books

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

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The Master and MargaritaThe Master and Margarita on Amazon

Where to begin?  What a novel!  Honestly, I am still reeling. Strange beyond strange. The weirdest aspect of it all – I still can’t decide whether I loved it or hated it.  What I loved was the sheer boldness of the Devil.  I also loved the imagery and the lightning fast roller coaster action. What I hated was always asking myself ‘what does that mean? and why did that just happen?  Hard work.

I couldn’t even begin to sum up the plot, so I’ll just give you a few of the main points.

It begins with two men having a discussion while sitting on a park bench at Patriarch’s Ponds in Moscow.  One is a poet called Bedzomy and the other is a man called Berlioz. He is the head of the literary society Massolit. They are having a discussion about the existence of Jesus Christ.  A foreign looking gentleman sits down beside them.   He goes by the name of Professor Woland, but is actually the devil – are you with me so far?  OK that’s about the most straightforward part of the novel.

From there we have two settings, – 1930s Moscow, where Woland and his entourage, which includes an oversized cat called Behemouth, wreak havoc on society through magic shows, fires, and all manner of madness, which leads to many individuals ending up in a psychiatric ward, including the aforementioned Bedzomy.

The second setting is a novel within a novel – the Master, a writer that we only know by that name, has written a book about Pontius Pilate, and we are given extracts of this work which is set in Jerusalem.   The Master also ends up in the psych ward, but is later freed.  We know nothing about his past or where he came from, which I also found hard to get my head around.

If you want a detailed description of the novel, can I suggest you use Google, where you will find minds far better equipped to describe the plot than I can.  I am merely blogging of my experience of reading this as part of my Reading Gym – she says, copping out entirely.  Sorry but I feel I would need a Masters in English lit to get to the truth of this one.

So, I guess having ploughed my way through this novel, am I any the wiser?

Well one thing I can understand is why it is regarded as a classic.  It includes magical realism, a satirical look at the Soviet Union of the 1930s, not to mention looking at the themes of religion and even love.  There are also major thematic debates on the battle between good and evil.

The love story between the Master and Margarita only comes into play in the second half of the novel, and having persevered to that point, I began to enjoy it much more, as some of the mysteries were cleared up.

What I found difficult about this novel were the incredible number of themes, deeper meanings and satire. I found it hard at times to enjoy the story for its own sake.  I was always aware of there being more than the narrative at play.

Would I recommend it?  If you like a challenge, or you feel like reading something wild and completely different, then yes.  Otherwise forget it.   I feel like I would need to read it at least two more times to really get to grips with it, but somehow, I suspect I won’t ever read it again.   Oh well, at least now I can say I have read some Russian literature!

If you have read it, please feel free to share your thoughts.  Maybe you can educate us all?!

Next month’s read is Stoner by John Williams.  Hoorah!  I have read it before and cannot wait to read it again and share my views.   I highly recommend Stoner.

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Review of ‘Making It Up As I Go Along’ by Marian Keyes.

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marian-keyes

There are two female Irish writers who I think are underrated.  Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes.  Both undoubtedly beloved and revered, but I don’t think people appreciate what skilled writers they were in Maeve’s case, and are in Marian’s.     The trick is, they make it look effortless, but it’s not, and I don’t think people appreciate that enough.

‘Maeve’s Times’ by Maeve Binchy is one of my favourite books ever.  It made me laugh, cry, and sigh with envy.  I re-read it from time to time and it gets better with every reading.

So, it was with some trepidation and excitement that I set out to read Marian’s series of articles. The trepidation came because I was nearly afraid I wouldn’t like them, and that would have been terrible, what with being such an ardent admirer.  I should have known my fears were ridiculous.

I began reading the book one night whilst in bed.  My husband began to look at me in a most alarming manner, as I began to shake with laughter and then to snort most unbecomingly.  At one point, I think I sounded like Pluto the dog.  From the very first piece on ‘Fake Tan,’ where my snorting was caused by an anecdote in which Marian goes to get fake tan administered at a salon for the first time.  She isn’t told until it is applied that she can’t wash it off until the following morning.  Unfortunately, she had plans to go out for dinner for her mammy’s birthday.  As she tells it:

“At the restaurant I caused a bit of a stir.  As if the smell wasn’t bad enough, bits of the mud were going black and green and falling off my face into my dinner.”

