Book Reviews: 8 August
OUT NOW
A BAD CHARACTER by Deepti Kapoor (Jonathan Cape, £14.99; offer price, £13.49) The turn of the millennium in Delhi provides the perfect setting for this fractured, fragmented and beautiful first novel. Suddenly propelled into boom times, the city is full of contrasts: colourful, hallucinogenic, corrupt and wildly exciting.
The narrator, Idha, tells the story of her lover – the bad character of the title – and his early and violent death. A university student trapped in middle-class Indian life, with an absent father and a dead mother, Idha lives under the shadow of her controlling ‘aunty’, and is forced into an endless round of visits to other ‘aunties’, where they gossip and discuss the price of gold. But Idha escapes with her ugly, darkskinned, manic lover and experiences the highs and lows of Delhi.
The chopped-up narrative style would have been incredibly irritating in less skilled hands, but here it is used masterfully to describe a girl descending into madness and tragedy. A powerful account of a young woman’s sexual and emotional self-discovery.
Thomas Hughes
THE FIRST WORLD WAR ON THE HOME FRONT by Terry Charman (Andre Deutsch, £19.99; offer price, £17.99)This new work by the senior historian at the Imperial War Museum charts the immense social changes in Britain during the Great War. An expert on the Home Front, Charman gives a compelling insight into how everyday life was transformed for those who were thousands of miles away from the muddy trenches of the Western Front.
Charman has been a consultant for a number of period dramas and fi lms, including Foyle’s War and Schindler’s List, and this combined expertise in the worlds of academia and entertainment shows in his book: packed full of formidable knowledge, it is also thoroughly enjoyable.
Melonie Clarke
RESEARCH by Philip Kerr (Quercus, £18.99; offer price, £16.99)Don Irvine is a ghostwriter for the highly successful author John Houston, with a string of bestsellers to his name, but with little financial remuneration. When Houston’s wife is found murdered in her Monaco flat and her husband disappears, Irvine is his only supporter, and it is to him that Houston turns to clear his name. But all is not what it seems.
The premise is good, but somehow the action lags and the characters are unsympathetic. Not one of Kerr’s best.
Victoria Clark
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Cold War weapon THE ZHIVAGO AFFAIR by Peter Finn and Petra Couvée (Harvill Secker, £20; offer price, £16)
‘I have not read Doctor Zhivago but…’ So started numerous letters to Soviet newspapers written by ‘workers’ keen to denounce the then controversial book and its author, Boris Pasternak. Today, thanks to several film adaptations, many people have heard of the iconic novel – a symbol of one man’s struggle against state oppression – but few have read it, or know its troubled history.
This is the story of how Doctor Zhivago was published in the West and how the CIA arranged for its distribution back to the USSR, where it had been banned. Pasternak, a poet whose verses either delighted or infuriated his critics, wrote it as a semi-autobiographical account of life during the Russian revolution and civil war.
The novel’s conclusion – the protagonist’s disillusionment with the revolution and his rejection of a society where collective obedience triumphs over individualism – was abhorrent to the Soviet authorities.
Despite its title, the book is really about Pasternak: as in Doctor Zhivago itself, all the other characters we meet are merely mirrors to reflect and magnify the writer’s life and emotions. By quoting fragments of his poetry, the authors help to frame how Pasternak saw the world and his place in it: I know the stake at which/ I’ll die will be the boundary mark/ Between two diff erent epochs,/ And I rejoice at being so elect.
A fascinating tale that sheds new light on the literary front of the Cold War.
Stephen Coulson
COFFEE TABLE BOOK
HOME FOR NOW by Joanna Thornhill (CICO Books, £16.99; offer price, £15.29)
As the housing market fails to make contact with reality and interest rates remain unpredictable, more people than ever are choosing – or being forced – to rent: the average age of first-time buyers has risen to 34. The draconian terms of most rental contracts rule out even the slightest alterations to the property, but nobody deserves to live in an impersonal shell – so what is the style-conscious tenant to do?
