I can't remember why I chose this book to read - I have a feeling that I was intrigued by the blurb on the back cover and having a general interest in Russian history and literature felt it would be a good read.
And how right I was.
The opening of the book features Count Alexander Rostov who, having been determined by the Kremlin to be an aristocrat with no apologies for his background, sentences him to house arrest at the Metropole Hotel where he had been living in a suite. However, he finds that his house arrest is for him to be confined to an attic room on the 6th floor.
This novel explores in great depth and with an utmost care and diligence the relationships that the Count is able to forge whilst being confined to one building - a 9 year old girl he befriends (or is that the other way round?), the head chef and maitre d' of his favourite hotel restaurant, the seamstress of the hotel and more bizarrely an American attache, a famous beautiful Russian actress and a Kremlin officer.
Rostov is a man of erudition and wit, good manners and a belief that man should do what is right are the characteristics that drive both the story, the relationships in the novel and the writing.
I found the descriptive nature of the writing to be evocative of an earlier age, where courtesy mattered and when you are living your life in one building and the tumultuous events of Russia in the early 20th century are happening outside your window, then this is all that can exist.
Rostov loses all his luxuries with his confinement, but has he lost his zest for life. "For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim" (Count Rostov)
This novel could so easily have become whimsical and although the thought that the revolutionary forces would have spared a man such as Rostov is not likely, the novel is full or richness and delight.
I did not expect the twist at the very end, but still gave a sigh of happiness that it had happened.
I loved this novel and will be sure to read it many times more as I feel that it is one of those in which new discoveries will be made with each additional reading.
Thursday, 28 March 2019
BOOK 7 - YOU WERE HERE (Tim Weaver)
Another book picked up in an airport book shop and another good read. It's one of those books that you just want to keep reading until the end and I finished it over a flight to Edinburgh and back and waiting in the airport lounge.
A woman walks into a police station and says that she has been missing for eight years. She has no ID, just a piece of paper with a man's name (David Raker) on it. She says she is his wife. But she can't be, as David's wife died of cancer eight years ago.
But she knows all about him and their history together. She claims David has had a breakdown and part of this is a belief that she has died.
But who is delusional? Is David going mad? Did he really imagine his wife had died? And then when this woman goes missing he finds himself in a spiral of suspicion and intrigue.
This is a real thriller and just when you think you have worked things out the author throws another curveball at you. The twist at the end is a total surprise (and so maybe just a little unbelievable).
This book ends with an unanswered question that made me wonder if there was to be a sequel. Then I found out that this is in fact the ninth book of a series about the same main character. I wonder if I had read the others if I might have been less drawn into the plot or if I would have been looking for clues from previous novels?
Maybe I should now go and add the previous eight books to my "want to read" list!!
A woman walks into a police station and says that she has been missing for eight years. She has no ID, just a piece of paper with a man's name (David Raker) on it. She says she is his wife. But she can't be, as David's wife died of cancer eight years ago.
But she knows all about him and their history together. She claims David has had a breakdown and part of this is a belief that she has died.
But who is delusional? Is David going mad? Did he really imagine his wife had died? And then when this woman goes missing he finds himself in a spiral of suspicion and intrigue.
This is a real thriller and just when you think you have worked things out the author throws another curveball at you. The twist at the end is a total surprise (and so maybe just a little unbelievable).
This book ends with an unanswered question that made me wonder if there was to be a sequel. Then I found out that this is in fact the ninth book of a series about the same main character. I wonder if I had read the others if I might have been less drawn into the plot or if I would have been looking for clues from previous novels?
Maybe I should now go and add the previous eight books to my "want to read" list!!
BOOK 6 - BELIEVE ME (JP Delaney)
This psychological thriller is by the author of The Girl Before which I had read and enjoyed last year and it has had many good reviews.
The story centres around Claire, a British drama student in New York who is asked to take on the role of her life in an attempt to entrap a suspect (Patrick) in a murder case. A suspect she had met before whilst working with a firm of divorce lawyers posing as a pick up in hotel bars to entrap cheating husbands.
