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12 June 2014
Title
| Atonement |
Author
| Ian McEwan |
Publisher
| Jonathan Cape |
Publication Date
|
2001
|
Pages
| 368 |
Genre
| novel, family saga |
Blurb:
We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama The Trials of Arabella to welcome home her elder, idolised brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting preoccupations come onto the scene. The charlady's son Robbie Turner appears to be forcing Briony's sister Cecilia to strip in the Fountain and sends her obscene letters; Leon has brought home a dim chocolate magnate keen for a war to promote his new "Army Amo" bar; and upstairs Briony's migraine-stricken mother Emily keeps tabs on the house from her bed. Soon, secrets emerge that change the lives of everyone present...
My Review
The book is separated in 3 parts plus a post-script.
Part 1 goes back to the very hot summer of 1935. 13 year old Briony Tallis and her family live on a Surrey country estate. Briony, youngest sibling and somewhat neglected by her parents, clearly has a lot of imagination and can't imagine being anything else but being writer. On this hot summer day, family and friends gather at the country estate - in indeed the whole of the lengthy first chapter will cover only this one day - a day though which will change lives forever. Briony's elder sister Cecilia visits from University, and also family friend Robbie Turner. Robbie is the impoverished son of a chamber lady and Mr Tallis, Briony and Cecelia's father, has financed Robbie's studies.
Briony than witnesses a bit of sexual tension between Cecelia and Robbie, and her imagination runs wild and she misinterprets Robbie's intentions. Robbie has realised that he has feelings for Cecilia and asks Briony if she could deliver a letter to Cecelia from him. Unfortunately, he gives her an earlier version of the letter which is a bit sexually explicit - a later version is edited and this was the one meant for Cecilia. Briony reads the letter and is shocked. She later witnesses Cecilia and Robbie in a sexually compromising position in the library and she can only assume in her mind that Cecilia is getting raped by Robbie the monster. Events take a tragic turn when Lola, a cousin, is later that night found raped in the woods surrounding the estate, and cannot recall her assailant. Briony is sure that it must have been Robbie. Though he protests his innocence in front of the police, he gets taken away.
So, how does the story continue for Cecilia and Robbie? In the second chapter, we learn that Robbie has spend a few years in prison and is now being released on the premise that he will go to the front as soldier - World War 2 is now is in full swing. Cecilia has cut off all contact with her family and stood by Robbie, but couldn't visit him whilst in prison. This chapter than contains very vidid descriptions of what the soldiers faced, and Robbie ends up in Dunkirk before the Dunkirk Evacuation in 1940.
In the third chapter we learn about Briony - she rejects university and has become a nurse, she still writes. She will try to reconcile with Cecilia and Robbie.
The ending of this book - effectively the post-scrip - took me completely by surprise, I couldn't believe what I was reading and it touched me very deeply. I put the book away, and the story went around and around in my head. I don't want to give anything away, only so much that I love this kind of ending which really shocked me and came very unexpected.
Briony is the main character in the book, and her character is the one who is drawn best. Is it realistic what happened that day in Summer 1935, with Briony's imagination running wild? I think it well can be - being 13, Briony is at an age where she just starts to discover sexuality and it is entirely possibly that she started to obsess about Robbie being a sexual monster. Obviously, her family history needs to be considered. I wished to have known a bit more a bout Cecilia. Despite Robbie being completely innocent, I didn't really warm to him.
Apart from the ending, one of the scenes which will stay with me is the descriptions of the war and what the soldiers had to face. This is where, in my opinion, fiction books can play such an important part as it teaches more about those events than any history books with all its facts can ever do.
About the author:
Ian McEwan is a critically acclaimed author of short stories and novels for adults, as well as The Daydreamer, a children's novel illustrated by Anthony Browne. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, The Cement Garden, Enduring Love, Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize, Atonement, Saturday and On Chesil Beach.
11 June 2014
Title
| Thinner |
Author
| Stephen King |
Publisher
| New American Library |
Publication Date
|
19 Nov 1984
|
Pages
| 309 |
Genre
| Horror |
Blurb:
'Thinner' - the old gypsy man barely whispers the word. Billy feels the touch of a withered hand on his cheek. 'Thinner' - the word, the old man's curse, has lodged in Billy's mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, comes violence.
William Halleck, a lawyer with a happy family needs to lose some weight, or he's headed for a serious heart-attack. But after a car accident in which a young gypsy girl is killed, he suddenly finds he can't stop losing weight - and it might just kill him...
My Review
Stephen King published this book under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. For me, this is a typical King story - set in present day small town U.S. town, ordinary main protagonist and supernatural elements. I shall refer to King as the author for this book.