Help is at hand: this invaluable book is full of affordable, practical ideas for putting your stamp on a temporary home – without losing your deposit. Divided by areas of the house and packed with inspiring images and useful tips, it is a much-needed call to arms against the tyranny of rented beige.
JC
PAPERBACKS
LAND OF EAGLES by Robin Hanbury- Tenison (IB Tauris, £10.99; offer price, £9.89)In 2007, explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison and his wife traversed the wild interior of Albania on horseback, gaining a rare insight into Europe’s greatest enigma – a country of breathtaking natural splendour and amazing hospitality, but also of ethnic tensions, blood feuds and organised crime. The extreme topography and modest infrastructure make for a difficult yet rewarding journey, but the book is only partly a travelogue – the author also sheds light on the country’s links with Britain (Albania once advertised the post of king in the London Evening News) and millennia of troubled history. Dotted throughout are tales of military derring-do and the voices of travellers past – the likes of Lord Byron and Edward Lear – who invariably fell for the country’s wild charm. This half-forgotten land of contrasts is fortunate to have found another eloquent visitor in Hanbury-Tenison.
Richard Tarrant
OUR CHEATING HEARTS by Kate Figes (Virago, £8.99; offer price, £8.54)
Journalist Kate Figes digs deep into the history, sexual politics and emotional fallout of infidelity. In contemporary Anglo- Saxon marriages, between 40 and 80 per cent of men have had at least one affair. Figes says that the increasing expectation of total fidelity makes marriages more likely to fail. But, in the end, she rather dodges the question of whether relationships should be based on monogamy’s exacting standards. Her work as a family mediator provides extensive anecdotal support, along with some fascinating interview subjects. That aside, stories of creative female revenge on errant husbands are always (sadly) very funny.
TH
ALSO ON THE SHELF
This deeply romantic saunter between Devon and the Massachusetts seaside is an ideal summer read. Spanning four decades, the novel tells the story of a mother and daughter in their quest for love and happiness. Laced with secrets and forbidden liaisons, it is sure to keep you turning the pages.
Lilly Cox
3 GREAT BOOKS: FEATURING MONSTERS
- BEOWULF Anonymous
- THE FAERIE QUEENE by Edmund Spenser
- 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA by Jules Verne
AUDIO BOOK OF THE WEEK
TIGERMAN by Nick Harkaway (Whole Story Audiobooks, £25.52; offer price, £22.50)Ex-soldier Lester Ferris is on the island of Mancreu, a melting pot of nationalities and a toxic environment scheduled for destruction. A meeting with a comic-bookobsessed boy is the basis for an intriguing superhero novel.
Martyn Colebrook
HATRED IN A HOT CLIMATE
From the Colombian coast to war-torn Somalia, two novels explore lives marked by conflict. By Juanita Coulson
tells the story of a couple’s naive quest for a better life. J and Elena, disillusioned intellectuals and half-hearted rebels from Medellín, move to a remote coastal estate with dreams of selfsufficiency that soon turn sour. Their various enterprises fail, their marriage implodes – and tensions with the locals escalate to a tragic conclusion.
This highly atmospheric narrative, reminiscent of Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, is punctuated with evocative descriptions of tropical weather, like a mood-setting soundtrack. Conjuring up a strong sense of place and otherness, enhanced by translator Frank Wynne retaining some Spanish words, this is a searing study of human relationships under pressure.
The Orchard Of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed (Simon & Schuster, £7.99; offer price, £7.59) examines Somalia’s descent into civil war and chaos through the eyes of three women: an elderly widow making a last stand against the oppressive regime, a nine-year-old orphan fending for herself, and an ambitious young Army corporal with a domineering father.
Exquisitely written, it weaves together unflinching descriptions of violent acts and moments of luminous beauty. Mohamed’s characters are flawed and fascinating, capable of great cruelty and kindness. She exposes the vulnerability of women in a maledominated society, but also celebrates their awe-inspiring strength, and their redemptive power to build where men destroy.
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