I read Middlesex and love it – in fact I lent it to someone and they never returned it (don’t you hate that?) Anyway, that mean I was keen to read The Marriage Plot doubly so because I’m also keen on 19th century literature.

Here is the blurb …

 Madeleine Hanna was the dutiful English major who didn’t get the memo. While everyone else in the early 1980s was reading Derrida, she was happily absorbed with Jane Austen and George Eliot: purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels. Madeleine was the girl who dressed a little too nicely for the taste of her more Bohemian friends, the perfect girlfriend whose college love life, despite her good looks, hadn’t lived up to expectations.

But now, in the spring of her senior year, Madeleine has enrolled in a semiotics course “to see what all the fuss is about,” and, for reasons that have nothing to do with school, life and literature will never be the same. Not after she falls in love with Leonard Morton – charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Oregon boy – who is possessed of seemingly inexhaustible energy and introduces her to the ecstasies of immediate experience. And certainly not after Mitchell Grammaticus – devotee of Patti Smith and Thomas Merton – resurfaces in her life, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his mate.

The triangle in this amazing and delicious novel about a generation beginning to grow up is age-old, and completely fresh and surprising. With devastating wit, irony, and an abiding understanding of and love for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides resuscitates the original energies of the novel while creating a story so contemporary that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives.

The author of two beloved novels, Middlesex (bestselling winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, with more than 3 million copies sold) and the now classic The Virgin Suicides (made into a haunting film by Sofia Coppola), is back – with a brilliant, funny, and heartbreaking novel about the glories and vicissitudes of young love.

This novel is beautifully (and very cleverly) written – it is indeed a modern novel with a marriage plot. What really stuck with me, however, was Leonard’s mental illness. The incredible highs with almost superhuman energy and enthusiasm and the plunging depths of the lows. I feel I have a much greater understanding now after reading Leonard’s point of view. I also enjoyed Mitchell’s search for meaning in his life; religion, good works etc. The characters were clever and interesting and I wanted to know what happened to them.

More reviews …

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/books/the-marriage-plot-by-jeffrey-eugenides-review.html?pagewanted=all 

 http://austenprose.com/2011/12/30/the-marriage-plot-by-jeffrey-eugenides-a-review/

http://blog.sarahlaurence.com/2012/02/marriage-plot-by-jeffrey-eugenides-and.html 

]]> http://mybookclubreviews.com/2012/02/02/the-marriage-plot-jeffrey-eugenides/feed/ 0 http://mybookclubreviews.com/2012/02/01/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-susanna-clarke/ http://mybookclubreviews.com/2012/02/01/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-susanna-clarke/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:34:01 +0000 admin http://mybookclubreviews.com/?p=756

There haven’t been any posts for a while because I find it very tricky to collect my thoughts while the girls are home on holidays, but school is back today and I have quite a back log of books read.

I’ve been meaning to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for such a long time, but it seemed to be such a commitment of time when I had loads of other things to read and get on with. However, when someone else in book club suggested it I enthusiastically endorsed the idea.

Here is the blurb …

 Centuries ago when magic still existed in England, the greatest magician of them all was the Raven King. A human child brought up by fairies, the Raven King blended fairy wisdom and human reason to create English magic. Now at the beginning of the nineteenth century, he is barely more than a legend, and England, with its mad King and its dashing poets, no longer believes in practical magic. Then the reclusive Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey appears and causes the statues of York Cathedral to speak and move. News spreads of the return of magic to England and, persuaded that he must help the government in the war against Napoleon, Mr Norrell goes to London. There he meets a brilliant young magician and takes him as a pupil. Jonathan Strange is charming, rich and arrogant. Together, they dazzle the country with their feats. But the partnership soon turns to rivalry. Mr Norrell has never conquered his lifelong habits of secrecy, while Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous magic. He becomes fascinated by the shadowy figure of the Raven King, and his heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens, not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear. Elegant, witty and utterly compelling, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell creates a past world of great mystery and beauty that will hold the reader in thrall until the last page.

I loved this book. I thought the writing was beautiful and very like a Victorian novel (Dickens comes to mind). I enjoyed the mingling of historical stuff and fantasy stuff and the foot notes were fabulous. In my book club one person hated the foot notes and stopped reading them and another thought they weren’t needed, but added to the enjoyment of the novel. Me? I enjoyed them – I loved how they rambled on and told other stories (and created a more complete world).

