Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Shades of Grey is set in a future world where the colour that you can see, and how well you can see it, determines your standing in society. Eddie Russett is moving out of the city with his dad, who has been relocated to the Outer Fringes. Life there is much different from what he is used to and it takes him a while to get used to it. Eddie meets a Grey named Jane and finds himself falling in love with her. The problem is that he is a Red and so above her in the social order so a union between the two of them would be frowned on. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, the Prefects of the town have taken a dislike to him so he must be always on the lookout. As Eddie settles into town life he notices strange things happening. Can he work out what’s going on before he gets killed?

I thought that the world Jasper Fforde has created is pretty cool. At first it was very confusing as there doesn’t seem to be any particular order for the social hierarchy other than Greys are the lowest and Purples are the highest. It’s set hundreds of years in the future, after the Something that Happened but there are still traces from out world. A few names have trickled through and stories have been passed down and distorted. In the eye department humans have devolved as they can no longer see in the dark or see colour properly. There is a lot of lightning and massive swans to attack them so they don’t travel much. At its core it’s your average dystopian world but the extras that have been added make it different enough that it keeps it fresh.

Eddie was also a fairly standard character who finds himself in a place where he doesn’t know all the rules. He is naive and easily manipulated into doing what his new friend Tommo wants him to do. I liked Eddie but he wasn’t original enough for me, although he did get more intelligent as the book went on. I did like the characters of Tommo and Courtland who are the baddies of the piece. They are both self-centred and get Eddie into trouble often. They’re not nice people but they live in a tough world and this is how they cope. My favourite character was definitely Jane as she is badass. She questions everything and doesn’t let people treat her differently just because she is a Grey.

There is humour in the book too, this is a Jasper Fforde book after all. It’s not laugh out loud funny but it is feel good, puts a smile on your face humour. The book is full of references to our world, some I got and many others probably went over my head. It did make me smile every time I spotted a reference to something like Star Wars and Sherlock Holmes. The writing kept me engaged and, once I’d got over my confusion at the start, really enjoyed how it was written.

This book is brilliant and I would absolutely recommend it. I didn’t really have any expectations going in to the book and I was pleasantly surprised. For me, the world and its structure could have done with more explanation but he may be writing a prequel which will hopefully answer some questions. I think dystopia is a difficult genre to write as they don’t differ much but this stood out for me. It probably helped that I haven’t read any dystopia for a while so I wasn’t bored of it. This is my first book by Jasper Fforde and won’t be my last. It’s a fun read and I will certainly be checking out more of his books.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Rivers of London is a crime / fantasy novel that is also quite amusing. There has been a brutal murder in Covent Garden, London. A man has had his head knocked clean off by a man with a big stick. Peter Grant has been with the police for two years and has seen a lot of things. He and his friend Lesley are guarding the crime scene for the night. Lesley leaves to get some coffee and Peter is called over by someone lingering in the shadows. That someone is a ghost and has information about the murder. From this encounter, Peter discovers all sorts of beings are real that he thought just stories. He meets Inspector Nightingale, the Mets very own wizard. Peter becomes his apprentice and together, with the help of Nightingale’s housekeeper Molly, and tributaries of the River Thames, they must find out what’s going on. What’s causing people to get suddenly angry and murder someone, then for their face to fall off?

The book is a bit gruesome but in a good way. The writing is humorous and you don’t really get scared by what happens although it is terrifying. It keeps things quite simple so as a reader you don’t get too bogged down in police procedure; you can just get on with the story. London is a nice setting for the book as it has a lot of history and hidden parts to be explored. The history plays a big role in this book as well as the geography. I don’t know London but that was fine, although it did mean that when there was a description of a route that is taken I didn’t have any idea whether this was accurate or not.

Peter Grant is not the most reliable narrator as he is easily distracted. He often needs clues from people to get the right answer. He is a nice guy and always means well. The characters around him are all pretty cool too. Nightingale is an enigma and in this book we don’t really learn the extent of his knowledge or powers. We also don’t know how he came to be living with Molly as a housekeeper and what exactly she is. Peter fancies both of the major female characters. He has spent his whole police career with Lesley but nothing’s happened between them; not for want of him trying. He also likes Beverly, one of Mother Thames’ daughters. Beverly is the human manifestation of a brook running under London. It’s not clear whether Peter will end up with either in the future but the women would definitely be the ones to make that choice.

I really like the way fantasy was blended with reality. It makes sense in a big city like London that there may well be a magical community that no one is aware of because people do their thing and ignore what others are doing. In this book supernatural beings occasionally attract the attention of mortal folk but humans would explain away any unusual behaviour. As Peter learns more about the other side of the city he realises that he may have been easily distracted because he can sense magic like a scent left behind when some has been performed. It should be fun to see how Peter grows as a wizard and how he’ll cope with that.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a feel of sort of being a cross between Terry Pratchett and Christopher Brookmyre. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but it’s well written enough to engage you in the story and make you want to know what happens next. This book certainly won’t be for everyone, there will be plenty who don’t get the humour. But for those that do it’s worth a read. The world is well thought out and the author obviously cares about it. I will definitely be reading the rest in the series so far.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

R is a zombie. He lives in an airport with lots of other zombies, including his best friend M. When the urge takes them they go hunting for the Living. The Living have barricaded themselves inside a stadium so the zombies can’t get them. However, the often need to leave the stadium to scavenge for supplies. It’s on these trips that they are vulnerable to attack by zombies. R and his gang attack a group of teenagers getting medical supplies. R eats the brain of a boy named Perry. Eating a brain gives you the memories of that person for a while; makes you feel alive. Perry’s brain contains memories of his girlfriend Julie, who is also on the scavenging trip. R becomes intrigued by Julie and decides to take her back home with him. At first Julie is scared but the more time she spends with R the more comfortable she is around him. He also seems to be gradually changing. It’s almost as if he’s becoming more human.

