February 2014 - Harold Fry's Wanderings, and Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn

February 2014 

 Half of the Human Race    by Anthony Quinn

There were a wide variety of opinions on this book. The males among us thought that we learnt something of the Suffragette movement from it. One person thought it was boring and did not read it, another picked it up when she was stuck for something to read. The two good characters were Tamurlain and Connie, though if they had got together one wonders if she could have made something of him, and got him off the drink. Will was a weak, sort of upper class wishy-washy character who is rejected by Connie three times until the end of the book, when she settles for him, but by that time you don't care any more. I thought that it was a three aspect story with Cricket, suffragism, and the war all having their part. Interesting thought that the cricket was a contrast to the Women's fight for the vote.

Connie's father had been a forward thinking fellow to allow his daughter her freedom to pursue medicine, and we wish she could have become a doctor.

Will was a bit of a weak character, he was not liked much, until after the war when he improved. There is some confusion about his status within the cricket club. Was he a Gentleman or a Player?

6 read it, the grade was 6 +/- 2

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Saturday March 1, 2014 -  Telegraph book of the week:- Perfect by Rachel Joyce
And what Elena Seymenliyska has to say about Harold Fry.  We await our reading group review.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10132028/Perfect-by-Rachel-Joyce-review.html

The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Harold Fry has a lonely life on the south coast. He and his wife stopped communicating years ago. They remain polite and care for each other, but have not really spoken for years. A letter arrives telling Harold that Queenie, a former colleague who left the area years previously, is dying in a hospice in Berwick. We gradually learn of the former friendship between Harold and Queenie, never more than a friendship, and the fact that Queenie had once made a sacrifice on Harold's behalf that Harold has never acknowledged.  Full of remorse and emotion, Harold writes to Queenie and heads out to post the letter. He is wearing yachting shoes, and, fortunately, has his wallet with him.

This is the start of his pilgrimage. He never posts the letter, but sends a message to say that he is coming, and that Queenie should "hold on". He has no map, no suitable clothing and no real plan, but heads north. He meets people, is treated kindly, gets lost, sleeps rough and is featured in the newspapers. A following of pilgrims, each with their own needs, is initially a boost but becomes a distressing burden.

His wife, after the initial concern when he failed to return from the post box, gradually comes to admire his resolve. We learn that she believes that Harold has Alzheimer's, and she reflects on their relationship. We learn of their son, intelligent and troubled, who eventually took his own life in Harold's shed, destroying his parent's lives.

Harold eventually reaches Queenie, and at the finish we feel that Harold and his wife may have a better future together.

The book has warmth and humour and a dog. It has cancer and nuns. Gratuitously grim, irritatingly unlikely or a moving portrayal of grief and guilt? The book divided the group, some of whom could admire it but found it too depressing.

The score was 6, which ranged between 2 and 10!

Dec-Jan 2014 Miller (pure) and Mantel (Bring up the Bodies)

 December 2013/Jan 2014

Pure     by Andrew Miller

We were pleasantly surprised by this well written unusual book; the characters were well formed and interesting. The story was of a young man Jean-Baptiste Barratte who was commissioned to undertake the removal of the dead who were buried in a cemetery in the centre of Paris. The cemetery was overflowing with bodies and was causing a health hazard, the smell and description of the place was horrendous. This was engineer Jean-Baptiste first contract, he had good references and hoped to work on a substantial project. but undertook this unpleasant job hoping to further his career.

After assessing the situation he arranged for miners from Normandy along with his friend Lacoeur to dig up the bodies, which were then transferred to consecrated ground in a quarry outside Paris, where they remain to this day. The whole exhumation of the cemetery was months of disgusting work.

During this time Jean-Baptiste lived close to the cemetery with the Monnard family, the daughter Zigiette took objection to his work which we believe affected her mind and during the night came to his room and tried to bludgeon him to death. The maid, Marie saved his life but the attack left him with brain damage, he could continue his work but could not read and write afterwards. Jean-Baptiste had met and lived with a prostitute Heloise Gadard who was educated and helped him with his work. He was a very likeable character and felt great sympathy for him throughout the book.

During the book we were introduced to Armand and his partner Lisa, and the sexton's young daughter Jeanne. Lacoeur raped Jeanne, this was not a gruesome scene in the book, but written with sensitivity but the mood of the book changed after this.

