“A Thousand Splendid Suns” Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini

I was lent this book by a friend – and I always receive books given to me with the words “you’ve got to read this!” with intrepidation. I feel under pressure to enjoy them. We had also recently read Burnt Shadows and then not long back read White Tiger, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to read something I predicted would be similar. But how narrow minded of me to think this! The three books do not resemble each other – why would they? We start off with Mariam and follow her early years. We, the readers, can see how her father is going to relate to her, but watch as Mariam has to discover this for herself. I found the description of her home very stark. It was so shocking, as an adult, imagining her in this place particularly as she did not know anything else in which to use as a comparison, and as a result didn’t think it bad. When we met Laila I found we lost Mariam, and I really missed hearing her voice in the story. This wasn’t to say that I didn’t connect with Laila, I very much did, I just felt sad that the years muted Mariam’s voice up until the end, when I could imagine that strong willed girl returning. I really enjoyed this book, and cannot fault it. I am aware that Islam, as with Christianity, has suffered at the hands of politicians through the ages, and I am sure Mohammed and Jesus regularly look down on us, slap their foreheads and groan at how we have changed the nature of their teachings! So I did not see this as a book about the errors of Islamic society, political power and the effect these have had on what is a peaceful belief system - I saw it as a powerful representation of love, kindness, and true connections, and how this can be far more powerful than cohersion and brutality. Yes. This was a wonderful story.

Image taken from, and Review: http://bookcloset.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/thousand-splendid-suns.html

“Affinity” – Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters

Having picked up Affinity I found it pulled me in quickly. I could really believe I was in Victorian London. Whilst it wasn’t overtly heavy with descriptive text regarding this, it was still very clear. Millbank prison was described rather more, however essential as it was clearly a character in its own right. The sounds and sights of the building came through starkly and it was hard to truly imagine how dreadful life must have been existing within its walls. Spiritualism was a strong influence in middle class London at the time, and I found I didn’t really question whether Selina was a fraud or not. I think even the sections written from her perspective never really created a definitive on this – though of course clues were there to the outcome of the story. However I missed them; and I only began to understand the outcome at the same pace as Margaret. I enjoyed the book – undoubtedly atmospheric.

“Grace Williams Says it Loud”

“Grace Williams Says it Loud” by Emma Henderson isn’t an easy read.

Grace was born in 1947 with multiple severe physical disabilities, in a time when the names for such disabilities were definitely not politically correct. When Grace reaches 11 her life is further complicated by epilepsy. She has an older brother and sister, and a baby sister, Sarah, who is really quite frightened of Grace.

In the story we see and hear the world through Grace’s eyes and ears, and it is often easy to forget her difficulties. However through Sarah’s words and actions we experience the reality of how people spoke of  and felt about ‘handicapped’ people. This is difficult to read but essential because is a true representation, and reflects the fear that young children have towards people that are different. I know I had this fear at a young age. I think what is more distressing is the level of care Grace and her friends experience, or lack of it, when she goes to live in a hospital/institution. Here Grace meets Daniel and they develop a close relationship which becomes sexual as they grow into teenagers.

Sarah and Grace develop a good relationship as adults. Sarah is easy to forgive for her early cruelty because the author allows her to grow as a human being, and grow she does.

It wasn’t an easy read because Grace’s voice is so loud throughout the book. However it isn’t miserable either. It’s actually a love story between two very likeable characters.

Reviews: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/grace-williams-says-it-loud

Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1281871/Emma-Henderson-talks-sister-Clare-institutionalised.html

“The Secret Scripture”

Sebastian Barry

A friend of mine lent me this book and it sat on top of my wardrobe (out of the way of a chewing cat) for a little while forgotten I’m ashamed to say.

It is written in two voices, well perhaps three. The first voice is that of Dr William Grene. He is a psychiatrist given the job of assessing the patients of an old psychiatric hospital which is too old to repair. He needs to work out which of the patients are able to live in the community and which are either well, but too institutionalised to cope, or actually are mentally ill.

Roseanne is the oldest patient at around 100 years old, and William’s story focuses on his considerations – he’s mindful that women frequently were placed in lunatic assylums for having children out of wedlock – and he wants to discover the reason why Roseanne originally came there. William’s own story though slowly takes over his narrative.

Roseanne’s story is the second and third voice. We hear Roseanne’s perspective both as we read her life story in her journal and in the here and now which is when she is writing it.

This story fascinated me because it’s main purpose was the pursuit of the truth, yet it demonstrated how the truth is always subjective.

“The Spa Decameron”

 I read a lot of Fay Weldon in my early twenties. I chose this to take me through whilst between book chat books. 

This book is a little like a collection of short stories. Phoebe is a writer and after a flooding in her house she opts to go to a spa over the Christmas and New Year period. The clients are all female, and as the days pass fewer and fewer of the staff stay on (due to the boss having financial difficulties and not paying their wages). This leads to the cients having to resort to spending a lot of time in the spa pools and jacuzzi. During these sessions, each of the women take turns to tell their story. The woman are referred to, in the book, not by their name, but by their profession - such as, the Judge who started life out as a male, and the Vicar’s Ex-Wife, whose marriage broke down due to ghosts in the vicarage that her husband never witnessed.

I found the style easy to read, and the stories were very Fay Weldon-esque!

“The Body Shape Bible”

…… (I’m a pear – apparently!)

Autobiographies

    Mmmm – I’ve been preoccupied with other people’s lives of late – mainly TV presenters!