Atonement - Ian McEwan

Should I have read the book before I saw the film? It probably severely influenced my view of the book. This is a book in three parts - not only in terms of plot, but in terms of the style (and in my view the quality) of the author's writing. Now I have a problem with Ian McEwan - especially in terms of his writing style. In the second part of this book Briony (one of the principal characters) has her first novel returned with some constructive criticisms attached. Probably intentionally (and somewhat ironically) these comments encapsulate the difficulty I often experience with McEwan's books. They are generally over written, too minutely descriptive, as though the author has spent several hours over the choice of each word in a sentence. The concentration of detail muddies my appreciation of the plot - and Ian McEwan can be a wonderful storyteller. So this book's first part is overwritten and over detailed, the second is a magnificent story, pacy, well written, and drawing the reader in to the central character of this part, Robbie. The third part is light and almost superficial. It is almost as though the author cannot make up his mind about what he's supposed to be doing. Is it an experiment? Is every book an experiment?
The plot is fairly straightforward. The first section is set around the events of one day in a country house a few years before World War II. On that day when the youngest daughter of the house, Briony, is attempting to stage a play she has scripted in honour of the return of her brother. Her cousins are to take part (reluctantly). Briony observes an event taking place in the gardens involving her sister Cecilia and Robbie, son of the house's charwoman, and Briony's father's protege (despite the boy's lowly background he has been financed through Cambridge). Briony totally misinterprets the incident, and when she intercepts a letter mistakenly sent by Robbie to Cecilia, and interrupts the couple in the library, a chain of events is unleashed placing Robbie in jeopardy. The second part is the most wonderful description of the lives of Robbie and two other soldiers in the days leading to the Dunkrk evacuation, Cecilia and Briony's work as nurses in London at that time, and the realisation by Briony of the magnitude of the wrong she has done. The third part reveals Briony as a bestselling author trying to right the wrong of her youth by publishing a true account of the lives of Robbie and Cecilia. There is a twist in the tail (or tale) but does this make the book or marr it - is it true atonement?
There are plenty of excellent books about World War I, but comparatively fewer about World War II - and it is for this reason, alone, that I would applaud Ian McEwan for writing this excellent account. Rating 8/10

The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy

What an incredibly long book! Or at least so it seemed. I remember seeing the film starring Barbra Streisand, and was curious to discover the book that lay behind it. The film was really pretty excellent, but this book is just far too long. The style is too over elaborate, the author seems to be more concerned about words rather than plot. The story is about the lives of two brothers and a sister growing up on an island in a remote part of South Carolina. Theirs is hardly an idyllic childhood. As the story opens the younger brother (whose marriage is on the rocks) is summoned to New York because his sister has made another suicide attempt. As the brother sits down with his sister's psychiatrist (Lowenstein) the true history of their joint horrific youth gradually unfolds. Naturally he also becomes sexually involved with Lowenstein, sorts out her son, breaks up her marriage, re-connects with his own wife and children. It is over long, and the stories, layering one terrible incident upon another become almost too much to bear, a bit like being blugeoned by a cosh, emotionally. In the end the final (and in the author's mind the worst) situation is just one slap round the head too much - and it seems so pale in comparison. The other irritation is the obsession with food and eating that pervades this novel - every restaurant and meal is described in so much detail. Rating 6/10

Wild Mary - A Life of Mary Wesley - Patrick Marnham

The author Mary Wesley achieved fame with her novel 'The Camomile Lawn' - however it wasn't published until she was 70.

This biography describes her totally amazing life. Born into a well off military family (distantly related to the Duke of Wellington) before the First World War she was told by her mother that she was unwanted and if she'd had to have another child she only wanted a boy. Mary wasn't given any education to speak of and saw very little of either of her parents. In the 1920s she did all those things expected of an upper class girl, and to escape her mother she married totally unsuitably, and into the peerage (albeit a recently purchased title). At the outbreak of the war she joined MI5 and led a totally promiscuous life, eventually having three sons by three different men. She ended up falling in love with a married man, and although she was able to divorce her own husband her lover's wife turned into a bitter stalker who waged a bizarre campaign to destroy her husband and prevent him from divorcing and marrying Mary. The history of this divorce alone might have constituted several novels. Eric, the man Mary finally managed to marry was unstable and a failed writer. The pair were poverty stricken and it was only when Eric died that Mary's writing was accepted for publication.

Many of the characters in Mary's own life turned up (amended?) in her books. Patrick Marnham describes this eccentric character with sympathy but manages to reveal her many failings. I don't think she can really be described as a very nice person, but this book is entertaining and explains many of the things about her novels - which I enjoy. Rating 8/10

Case Histories - Kate Atkinson

I was extremely glad that a friend recommended this book to me. It came as a total

(and pleasant) surprise. The opening chapters (or case histories) outline three seemingly unconnected crimes perpetrated over three decades. All are mysteries and reveal apparently violent deaths. Then a private detective (Jackson Brodie) is revealed. He is asked to investigate each crime independently of each other. Gradually the characters - relatives of the three people who have died - begin to interweave into each others lives. Jackson also has a history that also parallels the lives of these characters and the victims lives. There are so many twists and turns, surprises and shocks abound. Kate Atkinson is a good writer, she develops her characters clearly and they become people. She doesn't overload us with unecessary details, and isn't overconcerned with demonstrating how well researched her books are, so although this is set in Cambridge we don't get a tourist guide. Ms Atkinson is also clever enough to make sure that we really want to know what the destinies of the characters might be - but she leaves it to our imaginations to fillin in the blanks. Rating: a worthy 8/10

The Goldsmith's Daughter - Kate Sedley

If you want a light novel set in late medieval times then Kate Sedley produces a regular conveyor belt of books starring Roger the Chapman as a sleuth solving a variety of murders and mysteries. He's usually based in Bristol and its' surroundings, and lives in the

later Lancastrian/Yorkist period of English history. Ms Sedley is obviously a believer in the alternative view of Richard III. Roger Chapman is employed (as in this book) from time to time by Richard (as Duke of Gloucester in Edward IV's reign) who is not the deformed evil demon of Shakespeare. Instead he is a true prince amongst men with great ambitions for his nation, and a happy family man. As a Chapman Roger can wander from place to place selling his wares and coming across those in need of his talents as a solver of crime. On this occasion an encounter with a carter newly returned to Bristol brings news of the marriage of Edward IV's young son and the trial of Richard and Edward's brother the Duke of Clarence for treason. Roger and his wife travel to London to witness these two events and Richard of Gloucester asks the Chapman to solve a murder mystery. Kate Sedley is good at drawing you into the life and times of people at this time, and you can almost smell the London of the C15th. The solution to the mystery is a bit predictable though, but it carries you neatly to the end without too much disappointment. Rating: 7/10

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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith

The eighth book in the 'No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series. I always enjoy this series of Alexander McCall Smith novels - but I probably need a few weeks (or months) between reading each one. I prefer the later series he created about the inhabitants of Scotland Street, but the series (of which this is one) about life in Botswana and the family and friends of Mme Ramotswe is gentle, easy, educational reading. One of the purposes of reading is to take you into an unknown world and reveal the habits and lives of people - and this book does that. As fans of the No1 Ladies' Detective Agency will know each book is a collection of episodes (or cases) which presents a moral dilemma as well as a truth to be revealed, so this isn't really crime fiction. Often the 'solution' is predictable - and one in this volume is really disappointingly familiar - almost an urban myth. However, there really isn't much to criticise here - it is well written, the characters are well drawn, there is nothing to offend, and deserves a rating of 8/10.