The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller - Book Review

Publisher's write-up :

“Set in Romania at the height of Ceausescu's reign of terror, The Land of Green Plums tells the story of a group of young students, each of whom has left the impoverished provinces in search of better prospects in the city. It is a profound illustration of a totalitarian state which comes to inhabit every aspect of life; to the extent that everyone, even the strongest, must either bend to the oppressors or resist them and perish.”

The Land of Green Plums is supposedly a work of fiction written by the Romanian-German author Herta Muller. This was published in 1994 and has won several awards, including the Nobel prize for literature in 2009. Originally written in German, it was translated into English by the German poet, Michael Hofmann.

Lola, a student, records her experiences in a diary – where she writes about her attempts to escape the totalitarian world and her affairs with anonymous men. She eventually joins the Communist party. This part of the plot comes to an end when she commits suicide and leaves her diary in the narrator's suitcase. Having committed suicide and thus, having betrayed her country and her party, Lola is publicly denounced in a school ceremony. Then, the narrator shares the diary with three male students, Edgar, Kurt and Georg, all from the German speaking community in Romania (including the narrator herself). They sing banned hymns and thus, they're often interrogated by Captain Pjele. They also had to communicate using code language since in the totalitarian regime, any letter could be opened and read by the authorities.

There was no plot. The character description was poor – although, the justification for it is Muller is naturally a poet and hence, it doesn't matter. Several images were used which is subject to the interpretation of the reader – and I couldn't interpret anything. The story went back and forth – all of a sudden, the narrator is in Germany and after a couple of chapters, she is again in Romania with her three friends. Though this was said to have taken place during Ceasescu's regime, the name “Ceausescu” was mentioned only twice and they were also quite insignificant. The author never used quotation marks – nothing wrong in writing the whole book in indirect speech but, I don't find a point in using a colon instead of a quotation mark.

“I asked:Transfinite?

She said : Finite.

I said: Transfinite.

She asked : How should I know?”

-Page 140

Unfortunately, I can't write anything more about this book – since I didn't find anything so significant to mention here. I think this is a type of book which you'll either like or loathe and it so happens that I fall under the latter category. I'd say that I'm being generous when I'm giving this book a 1/10.

Rating – 1 / 10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Watchman by Ian Rankin - Book Review

“Bombs are exploding in the streets of London, but life seems to have planted more subtle booby-traps for Miles Flint. Miles is a spy. His job is to watch and to listen, then to report back to his superiors, nothing more. The job, affording glimpses into the most private lives of his victims, appeals to Miles. He doesn't lust after promotion, and he doesn't want action. He wants, just for once, not to botch a case. Having lost one suspect - with horrific consequences - Miles becomes too involved with another, a young Irishwoman. His marriage seems ready to crumble to dust. So does his home. But Miles is given one last chance for redemption - a trip to Belfast, which quickly becomes a flight of terror, murder and shocking discoveries. But can the voyeur survive in a world of violent action?”

Watchman is a novel written by the British crime novelist, Ian Rankin, famous for authoring the John Rebus series. This is his third novel, released in 1989. The book does not feature Ian Rankin's most famous character John Rebus but a similar character named Miles Flint. This novel is a stand alone as of now (and presumably, will remain one).

Miles Flint is a spy, working for the MI5. The story takes place in London (as far as I know, this is one of the two plots of Ian Rankin which takes place outside Scotland). He voluntarily takes up a mission of spying an Arab, which he fails, and results in the killing of an Israeli national. This was not even supposed to be his mission and the day when he failed was actually supposed to be a day off for him. Hence, he gets into the bad books of his superiors and he is given a chance to rectify his mistake. His superiors send him to Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the war. Little does he realise that this is the most dangerous mission that he has ever undertaken and every moment that he survives is a bonus.

The main reason why I decided to read this book was because I read that Jim Stevens, a journalist who featured in the first John Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses was also a character in this book. But, this book was quite disappointing, partly even because of Jim Stevens' trivial role in it but there are also other significant reasons. There were too many characters and too many turns in the plot which made it difficult to understand. In fact, I felt that the story began only after half the book was over but when it began, it was fast-paced and was nice. What I really appreciate in this book was that at a time when I felt that there were going to be too many loose ends in this book, but, the author brilliantly covered it up, towards the end.

