Honey by Imani Thompson

 

Yrsa is doing a PHD at Cambridge on “… how Afropessimism is shaping black women’s discourses on their liberation”.  As I got into the philosophy of this book the thought in the back of my mind was that I was never going to be able to do it justice with a review;  that is until philosophical thoughts turned into actions and a serial killer emerged. From then on I became absorbed in the story and barely came up for air until I reached the end.

Yrsa kills bad men who need killing. She doesn’t waste much thought on her victims after each deed is done, except for making sure she doesn’t get caught. She hooks up with men she is attracted to but hates. “Why can’t she just shag in peace? Why do men have to speak?” Although Honey is billed as ‘funny’, and that little quote is kind of funny, Yrsa herself is just generally too unlikeable to be amusing.

Yrsa’s interactions with her parents and especially her Caribbean grandmother have influenced her way of thinking as well as, of course, her studies into her chosen PHD subject.  She has a genuine need to protest on behalf of black women’s rights, but she has become obsessed, thereupon opening the box in which her basic instincts have been hiding and now she doesn’t want to put the lid back on.

Creepy but compelling

Published by Harper Collins

Henry Goes Bush by Wayne Marshall

 

In 1892 J F Archibald, publisher and editor of the Sydney newspaper The Bulletin, promoted a debate between Australia’s best known and best loved poets, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. Lawson’s poetry spoke of the hardships endured by people living in the outback, while Paterson’s poems were all about the romantic beauty and heroic challenges of life in the bush. Archibald had a couple of problems with Henry, however, one being that Henry had never been any further out of Sydney than Bathurst; and the other, more importantly, was Henry’s drinking which, by the time Henry was twenty five, was out of control. In an attempt to solve both problems, Archibald had Henry brought to his Sydney office where he gave him five pounds and a train ticket to Bourke, where he was to try experiencing the real bush and so coming up with more poems to add to the debate.

In Henry Goes Bush, Wayne Marshall imagines a weird and wonderful version of Henry Lawson’s time in Bourke. Obviously, it is going to be up to everyone who reads the book to come up with her or his own interpretation of Henry’s psychedelic adventures. I’ve decided Henry was suffering delirium tremens, but then again, his friends weren’t, were they? I’m not a profound enough thinker to solve the mysteries in the book but I do know that I enjoyed every page of this kind of colonial Australian Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz. I had my own rather battered collection of Henry Lawson’s books from my long ago childhood days but, sadly, they were destroyed in a flood three years ago.

There is just one thing I would suggest to Wayne Marshall: pack up a copy of this book and send it to Quentin Tarantino immediately. I’ve already seen the movie in my head but it needs to get out into the world. 

Published by Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia.

The Architects of Control by Harold Greene

 

The Allagash woods, northern Maine near the Canadian border , in the not too distant future. A massive solar farm has been erected over many hectares of land outside the town of New Denmark by Brightleaf, a company whose representatives had made convincing arguments regarding the company’s integrity as well as many benefits for the community, including a new fire station complete with brand new fire engine.

The Architects of Control is an intense, exciting, imaginative political thriller. Here in Australia where our population is less than a tenth of America’s we have compulsory voting, and each voter’s name is crossed off the electoral role as they register on the day of the election. The system is probably open to rorting of some sort; I don’t know how effectively it could be done, but I’m sure that if it can happen, it will. But what if, instead of rigging the votes, it could be made possible to rig the voters’ minds? The death of democracy by stealth!

Meanwhile, back in New Denmark, Deputy Robert Pures is dealing with the discovery of some unusual illegal immigrants, and also a critical incident involving young Deputy Anders Erikson. Robert is a grieving widower whose daughter, Lucy, is the town manager. Robert’s beloved wife, Sarah, is introduced into the book in the prologue so I suggest you tuck her away into a safe space in your mind before you proceed with your reading.

Regardless of which side of the divide you are on in relation to American politics, if you like political thrillers you will love this. Harold Greene has written a superb story about politics now, and into the possibly foreseeable future.

Published by Black Trumpet Press.

