First published 1982. Faber and Faber, paperback, 1991, pp183, c.60,000 words. An amazing debut. Ishiguro understands what Hilary Mantel once said about the need for a wobble in every sentence. There is an element of doubt in the veracity of every word which makes for a deeply unsettling read. This is the way we humans […]
Pale View of the Hills, A — Kazuo Ishiguro Read More »
First published 2009. Faber paperback, translated by Maureen Freely, 2010, pp 734, c.230,000 words. OK, so you’ve just won the Noble Prize in Literature, what are you going to do next? As the worst health care is given to the very poor and the very rich, so with editorial help. No one is going to
Museum of Innocence, The — Orhan Pamuk Read More »
First published 1985. Fontana, paperback, 1986, pp 320, c.105,000 words. This is a classic Desmond Bagley thriller. It was nearly completed in 1970, immediately after Running Blind, however Bagley seems to have felt that he had written himself into a corner and couldn’t immediately find a suitable ending. He put the manuscript aside with the
Juggernaut — Desmond Bagley Read More »
First published 1993. Harper Collins, paperback, 1993, pp 253, c.90,000 words. Duncan Kyle’s thrillers involve some high-octane plot which often use Russians as the bad guys and the fate of the world lying in the hands of some everyman. Exit follows this simple formular. It was the last thriller he wrote, and was published some
Exit — Duncan Kyle Read More »
First published 1994. Minerva, paperback, 1994, pp 211, c.70,000 words. I’m not a fan of ghost stories, but I do love Alison Lurie’s writing, and as this is the only fiction of hers I haven’t read… well it was time. There are ten unconnected stories in this collection, and they average about twenty pages apiece.
Women and Ghosts — Alison Lurie Read More »
First published 2012. Vintage paperback, 2013, pp 374, c.110,000 words. The protagonist in this novel wins a place at Cambridge University to study mathematics at the urging of her mother when she would have preferred to study English at a provincial university. While at Cambridge she does a minimum of maths but reads voraciously instead.
Sweet Tooth — Ian McEwan Read More »
First published 2013. Abacus paperback, 2014, pp 374, c.115,000 words. A group of university friends gather at a house owned by one of them for a weekend reunion. The house is falling apart, and the house owner has a son ‘on the spectrum’, i.e. (mildly) autistic, and it is through his eyes we witness the
Quarry, The — Iain Banks Read More »
First published 1935. Penguin paperback, 1973, pp 207, c.75,000 words. This felt surprisingly modern, particularly as it was first published eighty-eight years ago. With only a few very minor tweaks it could have been written last year. The main protagonist is a man who has failed to find a satisfying position in life. He is
England Made Me — Graham Greene Read More »
First published 1977. Harper paperback, 2009, pp 274, c.65,000 words. Everyone involved with this book should be embarrassed. Maclean usually writes to a much higher standard than this. The New York Times review said MacLean “stumbles badly”; how right. The plot is implausibly ludicrous, the characters a mess of cliches. My guess is that Maclean
Seawitch — Alistair Maclean Read More »
First published 1866. Penguin paperback, 1977, translated by David Magarshack, pp 559 including pp 9 introduction, c.245,000 words (main text). Dostoyevsky was brought up in a solid middle-class family in Moscow. His father was murdered. His life went through a series of wild swings. Dostoyevsky apparently wrote this when he was in desperate financial straits.
Crime and Punishment — Fydor Dostoyevsky Read More »