I don’t laugh easily.  A friend at school once told me I was terrible for laughing at other’s misfortunes.  I prefer to think I am laughing with them.  Marian Keyes is so exquisitely funny about the calamities that can strike when we least expect it and we are doing our best to just get on with things.  I laugh in understanding, in female solidarity and in empathy.

I once told a friend a story about leaving a suitcase in the wrong person’s house in London, and as it was the height of the troubles, and it was found with a Belfast address, all kinds of hell broke loose, while I was busy sunning myself on a beach in France.  It’s a long, complicated story, but my friend has been dining out on it ever since, and says it is the funniest thing she has ever heard.

Equally, my 10-year-old niece adores the story of how I sprayed myself from head to toe with an anti-mosquito Citronella spray and inadvertently became exceptionally drunk from the amount of ethanol in the spray. And there was me thinking it was natural and therefore safe.

So I have had more than my fair share of minor disasters too, and this my friends is where Marian is a joy.  She is generous in sharing both her good successful experiences (of which there are many I might add) and her less successful forays into areas of her life such as travel, the beauty industry, exercise, and the complicated business of living.  I am not a sycophant.  For example, I don’t always agree with her butchering of the English language for comic purposes – it doesn’t always work for me.

However, I do love this book and I think everyone should read it, for it is a tonic for the soul.  Marian Keyes is a great conversationalist, and her narrative voice is what makes the book special.  She writes as if you were sitting in her kitchen, having a chat and a cuppa. What’s not to love?

To end:

10 reasons why Marian Keyes is Fabulous:

  1. Despite her success as an author, she never pretends it is easy, and she is happy to admit she struggles with her writing.
  2. She is self-deprecating and exceptionally witty, but we also know that she is really very clever.
  3. She loves Alexander McCall Smith. I was SO excited when I read this.  Whenever I rave on to people about AMS, they usually mumble something about having read a couple of his books, but look at me like I am a bit sad.  This enrages me and makes me rave all the more.  Marian gets him, and his lovely books.
  4. She is generous in the extreme in sharing her tips for all kinds of things, from cooking to beauty, to writing, and she shares her mistakes too, so we can all learn from them.
  5. She is hilarious about ‘himself’ and showed her vulnerability and brilliant sense of humour when ‘himself’ went off trekking up a mountain somewhere far away (sorry don’t remember where it was) and she feared she would ‘lose him’ to one of the females in the climbing group.  She tweeted with much angst and hilarity.
  6. She is a big fan of Strictly and her blogs and tweets re the shows are unmissable.
  7. Her tweets and vlogs are legendary. Also, she is not like many well-known people who think they are too important to tweet with a non-celeb! She tweets with lots of different people.
  8. Her book ‘Is Anybody Out there?’ is one of the best novels I have read about the experience of grief. It stayed with me for ages afterwards.
  9. She supports causes she believes in, and donated her royalties for ‘Making It Up As I Go Along’ to the Save the Children Syria crisis. I mean – Come On.
  10. She started her tribute to Jilly Cooper at the Bord Gais Energy Book Awards last December, by addressing the assembled company with her signature vernacular of ‘Lads…..’ I was watching it on the T.V. and nearly fell off my sofa in admiration and glee.  Funny, funny fabulous woman.

P.S.  I have decided not to tweet Marian the link to this piece for fear that she will –

(a) Think I am a stalker, which I am SO not.   I am happy to admire from afar.  (Or even worse, she gets the link but doesn’t bother to read it.)

(b) She will hate it and think me a creepy fan.  This would kill me altogether, so this remains between us.  I am just glad to have put it out there to encourage you to buy the book.  You can laugh and support a good cause. Sure, what more could you want?

P.P.S.  If you have been following my ‘Reading Gym’ list or ‘List of Betterment’ (see November’s blog post.)  I will be back next week with my review of ‘Les Jeux Sont Faits’ by Sartre.   The book for March is ‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen.

