The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Having failed dismally to enjoy any English Victorian literature when I first gave it a go during my teenage years (the Brontes, Dickens, Shelley – I tried a few and gave up on all of them apart from Hardy) I labelled most writing of that time as boring, flowery and very long.

I eased my way into Victorian novels with Cranford last year which inspired me enough to give The Woman in White a try. Would my 16 year old self have enjoyed The Woman in White? Heck knows but I certainly enjoyed it today.

The novel more or less opens with a young man who encounters a mysterious woman dressed in white on the road to London, after helping this woman reach her destination, the man becomes embroiled in one very complex mystery.

As The Woman in White is classed as a 'Victorian sensation novel' there is romance, stolen identity's, strange foreigners, a secret society and an asylum. Its all good and intriguing stuff. As the novel is told by different narrators, all telling just part of the story, the reader is close to the mystery and has to solve it themselves by slotting all the narrators accounts together.

There are parts which rely purely on coincidence and can be a little far fetched but that's all part of the fun and the story is fast paced with injections of humour. That's not to say that it's all fun however. The plight and the treatment of women during that time is described well as is the shear ease of committing a person to a lunatic asylum.

One aspect of this book which did surprise me was the familiarity I had with Sarah Waters Fingersmith, even one of the plot elements. After reading this it is not hard to see how Waters drew inspiration from Victorian literature of this type.

I'm not ready to go out and try and read Dickens again but I will crack on with Jane Eyre soon.

I read The Woman in White as part of a read-along hosted by Allie over at A Literary Odyssey. Verdict 4/5

Posted by Jess

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The Reader is the story of Michael Berg. The main protagonist who looks back at a relationship he had at 15 years old with an older woman; Hanna Schmitz. The affair took place over a Summer and ended as abruptly as it began when Hanna disappears leaving no forwarding address.

Deeply effected by this in the years following, Michael, now a law student, comes into contact with Hanna in a unexpected way when he follows her trial for atrocities she committed during the Second World War.

The prose in The Reader is quite sparse, relatively simple and very easy to read. The novel almost hides the fact that the story and themes are far heavier than the prose style and the short length suggests.

The novel looks at Nazi guilt within later generations. How would it feel if your parents, grandparents were there and yet did nothing? Or, even worse, participated in the terrible acts? It is a question that Michael and his fellow students spend a lot of time thinking about. Michael also has to come to terms with the fact that, as in the case of Hanna, not all war criminals are born evil, yet they are evil when they 'go along with it'. This is brought forth with frightening clarity when Hanna questions her judge with 'what would YOU have done?'

I loved the main themes of the book and found them extremely thought provoking and I think this would make a brilliant book club read. However what let the novel down slightly were the actual characters. At just over 200 pages the novel has to fit in huge themes and quite a lot of sex so unfortunately the characters suffered slightly because of this. I never really understood Hanna, she didn't come alive even when seen through Michael's eyes and she was more of an instrument to make a point rather than a three dimensional person with a voice.

The central point of the story is that there are some crimes that are so horrific that a person simply cannot atone for them. This is a powerful message and it really struck a cord with me.

I have a few reservations about The Reader overall, it's certainly not a book I am going to forget in a hurry.

Verdict 4/5

Posted by Jess

The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn

The News Where You Are is one of those books that is not bad at all, it won't blow anyone away either and could be described as a gentle, inoffensive read.

The main character is Frank; a news presenter who has been in the business for 20 years. He is famous for his bad one-liners which he pays someone to write for him earning himself a bit of a fan base among students. When his old mentor Phil dies in a strange accident Frank, in his humdrum way, grieves for his friend while tracking down relatives of a man, Michael, who died alone.

Frank is one of the good people and so is his wife and daughter and so is almost everyone else in the novel. The themes of loss and change involving buildings, memories and people are very prevalent that they were almost forced onto the reader but unfortunately these themes did not quite satisfy me.

Overall this was an enjoyable enough read filled with likeable characters and plenty of humorous moments. This is not a novel filled with plot, instead it focuses on some colourful characters and Franks musings about the past and renewal.

The author début novel What Was Lost has had rave reviews and I will certainly be checking that out.

