Laura > Recent Status Updates

Mackay - very good at re-creating that distance between adults and children - how children are missing a lot of information - moral, practical. Some disturbing scenes of abuse - not so much physical but emotional from the oldies Mr and Mrs Greenidge - she knows what her old horny husband is upto.

Part 2 - from page 185 - to this point - so boring. 4 separate stories done in pieces switching between the four main characters is just not working. And the whole "historical" details stuff is really annoying - I enjoyed Rolos - at the cinema - because I certainly remember them.
Page 313 - Eric is a really good doctor - such a pity he's such a mess of a human.

Eric the doctor is vile - and a reference to J.B. Priestley's play - An Inspector Calls - Eric's mistress refers to the policeman as not a policeman. I did teach the play about 25 years ago - but undoubtedly indicates where the plot is headed. Let's hope Eric meets a miserable end - something suitably deserving. Although I suspect Irene will suffer.

Fully developed male characters - Eric and Bill - really dud female characters - Irene and Rita. Did Miller intend the females to be so BORING, or can he not write interior or pyschologically genuine females?
Seriously - this was on the short list for the Booker. 1 of 6 books on the short list?

There are some tedious conversations via phone - used as plot devices - and they bounce around. Hebe the central character is lacking any empathy or core qualities in terms of engaging the reader or believable substance that allows us to see and know her and the other pivotal character lacks page presence also - so, multiple stylistic disappointments - despite the riveting theme.

"It amused her that Hannah, who longed for romantic love, should think of her as 'a poor old thing' whereas Hebe, who thought of love with detachment, as an indulgence for others, should long since have correctly assumed her to be a retired lady of pleasure."

Elizabeth Jane Howard - Summer Picnic -so funny, and so much life in an extremely short story - really great descriptions of kids and their behaviours - must read more EJH
Patricia Ferguson - Indefinite Nights - completely new to me author - she has 7 novels and a short story collection - one to be rescued. Gritty realism plus analysis of nurse/patient dynamics.

A.S. Byatt's story - very moving.
Muriel Spark - waspy - as always
Georgina Hammick - author completely new to me - absolutely loved it.
Jane Gardam - reminds me to read more by her - so accurate on grief.

About half way through - wondering if I should throw in the towel. We're back with the awful Hotelling people - not sure if I've spelt that correctly - as I only have the Audible version. So far I have loved the Mary Carter story and her wonderful horse - Whistler. Everything else is a blur of boredom. The Loathsome Jonathon - Daphne's husband - yeuchs. Why does she put up with him. Eddie clearly as the foil.

I'm at chp 22 out of 37 - so about 60%. I'm going to have to set this aside for the moment because some of the Interlude sections are extremely violent and I just cannot tolerate that at the moment. I understand that these Interludes with their multiple different voices and perspectives allow the reader/listener a very realistic insight into the type of background against which this story is set - thugs, gangs etc.

A really miserable story - from the perspective of a 9 year old who knows his mother is dying. He expects to be told of her death any day. The story is unique in how well Bowen conveys the child's anxiety - he's afraid he will break down when told and that's even worse than the death itself - but the story is misery - on a page.
The Visitor - by Elizabeth Bowen, 1980 from Collected Stories.

Margaret Drabble - Hassan's Tower. Set in Morocco - couple on honeymoon - husband doesn't like his new wife. It's an early work - 1966 - and not so good as the first three stories. A lot of interiority type narrative - husband's thoughts - he does have a revelation - but it's a typical judgemental, condescending attitude. I'm not sure he even deserves that insight !! Cynical me.

So good - Clare Boylan "Some Retired Ladies on a Tour" - a story about loneliness.
All three stories - I know the writers - their short stories just enthuse and inspire me to buy more of their work.
Taylor, Mackay and Boylan - such good writers!!

Slaves to the Mushroom - Shena McKay - another good one. Mckay causes us to question our acceptance of the narrator's point of view. We trust Sylvia's narration and her moral stance - and then she does something right at the end. We realise that the tedious work leaves no room for any kind of moral superiority.

The Devastating Boys - very good - very enjoyable. Taylor captures the husband/wife tensions and the reality of small boys - the characters of the children are v well done.

least favourite so far - Tina Reyes

Notes for me.
Musique Concrete - Marcela's story - made me think of Jean Rhys - that descent into madness as a result of extreme disillusion.
End of a Struggle - begins exactly as José Saramago's - The Double - even the same intent by the narrator to ascertain which of them is real! extraordinary. Saramago read Davila?
Oscar - I think of Leonora Carrington's short stories - or even perhaps Shirley Jackson.

I'm having to read this slowly - because basically - it's giving me the creeps.

Fragment of a Diary - this one reminded me of Kafka's - The Hunger Artist, only it's much worse.

Oh! Someone telling it how it truly is !!

The last section was like all Gilbert and Gubbar's examples of Mad Women in the Attic - reminded me totally of - The Yellow Wallpaper.

He's too preoccupied with the dramatics to actually convey the feelings of his characters.
We have caricatures not real people on these pages - typical problem in debut novels.
Quite a lot of over-written descriptions - as in an original image given a second layer - very odd.
Disjointed thoughts - odd phrases - non-logical progressions - again he thinks he's being literary - actually just annoying.