 

Middlemarch by George Eliot

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middlemarch-by-george-eliot

This was the first book on my 2017 ‘list of betterment’ (see previous post in Nov 2016, on ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’ by Andy Millar) or as I call it, ‘My Book/Reading Gym.’

I set myself a target to read 50 pages a day.  Some days I read more, on only a few occasions I read slightly less.  As I reached 600+ pages I galloped through the final 200 pages.

Readers have strong views on Middlemarch.  They rhapsodize about it, or detest it.  Not much middle ground in terms of the opinions I have heard. Well – I loved it.  I wouldn’t say it was the best book I have ever read or that it changed my life, but I definitely loved it.

George Eliot writes as omniscient narrator, and this along with the Victorian references and wordiness grated with me initially, until the brilliant characterization swept me along, and I became lost in the world of Middlemarch society.

The novel is set in 1830 and covers a wide range of the societal and political issues of the day, from medicine to parliamentary reform and education. I won’t begin to try and summarize the plot.  If you want to know what it’s about, google it my friends!  800 pages is 300 pages too long for a summary.

Instead I am going to tell you why I loved this novel.  The manner in which Eliot draws together all the different lives of the characters, and weaves the storylines between them, and makes the connections appear understated yet important, is nothing short of genius.   The characters’ lives weave, mesh and become entangled in the subtlest but most daring ways.   Two characters who may have not even met, suddenly turn out to be the cause of each other’s potential downfall.  The moral dilemma between Bulstrode, Dr Lydgate and the rest of Middlemarch society had me gripped and transfixed.

The two main characters of Dorothea and Dr Lydgate held the most interest for me.   Many reviewers have portrayed Dorothea as a saint and a specimen of perfection.  For me (as much as I did try to imagine how hard it must have been for women in the 1830s) she was an irritating sycophant.  She married the much older Mr Causaubon because he was so highly knowledgeable in her eyes, and so much worthier than herself.  Blimey, whip yourself a bit harder why don’t you.  She had him on such a high pedestal, it was inevitable there was only one way for him to go, which he duly did.  Down down down.     She then falls in love with Will Ladislaw, but cannot admit it to herself, or have anything to do with him until he proves himself worthy.  I know she had it tough, but I just yearned for her to show some feistiness, or some rebellion at some point.  Her self-pity and self-flagellation just made me want to puke.  Mind you, her sister Celia was worse, particularly when she became a mother to her darling Arthur.

Even though Rosamond (who married Dr Lydgate) was vain, self-centred and selfish, at least she had a bit of back bone and knew what she wanted.

My two favourite characters were probably Dr Lydgate and Mary Garth.  Humble, dependable, sure of themselves and their values. Poor Dr Lydgate.  My heart truly broke for him.  Marrying the selfish Rosamond, and struggling both financially and with his lifelong ambition. He needed a wife like Dorothea to fulfill all his needs, while he got on with his work.

Middlemarch is a book I imagine you could read five or six times and still not fully appreciate.  There is so much to it, my mind boggles just thinking about it.  It is a book I hope to read again in a few years.    To be honest I don’t think I got the full juice out of it on a first reading.  I also appreciated and enjoyed the exquisite writing, and marked many passages in the book.  One of my favourites regarded the nature of Mr Casaubon and his inability to enjoy anything in life.  A truly remarkable piece of writing:

“It is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught and yet not to enjoy; to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self – never to be fully possessed by the glory we behold…but always to be scholarly and uninspired, ambitious and timid, scrupulous and dim-sighted.”  (Chapter 29 Page 280 Penguin Classics edition)

Eliot’s wisdom is rare, her genius plentiful.  It may take some effort and some time to read this masterpiece, but certain things are worth the effort, and in my opinion, reading Middlemarch is one of them.

If you have read it, I would love to hear your opinions.  Who was your favourite character?  Do you agree with me re Dorothea, or do you think she is the true heroine of the novel? Pray do tell (sorry…went all Victorian there for a moment.)