This is neither a good book nor a bad one. I don't think might be worth buying but one can certainly lend it from a library or a friend to read it. I give this book a rating of 5/10.

Rating – 5 / 10

Have a nice day,

Andy

A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin - Book Review

A Question of Blood, is a crime fiction, written by the British (Scottish) author Ian Rankin, best known for his John Rebus series. A Question of Blood is the sixteenth book featuring Detective Inspector John Rebus. The story takes place in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

John Rebus is in trouble, Martin Fairstone, a petty criminal, is dead, his house was burnt, and the last person to be seen with him was Rebus. Rebus already had a scuffle with him as Fairstone was assaulting his colleague, Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke. Another evidence against Rebus was that his hand was burnt and Rebus's claim was that he had scalded his hand. What made people think that he could have committed the murder is his background and personality. He smokes and drinks too much and keeps a lot of secrets to himself. Nobody knows anything much about him. He had separated from his wife years ago and his daughter was living in England. Since he was totally detached, people always had a suspicion that he may turn out doing something drastic any time.

Lee Herdman, an ex SAS (Special Air Services) personnel, walked into a school, brandishing a pistol. There were four casualties. Three dead, one injured. Anthony Jarvies, the son of a lawyer, Derek Renshaw, the son of Rebus' cousin and James Bell (injured, not dead), the son of a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), Jack Bell and the last one at whom he pulled the trigger was himself. He was also dead. There was no mystery in this, the only question remaining was “Why?”. Why did a retired personnel have to go on a shooting rampage and then kill himself? Revenge? Was he hired by someone else to take revenge? The question “Why?” led to so many other questions.

Although, as per police procedures, Rebus is not allowed to investigate since a relative is involved, however, this was also one of the many other unknown things about Rebus. So, Rebus was to investigate this case and win a personal battle, by finding the reason why his nephew was killed and punishing the other people behind it and at the same time, he had to clear him off his charges, regarding the Martin Fairstone case.

This is a good book, good language, good character description and it did live up to its tags, that is “crime”, “mystery” and “thriller”. But I also felt that this book was a little too dragging with its sub plot being too boring. The way some characters were closed out was also very poor. But for these, it is a good book and I give this is a rating of 7 / 10.

Rating – 7/ 10

Have a nice day,

Andy

A Good Hanging and Other Stories by Ian Rankin - Book Review

A Good Hanging and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by the British crime novelist Ian Rankin, famous for his John Rebus series. This is also a novel which features John Rebus. The book has twelve short stories.

John Rebus is a police Detective Inspector based in Edinburgh, addicted to smoking and drinking. He is an officer who has various contacts around the town, but is not very outspoken. In fact, nobody knows anything much about him.

All the stories in this book happen in Edinburgh. Most of the stories are based on murder or some other crime. Most of the short stories were very good. But there were several demerits. Till the story Good Hanging, the stories were interesting but after that, the author didn't have much ideas and added lousy stories just to increase the number of pages. After the Good Hanging, only one out of the six remaining stories are good. One of the stories did not have anything related to crime.   

The language and description of the author is good but that is something expected from him. I'd say that this is a reasonable book, but for the second half, because of which the rating for this book falls from 8 to 6.

Rating – 6 / 10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman - Book Review

(Note : I've not read the Bible, I'm also not a Christian. I'm treating this book as any other story and not as an altered version of the Bible.)

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a book written by the British author Philip Pullman, famous for his “His Dark Materials Trilogy”. The author is also said to be one of the most outspoken atheists in his field. The book was released in 2010 and has drawn in quite a few controversies.  

Mary, gives birth to twins, boys, namely, Jesus and Christ. During their childhood, Jesus was a mischievous, troublesome kid and Christ had to save him on more than a couple of occasions from getting into trouble. On the other hand, Christ was more calculative person and was obedient towards his parents and was more responsible. He was also well read and was highly knowledgeable. Despite the thoughts of the others, Christ always believed that Jesus was a good man and true to his beliefs, there was a sudden change in Jesus' personality, inspired by John the Baptist. Eventually, Jesus left his family and didn't care about his brother Christ.

Jesus started going from place to place, giving lectures and healing people, with no instrument but faith. Naturally, people from the synagogue did not like him and tried to test him every time. When Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount, he promised the people that the “Kingdom of God” is coming soon, where the meek will inherit the earth, sinners won't be permitted.