Billy Halleck is a successful lawyer, his only problem is his weight… almost 300 pounds and his health is suffering. Whilst driving home, his wife in the car with him, he gets 'a bit distracted' when his wife gives him a sexual favour - yes, whilst he is driving. So distracted, he hits a gypsy woman who dies. His case is dismissed in court, thanks to him knowing the judge in the case. Outside of the court house, the gypsy's father comes up to Billy, strokes his cheek and says only one word 'Thinner'. From than on, Billy starts to lose weight. Initially, he is quite pleased - he can do with losing a few pounds. But it doesn't stop, thinner and thinner. Billy realises there is one one chance if he don't want to literally disappear. He has to find the old gypsy so he can take off the Gypsy's curse. And can you really stop a gypsy's curse? It appears not so, only transfer it to someone else.
Billy Halleck is probably portrayed as a not very nice person (though King does this very subtly). Not inherently nasty, but selfish, a bit obnoxious and very career-driven. But in a great character portrayal, we read on and we can't help to feel for him and his honest account. Also, King deals in a very subtle matter with the discrimination against gypsies without preaching 'Don't be a bigot' to us.
The book is not very long, and if you have never read King before or are afraid that horror is too 'horrendous' for you I would really recommend starting with this book. I call it the King-kind-of-horror which is not so much blood, guts and severed body parts, but every day kind of horror. That's one diet Weight Watchers (or any other slimming club of course) would not want to see.
As with many King books, a movie version of this book has been made and was release in 1997 which I did not watch.
10 June 2014
This is a Meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish
Lists and books/Bloggers just go together, don't they? I certainly do like lists of all kinds. On this Meme, we can post our Top Ten of whatever topic is chose that week, please see here for a preview of the coming weeks.
1. Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
My 'read of the year' so far.
I know the book was big last year, but I've only read it during my vacation this year.
First time I read a vampire story and I loved it.
YA, dystopian, different, another one I really enjoyed
short story - different kind of love and a mortuary
The old man and the sea - mystery story
Comedy about dating, sex and romance in NYC
Domestic Abuse, a strong woman and survival
Funny Characters, will make you giggle
Alien story with a difference
9 June 2014
Title
| This is the House (Kingsland 1) |
Author
| Deborah Hill |
Publisher
| North Road Publishing Corporation |
Publication Date
|
02 April 2012 (2nd ed)
|
Pages
| 456 |
Genre
| historical romance |
Blurb:
Hannah Deems renounced her Quaker community when she married. As a result, there was no one to whom she could turn when, by the end of The War for Independence, she found herself widowed and destitute. Then Seth Adams came by; he offered to take her with him, back to his place on Cape Cod. An unknown entity, at least Adams was willing to help. Hannah should have known that going with him would be, in fact, a bargain that included her body. But she must somehow provide for her little daughter, and so she accepted her fate.
Thus it was that Molly became known as the illegitimate child of a reprobate, consigned to a future not unlike that of her mother. In order to free herself, she must ensnare a man of humble origin who will accept her, love her, and whose successful career will help her to surmount her mother's shame. That man is Elijah Merrick, a young and enterprising sea captain who understands that in wooing and winning her, he will have to defend her from his mother, fight his Cape town's determination to ostracize her, and force the Church of the Standing Order, Congregational, to accept her. In this he succeeds --
But he cannot defeat Molly's attraction to Isaac Warden…
Thus it was that Molly became known as the illegitimate child of a reprobate, consigned to a future not unlike that of her mother. In order to free herself, she must ensnare a man of humble origin who will accept her, love her, and whose successful career will help her to surmount her mother's shame. That man is Elijah Merrick, a young and enterprising sea captain who understands that in wooing and winning her, he will have to defend her from his mother, fight his Cape town's determination to ostracize her, and force the Church of the Standing Order, Congregational, to accept her. In this he succeeds --
But he cannot defeat Molly's attraction to Isaac Warden…
My review
The book and the story of one family reminds me a bit of Gone with the wind - set in Cape Cod in the early 1800's, just after the war of independence.
The first chapter tells us almost the background story. Hannah Deems, a widow with a child, has not choice but to live with the unscrupulous Seth Adams. But Hannah manages to get her daughter, Molly, accepted as a serving girl for the rich Quaker household of Mrs Elizabeth Warden. Molly soon turns into a beauty and from an early age is well aware what her life may be as a servant and she quickly realises that a good marriage will change her fortunes. There comes Elijah Merrick who falls head over heals for her and marries her, even though his mother would never properly accept a servant as their equal and Molly has many struggles to overcome. Elijah will make his fortune, and Molly and him turn into what we would call today 'the new rich'. But there is one secret Molly didn't tell Elijah and that involves the son of the Warden family.