Next up at The Reading Gym is:  ‘Les Jeux sont Faits’ by Sartre.   I will be reading it in French, but if you fancy reading along, you can get a translation entitled ‘The Chips are Down.’  What a hideous translation, but never mind!  It’s not that easy to get, so I fear I may be on my own with this one!  The next book after that is ‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen.   I can’t wait for that one!

Thank you for reading.  I hope you enjoyed your stay at The Book Club Cafe!

 

 

 

 

Disovering JM Coetzee.

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After reading earlier this year, that JM Coetzee has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his work ‘The Schooldays of Jesus,’ I decided it was high time I began to read some of his work.  Given that he has won the Man Booker Prize twice, for ‘Life and Times of Michael K’ (1983) and ‘Disgrace’ in (1999) he could be the first writer to win it a record three times, if he wins this year.

I borrowed a beautiful hard back copy of ‘Disgrace’ from my father’s vast collection of books.  I now understand why Coetzee is so highly respected, if somewhat controversial in his native South Africa.  His prose is exquisite, and he makes it look effortless which is all the more incredible.

Disgrace tells the story of university professor David Lurie, who loses his job after having an affair with one of his students.   The student in question Melanie Isaacs does not initially seem to reject his advances, and although the sex may be far from passionate on her part she does not object. However, she later brings a charge against him, which leads to him leaving the university in disgrace.

He goes to stay on his daughter Lucy’s farm in the Eastern Cape, where he helps her take care of her stray dogs and he helps out on the farm.   He meets Petrus, who describes himself as ‘the gardener and the dog man’ but we soon come to realize that he is much more than that and he has plans and plenty of them.

I won’t give away any more of the plot, but suffice to say what happens next on the farm will change Lucy and David’s lives forever.

A difficult and at times highly depressing novel, through David and Lucy’s complex relationship, we see who holds the power in a still racially segregated South Africa.

Coetzee uses the animals as a way to show the cruelty of man’s inhumanity to man.  At the dog shelter where he helps remove the dogs who have been put down, the owner says:

‘Yes we eat up a lot of animals in this country…It doesn’t seem to do us much good. I’m not sure how we will justify it to them.’

David Lurie feels shame and guilt over the on-going savagery shown towards animals throughout, and his pain is visceral, although he ends up feeling useless to prevent it.

The characters in the novel seemed to me to be somewhat resigned to their fate, in particular Lucy, who doesn’t put up any kind of fight at all to change her tragic circumstances.  It is as if the winds of change have come, and they are utterly powerless to stop them or make their lives better.

There are power struggles and then there is cruelty and horror, and Coetzee shows the thin line between the two sadly continues to exist in South Africa.

A brilliant novel, but not for the faint hearted.   A novel that stayed with me long after I had finished reading it, and one which, in my view, thoroughly deserved all the plaudits it received.

I have not yet decided which of his novels to read next.  I will let you know.  Any suggestions?

 

 

 

‘The Wicked Boy’ by Kate Summerscale

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Kate Sumerscale coverThank you to Net Galley for a review copy of this title.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wicked-Boy-Mystery-Victorian-Murderer/dp/1408851148

Bloomsbury Publishing. 400 pages. £16.99. ISBN number: 9781408851142

Review by Justine McGrath.

The American novelist Jack London characterized East Londoners as “a people of the machine and the Abyss.”  The dismal working class area of Plaistow in London fits this description perfectly, and in 1895 becomes notorious as the scene of an horrific murder. The victim is Emily Coombes; the murderer – her 14-year old son Robert.

A non-fiction account, written in a narrative style based on fact and devoid of emotion, ‘The Wicked Boy’ follows the story of the life of Robert Coombes, who seemingly without remorse or concern, murders his mother by stabbing her through the heart.

He and his brother Nattie (short for Nathanial) who is only twelve, then go on a jolly for the next ten days. They see the cricket at Lords and go to the theatre, while the body of their mother rots in an upstairs bedroom.  They also enlist a friend of their father’s called John Fox to stay with them. He is rather slow and seems oblivious to the foul smell emanating from the upstairs bedroom.

