Before She Met Me by Julian Barnes

 

Before She Met Me was first published in 1982 by Jonathan Cape but I’ve only just found it.  My problem with Julian Barnes is that I can’t pace myself through his books. He is so clever, so witty, so badly behaved, sometimes, that I plough through them and get to the end long before I meant to. This one was a perfect example of that.

Graham is plodding away as a college lecturer, married not particularly unhappily, with one daughter, when he meets, and falls in love with, Ann. When he eventually leaves his marriage, his embittered wife, Barbara, comes up with a rather ingenious way to scupper Grahame’s happy-ever-after. There follows the story of a man who finds that bits of his brain of which he was previously unaware until he was advised about them by his friend, Jack, have taken over his thinking, and therefore his life.

Brilliant characters, superb writing, and that’s all you need to know. I loved discovering this ‘old’ book although to me 1982 was last week.

Published by Penguin Books Australia 

Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan

 

Dervla McTiernan’s Three Reasons for Revenge is a master class in crime fiction writing. It’s an intriguing story with a main character who is definitely not your average, run-of-the-mill police detective. Judith Lee prefers black jeans and tee shirts, rides a motor bike and is totally committed to her job. When Alexis Turner comes into the police station and asks to see Judith to report a sexual assault, Judith agrees to investigate although she works homicides these days, having left sex crimes eight years ago.

I loved not being able to see the twist in the story until only a few pages before it was revealed. I also love a book which has me yelling (inside my head) for a character to go back and take another look at this or that detail and stop mucking around. This is a good, complicated plot where it’s up to Judith, when she finds she is investigating a murder after all, to stay clear-eyed and objective while at the same time coping with a major, unrelated development in her working life.

Having read this terrific book into the small hours I hope my brain has woken up enough to do it justice. I’ve always liked Dervla McTiernan’s books but I think this one is her best. I would urge lovers of good crime fiction to get hold of it, find a secluded space and settle in for a treat!

Published by Harper Collins

Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason

 

I read first Meg Mason’s You be Mother, a deep, beautiful story about vulnerability, and optimism against the odds, after which I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Sorrow and Bliss, and then when I did I  thought I had found perfection in a book; but now I’ve found it again in Sophie Standing There!

Sophie is one of the most loveable protagonists I’ve found, ever. Meg Mason takes us, in stages, into Sophie’s background. Sophie’s life  has been shaped by her unusual childhood, her  close relationship with her brother, and her compassionate response to her brother-in-law, in relation to which her ex-husband’s behaviour is almost excusable, in light of their shared experiences, is my reluctant guess.

Sophie pours her love, in her mind, into Lilac, a movie star/turned author. This is a fascinating part of the story and, ultimately, although she doesn’t realise it, Sophie’s survival mechanism. Lilac actually sums Sophie up perfectly with her inscription:

I’ve never met anyone who tried so hard to be happy by being kind.

When I got to the end of  Sophie, Standing There, I felt overwhelmed by my emotions, in exactly the same way as I had been by Sorrow and Bliss. The word that keeps popping into my mind about all three of Meg Mason’s books that I’ve read is: exquisite.

Published by Harper Collins.

Opening Night by Sara Baume

 

When the writer and sculptor, Sara Baume, first met her, the artist Mollie Douthit was living alone in a cabin in the west of Cork and preparing a series of paintings from her life for an exhibition in Dublin. Sarah had undertaken to write a book about Molly’s life, and she spent the following two years in Molly’s company, recording in minute detail Molly’s way of life.

Opening Night is filled with descriptions of Molly’s paintings as well as reproducing many of them on its pages. I read the book online as an ARC, thanks to NetGalley, but I think a paper copy would be something to treasure, for the paintings.

Sara and Mollie had a lot in common; Sara also lived a rather pared down existence in the west of Cork, although with her partner, Mark, and her beloved dogs; and Molly’s circumstances did change somewhat over time. 

Sara records meticulously not only Molly’s paintings, but the clothes she wears and the food she cooks, and to complete the picture Sara describes her own clothes and meals. The two women had much in common, but, Sara wondered: ‘I was her friend of course, but she was also my material. I was beginning to find it difficult to discern whether my attachment to Mollie came from sincere affection and concern, or from the crazed desire to make good art.’

Opening Night is an intense read, with biographer and subject each equally devoted to her own art. 

Published by Farrar, Straus and Girraux