Verdict 3/5

Posted by Jess

The Last Starfighter

The Last Starfighter is the story of Alex Rogan; an average teenager living in the middle of nowheresville USA. He spends his time doing odd jobs on his mother's trailer park bored out of his mind. His only joys in life are his girlfriend Maggie and a stand up arcade game in the park named 'Starfighter'. When Alex busts the top score on 'Starfighter' his life takes a completely unexpected turn when an alien from another world 'kidnaps' Alex and informs him that 'Starfighter' is not just a video game but a sophisticated test designed to find life forms suitable to train as real Starfighters to repel an imminent alien invasion. When a surprise attack kills all the starfighters it is up to Alex and his alien navigator 'Grig' to stop the invasion by themselves.

The book is based on the film rather than the other way around so as you can imagine it isn't going to be winning the Nobel Prize for literature however it is entertaining, exciting and easy to get through. There are some great characters and plenty of laughs as well as battles in space.

Aside from the cheesy moments and minor spelling errors I have come to expect from these kinds of books it is generally well put together. If you are a fan of science fiction or the movie then this book is a must read. If you aren't I'm not sure you'd appreciate it much.

Final verdict 3/5

Chris

The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier

The Parasites in this novel refer to three siblings Maria, Niall and Celia who are born to famous parents in the theatre. Accused of being Parasites by Maria's husband, the three siblings spend the novel looking back over their childhood and lives and ponder over the insult.

Celia is the only one that shares both parents, Niall and Maria share no blood ties and yet they have the closest bond (to an incestuous level) of all the children. Maria is a successful actress who is more like the parts she happens to be playing than herself, while Niall is a typical musician drifter. Celia is the person that is put upon by her siblings and parents, never being able to chase her own dreams lest they get in the way of her duties.

The backdrop to the novel are the theatres of Paris and London (a world du Maurier would have known well due to her famous father Gerald du Maurier) and they certainly add to the glamorous and bohemian life the siblings lead. But despite the setting and the mysterious bond between the three main characters, I felt very indifferent to the whole thing.

I cannot fault the writing itself although I would have liked more suspense and mystery which I delight in du Maurier's other books. The main problem were the characters who were not rounded enough for me and I failed to connect with them or their motivations. It felt sometimes rushed and I never got underneath any of the characters skin, instead du Maurier just focused on the introductory personality tracts which was used to propel the novel along, which after a while became boring.

An interesting book but not one of du Mauriers best.

Verdict 3/5

Posted by Jess

The Elephant Man

In Whitechapel Road, London there is a small shop which sells saris. 127 years ago the same shop was used for a very different purpose; to exhibit a man whose body was so terribly disfigured with evil-smelling skin growths he was nicknamed 'The Elephant Man'. His real name was Joseph Carey Merrick and this book is about his life and the people who knew him.

I won't go into masses of detail surrounding Joseph as I am sure most people have heard of him, he is famous even today because of his (mercifully) rare medical condition and the tremendous suffering he went through in a largely uncaring world. His mother died when Joseph was 10 years old and his father re-married shortly after. Joseph's step-mother was cruel and impatient towards him forcing him to leave home and enter the workhouse. Eventually he began working in freak shows, exhibiting himself to the public for money. It was in this capacity that he met Sir Frederick Treves; a young surgeon from the London Hospital. Merrick left London shortly after this and went through all manner of very unpleasant experiences before he finally returned and moved into the London Hospital. Here he was cared for by the doctors and nurses before his death at the young age of 27.

The book is very informative and well put together, it is clear a lot of hard work went into it and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.. It was very interesting to read how many myths surround Joseph, one of the biggest being that his first name was John. An interesting fact is that Joseph attributed his frightful condition to his mother being scared by an elephant when she was pregnant with him. I am left with the strong impression that Joseph was a kind and gentle man, popular with those who took the trouble to know him and certainly not a man deserving of what happened to him. I am thankful he was cared for before he died.

The book doesn't claim to know everything and sadly a lot of the details of Joseph's life have been lost over the years. Some very good photographs are included as well as a two page 'autobiography' believed to have been written by Joseph himself. The book also gives detail on the Victorian attitudes to freak shows and gives an insight into the operations of the workhouses of that time period.

Overall rating 4/5

Chris