I really like the idea of this book; zombie meets girl, zombie falls in love with girl, girl starts to fall in love with zombie. The book is nicely written as well. The start is a monologue from R on what it’s like to be a zombie. He’s retained enough of his humanness to see the humour in what has happened and to just get on with it. The book gets more serious as it goes on but the beginning is quite funny.  R is philosophical about how his life turned out and I think it helps him to cope that zombies don’t feel emotions the same way that the Living do. R does like to make the distinction that while yes technically he is dead, he hasn’t ceased to exist. He also hasn’t decomposed to just bones like the Boneys. He’s a corpse but he can still walk and grunt.

R is an excellent narrator. He is intelligent for a zombie and hasn’t gone feral like some. Although impulse is what drives him to take Julie and change his life, he is usually quite calm and just takes things in his stride. Just because he is a zombie doesn’t mean he can’t have friends. M is the kind of friend you want in a crisis. He will stand up for you against the Boneys and isn’t afraid to attack them so that you can get away. R would not be the hero that he is without M. Julie is a strong female character. She doesn’t go screaming and fainting all over the place. She does what she needs to in order to survive. She helps R a lot and shows him what he can be.

The book is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with humans and zombies. There is even a balcony scene. I enjoyed this part of the book and thought it was cleverly done. Apart from the characters, the book didn’t really have anything new to offer. It had all of the clichés that you would expect to find in a romantic book or film. Basically the book was just asking to be made into a film. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good book and worth a read but ultimately it’s not as unique as it first appears. Zombies having the ability to become human again if given a bit of love and compassion is a good idea and the author has written it well. Would recommend this book to older teenagers and young adults as it is a fun read.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

The Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick

Pat Peoples has just left a mental institution and now has to adjust to life outside the ‘bad place’. He moves back in with his parents and tries to work out what he’s going to do. The thing he wants most is to be reunited with his wife Nikki but no one around him will talk about her. Pat slowly discovers that he has been in the ‘bad place’ for years rather than months and that Nikki has moved on. His friend Ronnie sets him up with his sister-in-law, Tiffany, and together they form an unlikely friendship. Tiffany’s husband died and she had a break down. They are both damaged and end up helping each other, going running together and visiting a local diner. Pat struggles to come to terms with what happened before his mental collapse and how different life is now. He is constantly looking for his silver lining but won’t necessarily get what he wants.

I didn’t massively like Pat as a character but he is very damaged. At the beginning of the book he is very childlike and relies on his mother to help him. He focuses on getting fit in order to win Nikki back. That is his sole train of thought throughout. He believes that she is his silver lining and he can make himself worthy of her. With the help of his mother, brother Jake, friend Ronnie and therapist Cliff, Pat resumes a somewhat normal life. His mother takes him shopping; his brother takes him to football games and Ronnie takes him out to places like the beach. Tiffany is an interesting character as she seems manipulative but she is also vulnerable. I would have liked to spend some time in her mind just to see what was going on in there.

There is a lot of American Football running through the whole book which confused me greatly. I have no idea about any teams or how to play the game and what the players do. I have no interest in knowing either. I understand that it was an important piece of bonding for the males in the book but I struggled with it. The atmosphere and camaraderie of the game was emphasised but I just couldn’t imagine how it could take over a whole town like that. That part of the novel would definitely help if you were an American reader.

Pat sees his life as being a movie. He has hit a low point and the only way is up. That’s the way it works in movies; it seems as if the couple will never get back together and then, after several near misses, they finally are reunited in their happy ending. Pat believes this is going to happen with Nikki and himself. He is told she has a restraining order against him but that’s a mistake; if he can just talk to her, just see her even, everything will be fine. It added a bittersweetness to the book; Pat knowing exactly what’s going to happen but it never does.

At the beginning of the book I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about; I didn’t like Pat and I couldn’t see myself liking him at any point. He grew on me though. You can’t help but feel for him. He really wants his silver lining; wants it so much he’s blind to the fact that he won’t get it. I thought the issue of mental illness was handled well here and portrayed realistically. There’s no quick fix for this; it takes years to work through it and find a new normal. By the end of the book Pat ends up being and better and stronger person than ever. It’s not easy or simple but with a little bit of help it gradually gets better. It’s a good book with a nice message and I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to. I would recommend people give this book a read, it may surprise you.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows fifteen year old Charlie through a year of his life. He hasn’t really been making friends at school and has gone through some tough times recently with the death of his aunt Helen and his brother moving away to college. He makes friends with Sam and Patrick who are the same age as his older sister. Sam and Patrick introduce Charlie to their friends and with them Charlie experiences new things such as alcohol, drugs and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Throughout the novel Charlie reads twelve books given to him by his English teacher and these have an influence on him, as well as the new things he goes through. It’s a coming of age book in the same vein as a novel like The Catcher in the Rye.

I thought I would like Charlie as he is a nice guy, a bit shy and very intelligent. He also escapes into books which I can relate to. However, there was something not quite right about the way he is written. There are various things that have happened to Charlie that could account for this but for me it affects how realistic the book feels. Charlie is immature for his age and cries a lot. It’s difficult to imagine him having friends his own age, let alone friends older than him. I just can’t see him being accepted into the group as one of them. He does get more mature as the book goes on though. The characters of Sam and Patrick felt more real to me and it may have been a better book if it focused on them more. Sam has trouble with finding the right guy and Patrick is gay but the boy he loves isn’t as open as him which frustrates Patrick.

