Well, If nobody sends me the writeups, I can't post them. Alison also has editing privileges.
So from my records of what I wrote and Alison and Chris's reviews, that's what you get.
April: The Lie by Helen Dunmore
I expected better of Helen Dunmore. It's about a young soldier returned from the war in which his best friend, the wealthy Frederick, has died. They were together at that time. He is living in an old lady's house and has buried her without telling anyone when she died. Is this the lie? He keeps having flashbacks and telling his past history. I gave up on page 190 when Danny ended up kissing Frederick. The last page indicates that Danny kills himself.
May:- The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year by Sue Townsend
I did like the comic elements in this book, which I had in fact read before. There were more serious points too although I'm not quite sure what they were. Perhaps that if you build someone upon a pedestal they are quite likely to have feet of clay. Sometimes books expect you to believe the unbelievable, and then when you see people in the plot not believing it, you begin to think, you're right, it is unbelievable, she was mad (in the loosest sense of yes, she had psychiatric problems). Still she could hardly be blamed with those terrible twins and philandering husband. Though I did like the open house and household arrangement, it seemed to almost work for a while. Even her husband's mistress fed her occasionally.
One of the saddest fallouts from the whole plot seem to be the poor Chinese boy who was out of his depth with the conniving Poppy. His poor parents.
I give it 7 as an easy comic read but made up, almost, of caricatures. Fizzled out a bit at the end. Ali.
The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year
Loved the quirkiness of the beginning. Laughed (although not outloud) at the development of story during first two thirds of the book. Felt dismay at Eva's downhill slide towards the end and felt the tale fizzled out at it's finale. Was this ending a "don't try this at home" warning to the thousands of people Sue Townsend thinks are in desperate straits? She paints a ghastly picture of modern youth that just doesn't chime with how I remember my children and their friends at that age. She may well abhor the callous and vitriolic comments made on social media but isn't this just that the nutters who have always been there now have a more efficient way of making themselves heard?
Score 7 Chris
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After 1 1/2 pages I knew it was going to be a depressing book. Children starting at university was totally unrealistic. The children were unrealistic. The writing style was juvenile(?) and light, and did not draw you into the book. I would have laughed at the idea of the husband being locked out if it wasn't so depressing. Gave up after less than a dozen pages. Mark 0. P.