We felt we would not recommend this book to our friends as the beginning was so off putting. It did gain momentum, it was very descriptive and clever and all had to finish it. We noted that it won the 'Costa' book of 2011 .

Unforgettable Marks 8/8/7/8/8/7/8 = 54= 7.7

Bring up the Bodies     by Hilary Mantel

Some of our group thought this book was excellent and easy to read, others thought it was slow but gathered pace as it got going. Some didn't think very highly of it at all, and thought it took a lot to say a little, so it was a 'mixed bag' within our group. We understand there is a third book coming out and so some of us are looking forward to it. There is also a play in the making, which incorporates both Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies to be shown in London.

A few felt sympathy for Thomas Cromwell and wished he would leave the kings service, but really his life at court was of his own making, with all the manipulation he did on the Kings behalf, no wonder he was disliked. Many were afraid of his power whilst he was in, the Kings favour and he had many enemies just waiting for his fall from grace. All this was with the knowledge that the King could tum on him in a second as he had done with Cardinal Wolsey, who was Cromwell's idol and benefactor. During the book Cromwell takes revenge with the five courtiers who were disrespectful to Wolsey after his death.

The main story was the removal of the Kings second wife Anne Boleyn to make way for his third wife Jane Seymour, and we all know that plot.

      Marks 8/7/6/6/7/10/6 = 50 = 7.1             

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These were taken from the printed page, photographed, displayed in Irfanview and I used the Kadmos OCR plug-in to convert them back to electronic text, then corrected the errors put in by the OCR translation, and here they are.   The OCR  was not too happy with the times New Roman text-  a capital T came out as 'I' and the 'e's were mostly transcribed as 'c'.                             

October 2012 - Rachel Cusk - The country life

[This is my notes about it, not those from the group]

When you ask yourself, “Why am I reading this book?” and the only answer that you can give yourself is because it is a reading group book, surely that is a negative point against the book. If you then ask yourself if you are enjoying the book, and the answer is no, should you knock another point off the book score, or is this the same point as above. This book it is described as humorous, but the things that one should find as funny such as being caught out walking backwards, don't seem funny because of the formal, extremely educated use of language that the author has used.

It is a work of fiction, not a scholarly tome, and the uncommon words used cause one to pause and affect the enjoyment of the book.

It is a story of a young lady who has thrown up her previous life and taken a job in the country looking after a disabled young man. She wants no contact with her past life, or family. One of the problems with the story is that she seems extremely naive, even fighting through the hedge instead of looking for a gate. She falls asleep in the sunshine and gets burnt, she wanders down to the village shop and buys stuff she doesn't understand. It just does not seem real. 

I don't know whether I shall finish it, I think I'll put it aside and read a book about someone chasing high-tech villains that is equally improbable, but more enjoyable. 

I don't feel that I should be excluded from scoring this book just because I haven't finished it, because I feel that my comments are just and will keep the score unbiased.

How would I score it? Not very well, I think. 3 or 4, probably with 1 less for my initial comment above. 

2013 November - Merivel by Tremain & Skios by Frayn

Merivel -- Rose Tremain                      Marks 7 Nov 2013

1. This is the sequel to Restoration which the group read earlier this year. It is 16 years since the events of the earlier book and Merivel has found his old journal to remind himself and us of what had happened.  Now he has his Manor back and a beautiful 17-year-old daughter, but she is lonely and wants to go away with friends to stay by the the sea. Making the best of this Merivel travels to Versailles to the Court of The Sun King. However he is not destined to recreate his relationship with Charles II with this French king, living in poverty and finding it difficult to even gain access to him for even the briefest time. However he makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Louise and together they rescue a bear and have a very brief affair before her sodomite husband breaks it up. He returns to England to find his daughter very sick and while she's recovering the King comes to stay for what seems like an unrealistically long time. In fact Margaret goes back to Court with Charles worrying Merivel about his intentions. So Merivel travels to Switzerland to visit Louise and is all but ushered into Louise's bed by her father.  Having agreed to marry her, and fought a staged duel with her husband, he has to hasten back to the bedside of the dying King. This act duly taking place he finds himself without an income, with his manor all but destroyed by the servants running amok in his absence, his Faithful Retainer, Will dead, but his daughter happily settled. So he has little choice but to return to Louise, however he makes the fatal mistake of calling on his old lover in London where a last dalliance rather shockingly proves the end of him.
     Merivel is described by the group as being compassionate with a sense of humour but licentious. He's a lusty man. The King was the real obsession of his life. Several people noted the parallels to Tom Jones. One member felt she didn't like his character and wondered if there was something she was missing. Another found him very real, with his heart ruling his head. He had a sad life with a rather sad end.
In general people had mixed feelings, some liked the love story, the section in Switzerland and the duel, although one in particular disliked the fact that he was writing about whether animals have souls.
People questioned whether the book stood on its own or whether it really only stood as a sequel. Again there were different feelings as to this. Some felt that expectations were rather too high having read the first one. One or two had not read the first book and still enjoyed this one. Which would seem to be the ultimate test.

