Tag Archives: fiction

The Romantic

William Boyd is one of my favourite authors. He specialises in doorstop novels that document the entire life of an interesting individual. His most famous is probably “Any Human Heart” and “The Romantic” [affiliate link] follows in its footsteps.

The story crosses the globe, starting in Ireland, moving to England, Belgium, the US, Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Italy, Austrian and others I’m probably forgetting. And it begins in 1899, so covers an interesting time in history. (I did some quick Wikipedia fact checking and it stands up!)

What makes these books work is that his characters feel real. They’re flawed. Heros sometimes, but with relatable failings that anchor them in reality.

It’s not Boyd’s best, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable and beautifully written.

The Last White Man

This book (affiliate link) was being promoted by my local council as part of a reading campaign. I’m not sure I would have picked it up otherwise, which, despite my misgivings, would have been a shame.

The story is about the world population spontaneously turning black, and the consequence and effects of that. It focuses on a few characters (Anders and Oona) and how it affects their lives.

The writing is unusual. I hesitate to say bad, because it’s very deliberate, but grating maybe? Each paragraph is effectively one long, run on sentence. I didn’t have the audio book, but I am curious how you’d read it without an inhuman pair of lungs.

This isn’t even the complete sentence.

… and he said it suits you too, and she said, really, and he said, really, and he added, you looked too hungry before, and she asked, and now I don’t, and he said, and now you don’t, and she smiled, and then she smiled again, her smile bigger and bigger.

The dialogue is quite convincing and some of the descriptions are beautiful, but I had a hard time seeing past the structure.

I was unconvinced by certain aspects of world changing. Not the idea of changing, which you obviously have to suspend your disbelief of, but the effects. The characters all assumed that the looks they received and the ways that they were perceived were entirely down to the fact they were no longer white. Is that fair? If you dramatically and overnight changed your appearance, would people not react?

For a short book, it took me a while to read but I’m glad I made it to the end.

Atrocity Archive

I’m not sure that I can explain why it took me so long to read this Charlie Stross book. Some of the references to nineties computing tech dated it a little, but no more than Douglas Adams’ obsession with digital watches. The characters are pretty good, as is the writing. It strays into the mystical, magical world but there was always a logic underpinning the world. (The lack of “logic” in many fantasy books is one of the reasons I generally prefer sci-fi.)

In that sense, I don’t know what to conclude. I quite enjoyed it but the fact that it took me a year to read surely says something?

Sweet Caress

I rate William Boyd as one of my favourite authors, so when I say that “Sweet Caress” isn’t his best work you have to calibrate it appropriately.

As a structure, it’s almost identical to “Any Human Heart.” It’s a journal or memoir of an interesting character, covering pretty much their entire life. In this one, Amory Clay is born early in the twentieth century and lives a full life as a photographer in Europe, North America and Asia. The timing allows her to see the World Wars, the rise of fascism, the Vietnam war and much more besides. It covers her successes and failures, and the consequences of them both.

What makes it work is that Clay is entirely believable. She’s fun and brave, impulsive and flawed. Lacking any of those qualities might have made it less of an entertaining read or less plausible.

Boyd is a great writer. He has the characters, the structure and the story all wrapped up in a way that appears effortless. There are surprises and twists. Even the ending is satisfying.

The plan was to read more fiction this year. This was a good start.

Two Brothers

It’s been fascinating watching Ben Elton grow as a writer. I read his first book, Stark, when it first came out. It was political and funny, as you might expect for a stand up comedian. It wasn’t terribly well written, though.

Next came Gridlocked, which was better written but not as funny.

I’d argue that he finally hit his stride with Popcorn, which was a real page-turner, with structure and humour and it was well written.

Two Brothers dispenses with the humour almost entirely, but keeps the drama and everything he’s learned about story writing. The rise of the Nazis provides a familiar structure but the believable characters and unpredictable twists are what makes it work.

His first couple of books may have had me close to tears of laughter. This one has emotion and I was on the verge of very different tears. I say this without hyperbole.

Overall, highly recommended.

Toll

If you read my thoughts on the first book in the Kestrel series, “Changer” you’ll have a good idea of my thinking about the second, “Toll.”

It’s an entertaining, light read. I think that’s the intention, so I don’t mean that as a back-handed compliment.

Compared with last time, the MacGuffin didn’t bother me as much. What jarred were the constant info-dumps.

“[Barcelona is] the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union. Within Spain, it is second only to Madrid. But globally, it does not appear in the first ninety.”

I didn’t choose to read Wikipedia! There are even discussions about climate change and Brexit, which I’m not sure is a good idea. The former, at least, is relevant to the story-line (if a bit preachy) but the latter stands only to date the book.

Anyway, none of that is really a big problem. After “Guns, Germs and Steel” I needed something less strenuous and this totally hit the spot.