Having already read three novels by Colum McCann, perhaps one of the best compliments I can pay "Songdogs" is to say that it simply doesn't read like a debut novel. It is inevitable that in many first novels Authors are finding their feet, only growing into themselves and establishing their voice and presence as they … Continue reading “Songdogs” →

"By no means a conventional crime story" - according to the blurb on my copy of Olga Tokarczuk's "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead". Let's face it, a conventional crime story is the last thing you'd expect to emerge from the slightly surreal worlds of the Nobel Prize winning Tokarczuk. And in … Continue reading “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” →

If Max Porter's "The Death of Francis Bacon" is intended to represent the ravings of a dying man, then job done. Tick. The danger - from a reader's perspective, however - is that you're not entirely sure exactly what's going on. There is a balance to be struck, of course, a tightrope to be walked, … Continue reading “The Death of Francis Bacon” →

The final instalment of Ali Smith's quartet, "Summer", is lorded on the front cover of my copy as 'a tour de force' - and for once the publishers are not wrong. In many ways "Summer" is an extraordinary achievement: stylistically inventive, politically astute and opinionated, accomplished in the depiction of character and relationships... Yes, it … Continue reading “Summer” →

It would be a little disingenuous for me to say that I've no idea why I chose to read Anne Tyler's "Redhead by the Side of the Road". I chose it because the front cover boasted Booker long-listing; the back cover made it sound interesting; and it was on the 'buy-one-get-one-half-price' table at Waterstones. There. … Continue reading “Redhead by the Side of the Road” →

Ocean Vuong's novel, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous", pulls few punches. The subject matter almost demands it does not: homosexuality, the Vietnam war, being a post-war Vietnamese resident in the US, old age, love and death. Not a cocktail of subjects which lends itself to kid gloves perhaps. And given that cocktail, there could be … Continue reading “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” →

Kevin Barry's "Night Boat to Tangier" is, in many ways, an exceptional book. The first thing that hits you is the style in which it is written: unconventional; short, punchy sentences; lacking much of the traditional format of a novel. To be honest, this can be off-putting. For example, initially I was annoyed by the … Continue reading “Night Boat to Tangier” →

While I enjoyed Elif Shafak's unique "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World", I have to be upfront and say that I'm not sure how it made it to a Booker Prize shortlist. I couldn't help but think that the conceit which provides the structure for the first part of the book - that … Continue reading “10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World” →

The irony was inescapable, concluding the reading of Colum McCann's tremendously inventive novel "Apierogon" just as Arab-Israeli violence and tensions escalate to what is perhaps another inevitable war. The irony is that in "Apierogon" McCann presents us with a sliver of hope as two men - one Palestinian, the other Israeli - work together to … Continue reading “Apierogon” →