2. I like Rose Tremain - I like her style very much and I enjoy historical fiction. I’m not sure how I feel about the character of Merivel - the book is a personal journal and shows many admirable qualities - he is compassionate and has a sense of the ridiculous, but I was troubled by his licentiousness. I suppose that this probably reflects the ways of the court. I wonder if he is portrayed as someone who aided and abetted, or even influenced the behaviour of the King. It is a while since I read Restoration - those of you who have read it more recently would possibly know.   6/10

3. The final years of Merivel, up to an including the kings death and the betrothal of his daughter. He is still a lusty man, but more introspective. He is infatuated with Louise until her wish for 'playing' gets too much and he has to fight a duel for her. It could be a history of the time of a man made rich by the kings benefice. Is it a good book? Hard to say. Difficult to recommend. It did not really stand on it's own, but relied on you having read the first volume, which we read a couple of months ago. We did wonder why it took 10 years for her to write the sequel to Restoration. 

Skios -- Michael Frayn                 Marks : High. 4,     Low.  2      Average. 3.5

- Dr. Norman Wilfred, a world celebrity in the field of scientific management of scientific research, descends from a first class flight with champagne pampering to the island of SKIOS.
He  is looking forward to delivering his classic lecture at the prestigious Fred Toppler Foundation Annual Conference. Unfortunately for Dr Wilfred, arriving at the same time are the soft smiling eyes and tousled blond hair that top off the younger, slimmer body of impulsive chancer Oliver Fox. Fox is having some doubts about spending the week with his latest conquest Georgie. He absent-mindedly picks up Dr Wilfred's suitcase at the luggage carousel, is mistaken for Dr Wilfred by Mrs Toppler's PA, the discreetly tanned, discreetly blonde, Nikki, and makes a spur of the moment decision to play the hand fate has dealt him.The story of the next few days involves Russian Oligarchs,Greek shipping magnates, money laundering, theft of ancient statues, a discussion on the probabilistic nature of determinism in the universe, the inability of foreigners to tell Greek taxi drivers apart, various attempts at sex, a grossly implausible number of misunderstandings and coincidences and an unexpected ending or two.

Our verdict was short and unanimous. A particularly irritating farce that was mainly a painful read . It might well work as a play but not as a book. We could happily have moved swiftly on but Chris insisted on mentioning one or two funny bits that tickled his schoolboy sense of humour and waffling on about Oliver Fox being the personification of creativity and spontaneity we all admire in writers who just make things up as they go along. No-one was convinced by this. (admits Chris)

- An irritating farce.  3/10

- It is like a 'norman conquest' play with mistaken identities and bed-hopping. Frayn is a playright. It takes place on the Greek island of Skios, where Norman Wilfred is to give a lecture to a charitable foundation, and his place is usurped by a young bounder 'just because he could' Bounder is supposed to be enjoying an illicit week with a married woman, in a resort arranged by another lover, and Wilfred ends up there and starts to like it, except for sensible thoughts of responsibilities. It all comes together in a climax as The Bounder starts to give Wilfred's famous lecture, and chaos ensues. The author sort of gives up and supposes at this point. Very light read, lots of misunderstandings. Not a classic, 3

2013 October The Unicorn Road - Martin Davies & The Thread - Victoria Hislop

The Thread

Victoria Hislop

Told as a story being told to a young man by his grandparents in Thessalonika, about how Katherina was rescued from Smyrna in 1917 by a young soldier, ended up in Thessalonika separated from her mother, taken in by another refugee family, and intertwined this story with that of a greedy materials supplier's family throughout the turmoil in Greece, the second world war, and all the uprisings afterwards, until love is discovered. I lived the story, could see the environment, and couldn't put it down.

