BOOK 4 - THE WALL (John Lanchester)

My aim this year was to read books I wouldn't ordinarily pick up, books recommended by other people, book clubs, bookshop recommendations and so on.

Already only four books in, my success rate of books I have enjoyed is pretty poor. Four read, four not really enjoyed. All I can say is that I am fast pinpointing genres I enjoy and eliminating those I don't!!

John Lanchester is an established author with a big fan base and so when I saw that the Telegraph Book Club had chosen this book as its book of the month for February I felt I could not go far wrong. All the reviews I read beforehand indicated that this book was the Orwell "1984" of its time.

So definitely not the case in my opinion.

This book has at one point in the early stages a long list of words repeated over and over again - particularly the word "concrete". How boring is a list of words you might say? Yes. It is. Very boring. As is the book.

There is really no plot. Nothing really happens. Page after page of boring dialogue about what it is like to guard a concrete wall for hours on end. None of the characters have any substance at all, there is no depth to their feelings or thoughts (maybe that's what the author feels we will all be like in the future), no action, nothing. There is no action. I longed to turn the page and find a mad manic plot twist, a strange course of action to attract my attention. Sorry. That doesn't happen.

I might have enjoyed the book more if the language had been evocative or interesting or visually descriptive. But no. Lots of boring simple sentences, with boring simple words.

I can only think that this novel will appeal to those doom mongers among us - climate change, illegal immigrants coming across the channel to take our livelihoods, low birth rates, a lack of joy in any recreational pursuit, a relentless toil to fund a capitalist economy.

Once again, not a book I would want to read again. I certainly wouldn't recommend it (unless you fall in the category of individual described in the paragraph above!) and sadly, this does not make me want to read any of his other novels.