The book is written in the form of letters. It’s not clear who it is that Charlie is writing to, or if you would be able to work it out from reading the book a few times. To begin with the letters aren’t very complex but as Charlie’s English teacher helps him improve his writing through setting him essays, Charlie’s letters get better written. This is a nice touch and I think that would happen in reality if someone saw potential in you and encouraged you. My problem with the way the book is written is that I’m not sure Charlie is the most reliable narrator and it might have been nice to get things from a different person’s point of view. I think Charlie’s unreliability may be intended to add a certain charm to the book. In some ways it does and some ways it doesn’t.

The book deals with a lot of issues all at once and, being less than 250 pages, this is a big ask. It has sex, drugs, alcohol, mental health and abuse in it. It sort of felt like an episode of Skins, where it is a twisted, overly romanticised vision of what it is to be a teenager. To be fair, a lot of teenagers feel able to relate to Charlie but I don’t know how many of them would go out and get drunk and take drugs a lot. I get that Charlie is an outsider and everyone feels like that at some point in their lives until they find a group of friends that is like them and they don’t feel so alone. Really, this is enough of a story; it doesn’t need all the embellishments to make it more dramatic. It’s just over the top.

I didn’t like this book as much as I wanted to; I think I’m probably too old. This book and Looking for Alaska by John Green felt quite similar to me. I’m not sure why we can’t have a contemporary teenage novel that doesn’t have drugs and alcohol in it. Obviously yes a lot of teenagers do experiment with that kind of thing but that’s not true of everyone. I suppose it makes the book more exciting but it also glamorises it and it just feels like an easy plot device that lacks imagination. The book would have been a lot better if Chbosky had just stuck with the theme of abuse and gone with that, rather than feeling like he had to throw everything into the book.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

The Sisters Brothers are essentially hired killers in America in 1851. Eli and Charlie Sisters are employed to find a man named Hermann Kermit Warm and kill him. Their friend Henry Morris has been sent on ahead to scout out where Warm is and what his habits are. It turns out Warm has headed to California for the gold rush so the Sisters brothers must follow him there. Along the way they meet a colourful cast of characters and must try and survive long enough to get to their destination. Eli, the narrator, begins to question what they do for a living and whether they should be hanging up their pistols. Charlie has no such thoughts and Eli, being the younger, sort of goes along with Charlie all the while trying to assess his life and what it means.

I enjoyed spending time in Eli’s head and was interested in his inner conflict of wanting to give up his job but not wanting to leave his brother. Charlie would not have been a good narrator as he is drunk a lot of the time and isn’t fully aware of what’s going on around him. He is very alert when he needs to be and can’t be beaten in a gun fight. Eli doesn’t have a killing instinct to the same degree as Charlie but you still don’t want to mess with him. In another era, Eli would have been a really nice guy and may have been able to leave a double life, with a wife and kids but leaving on ‘business trips’ to go and kill people. Even in this era he’s a nice guy, just confused.

I wasn’t sure about reading this book to begin with. The first chapter is about the brothers’ horses and had the rest of the book been like that I probably wouldn’t have continued. I haven’t seen or read any westerns because I didn’t think I would find any interest in them. This one was a nice read. It wasn’t too focused on being a western and had a lot more to it. There was some psychology stuff and plenty of action. I was able to get into the world fairly easily but I couldn’t manage to really enjoy being in the world.

I think it helped that the book was nicely written and didn’t take very long to read. The book is split into three parts with a couple of intermissions. I didn’t really understand the point of the intermissions and whether they were real or some sort of dream sequence or something. As the book has an element of mystery in it, you have the build up, the journey and the conclusion. This worked well too as it is a familiar formula to most readers so it is something else that helps ease you in to the world of the western. I don’t imagine it can really be called a western in the true sense of the word but it certainly gives you a taste of it.

The book was better than I expected but I didn’t feel a big connection to it. I did find myself liking Eli and enjoying his struggle. I can understand why this book gained award attention when it first came out because it’s so different to most other books out there. Except, when you look at what it’s actually about, it’s not that different really; it just has an unusual setting. I’m not really sure what to rate this book as it was really good but I just can’t bring myself to give it four stars. I’d be interested to see what this author writes next as it should be interesting. I would recommend people give this book a chance and not dismiss it because of what it appears to be.

Overall rating 3.5 out of 5.

The Skin Map by Stephen R Lawhead

Kit meets his great-grandfather, Cosimo in an alley in London. He finds out that Cosimo uses ley lines to travel through time and dimensions. Kit also has this ability. His girlfriend, Mina, doesn’t believe him so he takes her through to another dimension. Except, as he doesn’t know what he’s doing, she ends up in Prague in 1606. There she meets Etzel and together they set up the first coffee shop in Prague. Kit, meanwhile, is with Cosimo and his friend Sir Henry. In order to try and work out where Mina is they must get the Skin Map. This was made by a man named Arthur Flinders-Petrie who also travelled like them. He made a map of where ley lines were and where they went in tattoos on his skin. After he died his skin was made into a map. However, there is also a man named Burleigh who is after the map, and so after Kit and Cosimo.

I really liked the sound of this book when I read the blurb on the back. I am a sucker for a good time travel novel. As with every time travel book, there are rules to the travel. In this case, you cannot travel to the future, only the past. This is fine because there is plenty of past to go to and plenty of parallel universes to visit. In this book you go to England, Prague and Egypt. You spend a lot of time in Prague with Mina but I think Egypt could have done with a bit more description. I couldn’t really picture where they were.

As usual, there were characters I liked and characters I didn’t. Unfortunately one of the characters I didn’t like was Kit and he is essentially the main character. He is supposed to be an adult but just acts like a child. To begin with I wasn’t sure about Mina but I really liked her towards the end and can’t wait to see how she develops in the next book. Cosimo was a fun character to read; he’s just a fun old guy who doesn’t take things too seriously, even when he is in serious danger. I’m interested to learn more about the baddy, Burleigh. It’s not clear what his agenda is and what exactly he wants from Cosimo. So far he is not nice at all so hopefully he will be a formidable opponent for Mina, Kit and their friends.

