Fiction

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

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PREMISE: Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. “I nearly missed you, Doctor August,” she says. “I need to send a message.” This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Claire North is a genius in my eyes. Not only is she a fantastic writer and storyteller but she comes up with just the best story ideas; a man who lives multiple lives, a person who can move between bodies just by touching them, a girl who nobody can remember, the Harbinger of Death. She also has such a ‘smooth’ way of writing, which I realise is just a fancy way of saying that she’s a really good writer. I mentioned it in a previous post; some writers words you can just swallow like soup whereas others might contain a few small croutons or large chunks of Ryvita. Ultimately tasty but might take a bit of work to get there. Claire North to me is the Heinz Oxtail of writers. Gloriously good.

The Circle by Dave Eggers

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PREMISE: When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.

Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public.

What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

The Exalted Bellendage of Goodreads once again delivers for The Circle. Some great 1-star reviews (which, as we know, are rarely accompanied by anything objective and, when we’re lucky, contain some fantastic bile and profanities). Brad wrote 1400 words (broken down into 8 subsections) on how much he disliked it and then at the end provided a link to his review of the sequel! Jarrod simply stated “The worst handjob I’ve ever had” (his accompanying picture suggests a person who gives himself shit handjobs on a nightly basis). Kate goes with the one-word, one-emoji “Frown 😦 “. Useful. Sera stated “I didn’t feel satisfied when the book ends”, presumably writing this while she was driving her DeLorean. Nick just went with “Sucked buttfarts” (made me laugh) and Juliette H weighed in with “Wat een kut boek”, helping me learn the Dutch word for ‘shitty’. There’s also an alarming amount of people mentioning 50 Shades Of Grey in their review, which probably says a lot.

Is it the best book in the world? No, not at all. But it’s an intriguing story, definitely an interesting subject and it’s well-written and entertaining. That’s good enough for me.

Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford

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PREMISE: Ada and her father, touched by the power to heal illness, live on the edge of a village where they help sick locals—or “Cures”—by cracking open their damaged bodies or temporarily burying them in the reviving, dangerous Ground nearby. Ada, a being both more and less than human, is mostly uninterested in the Cures, until she meets a man named Samson. When they strike up an affair, to the displeasure of her father and Samson’s widowed, pregnant sister, Ada is torn between her old way of life and new possibilities with her lover—and eventually comes to a decision that will forever change Samson, the town, and the Ground itself.

This book blew me away (so much so that it’s my Portland Award winner for 2020). Sooooo (the more O’s, the bigger the emphasis) beautifully written and a really unique premise and story. It stayed with me for ages afterwards too, floating around the largely blank space of my mind and coming to the forefront every so often. It’s one of the few books that I know I will find time to read again at some point when all this ‘new novels’ malarkey calms down and there’s no new releases for a year or two. Bound to happen at some point, surely.

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

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PREMISE: A resident of the fictional Los Angeles suburb of Dickens, the narrating character, Me, a black man with an impoverished upbringing, is hauled before the Supreme Court of the United States for attempting to re-segregate a local school and bring back slavery. What follows is a biting attack on racism in America.

What a premise for a book. Obviously difficult for a white man to pull off, but in the hands of someone as naturally funny and gifted as Paul Beatty, it’s a belter. I would imagine there’s a thousand-odd reviews of this book on the net that use the term ‘biting satire’. In fact, any book blogger worth his salt would research this and find out exactly how many, but I just can’t be arsed. My time would be better spent contacting Mr. Beatty to ask him for another book (this being his last one, published in 2015). In fact, I’m going to do that right now. Although with that said, I don’t seem to have his contact details in my phone. Any book blogger worth his salt would research this and find out how to contact him or his publisher, but I just can’t be arsed. Mr. Beatty…if you’re reading this (??!!!!) please give us another one…

2019 Portland Award winner, don’t you know.

We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson

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PREMISE: When a nameless, struggling actor in 1970’s New York gets the call that an enigmatic director wants him for an art film set in the Amazon, he flies to South America, no questions asked. He quickly realizes he’s made a mistake when it becomes clear that he’s replacing another actor who quit after seeing the script—a script the director now claims doesn’t exist. The movie is over budget. The production team seems headed for a breakdown. The air is so wet that the celluloid film disintegrates.

But what the actor doesn’t realize is that the greatest threat might be the town itself, and the mysterious shadow economy that powers this remote jungle outpost. Entrepreneurial Americans, international drug traffickers, and M-19 guerrillas are all fighting for South America’s future—and the groups aren’t as distinct as one might think. The actor thought this would be a role that would change his life. Now he’s worried he won’t survive it.

