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Thornham Reading Retreat
Nov. 19th, 2022 06:10 pmI didn't get as much reading done as usual on retreat this week, for some reason, but hey...
My theme was past winners of The Women's Prize for Fiction, which had a mixed result!
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett:
This is a very interesting book because it's a confined thriller in literary form - a birthday party held in an unnamed Spanish-speaking country for a visiting Japanese businessman is interrupted by terrorists seeking to kidnap the president. Terrorists and hostages form varied unusual bonds as the siege goes on much longer than planned.
So, the whole book takes place inside the grounds of the Vice President's house, with wider background information provided for a range of the characters. But it's much more of a character-based piece than you would expect for a hostage crisis novel. I grew very invested in what happened to characters on both sides of the conflict - the various inter-relationships are beautifully drawn and their progression is compelling.
The ending was abrupt and shocking, but not in the way I was expecting - it was the aftermath rather than the climax that surprised me and I'm still not really sure how I feel about it, though I eventually came to the conclusion that it did make an inevitable kind of poignant sense.
Beautifully written and very engaging.
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht:
This tells the story of Natalia's search for answers after the death of her grandfather. It follows her on a trip to vaccinate orphans and collect her grandfather's effects, while also recounting the history of his life and the stories he told her when she was younger. The tiger's wife of the title is a young deaf-mute woman from the grandfather's village, who formed a bond with an escaped tiger, which lived in the surrounding woods.
The book is very well written, though structured perhaps a little oddly, as the different sections are very long, so you spend quite a while away from one timeline while being immersed in another. I was initially more engaged by the 'present' storyline of Natalia's journey, though I got more invested in the story of the tiger later on. The book is pretty grim in places and very sad in others - but I got distracted by the logistics, as there were multiple sections that told aspects of the story Natalia would never have been able to discover, but the whole narrative is first person from her point of view, relating the history. I realise I should have just gone with it and not worried about how she came to be able to tell the story, but it annoyed me and I couldn't let it go.
Overall, quite affecting, though.
How to Be Both by Ali Smith:
The first half of the version of this I read is about teenager George navigating adolescence through the lens of grieving her mother's sudden death. There's a lot of clever use of time and language which I really appreciated, and I loved George's pedantry and perspective, especially the way in which otherwise mundane things gained special significance due to the circumstances. The romance subplot was also very well handled.
The second half followed the fractured perspective of a 15th century artist, who painted something George's mother particularly liked. And this was where the book lost me completely. This section is very weird, with the painter sometimes looking out from the painting into the gallery, sometimes relating part of is actual life, and sometimes viewing scenes from George's life - and I didn't connect to it at all, except perhaps at the very end.
So, very much a book of two halves! Loved the first half, baffled by the second.
One the drive to and from the retreat and on the various walks I took in between, I also listened to Torn by Rowenna Miller, which I very much enjoyed. It's a fantasy novel about a young woman who sew charms into clothing for the nobility, while her brother gets mixed up in fomenting revolution amongst the workers. There's a lot of great politics and societal commentary, as well as a great romance. I particularly liked the way Sophie managed to stay active throughout the climax, in ways that were believable. Lots of exciting twists and turns, really high stakes, a well-realised world, and an interesting magic system. Plus an excellent audiobook narrator.
My theme was past winners of The Women's Prize for Fiction, which had a mixed result!
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett:
This is a very interesting book because it's a confined thriller in literary form - a birthday party held in an unnamed Spanish-speaking country for a visiting Japanese businessman is interrupted by terrorists seeking to kidnap the president. Terrorists and hostages form varied unusual bonds as the siege goes on much longer than planned.
So, the whole book takes place inside the grounds of the Vice President's house, with wider background information provided for a range of the characters. But it's much more of a character-based piece than you would expect for a hostage crisis novel. I grew very invested in what happened to characters on both sides of the conflict - the various inter-relationships are beautifully drawn and their progression is compelling.
The ending was abrupt and shocking, but not in the way I was expecting - it was the aftermath rather than the climax that surprised me and I'm still not really sure how I feel about it, though I eventually came to the conclusion that it did make an inevitable kind of poignant sense.
Beautifully written and very engaging.
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht:
This tells the story of Natalia's search for answers after the death of her grandfather. It follows her on a trip to vaccinate orphans and collect her grandfather's effects, while also recounting the history of his life and the stories he told her when she was younger. The tiger's wife of the title is a young deaf-mute woman from the grandfather's village, who formed a bond with an escaped tiger, which lived in the surrounding woods.
The book is very well written, though structured perhaps a little oddly, as the different sections are very long, so you spend quite a while away from one timeline while being immersed in another. I was initially more engaged by the 'present' storyline of Natalia's journey, though I got more invested in the story of the tiger later on. The book is pretty grim in places and very sad in others - but I got distracted by the logistics, as there were multiple sections that told aspects of the story Natalia would never have been able to discover, but the whole narrative is first person from her point of view, relating the history. I realise I should have just gone with it and not worried about how she came to be able to tell the story, but it annoyed me and I couldn't let it go.
Overall, quite affecting, though.
How to Be Both by Ali Smith:
The first half of the version of this I read is about teenager George navigating adolescence through the lens of grieving her mother's sudden death. There's a lot of clever use of time and language which I really appreciated, and I loved George's pedantry and perspective, especially the way in which otherwise mundane things gained special significance due to the circumstances. The romance subplot was also very well handled.
The second half followed the fractured perspective of a 15th century artist, who painted something George's mother particularly liked. And this was where the book lost me completely. This section is very weird, with the painter sometimes looking out from the painting into the gallery, sometimes relating part of is actual life, and sometimes viewing scenes from George's life - and I didn't connect to it at all, except perhaps at the very end.
So, very much a book of two halves! Loved the first half, baffled by the second.
One the drive to and from the retreat and on the various walks I took in between, I also listened to Torn by Rowenna Miller, which I very much enjoyed. It's a fantasy novel about a young woman who sew charms into clothing for the nobility, while her brother gets mixed up in fomenting revolution amongst the workers. There's a lot of great politics and societal commentary, as well as a great romance. I particularly liked the way Sophie managed to stay active throughout the climax, in ways that were believable. Lots of exciting twists and turns, really high stakes, a well-realised world, and an interesting magic system. Plus an excellent audiobook narrator.