The writing style is okay; I felt it improved as the book went on and I was more engaged with the characters. Okay is pretty much how I felt about the whole book up until the last chapter. It ends with the reader asking a lot of questions, which I suppose you need to read the nest book to find out. There was also an epilogue with a teaser for some new characters in the sequel. Half way through I didn’t think I would be continuing the series. Now, provided we have less from Kit’s perspective and more girls kicking butt, I’m going to have to read the second. This is a planned five part series, so we’ll see how it goes as to whether I’ll be reading the whole series.

It was an alight read but nothing that special for me. It’s not very long so if you wanted a quick read I think you would enjoy it. It might also be a good read for teenagers wanting to get into adult books as it is part of a series and it’s easy to read. I have read better time travel books but it certainly could have been a lot worse.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck is two stories in one. Ben is from a remote town in America in 1977. His mother has recently died and he has moved in with his aunt, uncle and cousins. One stormy night he is looking through his mother’s things and finds a book called Wonderstruck. In it is a bookmark to his mother from a man. He wonders if this man is his father and so decides to investigate. The only problem is that it would appear that his father lives in New York, which is miles away. There is also the fact that he has recently become deaf, following an accident and can neither sign nor read lips. The other story is told entirely through pictures and is set just outside New York in 1927. It follows Rose, a deaf girl, who isn’t allowed to do things by herself but really wants to explore the city just outside her doorstep. Throughout the book their stories merge and become one big story.

Ben is only young but so much has happened to him already. You can’t help but want to be his friend so he has someone to talk to and hang out with. When something life altering, like suddenly not being able to hear anything, happens to you it’s going to take a while to adjust. At first Ben tries to ignore it, but he finds that just isn’t possible. He needs to be able to communicate. Ben is both brave and cowardly. He decides to run away and look for his dad instead of dealing with problems at home but he isn’t scared to go around New York by himself. Rose is not the happiest child although she enjoys spending time with her brother, who seems to understand her best. She’s very creative and has lots of potential if only her parents could see past her being deaf.

The book is approximately one third written novel and two thirds graphic novel / picture book. Ben’s story is told through words, Rose’s through pictures. The two mediums are blended together seamlessly; allowing you to have cliff-hangers in the two stories when the author switches between the two. The written part has just the right amount of description and inner thought. The pictures convey inner thoughts through facial expressions but it’s the detail of the city that captures your imagination. Selznick is an incredible artist. You don’t need any words to know what’s going on and how the characters feel.

I really enjoyed this book, and although it’s over six-hundred pages it doesn’t take long to read. I really felt connected to both main characters and the ending just ties it all up nicely. It’s not the happiest of books as both have struggles to overcome, so the end makes it all the more touching. This would have been an excellent story had it been just words but the pictures just bring it to life so, at least for Rose, you don’t need to picture what she looks like. Selznick did a lot of research in to this book and I’d like to think that if I ever went to the American Museum of Natural History, I’d be able to picture Ben and Rose being there too. I think adults and children can enjoy Selznick’s work and would urge everyone to try one of his novels.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

Reading Wrap Up July 2013

These are the books I read in July

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky  --  3 / 5

Rumo by Walter Moers  --  5 / 5

The Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick  --  4 / 5

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion  --  4 / 5

The Cutting Room by Jilliane Hoffman  --  4 / 5

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch  --  4 / 5

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde  --  4 / 5

Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Tell the Wolves I’m Home looks at how fourteen year old June copes with the death of her uncle Finn, her mother’s brother. Finn was an artist and painted June and her older sister Greta before he died. June was very close to her uncle, she feels like she is in love with him. After he dies from AIDS, she discovers there was a lot that she didn’t know about him, that her mother kept from her. The biggest shock is that he had a partner, Toby who he has been with for nine years. At first June doesn’t want to know him as she doesn’t want to share her uncle or think about the fact that he loved someone more or just as much as her. She agrees to meet him and he turns out to be a way to keep her uncle alive.

The book is set in the 1980s, which was a time when AIDS was a death sentence; there were no drugs to help you cope. Anyone who had AIDS was treated like a leper as people didn’t know how you contracted AIDS so were overly cautious and wouldn’t go near anyone who was known to have it. Although, it wasn’t that long ago, there is a significant lack of technology. There was no internet, so not every household had a computer and there were no mobile phones. Some of the things that happen in the book wouldn’t have worked as well had that technology been available. It couldn’t have been set today as AIDS is no longer a death sentence. It is set recently enough that the world is recognisable and relatable.

The relationships between the characters are what really make this book what it is. The relationship between June and Toby is touching as they are trying to keep the memory of Finn alive and trying to cope with his death at the same time. June is reluctant to let Toby in to begin with but comes to rely on his friendship. She needs him as her relationship with her sister Greta is spiralling out of control. Greta seems to enjoy hurting June and getting into her personal belongings. They used to be very close but have drifted apart and June doesn’t know if they can fix it. Greta is the star of the school play and feels pressure from their parents to do well. She starts drinking and June worries that she’ll go too far. It takes Greta being brought home by the police for them to start repairing their relationship and talking to each other again.

The title doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with the book, but the June realises towards the end that the wolves are the shameful and embarrassing feelings that we have and we need to not run away from them. June has a lot to deal with throughout the book and at times she’s not sure that she’ll make it through. It’s the love that she feels for others and that others feel for her that help her. She tries to keep all elements of her life separate and you just can’t live like that; it’s too many things to juggle at once. She’s much happier at the end of the book than at the start.

