Lone Wolf

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

My neighbour Claire offered me this book as a serving suggestion.  Jodi Picoult is a best-selling author of twenty three novels.  And yet I had never read one of her books.  Somehow one of her titles has never been suggested by my fellow readers, nor as a chosen book for one of my book groups.  With a stack of books awaiting my attention I was very tempted to set the book politely aside.  And then I thought I owed Claire to at least investigate.

Amazon says:  

Following a terrible accident, Luke Warren lies comatose in a hospital bed. His family have been told he might never wake up. 

After seven years of estrangement, Edward has come to face his father for what he believes to be one final time before he discontinues his life support. To Edward, this is a painful but necessary decision which his father would have wanted.

However, this one decision throws the Warren family into bitter conflict and it isn't long before long-kept painful secrets are forced into the light.

Number One bestselling author Jodi Picoult casts a sensitive and humane eye on the question of what makes and breaks a family in this compelling, emotional bestseller.

Synopsis

Cara, 17, still holds a grudge against her brother, since his departure led to her parents’ divorce. In the aftermath, she’s lived with her father – an animal conservationist who became famous after living with a wild wolf pack in the Canadian wild. It is impossible for her to reconcile the still, broken man in the hospital bed with her vibrant, dynamic father.

With Luke’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?

Further notes:

LONE WOLF looks at the intersection between medical science and moral choices. If we can keep people who have no hope for recovery alive artificially, should they also be allowed to die artificially? Does the potential to save someone else’s life with a donated organ balance the act of hastening another’s death? And finally, when a father’s life hangs in the balance, which sibling should get to decide his fate? 

So what I thought:

Having initially thought that I must attempt to read this book as part of the reciprocity between readers - I'll read your recommendation if you'll read mine! - I enjoyed the narrative as being thought-provoking, topical, in view of a recent case concerning a small child  with an undiagnosed neurodegenerative disorder who is on ventilatory life support, and excellent material for discussion within the forum of a book group.  I also really enjoyed the chapters giving Luke's voice as he describes his path to understanding and adopting wolf behaviour.  To be recommended to Splinter. 

The Leopard

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian writer, musician, and former economist and reporter. As of March 2014, more than 3 million copies of his novels have been sold in Norway, and his work has been translated into over 40 languages, selling 30 million copies worldwide.  He is known primarily for his crime novels featuring Inspector Harry Hole.

Following the traumatic Snowman case,  a forerunning novel featuring police inspector Harry Hole, Hole  has exiled himself in Hong Kong. Kaja Solness, a new Norwegian Crime Squad officer, tracks down Hole and asks for his help investigating possible serial killings in Oslo. Hole is convinced to return when told that his father, Olav, is seriously ill and will not live much longer. Hole returns to Norway to find that the Crime Squad is in the middle of a power struggle with Kripos and its power-hungry head, Mikael Bellman, who seeks to puts his agency in sole charge of the country's murder cases. Hole finds himself the target of Bellman's hostility, though Bellman is keen to take credit for the result of Hole's work. 

Goodreads says:
In the depths of winter, a killer stalks the city streets. His victims are two young women, both found with twenty-four inexplicable puncture wounds, both drowned in their own blood. The crime scenes offer no clues, the media is reaching fever pitch, and the police are running out of options. There is only one man who can help them, and he doesn't want to be found. Deeply traumatised by The Snowman investigation, which threatened the lives of those he holds most dear, Inspector Harry Hole has lost himself in the squalor of Hong Kong's opium dens. But with his father seriously ill in hospital, Harry reluctantly agrees to return to Oslo. He has no intention of working on the case, but his instinct takes over when a third victim is found brutally murdered in a city park.

The victims appear completely unconnected to one another, but it's not long before Harry makes a discovery: the women all spent the night in an isolated mountain hostel. And someone is picking off the guests one by one. A heart-stopping thriller from the bestselling author of the The Snowman, The Leopard is an international phenomenon that will grip you until the final page.  

Compared to the other novels in the series, The Leopard has a more cinematic and action-oriented style, taking place across three continents. The Leopard also contains excessive violence. Nesbø has expressed regret for a couple of scenes in the book.  

