Category: U.S.A

The imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

~ winstonsdad ~ 6 Comments

I first heard about this six months ago on a Abc book show podcast and interview with Tom Rachman ,it really appealed to me as the short stories in the book are interlinked around the fact that all the people in the stories work for an international paper Based in Rome ,Rachman himself is an ex pat american that lives in Rome having worked for a number of years as a journalist in particular for the international herald tribune which must be a slight template for the novel .In the book we meet the staff of the newspaper eleven of them in all in between each story you get a little bit of history of the paper from its early days in the fifties to modern-day ,the staff range from the work shy obituary writer who lurks and tries to avoid work as much as possible .foreign correspondents ,my favourite is the old arabic correspondent based in Cairo Winston ,from his name you know this guy is very old school he only speaks in english and is unwilling to chase down  his stories .Rachman has an eye for detail in the modern world and through the constant mentions of Blackberries is an obvious crackberry guy . As the stories testify the world of newspapers is a shrinking world and for a small paper like this one a real struggle to get by sometimes in the increasing world of web-based news where the information is on hand straight away .

1954 Corso Vittorio Rome

The paper was established on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele a broad East West thoroughfare lined with dirty white travertine churches and blood orange Renaissance palazzi .many of the buildings in central Rome were coloured as if from a crayon box: dagger red ,trumpet yellow ,rain cloud blue .

At the start of the first notes the are between the chapters illustrating the papers history ,here its base in Rome .

 

 

The characters seem real enough and would imagine Rachman has taken bits of people he has met over his time as a journalist .A stunning debut is let down slightly by a dreadful cover on the uk version ,That I feel doesn’t represent the book at all .The book mirrors in style if not content Tsiolkas the slap which I reviewed a few days ago on the blog ,both use different narratives and characters centred round a central theme in this case the paper ,Rachman’s characters on the whole are more even than Tsiolkas but the subject matter maybe a lighter in this book than in the slap .The book is also promote on Rachmans beautiful site .The book is published in the uk by Quercus .

The reconstructionist by Nick Avrin

~ winstonsdad ~ 6 Comments

Nick Arvin has written two books before the Reconstructionist ,he grew up in Michigan ,studied engineering at university ,also worked in forensic engineering  like the main character in the book .Nick also graduated from Iowa writing workshop .To find out more about nick I d visit his website here .The book focuses on 4 main characters 3 living and one dead there is Ellis Barstow an engineering grad that has drifted back to his home town and fallen into his job with John Boggs where they recreate accidents or more precisely events  ,then there is Bogg.s wife Heather that Ellis is also having an affair with ,and then in the background there is Ellis dead brother Christopher who Ellis doesn’t believe died in a straight forward accident ,and wants to find the truth but his boss and friend Boggs did the report on his accident .

Two boxy American sedans  a Chevy and a Plymouth have a startling appearance : the lie in unnatural postures ,pointed in oblique directions ,damaged in dark inversions ,their black guts exposed ,their glossy surfaces crushed and twisted and torn .

as a nine Ellis year old  caught his first accident .

 

As the book unfolds it becomes like a car crash ,as they investigate each crash the story unfurls a little more ,Nick Arvin has  written the guy’s job really well not too technical as too bore the reader but enough to keep you fascinated in this interesting job ,along the way Ellis get more clues and insights in the crash that took his half-brother Christopher whilst growing closer to Heather all the time .He and Boggs are great friends but there is always an unspoken tension in that friendship .The novel has been sold to Fox tv as a drama series ,which I can see it being great for the accidents all have their own little story attached to them and then there is the main storyline I for one will eagerly be awaiting this as a series it has the potential to be great .

WINSTONS SCORE –

I ve always loved watching chimps like them this book is visual and social as you see the realtionships of the charcaters inter play with one another .

the book is published by Hutchinson

The queen of palmyra by minrose gwin

~ winstonsdad ~ 4 Comments
 

 

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin

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Minrose Gwin is the professor of english at North Caroline ,she has publish numerous non fiction books mainly about the women’s role in the south of america and southern writing also editing the literature of the american south .she has also done a lot on the civil rights movement in the sixties .This is her debut novel and is out on harper perennial this week .she grew up in a small town in Mississippi in the sixties .so tackle some of the ground that is in the novel

The book –

the book follows florence Forrester and one summer in 1963 ,Flo ‘s home life is rocky a disappointed mother Martha  who is the towns cake lady making wonderful smelling cakes the wonderful lemon cake is her specialty .there is Flo’s bigoted father a burial insurance salesman and a racist that has rub off a little way on his daughter  , Flo escapes at her grandparent and with their servant Zenie thus named after the queen of Palmyra ,Flo spends time with zenies family then one day a catalyst arrives in the form of Eva Green a relative of Zenie ,Eva studies and is educated and works for naacp ,this causes stirrings in the town and Eva is attacked in a graveyard ,the police are unwilling to help .Flo and Eva grow close and Flo escapes the trauma of every day life with the stories of Zenie and love she gets from her .all this against major even ts in mississipi itself .

My view –

Minrose has written a truly wonderful book you can sense that Minrose  herself must have walked in Flo’s shoes at some point and have had friends from both sides of the town she grew up in  ,she is amazing with details describing Martha cooking the cakes the wonderful lemon cakes they just float of the page and left me wanting to taste this masterpiece of a cake .The violence is handle just  right not over the top but enough to make you realise how hard it was from african americans in the south in the sixties ,I think everyone should have a copy of this on their bookshelves to sit next to kill a mockingbird and why the caged bird sings ,it is that good unbelievable for a debut novel to be so complete and well written .