I was a bit unsure of June for much of the book; I wasn’t sure I liked being in her head. However, as events started to come to a head it was fun to see how she coped with that. I did feel a connection to June and understood her motivations. Her parents don’t have the easiest jobs and the girls are often left to fend for themselves. This means June is more mature than the average fourteen year old but not as mature as she thinks she is. I picked the book because of the title and am glad I did. There aren’t any wolves in the book but there are plenty of demons that need exorcising. The family are stuck in a rut and need the events that unfold to bring them back together. I enjoyed the book and feel I understand people a bit better.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help tells the story of a group of black maids and the white women they work for in a small town in Mississippi. Aibileen works with a family with a young child. She’s very good with children and always tries to emphasize to the children that skin colour is not important. Her own son has died recently and she’s found herself in a rut. Minny has trouble keeping a job as she keeps talking back to her employers. She also did something awful to the daughter of her last employer that got her fired and saw she wouldn’t get a job in the town. Luckily, there is a lady who has recently moved to the town and Minny manages to convince her to employ her. Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan has returned home after graduating from college to find her old maid gone. She wants to know why. She gets to thinking about the differences between the black and white people in her town. When she discovers Aibileen’s son was going to write about this topic before he died, she decides to take up his project. Being white, Skeeter must convince the maids to help her. At first, only Aibileen agrees.

Aibileen is definitely my favourite character; she is an amazing person and a pillar of her community. She is always eager to help others and never puts herself first. She enjoys looking after the children that she does, but not so much their parents. Minny relies on Aibileen a lot. Minny’s husband beats her regularly and she has five children to look after. I admire the character of Minny because she won’t take any nonsense and says exactly what she thinks; there’s no half measures. Skeeter dreams of being a journalist but that isn’t likely to happen while she’s still in Mississippi. She feels she can’t move as her mother has cancer and is very ill. The idea for the book comes along at just the right time for her. Hilly is the leader of the young women of the town. They all follow her example and do as she says. And Hilly hates coloured people.

It’s difficult to fathom the extent to which segregation changed the way people went about their business and what they did. Having more than one toilet because if the maid uses the toilet it is ‘dirty’ and the white family can’t use it. It’s really quite arbitrary what is and isn’t acceptable. The white people have no qualms about the black maids washing their clothes or cooking their food, yet won’t eat in the same room or shop in the same grocery stores. It’s a ridiculous concept and makes no sense. Yet the black people had no power to speak up against it.

The book is told from the point of view of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Each character has a separate personality and each is engaging to listen to. The way the two maids are written is the way they would speak and that adds to the feel of the book. I found myself really connecting to all of the narrators and wanting everything to work out for them and for them to be happy. While reading it I was so drawn in to the story that I didn’t mind, but now I think it would have been interesting to have a couple of chapters inside Hilly’s head. To see if there is a reason she is the way that she is and has the views that she does.

This book was amazing and fascinating. The fifties seems to be a new area of interest for me. I also like books where you learn things without realising. This is one of those books; it tells you so much about the history of Southern America. It felt very real, which it obviously was but it’s almost like reading a biography rather than fiction. I would recommend this book to everyone. It’s written in a way that is easy to read and makes you think. I had seen the film a long time before I read the book, but from what I remember the film was a reasonable adaptation. A must read book.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan

The Thirty-nine Steps tells the story of spies in the run up to the fist World War. Richard Hannay has moved to Britain from South Africa and, having been there a couple of months is very bored. Luckily, the man in the flat above him has secret information about European politics and is being chased by some German and British spies. His neighbour tells Hannay what he knows and says he must reveal what he knows at the correct time. The neighbour gets killed and Hannay must go on the run. He goes to Scotland where he is helped by locals to avoid his pursuers. He survives by sheer luck and travels to London to deliver his information. Together they set up an operation to catch the spies before they can escape.

Richard Hannay is a fun character to spend time with. He’s pretty savvy and uses disguises and the help of others to avoid those who are after him. He’s a bit reminiscent of James Bond but has to rely on instinct rather than being told what to do. All the characters he meets along the way are nearly all nice and willing to help. They, like Hannay, are happy for a bit of excitement in their lives and will probably dine out on the story for a while after. The baddies are masters of disguise and incredibly clever. As much as Hannay does to try and confuse him, they manage to figure out where he is and come straight after him. The only thing I had a problem with was that there were no female characters. There doesn’t seem to be a particular reason for this; perhaps it was the time it was written or it may be that Buchan was only writing for a male audience.

The book is very short, only 112 pages, but there is a lot crammed in to that space. Each chapter is its own little story; he meets someone new in each one who either helps or hinders him. The exceptions are the last couple of chapters when Hannay is back in London, which builds up to the finale. I could vividly picture the Scottish countryside that is the setting for most of the book. It’s a dramatic landscape to go with the drama unfolding which is a nice connection. There was plenty of description in Scotland but not so much in London so that was more difficult to picture. I think this was partly because Buchan spent more time in Scotland than England. To a certain extent, the main character takes some autobiographical points from Buchan himself.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book but I really did. The fast pace of the book made you want to keep reading. A problem I did have with the plot a bit is that I didn’t really understand what significance the secrets had and who exactly was after Hannay and why. But I don’t think that mattered too much as the important thing was that he was on the run alone and several people were chasing him so the odds weren’t in his favour. Despite being written one hundred years ago, the language is quite modern and easy to understand; so this would be a good classic to start with. The ending is unresolved so you the reader has to decide what happened and how it affected the grand scheme of things when World War One occurred anyway. This is a quick, fun read and I’d be curious to read some of the others in the series to see what topics he covers.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Small Island follows the lives of four people before, during and after the second world war. Gilbert was born in Jamaica, the eldest of eight children. He is well educated and would like to become a lawyer. This changes when he volunteers for the RAF and goes to England to fight. After the war he has to return to Jamaica but quickly moves back to England and gets a job with Royal Mail. Queenie is born in England to a butcher father and mother. She gets taken to London by her aunt so Queenie can help in her shop. Her aunt dies and Queenie marries Bernard to have stability in her life. She is alone during the war and looks after Bernard’s father. She rents rooms out to soldiers. One of them is a Jamaican that she takes a liking to. After the war she continues to rent out rooms including one to Gilbert. Hortense was born in Jamaica where she trains to be a teacher. She marries Gilbert after knowing him for a few weeks because she wants to move to England. She follows him to England once he has moved in to Queenie’s house. Bernard was born in England and goes to fight the war in India.

