It was partly because I liked Richard Powers' "The Overstory" so much that I tried as hard as I could to get through "Galatea 2.2" - but I simply couldn't finish it, and gave up about a third of the way through. It has been a while since I last had to admit defeat like … Continue reading “Galatea 2.2” →

It is easy to see why David Diop's relentlessly dark "At Night All Blood Is Black" won the 2021 International Booker Prize. The novel is suitably dark and brooding, an examination of one man's decline into madness as he and his French compatriots fight in the trenches of World War One. Alfa's Senegalese roots permeates … Continue reading “At Night All Blood Is Black” →

Elsewhere I have observed how - to my palette at least - some books have not aged well in terms of their writing style. In the case of Alain-Fournier's "Le Grand Meaulnes" I find a novel that has not travelled well both in terms of style and plot. Indeed, I was most struck by how … Continue reading “Le Grand Meaulnes” →

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” →