On the other hand, Christ also had a very important task. A stranger, whom Christ believes is an angel, gives him the task of noting down every speech of Jesus, without his knowledge, thereby, becoming The Kingdom of God's historian. Eventually, the task of Christ becomes much more complicated and the story is about him trying to accomplish the tasks given by the stranger.

Do not judge a book by its title, that is what I've got to say about this book. It was a well narrated story. There was nothing so special about the language of the book but I liked the simplicity in his writing, thereby, enabling people from any age group being able to read this book. I think people who have read the Bible maybe able to give a better opinion about the book but this is all that I've got to say about this.

I'd give this book a rating of 7 / 10.

Rating : 7 / 10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Flood by Ian Rankin - Book Review

Publisher's write-up

“Mary Miller has always been an outcast. As a child, she fell into the hot burn – a torrent of warm chemical run-off from the local coal mine – and her hair turned white. Tnitially she was treated with sympathy, but all that changed a few days later, when the young man who pushed her in died in an accident.

Now, many years later, Mary is a single mother caught up in a faltering affair. Her son, Sandy, has fallen in love with a strange homeless girl – and both mother and son are forced to come to terms with a dark secret from Mary's past”

The Flood is the first book of the British author Ian Rankin, known for writing crime novels and is the best-selling crime novel writer in the United Kingdom.

“The Flood was my first published novel. It's not a crime novel, though it contains secrets and revelations. Nor is it a thriller. Fair warning : it's a young man's book, all about the perils and pitfalls of growing up.”

• Ian Rankin

The main characters in this book are Mary Miller and Sandy, who is Mary's son. Mary is a single mother, who is around 30, but has white hair. This is because, she was pushed into the waste water from the coal mines known as “Hot Burn” and her hair turned white. Sandy is her son, who was born to her when she was fifteen. Sandy is hard-working, but may not be all that intelligent. It is mentioned that he had “rote answers” for his exam and he forgets those answers after the exam is over. He also liked English and was good at writing essays and poems.

The story happens in Carsden, a fictitious village in Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom. It was a coal mining village and people in the village were satisfied but all of a sudden, there was a bolt from the blue. The National Coal Board issued an order to stop mining at Carsden because “mining coal at Carsden is more expensive than a tonne of coal at the market price”. Thus, the whole village was ruined by economics, people lost their jobs, they had no other skills and the youngsters had to move out of Carsden. Mary's own brother, Tom, moved to Canada.

The Story has three parts - The Falling Time – 1963 – 1969 ; Sandy – 1985 ; The Flood – 1985.

Mary Miller was lured to the “hot burn” and was pushed into it and because of the shock, her hair had turned white. Initially, the people of the village had sympathy for her. Later, the man who had pushed her had died in a coal mine accident. Her father had committed suicide, presumably, ashamed of her pregnancy. Hence, the people of Carsden considered her to be someone who brought bad luck along with her and was considered a witch. She tries hard to make the people of the village accept Sandy and her, but Sandy has fallen in love with a gypsy girl, and Mary thinks that if people come to know of this, her work, of all these years, of making people trying to accept the two, would be destroyed. But Sandy is resilient.

The author has already mentioned it and I'm merely repeating, this book is neither a crime novel nor a thriller but it does have some secrets and revelations. The author has definitely managed to grip the reader's fingers to the pages of the book by making him / her read to find out what are those. The character of Sandy may have also been autobiographical and I'm coming to this conclusion just because Sandy likes English and writes well. There might have also been a philosophical angle, how an economist, with his / her scheme, can bring glory to the nation at the expense of the country's own people.

  The language was brilliant in this book, but it was expected, considering the author. I liked the usage of “double negatives” -  for example - “he couldn't not take one”. The village and characters were described so well. But for that, I'd say that there was nothing special in this book. This is a very ordinary narrative. To keep the book interesting, there are several things mentioned in this book but it is ignored thereby becoming a loose end. Moreover, I do not know if I'm wrong, but I find this to be a logical flaw – Mary's income. She is not working, according to the minister of the Kirk, and she doesn't use the money sent by her brother to her bank account. But, she had all the modern gadgets(modern gadgets of 1985) and said that she had enough money. The end was also a bit abrupt, as if the author had a target of 250 pages and he had to complete the story quickly. I tried, but I failed to find a relevance to the title considering the story.  

