Not Forgotten - Neil Oliver

Another book based on a TV series. When it was on television it was presented by Ian Hislop and centred mainly on the war memorials created after World War I.

The series was captivating and moving and fascinating. The book seemed nothing like the television programmes. Brief chapters without proper linkage or continuity, over sentimental treatment of the stories, which appeared not to be about the heroes (unsung and famous) of the trenches and carnage of the Great War, but more about the author himself. I wanted to find elaboration of the television programmes, depth and breadth, but I found none of that. Rating: 4/10

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

I had this book recommended to me by several friends, and so I was looking forward to reading 'The Kite Runner', a tale of a boy growing up in Afghanistan before the overthrow of the monarchy and how his life develops through the years of the Russian invasion and exile to America. Unfortunately I was to be disappointed. The opening chapters are superb, examining the relationship between father and son, a son who feels he can never be the person his father wants him to be. It is also the tale of his relationship with his father's servant and the servant's son, both of whom are of the 'wrong' ethnicity and Islamic branch. This is handled sensitively and raises all sorts of thoughts about families and their inter-relationship. The central character, Amir, is desperate for his father's approval, and cannot understand the ease with which the servant's son, who is equally determined to serve his beloved Amir, goes through life and is good at everthing. Hassan (the son of the servant) is devoted to Amir, but is often treated with contempt by his 'master'. All this is excellent, but then it all falls apart. The writing and language becomes stilted, the characters wooden and stereotypes. The author seems to contrive to get every possible horror of the Russian invasion and the Taliban regime packed into every page. There is excessive use of cliches, the plot is just too predictable and obvious. The emotions are badly expressed, and tragedy after tragedy is piled on so that I felt as though I was being bludgeoned and ended up by suffering from emotion anaesthetic. I was numbed and frankly uninterested by the fates of all concerned. So to return to the plot, with the fall of the Afghan monarchy all lives are changed, on the day that Amir finally does something to gain, he believes, the approval of his father, something terrible happens to Hassan. It is this event that probably made me think the book wasn't going to live up to expectations - not the event but the way in which the author deals with it. It is just unbelievable, and so as the truth emerges it becomes even more unbelievable and unconvincing, and so through the exile to America (with the expulsion of the servant family before the departure of Amir and father), and the ever less convincing Afghan characters in exile. People die - but in an unconvincing way, the emotions are not well described, a courtship and marriage that has no credibility, and a 'dramatic' return to Afghanistan that is so badly described as to be annoying. A rating of 4/10 I'm sorry to say.

A History of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr

The book of the recent TV series by Andrew Marr - and it's a massive volume to contemplate! This isn't 'traditional' history - it is more a collection of anecdotes, views and opinions. However, despite (or perhaps because of this) it is a fascinating review of British history since 1945. As an aside I'm a history graduate and when I was at University 'Modern' history was from 1485 or at a pinch 1815, certainly not 1945 - more like current affairs to my Professor! Andrew Marr's journalistic style makes this an easy read, and because it is so centred on personalities as much as policies the politics of the period comes to life. This isn't to say that policies are ignored - the themes of the times are examined with tremendous clarity. I found the sections on Korea and Malaya outstanding, and the unfolding of the events of the 1970s outstanding. Worth a read! Rating: 8/10

The Grass is Singing - Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing's first novel, based in the former Southern Rhodesia. It is a story of race, class, and human emotions. The book opens with a death and then gradually builds up the events

leading to that death - in a remarkable detached and almost clinical fashion. The person causing the death of the farmer's wife id announced almost immediately. Things aren't quite what they seem. The Turners (the couple at the centre of this tale) are remarkably unsuccessful in all aspects of their lives. The farm is a disaster - Jonah is the nickname used by their neighbours for Turner's infallible ability to select the wrong crops for each season. Neither the workers' shop, nor the house is well constructed. They make a profit on nothing, and Mary has the worst kind of background to become a farmer's wife. She hates the native workers, can't stand her female neighbours, can't bear the heat, has no household abilities. The book looks (very bluntly) at white attitudes to the native population of South Africa. Equally it shows the white dependency, the sort of people attracted to the life of the farmer in South Africa, and how those newly arrived from England change rapidly their views of 'the native question'. This is really a very strong, powerful, shocking book, and traces the psychological breakdown and disorder of these two inadequate people. The language at times is hard for the modern reader - it is racially offensive in the tone and content. And yet this is a remarkable book. Rating: 7/10