Tag: books

Book review: Climbers: A Novel

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Climbers: A Novel.Climbers: A Novel by M. John Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you were a climber and were expecting this to be some kind of literary version of The Eiger Sanction, then you’d probably be disappointed. But then, I don’t think M. John Harrison would care too much, given that many of the readers of this book were probably expecting it to be a sci-fi masterpiece, rather than some kind of Mike Leigh nightmare.

Out of print until recently (it was reissued in 2004) this 1989 novel is less about climbing and its community and more about growth – or the lack of it. Continue reading “Book review: Climbers: A Novel” →

Book review: The Sea

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The Sea.The Sea by John Banville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Banville’s Booker-winner is a novel which, like the tide, reveals itself by degrees. At once a recollection and a meditation, it’s a journal-styled examination of life after the loss of a partner.

Not a lot goes on in the novel in a narrative sense, but a lot is revealed about its focal character. Following his wife’s death, Max Morden revisits the location of childhood holidays – a seaside town not out of place in a Morrissey Every Day Is Like Sunday Continue reading “Book review: The Sea” →

Book review: Uzumaki (volume 2)

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Uzumaki (volume 2).Uzumaki (volume 2) by Junji Ito
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second volume of Ito’s spiral-obsessed work is wilder, less controlled than the first. It’s not as tightly wound or slow-burning as the first collection, relying instead on gross-outs and increasingly frenetic artwork to communicate the smalltown weirdness within.

There’s an overall story – that KurĂ´zu-cho is in the thrall of a spiral-natured curse – but it’s really only loosely addressed in this collection of relatively unrelated tales. We see what’s going on mostly from the viewpoint of the already-seen-some-shit Kirie, Continue reading “Book review: Uzumaki (volume 2)” →

Book review: Restoration

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Restoration.Restoration by Rose Tremain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Booker Prize contender, Restoration follows the journey of Robert Merivel, a medical student-cum-lord who is made useful to Charles II of England – first for his spaniel-saving qualities, and then for his buffoonery and willingness to provide extramarital cover.

The world of court is recreated extremely well. Continue reading “Book review: Restoration” →

Book review: Blackeyes

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Blackeyes.Blackeyes by Dennis Potter
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Later made into a successful four-part series for the BBC (directed by its author, the first episode of which may be found here), Blackeyes is Dennis Potter’s examination of the valuation the world puts on female beauty, and the process of writing. (Or the role of the author, more correctly.)

The story is pretty simple – Kingsley, a past-it author, finds a new audience through Sugar Bush, a novel created by borrowing from Jessica, his niece. The story of the model – professional name Blackeyes – and the way her Sugar Bush life affects that of its inspiration is where most of the story’s tension originates.

In some regards, it’s Potter-does-Potter, really – there’s The Enduring Mystery Of Women, rooting and bits of improbable nudity. Continue reading “Book review: Blackeyes” →

Book review: The Lucy Family Alphabet

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The Lucy Family Alphabet.The Lucy Family Alphabet by Judith Lucy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book describes Australian comedian Judith Lucy’s family.

It’s important to state at the outset for those unaware of Lucy’s act – though I’m uncertain who would read this book without knowing at least a little of the comedian’s work – that her caustic style makes much of the role of her family in her upbringing. The loony parents who won’t let their kids take showers (despite having a functional appliance) and who exist on disdain and laxatives are the cornerstone of her pieces. Continue reading “Book review: The Lucy Family Alphabet” →

Book review: Jack Maggs

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Jack Maggs.Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Peter Carey became one of my favourite authors from my HSC study of Oscar and Lucinda. I suspect the reason behind this was that that work was set in the same period as some of the other (to my younger self) fusty works but brimmed with self-confidence and interest.

I’ve managed to reread it on an almost yearly basis since I first devoured it (the night before a reading diary was due – one I’d supposedly been writing all holidays) though in the years since I’ve discovered that this compulsive consumption is common where Carey’s involved: something certainly true of Jack Maggs.

The book is another interpretation of an existing work. As Oscar and Lucinda is to Patrick White’s Voss, so is Jack Maggs to Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Continue reading “Book review: Jack Maggs” →

Book review: Great Expectations

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Great Expectations.Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I came late to Dickens, I think. My mother was always on at me to read A Tale of Two Cities – and I still haven’t, strangely – but I never seemed to click with the novels I tried. I just couldn’t get into his world.

It wasn’t until Year 12 that I had to read Great Expectations for a book report. As was my wont, I didn’t start reading the book until the night before the paper was due. But something strange happened: instead of just skimming, as I’d otherwise have done, I was engrossed. I ripped through the book, paying it closer attention than I’d expected to. I loved it. Continue reading “Book review: Great Expectations” →

Book review: Coldheart Canyon

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Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story.Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story by Clive Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve shied away from Barker for a couple of years now. I’m not sure why. Like King, he’s an author who I discovered in my teens, and the combination of splatter and verbosity seemed to be something better left behind in advancing years. I’d read Cabal and some of the Books of Blood – inspired by sneaked viewings of Nightbreed and Hellraiser but I kind of found some of his weirdly sensual prose a bit on the nose.

Ha.

In the interim, I understand he’s written some great stuff and some shit stuff. People I know who are fans have been alternately overjoyed and deeply disappointed at his recent work – but I’ll be investigating more closely if the quality of this one’s anything to go by. Continue reading “Book review: Coldheart Canyon” →

Book review: The Unconsoled

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The UnconsoledThe Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the second time I’ve tried to read The Unconsoled and the first time I’ve actually completed it. A couple of months after the novel was released, I picked up a copy of the enormous hardback, as I was certain the blurb rang true, that I would suddenly fall in love with the world inside.

It didn’t happen.

Instead, I was mystified and more than a little pissed off. Trying to make sense of the book was kind of like stuffing a pillow with smoke: Continue reading “Book review: The Unconsoled” →