So, I'd say that this is a book with nothing special in it and one can choose to read this book if they have nothing else to read. It scores a four on ten only because of its language and the crooked skill of the author to somehow manage to make his reader's fingers gripped to the book which means that the reader never found the book to be too boring.

Rating : 4 / 10.

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman - Book Review

(Note : This is an independent review and hence certain things which are aforementioned in the review of The Ruby in the Smoke is repeated.)

Publisher's write-up

“Jim Taylor, of Garland's Detective Agency, has tumbled into a whirl of high-society danger and deceit. Industrialist Axel Bellmann is about to be married into the aristocracy – he is the richest man in Europe, and his young bride looks as though she'd rather die... Meanwhile, Jim's associate Miss Sally Lockhart, is digging into things that a lot of people want to stay hidden. Together, their investigations are leading them to the heart of Bellmann's operation – and, eventually, to the terrifying secret of the Shadow in the North...”

  The Shadow in the North is a book written by the British author Philip Pullman, the author of the famous His Dark Materials Trilogy. It is the second book in the Sally Lockhart series and its prequel (The Ruby in the Smoke)'s review can be read here. This book has some amount of mystery, but it is more of a thriller unlike its prequel which was devoid of its thrill element. This would appeal to those who like mystery novels and those who like to read books that happen in the previous centuries.

The main characters in this book are Sally Lockhart, Frederick Garland, Jim Taylor, Alistair Mackinnon and Axel Bellmann. Sally Lockhart is a twenty two year old, is a financial consultant. She studied at Cambridge but didn't have a degree because at that time, women cannot obtain degrees from British universities. Her only companion in her office is a huge black dog named Chaka. She also has a stake in Frederick Garland's business. Unlike a woman of her time, she tried to earn her own living, use a pistol but over these six years, she has lost her assertiveness and she has started to depend on Frederick Garland, although she refuses to show it. Frederick Garland is a passionate photographer, who runs a business with his uncle, Webster. He is in love with Sally but she is not willing to accept his proposal yet. Jim Taylor had lost his job after The Ruby in the Smoke due to the liquidation of Lockhart and Selby.  He is currently a detective, working with Frederick Garland and also works in a theatre, helping the backstage activities. Alastair Mackinnon is a stage actor, a magician and also has some psychic powers. Axel Bellmann is the richest man in Europe, but he has achieved it only because of his cunning abilities. He is the main antagonist in this book.

The story happens in 1878, with Mrs Walsh, an old woman, a client of Sally, going to Sally's office. Sally had told her to invest in certain shares but those shares had crashed because of the sinking of a ship heading to the Baltic, Ingrid Linde. It was suspected by Sally that Axel Bellmann had a hand in this since he was the only beneficiary from this accident. Sally felt responsible for Mrs Walsh's loss and she took it up as her own responsibility to retrieve the money.

Alistair Mackinnon was going to be killed and he asked Jim to help him escape. Jim takes him to Garland and Lockhart's business place where he claims that he has psychic abilities and manages to convince Frederick and Webster Garland although Jim is not convinced. According to him, when he was in a theatre, through a matchbox, his psychic abilities made him see a man killing another man and there was snow all around. In the very next moment, he saw Axel Bellmann, the man whom Mackinnon had seen in his psychic vision. Bellmann knew that Mackinnon had found out something about him and had started chasing him.

Sally Lockhart is investigating all sorts of things about Bellmann and he threatens Sally Lockhart. Bellmann is going to marry Lady Mary, the daughter of Lord Wytham, a former minister of Her Majesty's Government. But she doesn't want to be married to Bellmann but Wytham is desperate because he has a lot of debts and Bellmann is willing to offer a lot of dowry.

During the course of the book and, Sally and her friends come across many ghastly incidents and revelations and if they have to win their battle against the spiteful Bellmann, they've to devise their own intelligent plot to pull him down.

Like its prequel, this book also scores well in the area – language and concept but the story, I feel there is a deterioration when it comes to story. There were digressions and also some loose ends. It didn't suffer any logical flaws. The book is getting these negative comments only because of its prequel but as a stand alone, this book is brilliant.

Overall, this is a very good book but because of its digressions and loose ends, this book doesn't score as high as its prequel and it gets an eight.

Rating – 8/10

Have a nice day,

Andy