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The Italian Correspondent by Belinda Alexandra

 

I’m casting the movie of The Italian Correspondent in my mind and I keep seeing Blake Lively as Veronica because I think she could capture the kind of mid-twentieth century glamour that belongs with this story. Veronica Gold began her career in the 1930s as a cadet journalist with the New York Times, then became Vogue Magazine’s Italian correspondent attached to the Eighth Army during the Second World War.

By 1951 Veronica is trying to bring some peace, calm and orderliness into her life; living in Italy, covering fashion shows and attempting to write a novel about Pompeii. She has witnessed the horrors of war and also taken two enormous personal blows. The stunning backdrop to her story is Italy, from Rome to Positano and the Italian countryside.

After the war to end all wars came the Cold War, countries were developing nuclear weapons, there were spies everywhere, Burgess and McLean defected and the CIA had a presence in Italy. In the midst of all this Veronica’s life is once again filled with drama; there is intrigue, romance and a shocking murder.

Veronica Gold is one person whose parting words were never going to be: Is that all there is?

Good one, Belinda!

Published by Harper Collins

Talking it over and Love, etc by Julian Barnes

 

I’ve just finished reading Talking it Over, followed by Love, etc. Talking it Over was typically fabulous Julian Barnes but it did require a sequel - or I did anyway, and Love, etc was the perfect sequel.

Oliver, Stuart and Gillian are the narrators through both books, with an occasional appearance, when necessary, from related voices. Sensible, plodding Stuart and barbed tongued, narcissistic Oliver are childhood friends, and irresistible art restorer Gillian is, at first, Stuart’s love interest. But what Stuart has, Oliver wants and so it begins. No one is particularly nice or well behaved, not even, and probably especially not, Stuart. Gillian seems to exist for the purpose of shaping Stuart’s and Oliver’s destinies. I went from not caring much for her at all to sympathising deeply with her.

I hate coming to the end of a Julian Barnes book which is why I was so happy to discover Love, etc. Is there yet another chapter to this story? I will have to find out.

Published by Vintage books

When the Party’s Over by Katie Hoskins

 

There is a line in this book which says it all: “Knowing they had so much, yet unable to bear not having more”. 

Natalie has a husband, Ben, and three small children, the youngest being Toby who is eighteen months old. Natalie is having a party at home for her 36th birthday, her parents will be keeping the children at their home and Natalie is looking forward to a child-free night among friends. It is, however, the  morning after when disaster strikes, and Natalie’s world starts to fall apart.

Meanwhile Natalie’s friends, Amanda and Sammy, have troubles of their own, Amanda being happy with what they have, and Sammy wanting more. Although the quote above was written about them, it applies pretty much to everyone in the book. 

Another friend, Lisa, single and gorgeous, also hankers for what she can’t have. I must admit I didn’t twig to who was the cause of Lisa’s problem until just a few pages before it was revealed. I must also admit to being stunned by the revelation regarding Natalie and her family. I’m not giving anything away here, though.

This is definitely a book about First World problems, but that label is not meant to diminish their importance. I liked Katie Hoskins’ writing very much, and I hope she is planning to come up with more thought-provoking books in the future.

Published by Pan Macmillan.

A Far-flung Life by M L Stedman

 

M L Stedman’s writing can shatter your heart into a million pieces. The same intense understanding of both the frailties and strengths of the human spirit which she showed in The Light Between Oceans she shows now in A Far-flung Life. I was up to (I noted) page 165 of my Kindle copy when I finally let go of the tears that had been building up, and had to put the book down until I could see again.

The MacBrides have lived for generations on Meredith Downs, a one million acre sheep station in outback Western Australia. This novel covers the years 1956 to 1999, running the gamut of every possible emotion. Some of the characters are veterans of World War Two, some are bright young people, ready and willing to tackle the future; there is the burden of unbearable secrets and the courage needed to face up to inevitability.

This is a book to be treasured, as much as The Light Between Oceans. I’m going to buy some paper copies as gifts for friends, and one for my bookshelf.

Published by Penguin Random House