While I was reading I did wonder who else would enjoy it. It is written like a Victorian novel, but is really a fantasy novel. However, it appears to be very popular (my copy states that it is an ‘International Bestseller’.

I look forward to reading more of Ms Clarke’s work.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/books/review/05MAGUIRE.html 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/oct/03/fiction.guardianfirstbookaward2004

http://dovegreyreader.typepad.com/JS%26MrN%20redux.pdf 

]]> http://mybookclubreviews.com/2012/02/01/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-susanna-clarke/feed/ 0 http://mybookclubreviews.com/2012/01/11/2011-in-review/ http://mybookclubreviews.com/2012/01/11/2011-in-review/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:31:09 +0000 admin http://mybookclubreviews.com/?p=750

This I read (or at least blogged) 33 books – last year I did 37 (I blame the lower number on Bleak House and Little Dorrit!).

My favourite novels of 2011 (that’s when I read them) were Olive Kitteridge, Freedom, A Visit From the Goon Squad, Elegies for the Broken Hearted, Notes from an Exhibition and Because of the Lockwoods.

I don’t have any particular goals for 2012 – apart from the usual clearing of the to be read pile. Maybe I will try to read 50 books (or at least blog 50 books).

As you know, I read Patterns in the Carpet  and really enjoyed it, so decided to read more Drabble.

I really struggled with this one. I had to renew my library copy (which is extremely unusual). I’m not sure if it was me or the book – I have been really busy…

Here is the blurb …

Freda Haxby is as famous for her writing as she is for her eccentricities. But for Daniel Palmer, Rosemary, Grace and their families, she is a monster mother. This is the story of an end-of-the-century family whose comfortable lives are disrupted by a succession of sinister events.

In this novel there is a lot of authorial intrusion. For example,

We are nearing the end. Soon we can go for the kill. Indeed, for the overkill. Frieda has killed Hilda, and we have killed Freida, and Benjamin has tried to kill himself. There will be one or two more deaths, but not many, some will survive.

I found this a bit annoying and distracting. The characters are very well-written, particularly Frieda, Benjamin and Emily. I can well imagine people having conversations about the ‘veil of ignorance’, earnestly trying to help people, but running out of patience and motivation. I want to say this is a novel for baby boomers or second wave feminists (you know the Germaine Greer generation), but that seems a bit flippant – maybe I should just say it doesn’t appeal to me.

More reviews …

http://thisdelicioussolitude.blogspot.com/2007/02/witch-of-exmoor.html

http://musingsfromsrilanka.blogspot.com/2010/10/book-review-witch-of-exmoor-by-margaret.html

This is my favourite Whipple to date.  I found this novel compelling reading when and how would Mr Lockwood’s fraud be discovered? What would happen to all of the Hunters? Whipple’s ability to write about ordinary people in an interesting manner is amazing. I find it difficult to understand why she is not more wildly known.

Here is the blurb …

Dorothy Whipple excels in her portrayal of family life and in her wise and humourous understanding of the many elements of character and personality that clash to make up a family. Her new book, while not a family chronicle in the accepted sense, is a subtle and convincing portrayal of character in a family setting and shows with delightful perception how the grown person can still be influenced by the events of childhood. In Thea, denied the easy way by the lack of financial security, readers will recognize one of Mrs Whipple’s best characters. In her mother and her brother and her sister; in the Lockwoods against whose patronage Thea so determinedly rebelled; in the frank forthright Oliver Reade, symbol of a new order of things, and in the vivid portrayal of English North Country and French Provincial life, readers of Mrs Whipple’s earlier novels, Greenbanks, They Knew Mr Knight and They Were Sisters to name a few, will immediately recognize that once again her charm and her humourous but acute acceptance of the strange twists of life and people have produced a story as enjoyable as any of its predecessors.

I do reveal a bit about the plot, so be warned. Mrs Hunter is hopeless completely incapable of organising her family and their affairs after the unexpected death of her husband. In step the Lockwoods. Mr Lockwood would rather not help and certainly helps with an ill-grace. The Hunters are made very aware of their reduced social standing (Mrs Hunter gets Mrs Lockwood’s cast off clothing and they are invited to look at the gifts the Lockwoods are giving other people). Molly is sent of to be a nursery maid – despite being obviously unsuited to the the position and Martin becomes a clerk at a bank (despite wanting to be a doctor). Thea is the only one who doesn’t think the Lockwoods are kind or generous. She hates their patronising  interference, but is at a loss as to how to resurrect her family’s fortune and respect. Ultimately Oliver is the one to provide the help and guidance the family need and Thea finds and opportunity for revenge and then regrets the impulse.