Best book name ever? Maybe not, but it’s certainly up there. I like to think that Kea Wilson originally had an extra word at the end of the title but decided to drop it last minute. We Eat Our Own Biscuits? Pets? Faeces? Assholes? There’s a novel in each one of those. I imagine We Eat Our Own Biscuits is an historical drama written by Hilary Mantel. We Eat Our Own Pets is obviously a Stephen King novel; he’s got that whole pet thing sewn up. We Eat Our Own Faeces is probably a Gwyneth Paltrow self-help book. And We Eat Our Own Assholes by Ivana Sukyuov, the Russian contortionist gymnast turned porn star.

Anyway, back to the book with no fifth word in the title. It’s fantastic. I get a real joy discovering books like this. An author I’ve not heard of, an intriguing premise, a rivetingly addictive read. There was something really fresh and unique about this book that I’m not a good enough writer to explain so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

XX by Rian Hughes

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PREMISE: At Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, a radio telescope has detected a mysterious signal of extraterrestrial origin—a message that may be the first communication from an interstellar civilization. Has humanity made first contact? Is the signal itself a form of alien life? Could it be a threat? If so, how will the people of Earth respond?
           
Jack Fenwick, artificial intelligence expert, believes that he and his associates at tech startup Intelligencia can interpret the message a find a way to step into the realm the signal encodes. What they find is a complex alien network beyond anything mankind has imagined. 

I love books like this; this, House Of Leaves, S, The Raw Shark Texts, Bats of the Republic. Books that don’t just contain ‘normal’ text, but use a variety of different ‘things’ to tell the story. I’m assuming it’s some sort of regression back to my youth and my immature need to have pictures (or something more than words) in a book. Whatever it is, I like it.

This book is magnificent. Really pretty breathtaking in it’s scope and how it’s put together. Not to mention the level of intelligence and creativity it takes to come up with something like this. Stunning…

Six Stories series by Matt Wesolowski

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PREMISE: The Six Stories series by Matt Wesolowski is a collection of interconnected thriller novels that focus on true crime investigations, often with a dark, folkloric or supernatural edge. Each book follows a central case where six individuals connected to the event share their accounts via interviews on a podcast hosted by journalist Scott King.

In my blog manifesto (copies available by request) I state that I don’t write anything negative on here. Not because I’m a good person or that I’m trying to attract sponsorship from the Church (the constant swearing may have put paid to that) but mainly due to the fact that who am I to judge someone’s work? All book reviews (you’ll find none here) are completely subjective and ultimately one person’s view on whether they liked the book or not. One man’s Dr. Zhivago is another man’s Dr. Shipman. Or something.

Anyway, with all that said…sometimes to explain how good something is you have to compare it to something shit. And there are two authors I’ve previously read who are insanely popular but whom I will likely never read again who could benefit from reading Matt Wesolowski’s books and see how proper plotting and pacing, twists and reveals, suspense and pure page-turning addictiveness is done. All six of these babies are top notch.

The Overstory by Richard Powers

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PREMISE: a novel that follows the interconnected lives of nine individuals, all deeply connected to trees, as they grapple with the destruction of forests and the impact on the environment. The story unfolds through multiple generations, exploring themes of environmental activism, the interconnectedness of living things, and humanity’s relationship with nature.

I would like to refer to my blog Home Page here; there’s a good reason why I’ve got that disclaimer in early about not reviewing books. How does a simpleton like me review a Richard Powers book? To me, his books are half fiction, half non-fiction due to the sheer amount of stuff I learn while reading them. In a way, Richard Powers is the world’s finest writer; he takes hefty subjects and weaves them into stories that are equal parts intelligent and beautifully written. I actually feel grateful that I discovered his books and I still have a few of his back-catalogue to read.

Right, enough of the Powers-noshing. This book is fantastic and you should read it.

The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

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PREMISE: In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, all passengers on a flight from Paris to New York. Among them: Blake, a respectable family man, though he works as a contract killer; Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star tired of living a lie; Joanna, a formidable lawyer whose flaws have caught up with her; and Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful writer who suddenly becomes a cult hit. All of them believed they had double lives. None imagined just how true that was.

Or: A plane lands once, and then the exact same plane lands again 3 months later.

Yesss. Novels like this are right up my particular alley, tickle my particular sweet spot, caress my metaphorical love handles. I was going to say that I’m amazed nobody has come up with this premise before, but someone probably has. My level of research for this blog doesn’t go that far. I’m just going to assume that it’s never been done until someone tells me otherwise. This book was fascinating and thought-provoking, along with it being a cracking read. Which, for my money, ticks all the boxes.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

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PREMISE: Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis is running an international Ponzi scheme, moving imaginary sums of money through clients’ accounts. When the financial empire collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.

I had no idea what this book was about going into it. I read it because I’ve read Station Eleven and Sea Of Tranquility and I adore those books. Like listening to Led Zeppelin II because you’ve previously heard IV and Physical Graffiti.

To keep the musical analogy going, some writers are like Michael Bublé’s vocals; silkily smooth, it all just works effortlessly. And then others are like that guy in the B52’s. ESJM’s writing is Bublé-smooth…SO good…