Book Reviews for 2015
All the Light We Cannot See
This novel by Anthony Doerr won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2015.
What is it with war and books and films?
I'm tired of so much of our culture resting on this theme.
But, with a book club we all read outside our comfort zones from time to time. And so it was with this. So, here's my review:
This is a grim tale about a German orphan boy called Werner who has a talent for building radios. He gets swept up into technical training school that turns boys into brutes to kill for the Reich.
Meanwhile in Paris France, a young girl Marie-Laure is losing her sight. Her father works at the Museum of Natural History where she also spends her days, wandering the halls and listening to the stories of the curators who 'adopt' her. Then as the Germans invade, she and her father leave the city to seek refuge with relatives in coastal Saint-Malo.
The characters are well-drawn in this unusual war novel. However the chapters are very short and jump around into different time periods which can be confusing.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Tamarind Book Club Convener
What is it with war and books and films?
I'm tired of so much of our culture resting on this theme.
But, with a book club we all read outside our comfort zones from time to time. And so it was with this. So, here's my review:
This is a grim tale about a German orphan boy called Werner who has a talent for building radios. He gets swept up into technical training school that turns boys into brutes to kill for the Reich.
Meanwhile in Paris France, a young girl Marie-Laure is losing her sight. Her father works at the Museum of Natural History where she also spends her days, wandering the halls and listening to the stories of the curators who 'adopt' her. Then as the Germans invade, she and her father leave the city to seek refuge with relatives in coastal Saint-Malo.
The characters are well-drawn in this unusual war novel. However the chapters are very short and jump around into different time periods which can be confusing.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Tamarind Book Club Convener
Close Your Eyes
The Short Review: A fast-paced witty drama.
The Long Review: Read on...
In this Michael Robotham thriller, psychologist Joe O'Louglin gets drawn into solving
a case that's going nowhere. As the central protagonist, Joe is a fallible and likable character. He's yearning for reconciliation with his wife Julianne, when a health crisis offers him an unlikely way back into the family.
These thrillers featuring Joe O'Loughlin are all the better for including his family, their conversations and their personalities. The dialogues between father and Charlie his older daughter are precious. Robotham must be a keen listener. An unexpected
ending opens up new writing territory for the next novel in the series.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Tamarind Book Club Convener
The Long Review: Read on...
In this Michael Robotham thriller, psychologist Joe O'Louglin gets drawn into solving
a case that's going nowhere. As the central protagonist, Joe is a fallible and likable character. He's yearning for reconciliation with his wife Julianne, when a health crisis offers him an unlikely way back into the family.
These thrillers featuring Joe O'Loughlin are all the better for including his family, their conversations and their personalities. The dialogues between father and Charlie his older daughter are precious. Robotham must be a keen listener. An unexpected
ending opens up new writing territory for the next novel in the series.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Tamarind Book Club Convener
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
This coming-of-age novel was first published in the USA in 1999. Charlie is moving from middle school into his senior years and he's full of angst and trepidation. He records this year of his life as a series of letters that he posts to an unknown person.
The novel is about being lonely, finding friends, stuffing up and finding out who you are. It's about dealing with demons. The letter format makes it a quick read.
This is a very worthwhile book. There are some unexpected twists in the tail.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Tamarind Book Club Convener
The novel is about being lonely, finding friends, stuffing up and finding out who you are. It's about dealing with demons. The letter format makes it a quick read.
This is a very worthwhile book. There are some unexpected twists in the tail.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Tamarind Book Club Convener
H is for Hawk
This may sound like a Sue Grafton thriller but it isn't. Thank the Lord for that.
It's a fine book by Helen Macdonald. It's classified as nature writing and biography, just so you know. It's her story of training a goshawk called Mabel in the fields and woods around Cambridge England after her father has died.
It's honest and raw. She shares her sadness and her journey with Mabel. Macdonald brings the landscape alive as she learns to see it through Mabel's eyes. A wonderful book for anyone who loves birds, and raptors in particular.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Book Club Convener
It's a fine book by Helen Macdonald. It's classified as nature writing and biography, just so you know. It's her story of training a goshawk called Mabel in the fields and woods around Cambridge England after her father has died.
It's honest and raw. She shares her sadness and her journey with Mabel. Macdonald brings the landscape alive as she learns to see it through Mabel's eyes. A wonderful book for anyone who loves birds, and raptors in particular.
Reviewed by Mary Barber
Book Club Convener
The Wife Drought
Is this the longest drought in Australia's history?
This was a good read for book club. Although some of us found it a little too heavy on the statistics, the figures were important to showing the picture of modern Australia.
Crabb found that marriage and having children lead to increased salaries for men while the same, marriage and children, lead to decreased salaries and less promotion for women.
