bookrblog

Blitz Cat

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | Children's Literature | No Comments

Robert Westall has written some great children’s lit, so I assume that this falls into that category although I’m sure adults would enjoy it equally. It’s the blitz from the point of view of a cat - or not exactly, from the adults who come in contact with the cat, who is trying to find her master. There’s the refugees from a burning Coventery, soldiers at Dover awaiting the invasion, RAF flyers who deal with death at each flight, evacuees and women left behind, afraid of the postman’s knock. It is a good emotional picture of a terrifying time, and the cat is a clever enough device to show how scattered everything and everyone got at that time.

Lavinia

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | Sci-Fi/Fantasy | No Comments

Ursula Le Guin is famous for her science-fiction and fantasy stories, and I suppose this too could be fantasy except that it is based wholly on the Aeneid, by Vergil (although when we studied him he was Virgil, the “e” looks wrong to me!) It’s the story of Aeneas’ wife, barely mentioned in the poem. Le Guin uses her character to retell the story of the Aeneid as well as to recreate life at that time (although at the end she admits it’s probably not historically correct.

I really enjoyed this book. Lavinia was a great character, strong-minded without being a stereotypical “strong female character”, and the details of pre-Roman life were really interesting. I liked the device of including Virgil himself, and the concept that they were all simply poetical constructs; a different way of depicting fate. A very good and quite original story.

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times.

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | British Literature | No Comments

Despite the title, this is really a piece of history about the East End of London during the post-war period, rather than the tale of an individual. However, I have learned it’s actually part of a trilogy so perhaps in the other books you find out more about the author, Jennifer Worth, who lived in an Anglican convent and worked as a midwife.

What is fascinating is simply how utterly poor people were in the ’50s in London - the complete poverty is quite astonishing. The midwife has to deal with sheer filth, a different language and culture where scatological language is accepted but ungodliness is not, tragic stories of abandoned children and abused women, and the exhausting workload. Apart from that is riding into the streets through the pea-souper fogs on rickety bicycles!

The real tragedy of the stories made this a very sad read, and the difficulty the narrator has at making her own character real (as she’s evidently trying not to bare her own soul) are the two drawbacks of this book. An amazing story, and an important one.

Ever

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 | Children's Literature | No Comments

The latest YA book by Gail Carson Levine is quite different to her earlier books, Ella Enchanted/Two Princesses.  It isn’t as rich, especially in the portrayal of the worlds, but it’s still interesting. It’s set pretty much in faux-Sumerian/Akkadian times; the god of the winds is lonely and seeks mortal company, falls in love with a girl - and she is going to be a human sacrifice. Of course, he has to save her, but she ends up saving herself just as much.

It’s based loosely on the Cupid/Psyche myth, as well as an episode from Judges in the Old Testament when a man makes a rash vow and has to sacrifice his daughter in consequence. It directly tackles the idea of certainty/doubt in religion, as well as facing ones’ fears.

I enjoyed this story. It had interesting characters and some nice twists, even though it was mostly predictable and could have been richer. Still, a good read.

Of Human Bondage

Saturday, May 9th, 2009 | British Literature | No Comments

This wonderful novel by William Somerset Maugham was one of those great classic finds. I’m so glad I didn’t read it till this point in time, because it so eerily mimics my life, the way my life has gone. Well, not completely! It’s set in the late nineteenth century, and it’s based on Maugham’s own life. The boy Phillip is sent to live with his aunt and uncle once his parents die. He goes to a typical public school but isn’t interested in further study and bullies them into letting him travel. Once in Germany, he loses his religion and because idealistically interested in all sorts of ideas. He attempts to be an accountant, hates it, fails,  and ends up going to study art in Paris before realising he’ll never be much good. Then he studies to be a doctor, becomes very poor to the point of vagrancy and only really recovers once his uncle dies and leaves him enough money to resume his studies. In the meantime he has some love affairs, mostly with the irritating Mildred, and finally decides to settle down and have a family - which is the one thing he’s never sought but always really wanted.

It’s a masterpiece because it so painstakingly plots the changes in ideas and emotions over time that a young person has; from idealism to pragmatism, from enormous hopes to small individual ones. Phillip realises books are better than real life - yep! - and that wanting to do something isn’t enough; you’ve got to be good at it, too. It’s a great study of all sorts of people as well as the period of time in which it is written. It is very readable and full of so many “ah-ha” moments - I really, really enjoyed it.