An astonishing book: the seduction by an evil person, the desperate lives of the displaced and dispossessed. The title refers to a 2012 commemoration of the siege of Sarajevo: 11,514 red chairs were placed in rows, one for each person killed in the siege that lasted for almost 4 years. What is remarkable about this book is that it is an Irish woman, Fidelma, who is the central core to the story which takes place in Ireland and England. Thanks Mike, for this recommendation.
Category: Book themes
Her – Harriet Lane
A dark psychological drama about the relationship between two women, based on a one-sided memory. This is a sisterhood story with a riveting examination of the tyranny of motherhood. Really fascinating how the story unfolds.
The Sympathizer – Viet Trans Nguyen
This is a brilliant book, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, about the aftermath of the Viet Nam war from the point-of-view of Vietnamese people. The narrator is a Communist double agent who flees to America after the fall of Saigon, and then returns to Viet Nam to be subjugated to the extreme brutality of a Re-Education Camp. This book has a brilliant presentation of politics and ideology, moral ambiguity, and the existential crisis of leading a double life that is complex, compelling and frustrating. The legacy of war is presented in graphic detail.
The Daughters Of Mars – Thomas Keneally
This is a sweeping epic story of two Australian sisters who travel to Europe as nurses at the time if WWI.The settings: Egypt, Gallipoli and finally France. The chaos of war extends to medical care, and just as WWI is ending, Spanish influenza creates more death and suffering. There is a broad scope to this novel, particularly the role of women at this time. Keneally is the author of Schindler’s Arc, the Booker-prize winning novel that was transformed into the movie Schindler’s List.
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
The first sentence in this book is just three words: “Lydia is dead”. This beginning and much more in this fine book is reminiscent of The Lovely Bones. Lydia is the 16 year-old daughter of a mixed race American-Chinese family in the 1970s. Her unexplained death causes the family to disintegrate from the pain of uncertainty and grief. The back story unfolds effortlessly – issues of race and identity politics, and the secrets from not speaking their minds. This is a very powerful and compelling book; be prepared for some profound sadness at times.
Commonwealth – Ann Patchett
Patchett is a great writer and this latest book is a wonderful story of what appears to be entirely dysfunctional families. A blended family with step-children united in their dislike of their parents, and each other, is described wonderfully. Then over 5 decades, relationships change and evolve. A favourite sentence that encapsulates how relationships change: “She had loved Bert Cousins, and then grown used to him, then was disappointed in him and then later, after he left her, with five small children, she had hated him with the full force of her life”. Wow.
Swing Time – Zadie Smith
An un-named narrator tells a story that alternates between two times: childhood in NW London in the 1980s, and adulthood in the 2000s. All the important relationships in the narrator’s life are with women: her mother, her friend Tracey, and her employer Aimee, a Madonna-like rock star. A sub-plot in Africa is especially rewarding. Smith’s prose is insightful, she is an acute observer of the narrator’s world. This is sensational writing, the best of Smith’s books so far.
Party Wall – Catherine Leroux
This is a really excellent book, not surprising since this was a Giller finalist. The chapters are all about pairs, for example, two sisters. But some of the pairs are not what they seem: a husband and wife, a mother and son, and a brother and sister. There is a strong sense of place but not of time. And finally, lives begin to intersect. This is dazzling writing and exceptional translating (the translator won a Governor General’s Award), so a “must read”.
The Japanese Lover – Isabel Allende
A story of inter-woven lives, mostly in San Francisco: a young woman from Moldova, a Polish woman who escaped from Germany in 1939; a Japanese gardener interned during WWII. There is a powerful love story, what love can overcome and what love cannot overcome. As always, Allende’s writing is beautiful – an example from the end of the book: “In the darkest hour of the night, that mysterious hour when time thins and often the veil between this wold and that of the spirits is drawn back, the guest Alma was waiting for arrived at last”.
What David Read 