after quality that he exhibits, without twigging). Having reached middle age without even getting to date number 2, he decides he wants to get married and creates a thorough and frankly tactless questionnaire designed to find the perfect wife. Rosie, who he meets at the University, smokes, is a sometime vegetarian and leads a pretty wild life; she definitely doesn't meet the criteria...but when has that ever mattered to Love?

A light and charming read, The Rosie Project is a testament to the unpredictability of love and Don's way of viewing the world makes for an interesting voice. A quick and untaxing read, it is perfect summer holiday read as I mentioned.

My favourite book of the three, Maggie O'Farrell is a beautiful writer. Set in the heatwave of 1976 in London, the sticky, claustrophobic, unbearable heat sears through every page of the book. Robert Riordan goes out to get a newspaper as he does every day...but this time he doesn't come home. His wife Greta, the Irish matriarch of the family might know where he is, but she is not letting on. Robert's sudden and out of character disappearance brings home his children in the search for him, and the complicated dynamics of a close, working class family are crafted so perfectly. 

Michael Francis, a father himself whose marriage is on the brink of collapse due to a one time infidelity and a wife whose resentment has built over the years, is the only brother and the peacemaker. The sisters, once so close are now estranged and the reason why is teased out slowly, throughout the book. There's Monica, the eldest, a goody two shoes to her siblings, who is now caught in her own struggling second marriage, trying to be a step-mother to two girls who hate her and Aiofe, the wild, youngest sister who has relocated to New York. As the book is set in the 1970's we can understand why her obvious dyslexia has not been diagnosed, but the descriptions of her life as she tries to struggle through without anyone realising, are heartbreaking.

As the family join forces to find their father, the intricate writing delivers a portrait of a complicated and realistic family. The plotline of the missing father actually feels very secondary to the family dynamics and when the reason Robert is missing is uncovered, it is a slight let down, but overall the book is brilliantly written and well worth a read.

Lastly, The Husband's Secret, another book set in Australia, funnily enough. Centred around the generations of families who have attended a Catholic primary school in Sydney. This book is sweet, with some nice character development, but was a little too chick-lit for me. The big secret seemed a little unlikely to have gone undiscovered for so long but did link the characters together in a feasible but not obvious way. The three protagonists are all female, but without any of the complexity of my favourite women in modern fiction. Cecilia, the super mum and Tupperware queen, who knows everything about everyone and manages to keep all the plates spinning effortlessly, Tess, who suffers from social anxiety but manages to run a business and who has escaped to her mothers after discovering her husband and cousin, who are also her business partners, have fallen in love and want her blessing and Rachel, who never recovered from her daughters murder and is now dealing with her son moving her beloved grandson away to New York. The most interesting feature of this book, is when the narrators voice changes from describing the actions of thoughts of the characters to that of Fate, explaining what would have happened to the characters if things had been different, a Sliding Doors type of peek at what might have happened.

More recent reads coming soon!