Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

Ange - Tall, Short, Tiny & a Pickle1 Comment

Book #932

Reviewer: Ange P

NAI really enjoyed this, because I like light fluff.  Its much lighter than any other Austen novels. I also think that I enjoyed it so much because there is so much mockery of The Mysteries of Udolpho, which I reviewed earlier.

I also think that Austen wrote Northanger Abbey to be ‘fun’ and it is fun, but its lack of deep themes and complex characters means that there is little to review. The fun is provided by mockery of romantic novels of the time and Austen did give my romantic streak a little shock right at the end, by letting her pragmatic spirit shine through with a truth that I couldn’t deny, but that I think every true romantic tries to ignore:

I must confess that his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought. It is a new circumstance in romance, I acknowledge, and dreadfully derogatory of an heroine’s dignity…

The plot is pretty basic.  Catherine  goes to Bath with some family friends.  She doesn’t know anyone but soon makes some new acquaintances.  Soon her brother arrives and forms an attachment with one of Catherine’s new friends, causing Catherine to learn some much needed life lessons.  Catherine herself finds Mr Tilney of particular interest.  Catherine is invited by General Tilney to stay at the family estate, where she hopes to further her acquaintance with Mr Tilney.  However, she is quickly distracted by the mystery created by General Tilney’s demeanour and ‘odd’ behaviour.  This leads her into a bit of a scrape.  Soon after, General Tilney ejects her from the house.  Will she ever be reunited with Mr Tilney?

One of the most amusing aspects of Northanger Abbey was my realisation that teenagers being stupid and annoying and chattering away aimlessly is not a recent phenomenon.  They’ve been doing it forever.  And Austen really is one of the most talented authors I’ve ever read.  She provides a beautiful parody of teenagers that, 200 years later, I can still relate to.  How cool is that?

They met by appointment; and as Isabella had arrived nearly five minutes before her friend, her first address naturally was, ” My dearest creature, what can have made you so late? I have been waiting for you at least this age!”

“Have you, indeed! I am very sorry for it; but really I thought I was in very good time. It is but just one. I hope you have not been here long?”

“Oh! These ten ages at least. I am sure I have been here this half hour. But now, let us go and sit down at the other end of the room, and enjoy ourselves. I have an hundred things to say to you. In the first place, I was so afraid it would rain this morning, just as I wanted to set off; it looked very showery, and that would have thrown me into agonies! Do you know, I saw the prettiest hat you can imagine, in a shop window in Milsom Street just now—very like yours, only with coquelicot ribbons instead of green; I quite longed for it. But, my dearest Catherine, what have you been doing with yourself all this morning?”

I suspect that many readers would find Catherine annoying in her naivety.  But I found that Austen balanced her character beautifully by providing her with the ability to learn from her mistakes. At various times I cringed from her stupidity but at least Austen doesn’t let the situations drag on and on.

Austen’s comment on themes is:

I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Ange - Tall, Short, Tiny & a Pickle3 Comments

Book #43

Reviewer: Naomi

The Corrections
The Corrections is the second book of Jonathan Franzen’s I have read, and I enjoyed it immensely. I read it quickly over a few days during summer, and while it may not be some people’s idea of holiday literature, I think had I read it during ‘normal life’ it would have resulted in some very late nights and bleary eyes the next morning.

Some aspects of the story are so innately American it can be hard to pick up the nuances that a US audience may get from aspects of the writing. For instance the novel is set predominantly in a small town in the Midwest, and in Philadelphia and New York. Franzen makes the reader very aware of what the Midwest presents in terms of values and lifestyle, but I suspect that many of the preconceptions of place that an American reader has would contribute in a richer way to how the characters interact and what they are trying to achieve by locating themselves where they have. This didn’t in any way diminish my experience of The Corrections, but it does make me wonder what more I could have discovered. (The Corrections was written and published before the attacks on 9/11 and again I think this distinction would have more meaning for an American audience.)

The Corrections centres on the lives of Lambert family. Alfred is the father, an emotionally distant man whose sense of success and value within society has come from his work as a railroad engineer. As we meet Alfred he is beginning a decline into Parkinson’s following his retirement. His wife Enid is the long-suffering housewife and mother who is maintaining a willful ignorance about his condition and is increasingly frustrated by the difficulties of living with his erratic behaviour. Eldest son Gary is a banker and a mummy’s boy who has married a woman who manipulates and bullies him with the help of the two eldest of their three sons. The middle son Chip is a disgraced university professor who is rudderless and careening from one disaster to the next both professionally and romantically. The youngest sibling is Denise a successful chef who seems to have inherited some of her father’s emotional isolation.