We as a group found this book interesting, especially the history of the Greeks during their conflicts which included the civil, World War 1 and their fight with communism. We learnt a great deal about the country and it’s people. It was a clever book in which Victoria Hislop made her well written story fit the history of Greece and Thessaloniki, many authors do the opposite. The main story was about the people who lived Irini Street, their different nationalities and religions who lived side by side in harmony.

The among the characters were Katerina who was separated from her mother during an evacuation to Athens, in the confusion she arrived in Thessaloniki on her own, Eugenia another evacuee took care of her along with her own twin daughters, Maria and Sofia, so became her foster mother. They were allocated a house in Irini Street, where they met Olga Komninos, her son Dimitri and Paulina, who was her maid and companion. Olga was the wife of a rich cloth merchant Konstantious, their large house in the affluent area of Thessaloniki had burnt down and she lived in Irini Street whilst her husband rebuilt first his business then a palatial home for his family. Please note that the business came well before the comfort of his wife and son. Next door were the Jewish family of Roza and Saul Moreno, their sons Elias and Isaac, Saul had a tailoring business, so this is the beginning of ’The Thread’. Katerini became an expert needlewoman and worked at the Moreno tailoring workshop. 

There are many tales ‘woven into’ the book but the story is the love between Dimitri and Katerina. In a section of the book Katernia believes Dimitri is dead and succumbs to the advances of the new owner of Moreno’s, Grigoris Gourgouris, who was a German collaborator and informer. When Katerina discovers his past she sets about killing her greedy repulsive husband by feeding him until he is so overweight he has a heart attack. (Murder)?

Victoria Hislop wrote the book as if Katerina and Dimitri were explaining their history to their grandson, which suited her style of writing.

Many of the group would recommend this book especially on the history of Greece and Thessaloniki.

Marks 6 (ranging from 6 - 9)

  

The Unicorn Road

Martin Davies

This book is an example of the author writing history to fit his book, it is an adventure story set in 1258 about a group of men searching for exotic beasts such as a Unicorn which were depicted in an ancient book. This was to gain favour with the Pope of that time in return for the right to a kingdom. The narrative of the book is written by the different characters that were either part or had connections with the convoy. It was a long and arduous journey as well as being a long and arduous book, with different tales woven into it.

Some of the group struggled, but kept going wanting to know what happened to all the characters and some persevered because it was a group read. Others thought the writing was beautiful and were surprised by it.

We follow a father looking for his son Benedict who went on the expedition with the scholar Antioch as his servant and companion, the father follows the route as best he can collecting information on the way.

Apart from Antioch and Benedict the other three main characters consisted of Decius, Venn, and Ming Yueh. The other characters who played important roles were the Gt. Khan, the evil Emperor, Lord Rustum, Leah of Kairouan, Song Rui and Pau. We came to understand Decius and the story of his wife Messalina; his looks didn’t show the man beneath. There was Venn who was a good man and befriended Benidect during the journey and kept him safe from harm on many occasion. Ming Yueh was a young woman in love with Song Rui a commander in the Emperor’s service; she was on her way to marry him and joined the convoy for protection. The very interesting side story of Ming Yueh was the writing on the women’s wall. Venn and Ming Yueh become lovers and plan to live their life together but events take place that this is not to be. There is such a sad ending in the book that some were enraged and others moved to tears.

Really the side story is about looking for the animals because if they found them, how would they capture and get them back, the book is about relationships.

Marks 6 (ranging from 5 - 7)

My best description is an intelligent juvenile fantasy. I cannot find many of the place names mentioned, though it sort of travels from Italy, via Basra to India and onwards, in search of fantasy animals like the unicorn. A Chinese love story is included. I cannot really get involved with it. The young man who is the centrepiece is almost a background character, overshadowed by others.

Two people loved it, and the rest when asked if they would have chosen it to read  implied not, and that they only read it because it was a chosen Reading Group book. It was a book that had been retrieved from the basement storage of the library. 

2013 September - Alone on a Wide Wide Sea & Restoration

Only five of us here.