The best part of this novel are the wonderful characters – they are all complicated. Mr Lockwood could easily descend to a Mr Brocklehurst type villain, but we do ultimately feel sympathy for him. Thea is young and excitable, but she matures over the course of the novel and finally recognizes Oliver’s true worth.

This is definitely worth reading if you like domestic fiction or character driven fiction.

More reviews …

http://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/because-of-the-lockwoods-by-dorothy-whipple/ 

http://karensbooksandchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/04/because-of-lockwoods-by-dorothy-whipple.html

This was a book club selection – we occasionally like to try the Booker winner (2011).

Here is the blurb …

The story of a man coming to terms with the mutable past, Julian Barnes’s new novel is laced with his trademark precision, dexterity and insight. It is the work of one of the world’s most distinguished writers.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they navigated the girl drought of gawky adolescence together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they swore to stay friends forever. Until Adrian’s life took a turn into tragedy, and all of them, especially Tony, moved on and did their best to forget.

Now Tony is in middle age. He’s had a career and a marriage, a calm divorce. He gets along nicely, he thinks, with his one child, a daughter, and even with his ex-wife. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove. The unexpected bequest conveyed by that letter leads Tony on a dogged search through a past suddenly turned murky. And how do you carry on, contentedly, when events conspire to upset all your vaunted truths?

This is a short novel and quite easy to read. I started to wonder about the nature of memory – is it reliable or faulty, but also about conflicting points of view and whose memory is the ‘correct’ memory. Early on Adrian says

“History is the certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.”

and that is what this novel is about. The writing is beautiful – I wish other authors could be as economical with their prose.

More reviews …

http://rippleeffects.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/the-sense-of-an-ending-by-julian-barnes/ 

http://eleventhstack.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/the-sense-of-an-ending-the-2011-booker-prize/

http://dovegreyreader.typepad.com/dovegreyreader_scribbles/2011/08/the-sense-of-an-ending-julian-barnes.html

I read a review of this book somewhere (probably The Australian Review) and thought it sounded interesting and then I found a copy on sale at Borders – it was meant to be.

The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws is an original and brilliant work. Margaret Drabble weaves her own story into a history of games, in particular jigsaws, which have offered her and many others relief from melancholy and depression. Alongside curious facts and discoveries about jigsaw puzzles — did you know that the 1929 stock market crash was followed by a boom in puzzle sales? — Drabble introduces us to her beloved Auntie Phyl, and describes childhood visits to the house in Long Bennington on the Great North Road, their first trip to London together, the books they read, the jigsaws they completed. She offers penetrating sketches of her parents, her siblings, and her children; she shares her thoughts on the importance of childhood play, on art and writing, on aging and memory. And she does so with her customary intelligence, energy, and wit. This is a memoir like no other.

This was a lovely book to read – part memoir part jigsaw history. There were anecdotes  from her friends and acquaintances about their ‘jigsaw puzzling’. Drabble uses a chatty style – it is like you’re sitting at her table doing a puzzle together.

And yes, I did feel motivated to do a  jigsaw puzzle. I like the idea that it is always possible to complete the puzzle you just need time and a bit of discipline.

I liked this book so much I’ve moved on to The Witch of Exmoor.

Here are some more reviews …

http://acommonreader.org/review-the-pattern-in-the-carpet-margaret-drabble/

http://picklemethis.blogspot.com/2009/05/pattern-in-carpet-by-margaret-drabble.html 

A friend recommended this book to me at least a year ago. I picked it up a couple of times in various different book stores, but wasn’t that interested. Then I saw it in my local $5 book store and picked up a copy. In the way these things go, I really enjoyed it and I am sure I shall read more of his work.

Here is the blurb …

The new novel from the bestselling Patrick Gale tells the story of artist Rachel Kelly, whose life has been a sacrifice to both her extraordinary art and her debilitating manic depression. When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies painting obsessively in her attic studio in Penzance, her saintly husband and adult children have more than the usual mess to clear up. She leaves behind an extraordinary and acclaimed body of work — but she also leaves a legacy of secrets and emotional damage it will take months to unravel. A wondrous, monstrous creature, she exerts a power that outlives her. To her children she is both curse and blessing, though they all in one way or another reap her whirlwind, inheriting her waywardness, her power of loving — and her demons! Only their father’s Quaker gifts of stillness and resilience give them any chance of withstanding her destructive influence and the suspicion that they came a poor second to the creation of her art. The reader becomes a detective, piecing together the clues of a life — as artist, lover, mother, wife and patient — which takes them from contemporary Penzance to 1960s Toronto to St Ives in the 1970s. What emerges is a story of enduring love, and of a family which weathers tragedy, mental illness and the intolerable strain of living with genius. Patrick Gale’s latest novel shines with intelligence, humour and tenderness.

