Christopher Bardsley's Blog

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Carver has been one of my favourites for many years. Widely credited for resurrecting the short story form with Short Cuts and Will you please be quiet, please? , there is something remarkable about the tightly clenched portraits of everyday desperation that form his work. I think Carver is the master of the cut-down masculine narrative- better than Hemingway, if I may dare. The subject matter is everyday, the language is basic, and there is an working-class backdrop to all of his stories. Despite this prosaic subject matter, the resulting stories have a strangely eternal quality to them. At their best, they have an eerie way of transfiguring the mundane into the mythic. Read it, or any other of his collections. They're all spectacular.



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Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Crime and Punishment has a bit of a reputation as literary taffee, something that requires a fair degree of chewing before it can be digested. I was surprised to find this book to be very readable, compelling and even demonstrating sharp humour at times. As your typical Russian novel, it has a tendency to be a little depressing. Dostoyevsky also has a habit of using seventeen words where three would probably be enough. That said, it lives up to its premise- a narrative that explores the question of whether murder can ever be morally permissible. Dostoyevsky does a great job of balancing the philosophical elements of the text with a cracking narrative framed around a series of highly dramatic scenes populated by sympathetic characters.

DID YOU KNOW? Dostoyevsky was a terrible gambler. Despite being a qualified engineer and widely successful author, there was a period where he was forced to beg on the streets of St Petersburg.

9/10 for lots of ten-syllable Russian names.



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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One thing I can say for this book is that I gulped through it in three days. In my opinion, that's always a good sign. As a debut, this is remarkably confident. The premise is simple- fisheries scientest is hired to install salmon in the wadis of Yemen by visionary Sheikh. Adventures ensue. On the surface it sounds like a relatively straightforward premise, but this novel manages to be remarkably original in both subject and form. It's got likeable characters, the narrative trots along at an engaging pace, and it's got a nice beginning-middle-end structure to it. It also has a very clever ending- I'm talking about the last few pages. One impression I got from this book is that it was edited very well.

DID YOU KNOW?: Paul Torday was diagnosed with cancer the year that this novel came out. He published another book every year up until 2013, when he passed away. This is why I don't smoke- more time to write.
7.5/10 for being clever, original and highly readable.



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