Even though I've read historical novels from that time period before, never one which featured seafarers. The historic background is provided by the author at the beginning of some chapters - never longer than 1 page. And even though we learn a bit about the captain and their trade and associated difficulties, the story developed more around those 'left behind' on land - the wives, children, mothers, siblings. Apart from the history, what I found most interesting were the little things … how exactly did the seafarers make profit, how did people buy what they needed (yes, there was a shop), clothes had to be hand-made of course, the harsh winters could be survived with a good stocked garden (turnips etc).
I did like Molly a lot. She is headstrong, not afraid to do things she probably shouldn't be doing like arranging important things without asking her husband. She certainly likes the finer things in life and not afraid to do some scheming to achieve them. Her upbringing and early life with Elijah's family, who completely ignore her, initially leave her no choice but to make some crafty decisions.
I know that back than, it was perfectly acceptable and common for husband to chastise their wives, but still, she gained a lot of empathy from me and Elijah lost a lot of respect from me when he decides to use the belt on her. Again, the time was like that, and at least he did it in private. Gosh, even as I write this, just put this into today's context - unimaginable! Elijah though, does indeed love Molly and will stand by her after this for all their lives. And Molly will make some unwise decisions as well. For a woman to submit to another man is a completely different matter than a seafarer who sees a working girl in the next port he calls at! Hm, the feminist in me?
I would have loved it if the children would have maybe played a bit of a bigger role, especially Sarah, the eldest. But this would have maybe made the book to complex. I know Part 2 of Kingsland tells the story of Kingsley Merrick who is Molly's and Elijah's grandson and I'm looking forward to see how it continues in Cape Cod.
I received this book from the author in return for an honest review (eBook)
8 June 2014
Title
| German Complete Revision Guide |
Author
| Rachel Aukett |
Publisher
| BBC Educational Publishing |
Publication Date
|
2002
|
Pages
| 128 |
Genre
| language learning, revision guides |
Blurb:
GCSE Bitesize revision uses television, the Internet and books to help the reader improve on his or her GCSE grade. This is one in the series of booklets designed to help the reader revise in small sections and practise important examination skills. The resources can be used together or separately.
My review
Not so much a review , but more of a recommendation.
I have to say that I did not use this booklet for GCSE revision. However, I am trying to teach my children German (my mother tongue) and found this book ideal. It is easily divided into sections, and as always with language learning, starts of easy (greetings, family, alphabet) and gets more difficult. Every section has speaking and writing exercises, and grammar which, importantly, does not overwhelm. What made me go for this guide rather than others is the fact that the vocabulary learnt in every Section is repeated at the back of every chapter/section (rather than just having all the vocabulary at the back.) I found this best to refresh and learn all vocabulary.
This is not for beginners to learn the language, unless used, indeed, as a revision guide. It would also help if you have a speaker of the language at hand to help with pronunciations.
As the book is aimed at GCSE students, there is plenty of colour coding and very clear boxes etc and my teenage children liked working with it and learned their basic vocabulary and grammar.
This is is Meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer and here are the rules.
It is your chance to re-cap your bookish week, what did your review last week, any new purchases, what will be coming up in your blog next week or generally anything you feel you would like to share with the blogging community.
So, what did I do last week?
Not a lot going on actually. It's getting warmer here, even though we still have a lot of rain. I'm not going very well with the gardening I have to say… snails eating all my plants and I've got a bit of a phobia about them and can't pick them yuck. Children are back in school now here in England and will have to keep going until mid July. My eldest (he is 20) now works full time and he was moaning about his 12 hour shifts (he works in a luxury department store). Ha ha, I just wish to say to him 'welcome to life'.
Found on the Internet:
New feature: The Coroner's Officer
As promised, I've got a new feature on my blog to talk a little bit about my job as a Coroner's Officer every week - here is my post this week - mainly to give a advice to writers on the subject. This week was, as always very busy in the office and in court. On Friday we had a high profile case in our court which attracted a lot of media attention here in the UK. A premature baby had died in hospital as it had been received contaminated feeding (the manufacturer of the feed is investigation how it got contaminated). Though the baby was premature and as such very susceptible to catching infections, this is of course not regarded as a natural cause of death. It is hard for the parents, as apart from the absolute heartache of losing a child, they have to cope with the media (The Coroner's Court is an open court and media can attend - tough not film in court.)