What I thought:
As with the Nordic Noir genre of tv series, I enjoy crime thriller literature located in Scandinavian settings.  The chill and dark of the northern landscape and the gritty temperaments of the characters in those landscapes add to the brooding atmosphere in which the detective action takes place.  The Leopard is a fat paperback, some 600 pages in length, and I did find the novel was a shade longer than it needed to be with one or two red herrings leading to false endings as bit by bit all possible candidates for the killer were dangled in front of the reader and then ruled out.  All the same it was a good read and at the time of reading, the violence in the narrative did not particularly strike me as more excessive than that which I have come to expect of a Nesbo crime novel.

The Boys from Brazil

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

Amazon says:  In this classic thriller, Ira Levin imagines Dr Josef Mengele's nightmarish plot to restore the Third Reich. Alive and hiding in South America, thirty years after the end of the Second World War, Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a sinister project - the creation of the Fourth Reich. Ageing Nazi hunter Yakov Lieberman is informed of the plot but before he hears the evidence, his source is killed . . . Spanning continents and inspired by true events, what follows is one of Levin's most masterful tales, both timeless and chillingly plausible. Praise for Ira Levin: 'Levin is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel' Stephen King 

A brief plot summary:

As well as being a successful playwright, screenwriter and composer, Ira Levin has written several bestselling and well-known novels including these classic thrillers: Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying, as well as The Boys from Brazil. All these books have been made into equally successful films.  

Published in 1976, The Boys from Brazil opens with the outline of a compelling plot: six men are instructed by a white-suited, evil kingpin to kill 94 men across the world on certain dates, all of whom are civil servants around the age of 65. It seems a strange target demographic, but then we discover that the operation's guiding hand belongs to Dr Josef Mengele, the German SS officer and physician who earned the epithet "Angel of Death" from his gruesome medical experiments in Auschwitz.

Yakov Liebermann, an elderly Jewish Nazi-hunter (Mengele's nemesis who is a conflation of Nazi-hunters such as Simon Wiesenthal and Serge Klarsfield, who attempted to capture Mengele in South America) uncovers the plot at an embryonic stage. He proves to be an unthreatening – but very tenacious – protagonist, whose patience and brainpower finally unravels the horrific and insane reason for the murders.

In some ways the book is now fairly dated - it was first published in 1976 - and at the time of publication the inclusion of real or near-real characters must have added a chilling dimension. What scares today is Levin's premise based on biological engineering: in the 1970s, although scientifically possible, Mengele's plan belonged firmly in the realm of fiction; now it's not nearly so far-fetched.

Ira Levin's narrative is a compelling page-turner and makes chilling and disquieting reading in the light of genetic advances and also in the context of political upheavals and machinations in the current day.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_from_Brazil_%28novel%29

The Travelling Cat Chronicles

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

"Anyone who has ever unashamedly loved an animal will read this book with gratitude, for its understanding of an emotion that ennobles us as human beings, whether we value it or not," so writes Lynne Truss in her excellent review of the book in The Guardian.  

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/17/travelling-cat-chronicles-hiro-arikawa-review

At its simplest level it is a 'delightful tale of loyalty and friendship' , so writes John Boyne in Irish Times. 

Amazon says:

It's not the journey that counts, but who's at your side.Nana the cat is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn’t know why and Satoru won’t say.

Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana’s story explores the wonder and thrill of life’s unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. TRAVELLING CAT has already demonstrated its power to move thousands of readers with a message of kindness and truth. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.

'Arikawa has a lightness of touch that elevates her story to a tale about loyalty and friendship ... while speaking to our basic human need for companionship'  

What I thought:

Preamble:  I have been the owner of three cats during my life.  All very different and my parting from each was different.  Kitty the black cat, who came to live with us when I was pregnant with our first child (46 years ago), lived into old age until she suffered a stroke and it was kindest to ease her out of life.  Taffy, the beautiful ginger and white cat turned up on my doorstep.  He was young, barely a year the vet thought, and despite a phone call to the local police station and the Cats' Protection League, I did not find out from where he came.  Sadly he was run over in the road right in front of our house when he was about 6.  I wept buckets when I buried him at the top of the garden.