Crabb writes in a witty catchy style. She's amusing and insightful and breaks up the sociology with anecdotes.
She challenges our assumptions about how domestic life is organised in our country. Crabb contends that without reshaping who does what jobs at home, there will be no change to women's lack of advancement in the paid working arena.
This book changed my mind about a few things. And that's always good.
This was a good read for book club. Although some of us found it a little too heavy on the statistics, the figures were important to showing the picture of modern Australia.
Crabb found that marriage and having children lead to increased salaries for men while the same, marriage and children, lead to decreased salaries and less promotion for women.
Crabb writes in a witty catchy style. She's amusing and insightful and breaks up the sociology with anecdotes.
She challenges our assumptions about how domestic life is organised in our country. Crabb contends that without reshaping who does what jobs at home, there will be no change to women's lack of advancement in the paid working arena.
This book changed my mind about a few things. And that's always good.
I Am Pilgrim
This book divided our book club, or at least it divided me from the other readers.
Terry Hayes is a scriptwriter and his novel is well-written. It moves quickly, like any thriller should. However ...
I put this book down halfway. It's a disturbing account of a man methodically planning a mass murder by creating a new, vaccine-resistant smallpox virus. He devotes years of his adult life to this evil task, as an act of revenge for his father's execution.
If you think you live in a safe world, don't read this. The book has heroes, of course, who are bent on stopping him. The book raises interesting questions about whether life imitates art or art just describes life. Sometimes, it's almost a recipe book for bio-terrorism. Hey, thanks for that. Just what we needed.
Terry Hayes is a scriptwriter and his novel is well-written. It moves quickly, like any thriller should. However ...
I put this book down halfway. It's a disturbing account of a man methodically planning a mass murder by creating a new, vaccine-resistant smallpox virus. He devotes years of his adult life to this evil task, as an act of revenge for his father's execution.
If you think you live in a safe world, don't read this. The book has heroes, of course, who are bent on stopping him. The book raises interesting questions about whether life imitates art or art just describes life. Sometimes, it's almost a recipe book for bio-terrorism. Hey, thanks for that. Just what we needed.
Leaving Time
This novel by Jodi Picoult has four central characters: Jenna, a forthright fourteen year old who's searching for her mother, her mother Alice an elephant researcher, Serenity, a burnt-out washed-up psychic and Virgil, a cop-turned-PI. It's well-developed and the plot moves along.
There's some repetition in the sections on elephants and memory, however there are mostly fascinating. The twists at the end did not satisfy me and turned a 4-star novel into a 3-star one.
There's some repetition in the sections on elephants and memory, however there are mostly fascinating. The twists at the end did not satisfy me and turned a 4-star novel into a 3-star one.
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Just Read It
This was a chilling read. Lionel Shriver is a gifted writer, if at times ponderous. She
paints a portrait of an American family. Eva is a successful career woman who has built
her own travel book company. Her husband, whose name is easy to forget, as he's not
a strong character, is a location spotter for photo shoots.
After many happy years of marriage, they consider the 'do we have children' question.
Then along comes Kevin. Mother and child do not bond. Resentment builds. Eva can
see meanness and cunning in her child that her rosy-eyed husband cannot see. He
wants the all-American father-son relationship, going to ball games, tossing a frisbee
in the backyard. And Kevin plays along, to an extent.
From the start of the book we know that Kevin has committed a mass murder at his school. It's a credit to Shriver that even though we know the ending, we are drawn into the story.
I found this novel disturbing. It raises so many questions about teenagers' disengagement and the lure of violence. It's a worthy book for reading and an excellent one for discussion.
Mary Barber
Book Club Convener
paints a portrait of an American family. Eva is a successful career woman who has built
her own travel book company. Her husband, whose name is easy to forget, as he's not
a strong character, is a location spotter for photo shoots.
After many happy years of marriage, they consider the 'do we have children' question.
Then along comes Kevin. Mother and child do not bond. Resentment builds. Eva can
see meanness and cunning in her child that her rosy-eyed husband cannot see. He
wants the all-American father-son relationship, going to ball games, tossing a frisbee
in the backyard. And Kevin plays along, to an extent.
From the start of the book we know that Kevin has committed a mass murder at his school. It's a credit to Shriver that even though we know the ending, we are drawn into the story.
I found this novel disturbing. It raises so many questions about teenagers' disengagement and the lure of violence. It's a worthy book for reading and an excellent one for discussion.
Mary Barber
Book Club Convener
Note: The books on this page were read in 2015 by the 1st Thursday Book Club.
To find out when the next book club is starting up, contact Mary Barber on 0404 266 665
or use this contact form.
To find out when the next book club is starting up, contact Mary Barber on 0404 266 665
or use this contact form.
