Book Reviews

Description: With “This Charming Man,” Marian Keyes hits her stride as a novelist with her best novel yet, telling the stories of four women who are shaped by one man

Paddy de Courcy is Ireland’s debonair politician, the “John F. Kennedy Jr. of Dublin.” His charm and charisma have taken hold of the country and the tabloids, not to mention our four heroines: Lola, Grace, Marnie, and Alicia. But though Paddy’s winning smile is fooling Irish minds, the broken hearts he’s left in his past offer a far more truthful look into his character.

Narrated in turn by each woman, “This Charming Man” explores how their love for this one man has shaped their lives. But in true Marian Keyes fashion, this is more than a story of four love affairs. It’s a testament to the strength women find in themselves through work, friendship, and family, no matter what demons may be haunting their lives. Depression, self-doubt, domestic abuse–each of these women has seen tough times in life, and it’s through Keyes’s wonderful storytelling ability that these subjects are approached with the appropriate tone and candor. Her deft touch provides a gripping story and, ultimately, a redemptive ending.

Comment: A little disappointed, I love Marian Keyes but this really isn’t Marian Keyes best. Though it contains the usual wit it is wholly flawed by the utterly annoying written voice of main heroine Lola and ultimately lacks that spark.  It is sort of a diary style, where she doesn’t speak in full sentences. OK for a bit, but it goes on so long I had to keep putting it down. Her writing is far superior to many women’s fiction writers and despite the annoyingness of Lola, I loved the other narrators, and was genuinely moved by the ending. Also, I guess because I loved ‘Anybody Out There’ so much, perhaps I had overly-high expectations for this. Worth a read, if you’re already a fan, but if you’re new to Marian, I would recommend trying something from the (mostly better) backlist first.

Love / Romance

Description: With the bookshop where she works about to close, Laura Horsley, in a moment of uncharacteristic recklessness, finds herself agreeing to help organize a literary festival deep in the heart of the English countryside. But her initial excitement is rapidly followed by a mounting sense of panic when reality sinks in and she realizes just how much work is involved – especially when an innocent mistake leads the festival committee to mistakenly believe that Laura is a personal friend of the author at the top of their wish-list. Laura might have been secretly infatuated with the infamous Dermot Flynn ever since she studied him at university, but traveling to Ireland to persuade the notorious recluse to come out of hiding is another matter. Determined to rise to the challenge she sets off to meet her literary hero. But all too soon she’s confronted with more than she bargained for – Dermot the man is maddening, temperamental and up to his ears in a nasty case of writer’s block. But he’s also infuriatingly attractive – and, apparently, out to add Laura to his list of conquests…

Comment: An easy read and yet another brilliantly written piece of escapism from Katie Fforde! This novel is well worth reading as it shows what could happen if you let your heart rule your head when agreeing to do something and then follow your dreams despite the obstacles. Relax and enjoy!

Adventure/Thriller

Description: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. 

It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. 
It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age–and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it–who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism–and an unexpected connection between themselves. 
It’s a contagiously exciting, stunningly intelligent novel about society at its most hidden, and about the intimate lives of a brilliantly realized cast of characters, all of them forced to face the darker aspects of their world and of their own lives.

Comment: The book had a slow start. The characters are well developed and intriguing. Once the story picks up its totally gripping and entertaining and it turned into a real page-turner. Wasn’t sold on the last few sentences but otherwise was really pleased with where the author chose to take the story. Disturbing, yes, but not too much so.

Love Story

Description: Beautifully written and deeply compassionate, Rough Music is a novel of one family at two defining points in time. Seamlessly alternating between the present day and a summer thirty years past, its twin stories unfold at a cottage along the eastern coast of England.
Will Pagett receives an unexpected gift on his fortieth birthday, two weeks at a perfect beach house in Cornwall. Seeking some distance from the married man with whom he’s having an affair, he invites his aging mother and father to share his holiday, knowing the sun and sea will be a welcome change for. But the cottage and the stretch of sand before it seem somehow familiar and memories of a summer long ago begin to surface. 

Thirty-two years earlier. A young married couple and their eight year-old son begin two idyllic weeks at a beach house in Cornwall. But the sudden arrival of unknown American relatives has devastating consequences, turning what was to be a moment of reconciliation into an act of betrayal that will cast a lengthy shadow.

As Patrick Gale masterfully unspools these parallel stories, we see their subtle and surprising reflections in each other and discover how the forgotten dramas of childhood are reenacted throughout our lives.

Deftly navigating the terrain between humor and tragedy, Patrick Gale has written an unforgettable novel about the lies that adults tell and the small acts of treason that children can commit. Rough Music gracefully illuminates the merciful tricks of memory and the courage with which we continue to assert our belief in love and happiness.

Comment: Beautifully written and deeply compassionate,  Patrick Gale has written an unforgettable novel about the lies that adults tell and the small acts of treason that children can commit.

Science fiction

Description: Nathaniel is a magician’s apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hot-shot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of his elders, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who’s boss. With revenge on his mind, he summons the powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace’s greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion.

Comment: Move over J K Rowling and Phillip Pullman! I loved this thrilling kidult tale and the central idea that there are wizards who can call demons to help them  but only if they contol them safely. I loved the fact that the point of view of the tale changes from the demon to the omnipontent narrator which adds an interesting contrast. I like the young boy in the story too, despite the problems he gets into you ultimately want him to succeed. Funny and action-filled!