Links –

harpers  page

Minrose Gwin talking

postcards from a dead girl by kirk farber

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         This is kirk Farber’s debut novel and what a novel to debut with .It is a long time since i ve read a book that has so engrossed me ,i read this in one day .the novel centres on Sid Higgins ,a call centre worker what may be called a McJob .He starts getting post cards from an ex that he thought had died Zoe ,they come from all over europe with short messages like “wish you where here ” .This leads to a acquaintance with the local postal employee  Gerald  ,who turns out to have a crafty wife and be a survivalist .A secondary storyline evolves round Sid’s possible brain tumour under going a battery of tests and cat scans ,Sid also idles away at his McJob carrying on his disheartening cold calling whilst trying to please, his boss his life at work controlled by the randomizier pull the random numbers he cold calls .

  Kirk Faber’s style is short chapters and a large dose of humour you will laugh out loud at places ,with this book if you’re a fan of Magnus Mills or Dan Rhodes you will love this book .

i decide to give Gerald the post office guy another try at explaing my postcard mystery .I think he might have been rushed last time .I find my place in the line .content to watch other customers as they drop off packages or collect stamps ………….

This is one of Sid’s first meetings with Gerald.

this book is published by harper perennial

 

 

dinner at the homesick resturaunt

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

 This came to me via a loan from bookrambler after a lament from myself earlier in the year that i don’t feel i read enough female writers last year and to be honest in general this was Jannette suggestion ,this is one of Anne Tylers most popular novels and i can see why it is beautifully written ,it follows the ups and downs of the Tull’s family a single parent family with the matriarch pearl and her band of kids Cody ,Ezra and jenny you get to see them grow up and develop ,the main thing i loved is the Tyler write exactly how real families are warts and all there is no beautifying at all .The characters are well drawn particularly pearl and her wayward son Cody a lad that most rebellious teens would recognize .the story is told in snippets as pearl lays dying and recalls the family growing .

while pearl Tull was dying ,a funny thought occurred to her .It twitched her lips and rustled her breath ,and she felt her son lean forward from where he kept watch by her bed .”get . . . “she told him “you should have got . . . ”

you should have got an extra mother ,was what she meant to say …………………

have you read Tyler do you have a favourite ?

 

 

the unnamed by joshua ferris

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 This is probably one of the most eagerly waited books this year as ferris follows up his hugely successful then we came to the end ,with this the unnamed the novel centres on tim Farnsworth and his family .the novels starts with tim a successful lawyer in an up and coming law firm just about to talk his biggest case .When he suddenly starts to walk and wander off been unable to stop the compulsion to walk.at first this just happens from time to time ,but as the book moves on the frequency increases ,until in the end Tim has to walk all the time just grasping food and sleep from time to time .The family tries to support tim helping in a battery of test for what is an unknown and thus unnamed condition .The book is beautifully written i did find it a little predictable in places and had echos later on of scenes from into the wild where the main charcater in that wanders alaska.but is compelling story of how families can struggle and break under problems like this . It also falls into what Marco Roth in nplus1 called the neuro novel ,the trend for the main charcater to have a mental or psychological condition .

Hands and feet are cold .Leg is hurting .Stomach is empty and would like some food .he was assailed night and day by such complaints .they were crude and unimpeachable .he was accustomed to accommodating his body ,so defiance had to be deliberated ,disciplined, as zen like as possible .

quote from late on as tim struggles with problems caused by constant walking

Legend of a suicide by David Vann

~ winstonsdad ~ 3 Comments

                The legend of suicide is the first book by Alaskan born david vann ,the book had been round agents for a number of years before seeing the light of day ,thank goodness it did .the book itself is a novella and 5 short stories .Around the story of Roy and his father a failed dentist and fisherman ,the story is based partly on Vann ‘s own life .

                 the story of Roy and his father is a one of the wilderness ,despair ,divorce ,failure and not giving too much away the ultimate climax .the way the stories are structured is the novella tells the main story of Roy and his father .The shorter stories are like a deluxe dvd  with those great extras that give depth and perspective to the main tale by describing the incidents leading to and during the main tale use different people as the narrates

                Vann’s writing is vivid with the words floating of the page engulfing you in roys world .The details are painted well with a light hand as Colm Tobin says one detail is enough to set the scene .

“they went inside and he pulled out the coals with tongs he had brought for the purpose and laid them in the pan ,then set a small grate over them that fitted down into the pan and pour a large handful of alder chips on top “

from sukkwan island ,as roy and his father smoke fish together .

            The cover is a clever design by dan funderburgh for penguin ,it has a clever detail which a first glance of the cover isn t obvious .the book came out this week on penguin

legend of a suicide

THE LOST CITY OF Z BY DAVID CRANN

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This book was on the samuel johnson shortlist which first brought it to my attention ,having always loved adventures in the amazon ssince reading william price book as a 10 year old.It centres on the story of percy fawcett who was maybe the last great gentleman explorer .Crann paints fawcetts background then tells you about the fate city of z expedtion ,where fawcett dissappeared in what could have easily made a episode of ripping yarns .then you find out about there rescue missions  and myths legends asscioated with fawcett .The book is clearly written and wonderfully research with loads of footnotes and biblography for futher reading .The film rights have just been sold to brad pitt LOST CITY