I really enjoyed the slow (and sometime misleading) unfolding of Rachel’s story. The writing was beautiful. The characters were all sympathetically portrayed – even Rachel who was really a bit of a monster. This novel examines the fine line between creativity and madness and also what happens to families  when the creative genius is a mother? She is absent when she is creating and when she is not creating she is fighting her inner demons.

Here are some other reviews …

http://booksinstacks.blogspot.com/2011/03/notes-from-exhibition-patrick-gale.html 

http://kirstenjane.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/notes-from-an-exhibition-patrick-gale/

http://www.26books.com/2008/06/cathys-book-13-notes-from-an-exhibition-by-patrick-gale/

This book seemed to be everywhere for a while and that kind of popularity always puts me off. I’m sure it won’t live up to it’s reputation. However, several friends read it and loved it and I ran out of things to read on holiday (horrifying thought) so I decided to read The Help and despite the hype I loved it.

Here’s the blurb …

 Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women – mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends – view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

Obviously I am aware of the civil rights movement in the US, but I am completely ignorant of the fine details. SO this story told from the view point of the maids (or help) was a real eye-opener for me. I’m dumbfounded by the way people spoke to the maids – like they were recalcitrant children (so patronising) and then there is the whole separate toilet issue! But the vital point was the intimidation and violence directed at the black people to maintain the status quo.

This novel is an entertaining and easy read as well as being informative. I do find it strange that the white women allow people they see as inferior to race their children. The novel is written from three different perspectives; Aibileen, Minnie and Skeeter. Each has a distinct voice and different experiences, which creates a well-rounded view of rural life in Mississippi in the early 1960s. Even the white women lived narrow and restricted lives – it’s all about getting married and being part of the Junior League. I’m glad I read this novel and I’m looking forward to seeing the movie.

More reviews …

http://agoldoffish.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/the-help-–-kathryn-stockett/ 

http://whatsarahreads.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/the-help-by-kathryn-stockett/

I bought this novel based solely on the title – there should be more dancing, don’t you think? I have read and enjoyed Summer at Mount Hope, so that might have made me more receptive to buy a book knowing nothing at all about it. Rosalie Ham is Australian and this novel is definitely Australian. It reminded me at times of the movie The Castle – there were some laugh out loud Australian humour, so international readers beware.

Here is the blurb …

Margery Blandon has led an upright, principled life guided by the wisdom of desktop calendars. What went wrong? Margery suspects her that her first born, Walter, has betrayed her. Her second son, Morris, might have committed a crime, and her only daughter is almost certainly trying to kill her. Then there’s Pat, her life-long neighbour and enemy – now demented – who possibly knows the truth about everything. Should she throw herself from the 43rd floor, or should she abandon everything she believes and embrace her enemy for the sake of what’s right?.

 I loved this novel, the characters are superb. Margery with her cross stitch aphorisms (mostly taken from desktop calendars), her strict routine (roast chicken every Sunday) and her willful blindness to people and events around her. Then there is Walter, the Brunswick Bull, who has never been quite the same since the last fight. Judith, Margery’s daughter, with her mobile beauty business and her determination to finally possess her mother’s pearls. This was a joyful book about a difficult subject; aging. Her children want her to move into a nursing home, so they can sell the house and have the cash. She wants to stay there and if she moved who would tie Mrs Parsons’ shoe laces? There is also a bit of a mystery about Margery’s husband (who blew himself up – and the pub – by smoking too close to his oxygen tank) and Pat (who has dementia) seems to know what it is. And is her second son really managing a hotel overseas? I suspect Margery knows everything, but doesn’t really want to admit she does.

This novel is about families – the relationships between family members, what is due to family and the lies we tell one another for whatever reason. Although it has funny moments, there is an undercurrent of sadness to this novel. Margery, after a life of disappointment, is finally living how she wants and old age, infirmity and greedy relations might steal it all away.

More reviews …

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/confessions-of-a-not-so-merry-widow/story-e6frg8nf-1226079889071

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/the-age-of-enlightenment-20110922-1klsd.html