The Italian Novel

When I think of the Italian novel I admit that this kind of book was not my first thought (though it really should have).  Why not novels by Italians?  For the longest time it was The Mysteries of Uldolfo by Ann Radcliffe which I had very often thought of as the Italian novel (which is really silly when you think about it... she wasn't even Italian, and worse, I haven't even read it yet!).  I blame it on Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

The year before last I focused on Italo Calvino's novels, which where different, fascinating,  often weird and sometimes a challenge to read, but I never thought of him as Italian (very much).  This on the other hand is Italian!  The real deal.  These two books My Brilliant Friend and The Story of a New Name are only half of what is known as the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante.  I have decided to talk about them two at a time  (because talking about each one would eventually be tedious).  

I am listening to the audiobooks, narrated by Hilary Huber, who has become very familiar to me (after listening to over thirty hours so far), and I appreciate her narrative style.   Her pronunciation of names and her neutral voice overall, is pleasant to listen to.  

My ultimate aim is to read the last of this series The Story of a Lost Child which has been listed as a must read by 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die 2018 edition.  It is a long route to take to get to the eventual goal, but I don't mind.  The first two books were riveting.  They were also suspsenseful (a Kazuo Ishiguro type of suspense), I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when it does, it is always spectacular (good or bad).  

Essentially these novels are the story of two girls who began by growing up in the same neighbourhood.  Their relationship is a confusing one.  It wobbles from competitive, to jealous, to toxic to affectionate and back again.  It is also, in my opinion, perverse.  Perverse because neither of the girls can leave each other alone for very long.  So after reading two novels about them I have become less inclined to root for the narrator of the story, Lenu but at the same time I really dislike the other girl, Lina.   I have to often remind myself, after feeling disgusted at some nasty thing that has happened between the girls, is that they are girls.  And in the next novel, I have to remember, they are teenagers.  

I'm not surprised.  It is stated at the very beginning when initial description of the neighbourhood was being set, that women of the neighbourhood were the most vicious and spiteful.  

                                  
Novel number two doubles down on the nastiness and again, Lina is just despicable.  But I don't lose sight of the fact that she is also a victim of circumstance.  Both young women are brilliant and thirsty for knowledge, but it is only Lenu who gets the opportunity to commence with a greater education (this story is staged in the late fifty's).  Lina is left behind, and lashes out in frustration at Lenu (though Lenu sometimes likes to rub it in).  Both girls are equal in that they are both poor, and both have parents who are ignorant, but where things change is that Lenu's parents eventually agree to further education whilst, Lina's outright refuse.  This is where I feel the greatest connections to the characters, that passion for literature, for scholastic achievement, also, the frustration of having  parents who do not encourage or understand this intellectual need.
But we differ in that when I recognize a toxic relationship between me and someone else, I distance myself from the toxic one.
My over-all feeling about these first two novels is that they are saga-like, operatic, I could imagine them being performed.  Mostly I am reminded of a friend of my husband.  He wanted to show me what his dog did when she sniffed a cotton ball with nail polish remover on it.  The poor pup would go in for a big sniff, then commence to have a stupendously large sneezing fit, but then, she would go back for another sniff!

Bedbugs!

                         
Devoured in one day.  Why? Because it was just so enthralling!   The ultimate in  psychological thrillers.  Bedbugs.  The very idea is uncomfortable, but add to it black illustrations of bedbugs along the spine of the book at certain stages in their life cycle that make the book creepier still.  The story brought strongly to mind one of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers,  Vertigo.  I couldn't put it down until I knew how it would all work out, so I recommend putting aside a day for reading this.  I also recommend not reading it in bed!

A Memory of Murder

Just when you think you have him figured out, he throws you through another loop and shares some golden oldies that surprise and shock by how macabre the stories are.  He has caught me by surprise before, so I shouldn’t have been too shocked by it.  Perhaps it is because it has been  distilled in to one great collection that makes it so potent.  Perfection!

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

Everything Life places in your path is an opportunity.
No matter how difficult.
No matter how upsetting.
No matter how impenetrable.
No matter how you judge it.
An opportunity.

An impressive quote, right off the bat at the very beginning of this awesome story.  I have been for a very long time a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, and this book was very reminiscent of that kind of story.  I loved this book from start to finish.  Lots of action, lots of familiarity ( I know this period of history quite well so it was comfortable), lots of crazy steam punk gadgets, and hilarious genetic creations (insulting parrots anyone?).  Are you missing some Sherlock Holmes type of action?   Wish you could revisit Victorian England but with a twist?   If you want to really depart from the here and now, take a vacation from what you know,  this is a great world to go and visit, today.

The Toynbee Convector

It is really interesting to see what Ray Bradbury's focus was about later on in his very long life.  It all makes sense of course, an old love story, a long and enduring marriage, haunting memories from past wars, time-travellers, real or invented.  The theme for this book was time that has passed,  it is an homage to things long gone.   I  think the older Ray got the cheekier he became too (the story Junior being an excellent example of that! Only Ray would write a story about an eighty-two year old man's erection), and of course the man who discovered that his childhood fear of the bogeyman was not so unfounded after all, when he decided to go back and confront that fear.  Cheeky!