The book switches from 1948 to before 1948. As each character gets introduced, at an appropriate point, you learn about their past. For some characters that takes more than one flashback. Having the immediate contrast between the two time periods helps show the impact of war and how long it takes for things to get back to some kind of normal. The time changes are carefully chosen and come along to answer your questions just when you need them. The two locations are vivid too and you can picture exactly what’s going on. Not being familiar with what villages and towns are like in Jamaica, that was more difficult to picture. But even if you can’t see it, you definitely feel the difference between Jamaica and England.

All four of the main characters were really well written and I felt I understood them. Gilbert and Queenie seemed more savvy whereas Hortense and Bernard seemed a bit more naive. It is a very big culture shock for Hortense as the British people she knew in Jamaica were more upper class and I think Hortense was sort of expecting everyone to be like that. She is determined not to let people visibly get to her despite the way she and other black people are treated. India is a culture shock for Bernard and he really doesn’t like it. It’s very much an us and them vibe with the British soldiers and the Indian natives. All of these interactions between cultures is interesting.

I was a bit worried to begin with as this is an award-winning book and that can mean they are difficult to read and a bit pretentious. This book was none of those things. The writing style was easy to fall in to and I just wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. When the point of view changed it tells you at the start of the chapter but they are all so distinct that you knew who’s head you were in immediately. Not being a particularly plot-driven novel, there was just the right amount of description to character interaction.

I really enjoyed this book which surprised me a little bit. I enjoy novels set around the war that focus on what it was like for those left at home. This delivered in that but also introduced me to the topic of what it was like for immigrants coming over at that time. Everyone would have been suspicious of new people because that had been their mind set for years. Despite not having segregation we sort of did unofficially as far as a lot of people were concerned. Racism is a fascinating topic because for some it is just ignorance and an unwillingness to learn about other people rather than any actual hatred towards those of a different race. I’d certainly like to read more of Andrea Levy’s books and would recommend Small Island to everyone.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

Reading Wrap Up June 2013

These are the books that I read in June

Small Island by Andrea Levy  --  5 / 5

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan  --  3 / 5

The Help by Kathryn Stockett  --  5 / 5

The Dalek Project (Dr Who) by Justin Richards & Mike Collins  --  3 / 5

Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt  --  4 / 5

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick  --  5 / 5

The Skin Map by Stephen R Lawhead  --  3 / 5

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt  --  3 / 5

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby tells the story of Nicholas and his family and friends. His father dies and he must now support his mother and sister, Kate. They travel to London to seek the help of his father’s brother Ralph. This does not go quite as planned because Ralph is not a nice person and only cares about money and himself. Things do not get off to a good start when they accept Ralph’s advice and help and only encounter vile people. When they surrender themselves to fate events take a turn for the better and they meet merchants and philanthropists the Cheeryble twins, Charles and Ned. They help the Nicklebys and their lives get much better. Thanks to the Cheerybles the Nicklebys don’t need to rely on Ralph and Nicholas and his sister even find themselves spouses. It’s a happy ending for most that deserve it and an unhappy one for most of those who don’t.

All the characters are well rounded and it feels as if you know them and know how they’re going to react to something before they do. It’s obvious which characters you’re supposed to like and which ones you aren’t and for the majority of them, this was exactly how I felt. I didn’t connect with any of the characters really as they were all a bit plain. Really, we needed the villains to mix things up a bit. I found myself taking against Mrs Nickleby. She is very self-centred and always needs to be the centre of attention, much like Mrs Bennet in Pride & Prejudice. There are a lot of minor characters and may be there mostly to break up the tension and provide some comic relief. None of them stood out for me, they were all just a bit boring.

The plot of the book dragged a bit for me. We didn’t really need to know the fates of all the minor characters. I do enjoy Dickens’ storytelling but, not knowing an awful lot of history, can’t tell which bits are social commentary and which are pure fiction. This is Dickens’ first novel where romance features heavily and it’s not easy to do and avoid offending people. It’s a sensitive subject, especially back then. The end result feels a bit Shakespearean to me; all the characters end up getting married and you can tell who Nicholas and Kate are going to marry. At some points I found it a bit confusing, when Ralph was conspiring against people but I think as long as you got the gist it was okay. It was a nice story and leaves you with a bittersweet feeling.

I love a bit of Victorian England which is possibly why I like Dickens so much. His descriptions of places let you picture them and feel the atmosphere. I certainly wouldn’t want to live there but spending a couple of weeks there via a book is about right. London life hasn’t really changed in two hundred years; it’s still chaotic and on top of itself but somehow gets by. Dickens London is smaller and more manageable so is slightly easier to get your head around where everything is. The centre of London is overcrowded with whole families living in a couple of rooms. When Nicholas moves to the outskirts he gets to live in a nice cottage, which I like.

I didn’t like this book as much as the other two I’ve read but still enjoyed it. I think some of it may be due to Dickens trying a new genre and working out how to tell the story as he wants to. For me the ending made up for parts of the book that were difficult to get through. Although you’re supposed to route for Nicholas, I found myself wanting things to turn out for Kate Nickleby. She has to put up with so much from her mother, her uncle and men wanting to court her that she has no interest in. When Frank appeared I was hopeful for her future. I found myself drawn into their lives and wanting the best for them. Even if Mrs Nickleby annoyed the hell out of me.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Wonder by R J Palacio

Wonder is about ten year old August Pullman who has a severe facial disfigurement. Due to this he has had to have various operations throughout his short life and so has never been to school. His mum has always taught him at home. This year everything changes. This year August goes to school. The book follows him the summer before school and his first year of school. Understandably, August is terrified, but he’s also a bit excited at the same time. Mostly he dreads the way the other children and the teachers will react to him. He gets stared at everywhere he goes; even if people aren’t being rude about it, they can’t help but look.