The story is set near the end of the twentieth century and consists of interweaving story lines focusing on each character, moving back and forth between past and present, finally converging on Christmas morning in the parental home.

Thematically the novel deals with a greedy, capitalist society where entertainment and technology are seen as means of subduing the less wealthy in a post industrial economy. It focuses on the breakdown of family values and generational misunderstandings and differences. Like many other modern novels there was also a strong feeling of isolation in each of the character’s lives. The relationships of the children’s generation are shallow, transitory and based on a transfer of power or status. The relationships in the parent’s generation seem to be stagnant, disconnected and filled with the pretense of keeping up appearances.

Franzen as a writer seems to me like a person who might build model railways in his spare room. Every detail is meticulous, every character is carefully placed, every conversation rich with underlying thematic resonance. He does however seem like the god who watches from a distance, and sometimes there is just the touch of coldness in his treatment of his creation. In saying that, it did not detract from what a thought provoking, clever and engrossing commentary on modern western society The Corrections is.

Quote of the Week

Ange - Tall, Short, Tiny & a Pickle1 Comment

This one is for any parent who has found themselves as captivated as their children while reading a fairytale:

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

Casino Royale – Ian Fleming

Ms Oh Waily2 Comments

Book #518

Reviewer: Ms Oh Waily

CR

Well hello Mr Bond.

In Casino Royale we get to meet the literary Bond in the flesh, so to speak.  He does have more than a passing resemblance to his film alter ego, but not so much the current version.

Casino Royale is the first Bond novel and it runs to 213 pages in the edition that I have.  It is a very quick and easy read. There are no fancy literary flourishes or playing with language, other than an excessive fondness for French phrases.  Most readers would be capable of starting and finishing this over a weekend, or an afternoon would even suffice if you dedicated the time.

If you have seen the 2006 film of the same name you can rest assured that it is a fairly faithful representation of this story.  The main difference being an updated setting in geopolitical terms.

The book was written in the early 1950s and reflects that era.  Bond works for the British secret service and his mission is to bankrupt a fifth-columnist called Le Chiffre.  Most of the first half of the book is dedicated to this process, including quite a lot of description around the Baccarat table and the ensuing duel between the two men.  The remainder of the book follows what happens after the Baccarat duel is over.  Vesper Lynd is the “Bond girl” in this novel.  She is the personal assistant to the Head of Section S, and is assigned to help Bond in bringing Le Chiffre down.  She becomes the central figure when she is kidnapped, and Bond finds that he has come to love her.

If I go more in to the plot, and you haven’t already read the book or watched the film, then the whole game is given away.  So instead I am going to make some observations about the differences that are noticeable between the onscreen Bond and Bond as he comes across in Casino Royale.

Bond simply isn’t suave.  He’s sexist, cold and clearly manipulative.  He is also a gambler.  The book is quite clear on this, while the films blur this and give the impression of a roguish bad boy.

Bond saw luck as a woman, to be softly wooed or brutally ravaged, never pandered to or pursued.  But he was honest enough to admit that he had never yet been made to suffer by cards or by women.

Perhaps he becomes suave sometime in the series of eleven novels about him.

For those who may be interested in a couple of famous Bond traits – here are a couple of passages for you.  The first is the famous Martini.

‘A dry martini,’ he said. ‘One.  In a deep champagne goblet.’
‘Oui, monsieur.’
‘Just a moment.  Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet.  Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.  Got it?’

The second is an explanation of the “00” designation.

‘For those two jobs I was awarded a Double O number in the Service.  Felt pretty clever and got a reputation for being good and tough.  A Double O number in our Service means you’ve had to kill a chap in cold blood in the course of some job.’

And although I did say that there is very little literary flourish about the writing, there are still some nice crisp pieces to enjoy and even some thoughtful musing on the part of Bond.  It seemed so uncharacteristic of him, but the ideas are still very applicable today.  On his doubts about working for the secret service,

‘You see,’ he said, still looking down at his bandages, ‘when one’s young, it seems very easy to distinguish between right and wrong, but as one gets older it becomes more difficult.  At school it’s easy to pick out one’s own villains and heroes and one grows up wanting to be a hero and kill the villains.’

As part of this conversation, Mathis (Bond’s French equivalent and friend) makes a wry observation of this “new Bond”.