  

The Boy in the Suitcase

A cleverly written, suspenseful story.  I'm visiting a new Scandinavian country this time, Denmark.  I don't know a lot about this country, except what I learnt from a quilting penpal, and of course from reading Beowulf (though I'm pretty sure that isn't relevant).  I didn't learn very much about Denmark in this book.

We are introduced to all of the principal characters, given some background, and then pitched right in to the story.  I enjoyed the journey.  It was an intricate plot, with immediate and satisfactory results.  I love it when there are strong female protagonists.  I will keep an eye out for more from this author. 

The Small Assassin

Some favourite one-liners from The Small Assassin, the hooks that add oomph, that weave magic with words, those sentences that are so typically Ray Bradbury.

• Just when the idea occurred to her that she was being murdered she could not tell.

• She shuddered, a convulsive motion, like a fish trying to free itself from a deep-swallowed hook.

• There was a moment of green silence.

• He could tell their ages and their sizes by the sound of their numerous feet over the summer grass and on the lined pavement, and over the asphalt street, and picking through the cluttered bricks to where  his car hung half into the night sky, still spinning its wheels with a senseless centrifuge.

• If he tried to find another World beyond them, the trees wove themselves thick with the wind, to still his curiosity, to stop his eyes.

• It was a wonder when Grandma brandished silver shakers over the bird, supposedly sprinkling showers of mummy-dust and pulverised Indian bones, muttering mystical verses under her toothless breath.

• Beautifully, beautifully dead.

• There in the middle of the simple room sat the tombstone.

• It was the sensation of silence that the most notable aspect of the house.

• It was very convenient to die for Mr. Benedict.

• They took hold of Michael and pushed him out the window.

• The town is so quiet and far off, you can only hear the crickets sounding in the spaces beyond the hot indigo trees that hold back the stars.

• “He looks like a bottle of milk.”

Deadlocked

       After the last puzzling and depressing instalment, Deadlocked was a breath of fresh air.  We swung back again to what I know and love about the Sookie Stackhouse universe.  I laughed quite a bit, and it was such a relief to have good old Sookie back to her spunky, sarcastic old self.  I had really missed her, and was worried she wouldn’t spring back.  There was so much emotional turmoil involved in everything that happened ( I am amazed at how much was stuffed into one book) so at the very end of Deadlocked I was very close to tears.  Naturally, Sookie can never really go back to what she used to be, and I am really very impressed with how over the years Charlaine Harris has developed this wonderful, intricate character.  I have always enjoyed reading about the journey that a character struggles through until they reach their true self, and I really love how Sookie has grown.
While it seemed like some storylines were being tied off, there is still just a little bit more to be told, and I am aquiver in anticipation for the grand finale.  I still have absolutely no idea how it will end even after what Sookie did in the final chapter.  We all know by now what I hope for and I will find out in just a few short days...can't wait!

It's a Strain Alright...

It's just one of those lists that I have been trying to fill out... the books to movie one for science fiction.  Or is it the other way around?  I suspect that there is very little that is different between either.  That isn't criticism!  Just merely the statement that you could either read the book or watch the movie and you wouldn't be missing anything.  Crichton's got to be good considering how many of his books have made it onto film. 
It's just not my cup of tea.  In this instance, I think the movie is better than the book because you don't get too bogged down wth the technojargon (which always automatically switches off any interest I may have).  Either version of the movie is neat and nifty in a very insipid paranoia-inducing way, the seventies version for nostaligia's sake (they made so many pre and post apocalyptic shows in that era, it's hard not to be fond of them) and the tv movie that they made in the last decade with newer technology but the same effect (the creepy-heebeegeebee-paranoia effect). 
Secret germ warfare facilities out in the desert ready to blow at any time...yep, that's creepy.  And probably true...

Before I Go To Sleep

 

A truly scary concept.  Waking up every day and not remembering yesterday or your life for the past twenty to twenty-five years.  Not remembering growing up, going to school, getting married, the book, movie or music you listened to the day before... terrible!  Devastating!  What would you do with your life?  You wouldn't be able to read a book (one of the biggest horrors imaginable in my world), you could watch the same movie more than twenty times and never know!  And music would be a fleeting and shallow pleasure because you would not be able to put in the time to really appreciate it.  There would be no depth to your life at all.  And you would be alone, because who could you really trust?  
This book is all about trust and the consequences of trusting someone.  I followed the protagonist Christine everywhere she went with the intense interest and care, full to the brim and overflowing with anxiety and suspense about what could possibly happen next.  While the wrapping up was a little too brief and very "storybook ending-ish" I didn't expect it to conclude as it did.  And S. J. Watson has my admiration respect for the way he did it!  Well done!  A super first novel.