I enjoyed the character of August. He is determined to have as normal a life as possible. He’s not disabled, he just looks different. Inside he’s just a regular kid, except he’s not really because he’s never been treated totally normal. Even his parents, who try to treat him the same as his sister, can’t. In the beginning it was for medical reasons and now it’s to try and protect him from the reactions of strangers. Having said that though, August and his family are pretty cool. They obviously all love each other a great deal and that is nice to read about.

The way that he is treated by his classmates and teachers felt realistic. To begin with no one will sit with him and the head teacher has asked a few pupils to keep an eye on him and to befriend him. Some are happy to do this, others not so much. That’s the way it is with all schools though, when you have so many different people together; someone is going to get singled out for a reason and someone else is going to do the singling out. They weren’t all portrayed as full-on bullies either, al lot of them were just indifferent and pretty much ignored August which felt more real.

I expected the book to be completely written from August’s point of view but it covers six different characters’ perspectives. They are all connected to August in different ways so it’s interesting to see how and why they’ve found themselves in the circle of protection around him that his parent’s started. It feels like the author really got inside the characters’ heads as the voices sound right for the different ages and genders. It’s not easy to write from a child’s outlook and I think she did well with this. There were quite a few pop culture references peppered throughout the book, some of which I got and others I didn’t. For some reason adding these little bits lets you relate to them easier and feel like you’re in the story.

I would recommend this book to everyone. It was brilliant. I liked all the people I supposed to and disliked all those I wasn’t. I think it gives an important message about tolerance and treating others with kindness. The children in the book are more accepting than the adults, except those with very narrow-minded parents and I think how parents react has a massive effect on how their offspring react. This isn’t just a book for children and teens; this is a book for adults too. My only problem with the book was that it felt a bit Disney. I can easily see this being made into a film and the ending felt too perfect for my liking. However, this didn’t detract that much from the rest of the story and I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush follows Nora Grey as she gets partnered with the new student in her Biology class. She doesn’t know anything about him and their first assignment for the class is to get to know your partner. Somehow he seems to know quite a bit about her already. Nora finds out very little about Patch as he isn’t forthcoming about himself. She finds herself drawn to him but can’t get to know him as she is busy trying to figure out who is following her and possibly trying to kill her. Together with her best friend Vee, Nora sets out t find out what’s going on.

I found the story to pretty much be a Twilight rip off with a different supernatural being than vampires. I was worried that this was what it was going to be but I hoped those fears would be unfounded. No such luck. From what I’ve seen, there aren’t a lot of well-known books about fallen angels so this could have been a different take on them. I don’t know if there are any abilities that angels have or ones they don’t have which leaves room for invention and the fallen angels could have been pretty awesome. Instead they were exactly the same as the vampires in Twilight.

I didn’t find myself connecting with any of the characters, I couldn’t find a depth to any of them which was frustrating. Nora didn’t have any consistency throughout the book. One minute she was terrified of Patch, the next moment she wanted to kiss him. Maybe being scared does something for her, I don’t know. She just kept making the same mistakes over and over again, never learning from any of the experiences. Vee started off as a decent character but after a bit she just turned in to another Nora, acting the same way. The character of Patch could have been so amazing. There was a little prologue and I can’t help but think that the book would have been better if Patch had been the protagonist and we followed his life as a fallen angel.

The writing style made it easy and quick to finish this book which is one positive about it. There was not enough description of the places for me to picture where they were and their location in relation to the rest of the town. I could, however, give you a very accurate description of Patch’s eyes and body as they are frequently mentioned throughout. It’s mostly dialogue with a change of scene every so often. I need a bit more than that from my books.

I think this book would appeal to fans of Twilight but I couldn’t relate to any of it. I started it with no expectations so luckily there weren’t any that needed to be met as I fear this book would not have done so. To be fair to the author I don’t think this was aimed at me so it’s not a surprise I didn’t like it. The simplistic writing style making it easy to read may encourage people who don’t read a lot to pick up a book which I am all in favour of. However, people who read a lot would probably notice the lack of depth to the story and characters. I won’t be continuing with this series but I definitely think there is an audience for this type of book.

Overall rating 1 out of 5.

Looking for Alaksa by John Green

Looking for Alaska follows Miles Halter as he makes a big decision in his life. He decides he wants to go to his dad’s old school, Culver Creek. It’s a boarding school miles away from home so he’s hoping that a new start will be positive for him. Back home he doesn’t have any friends and has no ambitions; he’s fed up with his life. At Culver Creek he has a roommate, Chip or The Colonel, who quickly becomes his friend. The Colonel has a group of friends that welcome Miles into their fold. One of those people is Alaska Young and Miles is immediately attracted to her. The gang mess about drinking and smoking until one day something big happens and their world changes.

Miles is eager to make friends and so pretty much does whatever The Colonel wants him to do so instead of muddling along and keeping his nose clean, he takes up smoking and drinking. He gets himself the name Pudge as well due to how skinny he is. His infatuation with Alaska means he lets himself get led astray when the group pull their pranks. I couldn’t really connect with Miles or Alaska but I did quite like The Colonel. So being from Miles’ point of view wasn’t the easiest read. It was a bit like watching Skins on TV. You have an idea that this sort of thing goes on with frustrated teens but I have no experience of it myself.