The truth must out and after ten days, the boys’ aunt forces her way into the house, following reports of a strange smell. The author does not shy away from the macabre and the scenes describing the remains of Emily Coombes’ body are grim in the extreme.  Robert Coombes confesses immediately, and exonerates his brother from any wrong doing. Their father is away at sea and oblivious to both the murder of his wife and the subsequent arrest of his two sons.

The politics, society and atmosphere of Victorian London are described in intricate detail, along with a fascinating insight into how child murderers were treated in the late 1800s in England. But the question that preoccupies the author is why did Robert Coombes kill his mother?

Summerscale has written of this murder trial in the same style in which she wrote ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher,’ for which she won the Samuel Johnson prize and garnered much attention.   In that real life narrative, the author also follows the life of the culprit, Constance, after the trial, to see what becomes of her.

During the trial in ‘The Wicked Boy,’ doctors and psychologists claim that Robert’s brain is too large for his skull and that he has always suffered from headaches.  This is verified by his father.  He is diagnosed with a condition known as “cerebral irritation.” Another theory to explain his behaviour, given by the victim himself, is that his mother had a vile temper, and Robert claims he killed her because she had “thrashed” Nattie and he was afraid she was going to continue to beat both of them.

Another theory put forward is that the blame for the murder lies with the ‘Penny Dreadful’ boys’ magazines that Robert liked to read. The author digresses too much recounting stories from the Penny Dreadfuls, which detracts from the more interesting main narrative.  Too much is made of this and as one of the local newspapers at the time, the Gazette stated:

“The books a man or woman reads are less the making of a character than the expression of it.”

Robert may have wished to run away to India due to reading the magazines, but it didn’t necessarily mean he killed his mother in order to do so.  The author is careful not to elicit our sympathy as Robert is portrayed as a cruel, heartless child who also stole repeatedly without the slightest remorse.

“Robert seemed quite the Cockney dandy, a wordly Dodger to Nattie’s wide-eyed Oliver Twist.”

We are initially prompted to feel increasing concern for Nattie, who, as the younger brother appears vulnerable and under Robert’s control. He is released without charge, if he will testify against his brother which he does.  We are never told how Robert feels about this.

Robert seems entirely unfazed throughout the trial and yet the jury takes pity on him and declares him insane at the time of the murder. The alternative was death by hanging. Whether Robert committed the murder as a result of what the doctors termed ‘cerebral irritation’ or due to his anxiety about his mother’s beatings, or as a result of both, we are left to decide for ourselves.

What is more important to Summerscale, and where this book becomes increasingly intriguing, is what happened to Robert after his conviction. He is transported to Broadmoor lunatic asylum and as well as hearing how Robert copes, the author pulls us into incredible story after story of the other prisoners and their lives. Music plays a large part in his life and he becomes accomplished in both the cornet and the violin.

However, that is only the first quarter of the book.  There is so much more.  Largely leaving Nattie out of it, Summerscale follows the rest of Robert Coombes’ life through Broadmoor (where he does well after an initial breakdown) and then through not one, but both World wars and a new life in Australia.

Summerscale writes this incredible tale of one man’s survival against all the odds with intriguing stories of other crimes, criminals and characters from the era.  The book is replete with interesting anecdotes and facts of life in Victorian England.  For example, the prosecuting barrister in Robert’s case, a man by the name of Charles Gill, also prosecuted Oscar Wilde.

As Robert’s life unfolds we begin to root for his ongoing survival, such is his courage and seeming change of persona, which leads back to the original question.  What leads a 14-year old boy to murder his mother?  That is left for the reader to decide through this tale of intrigue, degradation and redemption.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Year, New Reading List.

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My To-Read List!

Happy New Year!  To all my fellow book lovers I wish you health, happiness and lots of fabulous reading for 2016!

I started the year by looking at all the books that I intended to read in 2015 and didn’t get around to.  As I am now book reviewing for http://www.writing.ie as well as for my own blog, I found a lot of my time  was taken up with reading books sent to me by some very kind publishers.  This year I know I will have to prioritize.  Life is definitely too short to read a book you have no interest in, so I will be a lot more selective in 2016.

I have 4 categories of books to read in 2016:

  1. Book to read for review.
  2. Books to read for my own blog.
  3. Books to read for pleasure.
  4. Books to read for research purposes for the novel I am writing.