On the blog last week
Reviews:
- This Changes my family and my life forever by Sally Ember (The Spanners Vol II)
- Beginner's Urdu Script by Richard Delacy (non-fiction)
- The Body by Stephen King
- The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Features / Memes:
- First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intro and Teaser Tuesdays: This is the House by Deborah Hill (Kingsland Book 1)
- Feature & Follow - tell us about your other hobbies, TV shows, food you like etc ……and……I was being featured!!! So happy, thanks everyone and I'm still catching up with replying to all of you great people.
Finish / Start
Reading-wise, not a very productive week. I'm still reading the same book I started last weekend (This is the House by Deborah Hill), a historical romance book. Love the book, but I think one of the issues this week was that I took the car to work a few times (not the train as I usually would) and that cuts down my reading-time dramatically. This is book 1 of The Kingsland Series, and I've got book 2 and 3 waiting.
Around the Blogosphere and other bookish news:
- Check out the Random House Giveaway Opportunity: Summer Bundle
- The Guardian Books: A discussion on Self-publishing (Self-publishing is not revolutionary but reactionary)
- Foyles Book Shop - how do you move 500.000 books
Added to my stash
Received for review:
Fallen on Good Times by Rewan Tremethick
This is what I'm planning next week for my blog
Reviews:
This is the House by Deborah Hill (Kingsland Series book 1)
Language Learning:
German complete revision guide BBC Bite size
Thinner by Stephen King
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Memes / Features:
- Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish: Top 10 books I've read so far this year
- Feature and Follow hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read: Armchair Travel! Tell us about your favorite book in a setting you’d like to visit (a real place for this question)
- The Coroner's Officer: What kind of deaths get reported to the Coroner's Office
7 June 2014
I have been a Coroner's Officer now in London / England since 2006 and (most of the time) love my job. What I love about it is the variety - no day is the same, and that we are dealing with four areas, all of them very distinct.
- law
- medicine
- police / forensics
- bereavement care
There are downsides, of course. Ask my colleagues and they will all say: the enormous workload and staff shortages. It's a daily struggle between taking new death referrals (average about 4 a day per officer), answering the phone to general or specific queries from just about anyone, arranging post mortems, speaking to bereaved families, paperwork relating to death certification, correspondence from just about anyone from general queries over insurances over family tracing…., requesting evidence for court hearings, chasing evidence for court hearings, getting files ready for court, usher in court, explain court procedures to just about anyone who wants to known, manage the media, summons witnesses and juries, sending reports to bereaved families and other legally entitled ('interested') persons and the list goes one. But hey, I love it really I suppose. It just gets frustrating when someone tells you : I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO RING YOU FOR 1 HOUR NOW AND YOU DON'T ANWER YOUR PHONE. DO YOU EVER ANSWER YOUR PHONE? I'd love to say that I've been sitting in the lunch room knitting :)
The purpose of writing here on my book blog about my job as a Coroner's officer is mainly for writers of (crime) fiction. I get asked often about Coroner's procedural areas i.e. when does a death get referred to the Coroner, what exactly do we do under certain circumstances, how does a Coroner's Court differ from a criminal court, where/when/ how does a death get referred etc. Also, there a lot of mis-understanding about what Coroner's do and also important, what we can't do. And, of course, for everyone who is interested in the subject or just curious. So, I'm hoping to make this a regular feature to talk about my work and mainly procedural questions.
Very important disclaimer:
I can only tell you how the Coroner and Coroner's law in England/ UK work. Other countries may do things very differently.
Even within England, different Coroner's may have different procedure.
Of course, they will all have to keep to the same law, but may deal with matters slightly differently. For example, due to the workload, in my jurisdiction we never attend the scene of a death. In countryside locations, this may be different. In our busy Inner London jurisdiction, we do post mortems and run court every working day - again, countryside locations may do this only once a week or even once a fortnight.
Another important disclaimer I would like to add: I give general advice which is aimed at writers of fiction, or for anyone who might be interested in what the Coroner's Office does - I cannot give legal advice and what I say here on my blog is by no means legally binding - I'm not trained to give solid legal advice I'm afraid. While I'll try to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I may make mistakes.
In the following weeks,I hope to do this every every Saturday (or sometimes every other Saturday). In the following weeks I'm hoping to cover below list and anything else which takes my fancy:
- what deaths are referred to the Coroner
- what happens at a post mortem from the Coroner's point and when do we do it, rights of families
- further investigations / inquests
- specific deaths i.e. murder, road traffic collision, self harm, industrial disease, medical, drugs
- time of death (one of the questions I get asked most often!)
- toxicology
- transfer of jurisdiction
- what happens at a coroner's court hearing (who can speak, verdicts)
- juries
This is the court where I work
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