I first read The Moonstone about 20 years ago and I can recall it to have been a good read but I really couldn’t remember much more about it so I was really looking forward to reading it again.

Published in 1868 in serialized form in Charles Dickens’ All the Year Round, I can see how people would eagerly await the next instalment.  As one of the first (if not the first) detective novel, it is superb. Sergeant Cuff paves the way for so many detectives in future books, even the way he wrote the name of the culprit within an envelope to be displayed later – I’m sure Hercule Poirot has done that too!

An epistolary novel written in 6 parts, 6 narratives by 6 very different characters.  A servant, Gabriel Betteredge tells the first 200 or so pages, the story of the Moonstone and how it fell into the hands of a young aristocratic English girl (Rachel Verrinder) on her birthday, how it was lost and the tension that arose thereon along with loss of life and threatened loss of life. Betteredge is sexist,  dismissive, opinionated, flawed, sensitive, caring and despite his flaws which serve to show some of the attitudes of the time, is likeable. His reliance on his dogeared copy of Robinson Crusoe to tell the future added to the humour of the novel too.  The divide between the classes is very apparent and the waste and frivolous nature of the upper classes is exposed many times.

Miss Clack, an impoverished spinster who is related to Rachel, tells the next narrative and it is hilarious. Trying to instill religion into everyone she meets, I shouted with laughter as she tried to hide her religious tracts all over her cousin’s house so that they might be found and read.  Her reasoning for being nosy and her reactions to some of the occurrences were so indignant, self righteous, self serving and downright funny, that she could be visualised as she scurried around and reacted with indignation:

‘As for me, my sense of propriety was completely bewildered. I was so painfully uncertain whether it was my first duty to close my eyes, or to stop my ears, that I did neither. I attribute my being still able to hold the curtain in the right position for looking and listening, entirely to suppressed hysterics. In suppressed hysterics, it is admitted, even by the doctors, that one must hold something.‘

Collins left many red herrings for the reader to ponder and indeed, the answers were discovered by such incredulous means that they were barely credible but at that stage, I had so enjoyed the book I didn’t mind.  Although this is a relatively easy novel to read, it does make for slow reading and it took me almost 3 weeks!  I really enjoyed it though – as a detective novel, as a tragi-comedy, as a commentary on the snobbery and class distinctions of the day.

I really can’t do the book justice in a short review  but I hope you have got the idea that it has excellent characterisation, theme and plot and yes, it will make you laugh and wonder and keep turning those pages.

I hope I have all the other reviewer’s blogs right addresses. Jenny and Lily have new blogs and the others are ,Marie,  Val, , Catherine, Jenny, SusanC, Winifred, Ann, Paysan, Susan and Dee. The next book is Hare with Amber Eyes by Edward de Waal which is supposed to be a goodie too.

Our book for June – Mistaken by Neil Jordan

First of all, I must admit that I’ve only read half of the book but as a busy week is coming up, I decided to write my review today anyway.  I’m enjoying it but not finding it riveting which explains why I started it over 2 weeks ago and have only read 170 pages.

Mistaken tells the story of the doppelganger or perhaps a much more subdued version of Jekyll and Hyde. Kevin Thunder, a young boy living on the northside of Dublin, discovers at a young age that he has a doppelganger as he is accused of having shoplifted or other nuisance crimes on previous occasions. He later discovers that his doppelganger is Gerry Spain, a boy from a wealthy household on the southside who goes to Belvedere school.  The story starts after Gerry’s premature death so we only hear Kevin’s side of events as he recounts them to us, the readers, and to Gerry’s daughter who is only referred to as ‘you’ and ‘daughter’ which I found really irritating. She seems to exist as a shadow, not a full character, even though Kevin assumes a fatherly role in advising her re her unmarried pregnant state.

Although alike, the 2 boys are very different in personality. Kevin is more outgoing, braver, goes abroad to work during the summer, loses his mother at 17, has a wayward father.  Gerry is much quieter (despite the youthful crimes). shyer, not so good with girls and as he matures and starts his writing career, he uses the pseudonym Kevin Thunder for his newspaper stories. Why? Because when he feels he is in Kevin’s ‘skin’, the words flow, he sees Kevin as being much more articulate and experienced sexually. Girls go out with Kevin because they think he is Gerry and goes to Belvedere.

People get hurt though with the confusion – Darragh who was in love with Kevin and is told he is working in the UK, believes that he is writing about her, thinks she sees him around Dublin and wonders why he doesn’t acknowledge her and is attached by two men while waiting to see Kevin/Gerry at the sand dunes. Dominique, Gerry’s girlfriend, also becomes confused by their identities. They seem to embrace this by cutting their hair into the same style so they do look identical.

“I began to wonder ….. were we the same person, the light and shade of the same person? Was I a dream that he dreamt, a darker form of himself, from a subtly different background, was I the part of him he kept at bay, suppressed, that he needed but could never admit to? Or was he a dream that I dreamt, was he the dream of the life I wanted, had I conjured him out of the shard of my pathetic background, was his the life I should have had, but hadn’t the courage to grasp?” p 169-170

I can’t comment on the rest of the book but I suspect that something much darker and more sinister will happen with them taking advantage of their confused identities.  Gerry envies Kevin’s sexual prowess and I’d imagine this theme will continue.  What is apparent is that Gerry did not have a good relationship with his daughter, he clearly wanted to but somehow never achieved it.