‘Continue, my dear friend.  It is interesting for me to see this new Bond.  Englishmen are so odd.  They are like a nest of Chinese boxes.  It takes a very long time to get to the centre of them.  When one gets there the result is unrewarding, but the process is instructive and entertaining.  Continue.  Develop your arguments.  There may be something I can use to my own chief the next time I want to get out of an unpleasant job.’  He grinned maliciously.

If you are a fan of the Bond franchise then reading this will certainly give you more understanding of what is going on in his head, and what sort of character Fleming actually had in mind.  For those who are not fans, but are interested in the origins of one of cinema’s largest and lasting characters, it will be a quick and painless visit with the world’s best known spy.

Happy reading.

Legend – David Gemmell

inspirationalreads1 Comment

Book #248

Reviewer: Inspirationalreads

druss

Aaaaaahhhhh.  That is the sound of me settling into one of my favourite genres, a first for my reads for this blog.  Fantasy, my first and if I am honest,  favourite, reading love.  I was pleasantly surprised to see this book on the list.  I expected Tolkien, but more modern epic fantasy was not and therefore became an easy one for me to tick off the list.  And for all my fantasy adoration, the Drenai Saga, of which this book is the first of thirteen, is not a Gemmell I had read before.  So what more of a push did I need?

The legend of this story is Druss; Deathwalker, Captain of the Axe, a battle scared living legend who is the most beloved of all the heroes in Drenai.  Well into his sixties, Druss is long time widowed and all but retired from the art of war. When he receives a plea from a his close friend, the Earl of Delnoch, to help defend his fort against the invading Nadir tribes, he finds the invitation hard to turn down and journeys to the fort to prepare for what is widely known as a hopeless cause.  The Nadir were once a scattered group of fighting tribes, now united under the brilliant Ulric, creating a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of ambition and hunger for more power and domain.  The weight of the Drenai survival weighs heavily on Fort Delnoch, as it is the last obstacle in the Nadir’s bid to annihilate and then

As is typical of many fantasy novels, there is a large supporting cast of characters.  Joining Druss in this supposedly doomed campaign is Rek, running in the opposite direction of the fighting due to his crippling fear.  Then fate steps in and Rek not only finds himself joining the battle, but also leading it.  Our mystical element is provided by the albino Serbitar; he and his monk-like group known as The Thirty join the battle physically and metaphysically, reading futures, foretelling betrayals and fighting off psychic attacks.  A beautiful serial killer, farm hands who rise to the challenge, pampered officials, all come together in a battle that appears to have been lost before it is even fought.

As I said in the opening, I am truly a fan of fantasy writing and so much of Legend contained a lot of what I enjoy about the genre.  For starters, it is just plain old fun.  The characters are larger than life – they are braver, stronger, more noble.  This may not be to everybody’s tastes, as this does not leave much room for complexity or depth.  There are surprise developments for a couple of the characters, but not too much of a stretch.  In our legendary hero, we have a rousing, inspirational man who is deserving of every bit of praise and hero-worship heaped upon him.  Even in his old age he is near-indestructible and the target of all Nadir.  He is the one that could turn it around for the Drenai, by inspiring with his reputation, his actions and by his words;

Get rid of your doubts. Yesterday is dead.  Past mistakes are like smoke in the breeze.  What counts is tomorrow, and every tomorrow until Woundweaver gets here with reinforcements.  Make no mistake, Orrin. When we survive and the songs are sung, you will be worth your place in them and no one will sneer.  Not a soul. Believe it!

Where Legend is successful, is in the pacing.  There are 13 novels in the Drenai saga, but many can stand alone for they are not one continuous narrative as many other fantasy series.  What this allows for is a fast pace with no need for padding with long speeches or descriptions of surroundings. The second half of the book is all battle and it makes for thrilling reading.  These are not minor skirmishes, but a battle in the truest, grandest sense with the relevant death toll.  The glimpses we get of Ulric and his Nadir help to raise the suspense and anticipation of what could possibly come next.

This is a great introduction to fantasy for those who have yet to try it but always wanted to.  When putting my mind to why this was chosen as the selection above others such as Feist, Jordan or Eddings my opinions is that it succinctly defines much of what the genre has to offer in one book that can stand alone or be a  gateway to more books in the series.  It is not overly complicated, as some of the plots and sub-plots can be in long series (I’m looking at you Mr. Martin; nothing but frustrated adoration for you from me though).  I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be passing it on to my son who has already devoured another of Gemmell’s works and is eager for more.  Highly recommended.