And then there was Rooney.  Ah...... dear Rooney, he lives on but not with me.  I had promised myself a cat when I completed my PhD in 2004 and so I sought a kitten through the good offices of our local vet, and as it turned out the veterinary nurse there had a female cat expecting kittens.  Rooney was born in June, one of a litter of 3: 2 male tabbies and a black female.

 Not long after he came to live with us we bought out house in France.  I had him vaccinated against Rabies and he travelled back and forth across the Channel with us for 6 years.  I thought he coped with this quite well; the only time he showed distress was when he had to endure a car journey trapped in his basket.  On the ferry he would hunker down in his basket and sleep the crossing out.  Upon arrival at either home, he settled into St Vaast and Winterborne Kingston readily.  True the day of departure, or the day before, would be somewhat stressful as we would have to trap him in a room so he should not disappear at the critical moment.

And then, through a set of circumstances, there arrived a moment when our granddaughters' desire to have a kitten, and Nick's need to liberate Rooney and himself from the rigours of travelling with a cat, conspired to bring about Rooney's move to Hackney in 2011.  Rooney is now 14 and lives a contented life with our son's family.  They love him dearly and he has no doubt made the enclave of walled gardens which form a core within the the streets of houses there, his own.  But when I see him I realise how much I would love a cat in my life again and like to think that in time there will be a fourth.

So Arikawa's books was bound to find favour with me and what reviews I have read seem not to make much of is the degree to which, through giving Nana a voice, she shows an understanding of the body language of cats, little items of behaviour, their contrariness and from this to deduce what makes a cat tick.

I did not guess where the story might be going, but looking back, of course the signs were there in the text.  Prepare to shed a tear.

Home Fire

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

• WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018
• SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2017
• LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017
• A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
• AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
• A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
• A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
• AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
• A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017

Review from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/10/home-fire-kamila-shamsie-review 

‘The book for our times’ Judges of the Women’s Prize

This is a powerful exploration of the clash between society, family and faith in the modern world

Isma, after years spent raising her twin siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, is finally able to study in the USA. But she has concerns for her sister, Aneeka, beautiful and headstrong who lives in London and for their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream: to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew.

Then Eamonn, son of a powerful British Muslim politician, enters the sisters’ lives. Handsome and privileged, he inhabits a London worlds away from theirs. As the son of a powerful British Muslim politician, Eamonn has his own birthright to live up to – or defy. Through his relationship with Aneeka he might be the means of Parvaiz’s salvation? The two families’ fates become inextricably and dangerously  entwined in this troubling novel that asks: what sacrifices will we make in the name of  love?  This is a story of divided loyalties, misunderstanding on several fronts which ultimately leads to tragedy.  No happy endings here.

Of Bogg and Sodd

The Fellowship of Ghosts by Paul Watkins

You only have to take a walk round the labyrinth of an IKEA outlet to witness the wonderful talent the Scandinavians have for naming things with a monosyllabic label that raises a smile to the ears of English speakers!  (Yes, I meant to mix my metaphors there!!).  As a prelude to my Norwegian road trip with my son Barney I did a little online search to see if I could find something, other than the trusty Lonely Planet guide, to act as a gazetteer that would help us get into the country, it's landscape which is so tied to its geology etc etc. I found little except an expensive and comprehensive tome but in searching on Abeboôks I did stumble on 'The Fellowship of Ghosts' by Paul Watkins.  It was a cheap copy and has turned out to be a gem.

In this lively chronicle, Watkins recounts his solitary travels around mountains and fjords, describing the reality and retelling the myth of the magnificent landscape.  And it is wonderful, beautiful in its uniformity and permanence; we have travelled many roads, passed through many tunnels and boarded several ferries whilst peeling off the miles and miles of beautiful forest clad mountains falling sheer to fjords.  It can be this wild .......... with a land area of some 380,000 square kilometres and a population of 5 million.  (For comparison in the UK we have some 250,000 square km and a population 65 million)

I'm not normally good with travelogues but Watkins, who has several novels to his name, has woven history, folklore, anecdote and reflection - and also including something on the Vikings (who fascinate me because I feel I may have some Scandinavian roots) as well as the attempts by Scott and Amundsen on the North Pole - into a colourful account of majestic Norway and its hardy people.  Barney read it whilst we were travelling and loved it and will pass it on to his brother who is quite a picky reader it has to be said.