Here is the list of books I meant to read last year which is where I hope to begin (see photo above and below!):

The Revenant by Michael Puke.   A tale of revenge, soon to be released as a film starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

The Blue Tango by Eoin McNamee.  “A darkly lyric narrative of White Mischief in Post-War Ireland.”  I am reading this for research purposes.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien.  Her finest novel to date according to Philip Roth.  I cannot wait!

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell.  A writer I have been meaning to read for a long time.  This one’s for pure pleasure!

Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye.  Meant to read this one ages ago…never enough time!  Set in Florida in 1935, it is a fictionalised account of one of the most devastating natural disasters in US history.

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo.  A Zimbabwean writer described as having a ‘powerful, authentic, nihilistic voice’ this debut novel has received rave reviews.   As I spent the first 10 years of my life full time in Zambia, this one is of great interest.

The Last Empress by Anchee Min.  I read the prequel to this, which was called Empress Orchid, a good few years ago, but I never forgot its power.  When I saw this follow up, I couldn’t resist.  Also can’t wait to read this one!

The Novel Habits of Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith.  He has been one of my favourite writers since I started reading about Precious Ramotswe, his ladies detective series.  I also love this series set in Edinburgh.  Pure pleasure reading.

So, what do you think of my list?  Have you already read any of them?  Do any of them tickle your fancy?  Which one (s) would you consider reading?

Pray tell, I am agog to hear your thoughts!

2016-01-04 16.52.33

 

 

 

Big Magic. Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

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BIG MAGIC picture

Are you creative? Have you ever considered that question? Well Elizabeth Gilbert has given it serious consideration and has published her thoughts in ‘Big Magic. Creative Living Beyond Fear.’
Having watched her Ted Talk on said subject, I was immediately curious when I read about the publication of this book, because I thought her talk was witty, informative and inspiring.

This may be seen as another ‘self-help’ book, but whether you loved ‘Eat Pray Love’ or hated it, Gilbert apparently doesn’t care either way, and this attitude permeates much of her advice regarding creativity – i.e. – don’t give a damn about what anyone thinks, just do it anyway.

The book is divided up into six parts, entitled; Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust and Divinity. Through a mixture of her own experiences, anecdotes and words of wisdom she has collected from others, she takes us on a journey through our own creative minds. She begins with a very pertinent question: ‘Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?’ She goes on to say that if we can find the courage to uncover the hidden jewels of creativity that may be lying dormant within us, then we can turn a mundane existence into a more interesting and therefore extraordinary life.

She urges us to follow our curiosity, saying “curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living”.
This is not an intellectual book. There is no scientific evidence for any of it. It is more like a pep talk from your best friend, albeit with plenty of good anecdotes, quotes and ideas thrown in.

However, despite its lack of serious research, what I love about this book is not only the wit, charm and wisdom displayed in every chapter, but that it does provide practical advice, and it also made me feel more inspired. Gilbert doesn’t expect us to be geniuses or to be perfect. She appreciates rejection, the nature of how reality can kick you up the bum, and the frustration one can sometimes experience in living a creative life. But she wants you to do it anyway, because as she says in other words, doesn’t it make life a lot more interesting?

There is also some good advice for the perfectionists out there: “You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures. You can battle your demons (through therapy, recovery, prayer, or humility) instead of battling your gifts — in part by realizing that your demons were never the ones doing the work, anyhow.”

There are fabulous anecdotes within Big Magic. From Clive James painting bicycles, to a man going to a fancy dress as a lobster, only to discover it was a medieval court themed fancy dress; each anecdote contains a lesson or message on creativity.

This is a book you can pick up every day and just read a couple of pages to set you up for the day. Gilbert doesn’t preach and she doesn’t teach. Instead she shares her experiences and offers some advice to bring out your best, most interesting creative self. If you are looking for a serious book full of research and statistics, this book is not for you, but I don’t mind a bit of light hearted creative banter, in fact I enjoy it enormously. I found this a joyful book and I would recommend it – you may just find that nugget of wisdom you seek.