Alone on a wide Wide Sea – Michael Morpurgo 2006

A simply written, easy to read story directed at Teanagers, Not too much detail, but enough to tell the story. The story conveyed the harshness and heartlessness of life in the outback. I was in tears as I finished it. Piggy's use of Religion made Liz fume. It pulled me in right from the beginning and I would have read it in two sittings if I could have. I guess not too much emotion on Arthurs part, but that was the harsh upbringing. It is the story of an orphan child sent to Australia in the early fifties, the harsh life he led, and his determination to return to England and find his sister, until the baton is thrown to his daughter, who at 18 sails singlehandedly to England to find her aunt. It helped that Allie had developed an interest in sailing from her father. There was discussion about the communications with the man in space and also the death of the Albatross and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In summary, it was a simple undemanding read, but there was no graphic horror in it.

Marks – 7 for four of us that had read it

Restoration – Rose Tremain 1989

A frivolous nothing of a book that has kept me from reading better books was my opinion. We have read five of Rose Tremain's books before. The hero is a dissolute courtier of Charles II who main interest is Rumpty-tump. I gave up at the badger coat thing, which the others commented showed that he cared for his fellow man. I was told that I should have persevered as Merivel is restored to an honourable man after he gives up the frivolous life and goes to practice medicine at the lunatic asylum with his friend Pearce. The descriptions of some of the medical practices are gruesome. The quietness in the asylum calmed him down. The last third of the book was more reasonable in comparison to court life which was so unstable and dependent on favours. But one comment was that it took longer than the usual 100 pages to get into the book.

It was commented that following his antics, downfall, and getting his self-respect back instead of playing the big man was interesting. He was not a cruel man. He was admired by Gates, his butler/servant, but he despised Pearce even though Pearce was his saviour.

In terms of the writing style, it was good, and didn't dumb things down.

A comment was that it reflects partly today's society, where a person trains as a Doctor and then throws it up to become a comedian.

If I am allowed thoughts, her other books have been better, and we have the sequel to this book coming up in a couple of months. Why are we having so many Tremains?

Marks for the three that read it were 7.

I feel I must comment on my thoughts of Restoration as the review above does not do it justice. I and many others in the group enjoyed this book and are looking forward to reading the second Merivel book called ‘Merivel A Man of His Time‘. True the first 100 pages or so read like a ‘Tom Jones’ romp, you have to read this section to find out how immoral he was in his youth and how he redeemed himself. This book ends just after his wife died in childbirth and his hopes for his daughter. I am more than happy to read Rose Tremain books, is it a female thing? The last reviewer was male, or am I being sexist.

2013 June - The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal

The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family memoir by a British renowned potter Edmund de Waal. He tells the story of his family the Ephrussi, who were once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty centered in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, peers of the Rothschild family.The Ephrussi lost almost everything in 1938 when their property was taken over by Nazis. After the war the family never recovered most of the their extensive property including priceless artwork, but a collection of 264 Japanese netsuke (pronounced netski) miniature sculptures was miraculously saved, tucked away inside her mattress by Anna, a loyal maid at Palais Ephrussi in Vienna, during the war years. The collection was passed down as inheritance through five generations providing a common thread to tell the story of the Ephrussi fortunes from 1871 to 2009.

The group described this is a gentle, sensitive journey through generations of one family. It describes a privileged life, which was achieved through the grain trade. In some ways it parallels the better known Rothschilds.

 It was Elizabeth Ephrussi who took charge of the family during the war years, coming back to Vienna and obtaining permits for her parents to escape.

 It is a biography and a history, and as such of course can't help being a social commentary for the times.
The group noted the rationalisations given for taking the wealth from the Jews and not giving it back after the war, even by non-Nazis.

Some sympathy was shown for Anna who managed to save all the netsukes but her own future was unknown. There is some name dropping because the Eprussis socialised with or even commissioned Monet, Proust and Renoir who are all part of their rich history.

The details of the extra asparagus amused.

All in all the book went down well.

Marks 8.5

Added notes from OL: Briefly!

 

Hare with Amaber Eyes - based on what I think I thought on reading it some time ago.

Fascinating story but hard to follow - family trees and maps could have been clearer.

Possible a bit of editing would have helped. Felt sorry fpr the maid whose fate did not seem to concern the family.

Mark 8