I couldn’t quite make out how the school worked. They seemed to be able to leave whenever they wanted and had cars to get around. The school is set in what appear to be large grounds as they have a wood and a lake. But there is a McDonalds and convenience store within walking distance. Like with any school, the teens know all the hiding places and which teachers can be trusted and which need to be avoided. Having said that, it seems like a close knit place and the teachers know all the students and are happy to help them.

The book is very much about the characters and apart from the incident that occurs half way through the book there is no action. Miles changes after moving out of home. He becomes more confident and wants to do something with his life. He’s happy and wants life to stay exactly as it is for a while so he can enjoy himself. Obviously, this isn’t the case and his relationships with his friends are put under strain after the event occurs. He realises that he doesn’t actually know these people all that well. Other than The Colonel and Alaska he doesn’t have a lot in common with the rest of the group. This threatens t put him back to square one and he wants the group together.

I had high expectations for this book as I had heard it was really good. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I didn’t know anything about the content of the story. I’d seen John Green on YouTube so had a preconception of the sort of book he would write. This wasn’t what I expected so it took a while to get into the story. The issues this book deals with appear to be common for him. I enjoyed the way he had the characters deal with it. The second half of the book was more exciting to read than the first. Although, without the first half, you wouldn’t know quite how devastating the event is. I wouldn’t recommend this to younger teens as some of the content is mature. I didn’t like the book as much as I was hoping to but I certainly didn’t not like it.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

On April 8^th 1998 15 year old Kevin Khatchadourian shot seven of his fellow high school students, one teacher and one cafeteria worker. Almost two years later, his mum Eva tries to figure out why he did this. Was it her fault? Or is he innately bad? In a series of letters to her husband, who is no longer living in the same house, she tries to explain events as she experienced them. To truly try and get inside Kevin’s head she goes right back to before he was born. She also, as she does every two weeks, goes to see Kevin in prison to try and talk to him about it. But is this kind of thing really something you can figure out? Is it really that black and white?

The premise of the book is fascinating. What would you do if your child committed mass murder? It is not something that people think about because they don’t think it will happen. Eva certainly didn’t believe Kevin would do it. The victims’ families lose someone but, to a degree, the family of the killer lose someone too. The person they thought they knew isn’t that person at all. As the family are not locked up out of reach, they get all the anger and frustration directed at them. Eva gets stared at wherever she goes and has had paint smeared all over the house.

Kevin is a mystery. He doesn’t seem to care about anything, including himself. Several people have tried to explain his apathy, saying he is hiding his emotions because he is scared or angry. To be fair to Kevin, he didn’t have the most positive start to life. His mother wasn’t sure she even wanted a child and motherhood didn’t come naturally. She did try though and Kevin didn’t make it easy for her by refusing to communicate properly with her. He kept everything to himself and although his dad also tried to talk to him just told him what Kevin knew Franklin wanted to hear. From the outside Kevin had everything, a mum and a dad, the three of them lived in a nice house and had plenty of money. Kevin is incredibly intelligent but is also either a psychopath, a sociopath of both.

Eva’s letters are very revealing and she bears all to her husband. Things used to happen around Kevin that Eva knew were Kevin’s doing but his dad, Franklin, refused to see anything bad in his son. Eva is honest about not being the best mother but, especially when he depended on her more, she did everything the books said but Kevin gave her nothing in return. She seems like a bit of a sociopath as well as she doesn’t put Kevin first and would rather not be in his company. You can understand that having a child like Kevin isn’t easy. She had no idea what was going on where he could read her like a book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology, the human condition and morality. Throughout the book there is conflict between Kevin and Eva, and Eva and Franklin. It appears that Kevin and his dad have a close relationship. In reality I think Eva and Kevin have the closest relationship, even if it is an unconventional one. Although only Kevin himself can know what’s going on in his head, Eva seems to see the real Kevin and not one of the many fronts he presents depending on the situation. Lionel Shriver must have really got inside both characters and it can’t have been a fun place. There is no action in this book. It’s more a character study that encourages you to think. Absolutely brilliant.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson

This book is a thriller and a very good one. Christine wakes up every day with no idea who she is or where she is. Every day her husband, Ben, has to explain to her why she can’t remember anything. She had an accident that left her brain damaged. It took her years to recover and she is still only remembering what happens up until she falls into a deep sleep. Then her mind essentially resets and she is back to square one. Some days Christine gets flashes of memory and knows certain things that happened in her past. She is contacted by a doctor and together they are determined to help her memory get stronger and remember more.

Christine as a character is unusual in that you are reading the story and she knows as much as you do. In fact, as the days go on, she sort of knows less than you. It’s an interesting way to narrate a story. There are some things you read over and over again due to Christine’s illness but the explanations get shorter so it’s not too annoying. You don’t properly get to know the other characters in the book as Christine is meeting them for the first time every day and you are stuck in her head. However, this does help with the ‘thriller’ part of the story.

The book is told in two different ways. The first part is waking up with Christine and learning who she is with her. The second part is Christine reading a journal, so is written as separate entries. The third part goes back to being inside Christine’s head. Really, this is the only way to tell the story, as she has no idea what is going on. One day isn’t really long enough to discover who you are and work out who everyone else is and who these people are that you keep having visions about. That takes weeks to figure out. Although, having said that the book is just set over one day, with the journal as bringing you up to speed on what has happened for the past twenty years.

I did like this book and would like to read it again at some point now that I know what happened to Christine. I’d like to see if there are clues that you can pick up on if you know what to look for. I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery and likes to be scared. For the last 60 or so pages I just couldn’t put it down. I had to know what was going to happen. As I so desperately wanted to know I was guessing, rather than let the story take me there by itself. I did figure I out just before Christine which made the whole thing worse because then I really needed to finish the book and make sure the characters I wanted to survive did so. A gripping read and I hope there are more like this to come from the author.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.