Mistaken is a well written book which includes lots of references to places in Dublin that Dubliners will enjoy memories of, lots of references to previous works by other authors and it has a fascinating idea to explore.  I’m enjoying it but am not riveted by it. I’m looking forward to reading the reviews by other reviewers which you will find at :Lily,Marie,  Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, SusanC, Winifred, Ann, Paysan, Susan and Dee. Our book for next month is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

The Book Thief is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time so I was delighted when it got the vote for the book club ( I only seem to manage about one book a fortnight at the  moment!).

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Zusak, an Australian, managed to find a completely new way to write a novel dealing with the Holocaust. Death is the narrator and while I found it a tad irritating in the initial chapters, it was not only an interesting perspective to view the happenings from but it was also strangely comforting as the novel went on and it also added to the descriptive quality of the book.  Rather than stating the numbers that died in the concentration camps, on the Russian battlefields, in the bombings, on the strees – the description of how Death carried them away in his arms was strangely compassionate as well as being an unusual way to describe all the war deaths.

‘Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over my shoulder. It was only the children I carried in my arms.’

The book tells the story of Lisesel Meminger, a ten year old whose brother dies beside her on the train, her mum has to return to almost certain death and she is left with foster parents, Rosa who seems harsh and is quick to apply the wooden spoon, and Hans who is kind, supportive, teaches her to read, comforts her when she has nightmares, looks after her when she bedwets and really puts her first.  It is clear that Hans is not a supporter of the war efforts of Nazi Germany and argues with his son who goes off to fight for Germany.  Hans’ life was saved by a Jew during the first world war and it is this man’s son Max who comes to Hans for help during WWII. Hans, Rosa and Liesel risk their lives by hiding Max in their basement, feeding him from their rations, nursing him when he is ill and welcoming him into their family as one of their one. Indeed, he only leaves when the threat of the house being searched is too strong, after Hans is whipped for offering bread to a Jew during a march.

Many themes from the war are dealt with during the course of the novel. Survivor Guilt being one of them as Michael (a neighbour of the Hubermann’s) witnesses his brother’s painful death over 3 days in Russia, he returns home to his mother and although his want to live is immense, the guilt is too much and he hangs himself.

Another is the debate as to whether ordinary German citizens knew about what was happening in the concentration camps and it is evident throughout the novel that the citizens were very aware.  That many of them were not anti-Semitic is revealed in Hans and Rudy (on separate occasions) offering bread to Jewish prisoners as they were marched along (even though they were really hungry). Hunger is a recurring topic throughout the novel and Liesel is referred to as being ‘thin’ many times.

The description of wounds were strangely beautiful yet disturbing ‘the cherries of blood had grown into plums’ . There are many beautiful descriptions throughout the book.

Liesel is also described as the ‘book thief’ as she is gifted books and steals books throughout the novel. Teaching her to read is partly what helps to create the close bond between herself and Hans, the writing of stories strengthens her relationship with Max and ultimately it is the writing of a story that saves her life and the reading of books that gives her another home after hers is bombed.

Death forewarns us many times throughout the novel that many of the characters will die and I found myself wondering how they would die and imagining the worst.  He also urges characters to do things such as urging Liesel to tell Rosa she loves her as she will die soon. Death is certainly an interesting way for the novel to be narrated but it worked really well.

There is a relatively ‘happy’ ending to the end of the novel if that is possible for a novel about the Holocaust.  I would really recommend this book – I really enjoyed it and it stayed with me.

If you’d like to check out other reviews, do check out these links to the other book club members   Lily, Marian,Marie,  Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, SusanC, Winifred, Ann, Paysan, Susan and Dee. (and if I have inadvertedly left anyone out, please do let me know – cheers)

 I have enjoyed every Grisham novel I’ve read in the past so I was really looking forward to reading The Confession and it didn’t disappoint in the least.  Again justice and injustice is a theme, along with the corruption of power and politicians.

A young cheerleader is abducted, raped and murdered and her body is never found.  From the start of the novel, we know that an innocent young black man, Dante Drumm, has been convicted for her murder and is waiting execution on Death Row with 4 days to go. The murderer, Travis Boyette, has been released from prison (was in prison for other sex offences) and with an inoperable tumour on his brain, knows he has only months to live. Feeling some remorse that an innocent man will be executed for the crime that he committed, he contacts a local  minister and admits all to him. The minister then has the quandary of what to do, the difficulty of getting anyone to believe him, the problem of finding Boyette again, and whether to drive to Texas with Boyette in an attempt to save an innocent life.

