Tag: book-reviews
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Slaughterhouse-Five
—Kurt Vonnegut When I first read this novel, back when I didn’t have grey hair, it was marketed as ‘a classic of Science Fiction’. I read it because I liked science fiction, without really understanding the context of the novella, and was bitterly disappointed. Stephen King, I will point out, was also marketed as ‘Science…
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THE BURNT COUNTRY: JOY RHOADES
GENRE: HISTORICAL FICTION My friend, Margie, gave me this fabulous book when I was leaving Ivanhoe. It is the story of Kate, a grazier somewhere in the New England, after World War II. The poor bitch has to deal with every bloody prejudice you can imagine: Her husband wants a divorce so he can marry…
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THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART: MOLLY RINGLAND
GENRE: FAMILY SAGA/AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY FICTION They shouldn’t sell this book at airports! It was a mistake to read this book on back-to-back long-haul flights and in airports because I ugly-cried and I said things like, ‘Oh No!’ out loud, attracting concerned looks from the physically perfect young Danish man sitting next to me. And I…
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THE BEE STING: PAUL MURRAY
GENRE: CONTEMPORARY LITERARY FICTION The Bee Sting would have to be one of my all-time favourite novels. It’s a poignant and unflinching portrayal of a family—the Barneses— in turmoil. They reside in a small town in Ireland during a time of financial chaos and against a background of climate change and environmental stress. It delves into…
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BURIAL RITES: HANNAH KENT
GENRE : HISTORICAL FICTION In 1829, the last public execution in Iceland took place (you can still see the specially commissioned axe in the National Museum in Reykjavik). A man and a woman were beheaded for a murder committed on a remote farm. There being no prisons in Iceland, the condemned woman, Agnes Magnusdottir (great…
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RETURN OF THE NATIVE: THOMAS HARDY
GENRE: CLASSIC TRAGIC BRITISH LITERATURE This book was a so-called classic— one of the books they ‘make you read’ at school that everybody loves to hate. I, however, loved it. I recently reread it because I couldn’t remember why and became lost in the description of the bleakness of Egdon Heath, which was in itself…
Margaret R Kelly 