It probably helps if you are a climber, or at least a roamer of the countryside and enjoy travelling but if not I would like to think you might try this book if only to find out what or who Bogg and Sodd are!

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Wikipedia:  This is a landmark 1967 novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez that tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, a fictitious town in the country of Colombia.

The magical realist style and thematic substance of One Hundred Years of Solitude established it as an important representative novel of the literary Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, which was stylistically influenced by Modernism (European and North American) and the Cuban Vanguardia (Avant-Garde) literary movement.

Since it was first published in May 1967 in Buenos Aires by Editorial Sudamericana, One Hundred Years of Solitude has been translated into 37 languages and has sold more than 30 million copies. The novel, considered García Márquez's magnum opus, remains widely acclaimed and is recognized as one of the most significant works in the Spanish literary canon.

As a metaphoric, critical interpretation of Colombian history, from foundation to contemporary nation, One Hundred Years of Solitude presents different national myths through the story of the Buendía family, whose spirit of adventure places them amidst the important actions of Colombian historical events. 

The basic structure of the novel traces the chronicle of the Buendía family over a century. It is the history of a family with inescapable repetitions, confusions, and progressive decline. Beginning sometime in the early nineteenth century, the novel's time span covers the family's rise and fall from the foundation of Macondo by the youthful patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, until the death of the last member of the line. Throughout the narrative, the fates of the Buendías and Macondo are parallel reflections. In fact, we witness the history of a people who, like the wandering tribes of Israel, are best understood in terms of their genesis from a single family.

What did I think:

I started this novel twice with an interval between.  I felt I had not given the novel my full attention the first time and went back again resolving to give more focus to the narrative and try and wrap my head round the characters.  But this was such a problem, with the repetition of names as the narrative unfolded.  But not just the repetition of one character's name, but the successive naming of subsequent generations using the small pool of names for the characters.  I mean, 17 Aurelianos and 7 generations of Buendias!!  There were times when I felt as if I was reading the Bible.  It's a family saga without equal!

I resorted to Wikipedia and thought, well if I read this I will at least have learnt something about the plot, the symbolism and metaphors, the context, the significance in Latin American literature, the reasons for the acclaim it received.  And, what magical realism is.  Well, to be truthful if I never read another magical realistic novel again I will be happy!  My reading temperament is not cut out for the blurring of fantasy and the real world.   It's a style of writing in which the supernatural is presented as mundane, and the mundane as supernatural or extraordinary,  a constant intertwining of the ordinary with the extraordinary. 

I was interested to read what the Solitude of the title represented and I read that:

"Perhaps the most dominant theme in the book is that of solitude. Macondo was founded in the remote jungles of the Colombian rainforest. The solitude of the town is representative of the colonial period in Latin American history, where outposts and colonies were, for all intents and purposes, not interconnected.  Isolated from the rest of the world, the Buendías grow to be increasingly solitary and selfish. With every member of the family living only for him- or her-self, the Buendías become representative of the aristocratic, land-owning elite who came to dominate Latin America in keeping with the sense of Latin American history symbolized in the novel."

In addition to Wikipedia I read other critiques and sets of study notes ion the Internet in order to try and get inside the framework and purpose of the novel, but in truth even these bits of text had my head spinning.  But of all the comment and criticism I read about 100 Years this particularly struck a chord with me:

"Although One Hundred Years of Solitude has come to be considered one of, if not the, most influential Latin American texts of all time, the novel and Gabriel García Márquez have both received occasional criticisms. Stylistically, Harold Bloom (Harold Bloom (born July 11, 1930) is an American literary critic and Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and has written 40 books including 20 on literary criticism - so he knows a thing or two) remarked that "My primary impression, in the act of rereading One Hundred Years of Solitude, is a kind of aesthetic battle fatigue, since every page is rammed full of life beyond the capacity of any single reader to absorb... There are no wasted sentences, no mere transitions, in this novel, and you must notice everything at the moment you read it."  

That was the problem, the intensity of concentration the book seemed to require almost reduced me to tears of frustration.

But at least I know a bit more about this important and iconic novel than I did before and, in a way, I'm glad it was chosen!