But is the role she is being asked to play by the police as simple as it sounds? Is Patrick a cheating husband or is he a murderer? Or have the police indeed got it all wrong?
Claire is a strong, but needy character, and as the novel progressed I found myself more and more involved in what she did; willing her not to put her life in danger and do what appeared to be reckless things.
This novel is a great read, but if you are not a fan of graphic descriptions of sexual violence then this may not be the book for you. This book has as one of its central themes the poetry of Baudelaire, particularly Les Fleurs du Mal (which coincidentally was the first work I studied as part of my French degree) and some of the poems contain a high degree of brutality.
The thread of Baudelaire worked well with the main themes of the novel and the ending was both expected and unexpected at the same time.
The story centres around Claire, a British drama student in New York who is asked to take on the role of her life in an attempt to entrap a suspect (Patrick) in a murder case. A suspect she had met before whilst working with a firm of divorce lawyers posing as a pick up in hotel bars to entrap cheating husbands.
But is the role she is being asked to play by the police as simple as it sounds? Is Patrick a cheating husband or is he a murderer? Or have the police indeed got it all wrong?
Claire is a strong, but needy character, and as the novel progressed I found myself more and more involved in what she did; willing her not to put her life in danger and do what appeared to be reckless things.
This novel is a great read, but if you are not a fan of graphic descriptions of sexual violence then this may not be the book for you. This book has as one of its central themes the poetry of Baudelaire, particularly Les Fleurs du Mal (which coincidentally was the first work I studied as part of my French degree) and some of the poems contain a high degree of brutality.
The thread of Baudelaire worked well with the main themes of the novel and the ending was both expected and unexpected at the same time.
Thursday, 7 March 2019
BOOK 5 - STAR OF THE NORTH (D.B.John)
So having not had much time to read books over the last few weeks (due to work pressures and an exciting crochet project that I will reveal in another post), I have now been able to finish two books in two days, as I was visiting my daughter in Edinburgh and so had airport and flight time to read in.
I found this book absolutely fascinating - to the point where I was hoping for a delay so that I could read on and on!!
The main protagonist is a Korean-AfroAmerican woman whose twin sister mysteriously disappeared from a South Korean beach and has not been seen for over twelve years. Her American based twin still senses she is alive and has never forgotten her, to the point where her grief impacts on her normal day to day life.
Through a series of events she is co-opted into a mission to find out the motivation for the actions of North Korea, whilst being employed by the CIA and from which she hopes to find her sister.
This novel has been based on many eye witness accounts of life in North Korea, the brutal Kim regime, starvation, oppression and (let's be honest here) brain washing of millions through fear. Even though we might all think we have an idea of what's going on, this novel lays it all bare.
As a thriller this novel is brilliant. As an account of North Korea it is dispiriting and frightening and holds out little (though not no) hope for that country in the future.
I cannot recommend this book enough.
The author's note at the end lists his sources and accounts he has referred to and I will definitely be reading some of these.
#StaroftheNorth #DBJohn #NorthKorea
I found this book absolutely fascinating - to the point where I was hoping for a delay so that I could read on and on!!
The main protagonist is a Korean-AfroAmerican woman whose twin sister mysteriously disappeared from a South Korean beach and has not been seen for over twelve years. Her American based twin still senses she is alive and has never forgotten her, to the point where her grief impacts on her normal day to day life.
Through a series of events she is co-opted into a mission to find out the motivation for the actions of North Korea, whilst being employed by the CIA and from which she hopes to find her sister.
This novel has been based on many eye witness accounts of life in North Korea, the brutal Kim regime, starvation, oppression and (let's be honest here) brain washing of millions through fear. Even though we might all think we have an idea of what's going on, this novel lays it all bare.
As a thriller this novel is brilliant. As an account of North Korea it is dispiriting and frightening and holds out little (though not no) hope for that country in the future.
I cannot recommend this book enough.
The author's note at the end lists his sources and accounts he has referred to and I will definitely be reading some of these.
#StaroftheNorth #DBJohn #NorthKorea
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