The pace of the novel is good, as we, with Keith the minister and Robbie, Drumm’s lawyer, try many last ditch attempts to save the life of Dante Drumm, a 27 year old who was incarcerated at the age of 18 into solitary confinement on Death Row, on the basis on a confession under extreme duress.  We are told about all the flaws in the trial, in the police force, how an affair between the judge and the main officer let things pass which never would normally.  We are told about lies by the ex-boyfriend that he refuses to admit, how the deceased’s mother wants her daughter’s killer executed, how she is used by the media to create more drama and media hype. We are also told about what Dante experiences in prison, the 23 hours in a small cell, the poor food, the lack of stimulation, the lack of exercise. How, at one point, he sets himself a routine of exercise, writing, reading, writing to pen pals, more physical exercise and mental exercises but he can’t keep it up and slowly degenerates, both mentally and physically.  Even in his last hours, his family are separated from him by the usual glass partition.  His only physical contact with another human being in nine years is a hug from his lawyer in the last hours of his life.  One question Grisham forces us to ask ourselves is this really how a civilised nation should be treating its prisoners?  Would an animal be treated as harshly and with such contempt?

The corrupt nature of the judicial system, the governors, the mayors is also revealed. Basically money and power and ‘whiteness’ are what talk.  A young black man is seen as trouble so the race card is very evident throughout the novel as well.   It all takes place in Texas and the speed of the execution, the disregard for a possible delay while new evidence is examined, the popularity of execution amongst the Texans and how innocent men have been executed in the past and it will happen again in the future, unless things change.  Cost is examined – that to sentence a man/woman to live imprisonment is actually much cheaper than putting him/her on death row – given the cost of appeals and as in this case, the cost of compensation to the family of Dante Drumm. The close of the novel discusses how there was a fight for change, that a committee was set up to re-examine cases with new DNA evidence, that the number of meetings dragged on and on. The novel closes with the description of an execution of a man who had been on death row for 27 years, a petty drug dealer who had killed another drug dealer on a bad night. Hence, nothing will change.

Although I enjoyed the book, I had to keep reminding myself that it was fiction, yet at the back of my mind, I am very aware that wrongful convictions do happen, that members of the police are corrupt or are pressured into seeking confessions from innocent people, the the judicial system can be corrupt and that there are innocent people executed.  The novel also asks the question – is execution the right thing to do?  As a mother, I can only imagine the horror that one must go through if a child is taken and would I want to see the perpetrator brought to justice, well, I’d probably want him hanged, drawn and quartered to be honest, but the novel examines that too by describing the victim’s family’s reaction to witnessing the execution, that their desperation to see their daughter’s killer killed meant that they were also blind to the truth, Dante Drumm did not harm their daughter.

And of course, to add salt to the wound, less than 24 hours after the execution, with the help of Boyette, they find the girl’s body, exactly how and where he had described.

Another great novel by John Grisham. 

Lily has asked me to be the main point of contact for our bloggers book club for a while.  Just a reminder that our next book is the Book Thief by Marcus Zusak followed by Mistaken by Neil Jordan.

If you’d like to check out other reviews, do check out these links to the other book club members   Lily, Marian, Marie,  Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, SusanC, Winifred, Ann, Paysan, Susan and Dee. (and if I have inadvertedly left anyone out, please do let me know – cheers)

First of all I have to admit I have read less than half the book, I seemed to be jinxed in finding it, trying about 5 bookshops and even Amazon didn’t have it in stock.  Dee loaned me her copy, saying she was so busy she just wouldn’t have time to read it – cheers Dee .

I deliberately hadn’t read any reviews of this book but having seen it in many best seller lists, I was looking forward to getting hold of Skippy Dies and enjoying it. I was a bit bemused with the first chapter – that we find out the Skippy dies from what sounds like an epileptic fit.  With the second chapter, I was starting to understand why it started with Skippy’s death – that for all of us readers that were becoming really annoyed with the character, at least it was a relief to know he met his death! Cruel eh, yes, but perhaps suggests the extent to which the book was bugging me!

There is some wonderful language in the book, however, being set in boys boarding school in Dublin, it is just full of teenage boys thinking constantly about sex and drugs. There also seems to be an incredible number of children on Ritalin!!

I loved the description of a half term break ‘people had chugged a lot of beers and gotten really, really drunk. They have accidentally or deliberately set fire to things. They have visited Disney world, they have been bitten by dogs, they have watched 18-cert movies. There have been tonsillectomies, orthodontal work, sexual awakenings, haircuts.’ A really full summation of what half terms can be like for teenagers.

Will I attempt to finish the book? That might depend on whether I can find a review that tells me what happened and saves me the bother!!  I am intrigued to know what happens to ‘Howard the Coward’ with his crush on the beautiful Aurelie.  Reading about these teachers who were struggling with discipline in the classroom, who had accidentally fallen into teaching, reminds me of some of my ‘very short’ secondary school teaching days (although much more exaggerated – I assure you). It brought back my teaching practice days of 8 long weeks in an inner city school in Wolverhampton – which was a pure baptism of fire!

I am longing to see what the other bloggers thought but heading out for a Mother’s day lunch now. Hope all mums out there are being spoiled . Sorry this review is so short but I just didn’t get into the book.

If you would like to read more reviews, do head over to Lily’s blog for the total list of all the reviewers.