Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan | Book Review

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Published by Faber & Faber, 2021
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Set in the run up to Christmas in 1980s Ireland, this understated yet powerful little novel looks at the ideas of compassion and secrets; those we cannot see and those we choose not to.

We follow Bill Furlong, a coal merchant working hard to provide throughout the harsh winter for his wife and five daughters. After inadvertently uncovering a distressing truth about the goings on within the local Magdalene Laundry, he must wrestle with the reality of complacency and wilful ignorance within the Catholic Church. His discovery also prompts a re-evaluation of events from his own childhood, emphasising the idea of cycles repeating themselves throughout time, unless someone is brave enough to defy the status quo.

Keegan’s prose is deceptively simple. With few words, she paints vivid pictures of a very specific time and place within Irish history. The dialogue also feels authentic and considered, with just as much importance lying in what remains unsaid. Indeed, she chooses to forgo any hint of sensationalism, the true horrors inferred without the need for gratuity.

Sad yet full of hope, Small Things Like These perfectly captures the feelings of charm, nostalgia, melancholy, and longing that so often go hand-in-hand during the festive period. It’s a tender ode to the resilience of the working classes, and the quiet yet vital heroism of those who choose not to turn a blind eye.

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Olga Ravn & Kiran Millwood Hargrave | Mini Reviews

The Employees by Olga Ravn
Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken
Published by Lolli Editions, 2020
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This is presented as a series of mission logs from the vast crew aboard a ship millions of kilometres from Earth. A blend of humans and humanoid beings, this ruminative little novel is a series of semi-abstract vignettes concerned with classic sci-fi questions: What does it mean to be human? Where is the line between living and merely being alive? Is there a danger of pushing science and technology too far?

As alluring as these themes continue to be – hence why so many authors continue to visit them – I don’t feel like this presents us with anything particularly new or impactful. If a book is – albeit deliberately – void of traditional plot and character development, I would hope for stunning prose and insightful social commentary. While Ravn’s offering is solid enough on these fronts to be worth checking out, again it doesn’t feel like she’s breaking any new ground.

In all, I appreciate the unique structure, strong translation, and ever-appealing themes, but was ultimately left feeling cold.

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Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Published by Orion, 2021
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

With her father hired to work on digitising a lighthouse, and her marine biologist mother seeing this as the perfect opportunity to continue her research into the rare Greenland shark, Julia moves to a remote island for the summer. Across the months that follow, she will encounter friendship, othering, and the reality of her mother’s deteriorating mental state.

By focussing much more closely on its characters, and placing an important emphasis on big themes such as mental health and conservation, this is the kind of middle grade release that really transcends any potential limitations of its target age range. As such, I can see it speaking to adult readers just as much as their younger counterparts. The prose is engrossing without feeling overwrought, reaffirming that Kiran Millwood Hargrave is as an author I’m excited to follow.

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Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion | Book Review

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Published by Simon & Schuster, 1970
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This relative fever dream of a novel opens with our protagonist, former actress and model Maria, institutionalised following a breakdown. We are then taken through a series of visceral snapshots from throughout her life, exploring the misogynistic and toxic nature of life in Hollywood, and the impact of her own self-destructive behaviour. Much of this is driven by mental illness, life’s many knocks, the betrayals of men, and the yearning she feels to be with her hospitalised daughter, who is suffering from an unspecified illness of the brain.

The book is kaleidoscopic and alienating, but in a way that serves its central themes and characterisation. Scant on plot in the traditional sense and jumping erratically back and forth through time, Maria’s story is presented in a way that feels suitably fragmented, chaotic, and lacking in direction. Many have also argued that her story is relentlessly bleak. While this is mostly true, I do think there’s a faint yet important glimmer of hope to be found in her eventual acceptance of help, rejection of old acquaintances, and determination to reunite with her daughter. Sometimes to simply carry on living in the face of misery is in itself a victory, and Didion explores this idea to poignant effect.

I also have huge admiration for how bold and unashamed the book is in its tackling of subjects which continue to be taboo now, let alone when Didion was writing about them.

The prose itself is sharp and deceptively powerful; Didion’s eye for human observation providing keen insight into her anti-heroine’s psyche. I do, however, think it’s worth flagging up the unchallenged use of some outdated terms that would now be considered slurs. A product of the book’s time, their use never feels malicious, but it’s inevitable that many modern readers will find them jarring. Still, this was never enough to detract from the impact of this perceptive, brutally honest portrayal of a woman in crisis. It’s an attack on the vapid systems that exist to build women up, only to tear them back down; a notion that sadly still resonates more than 50 years after the book’s initial release.

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Mary Beard & Sara Gran | Mini Reviews

Women & Power by Mary Beard
Published by Profile Books, 2017
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Succinct, eloquent, and approachable, this does a very good job of laying out the extent to which Western society is structured and coded to keep men in power, and to underplay the merits of women and feminine energy.

As a classicist, Beard is well placed to discuss the failings of the classics in their portrayal of women, and why it’s important to recognise that a lot of modern-day misogyny and gendered stereotypes have their roots in ancient history and problematic cultural portrayals of women.

As Beard points out herself in the afterword, the content itself is already somewhat outdated, the rise of the #MeToo movement throughout the last few years drastically increasing public awareness as to the extent of ingrained sexism. It also doesn’t present much in the way of solutions, but its brevity makes it a handy, accessible jumping off point for further thought and reading.

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Come Closer by Sara Gran
Published by Faber & Faber, 2021 (first published in 2003)
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

A woman with a seemingly perfect life starts to act out in increasingly strange and violent ways, eventually coming to fear she has been possessed by a demon. With the story told in first-person, Amanda is a classic example of an unreliable narrator. Though her narrative style is fast-paced and matter-of-fact, her blackouts, erratic behaviour, and frequent loss of control mean we can never be certain what to believe.

The plot itself follows a very predictable trajectory, though there are some genuinely unsettling moments peppered throughout, and perhaps certain aspects would have felt fresher back when the book was first published.

Come Closer can be read as a genuine supernatural tale just as easily as it can be interpreted as a documentation of a woman’s descent into madness in the face of a life she doesn’t want. That said, while this may not bring anything new to the table, if you like your horror ambiguous and psychological, this is well worth checking out.

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Endless Night by Agatha Christie | Book Review

Endless Night by Agatha Christie
Published by Harper, 1967
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Though this doesn’t seem to be one of Christie’s best-known or most talked about books, it quickly became one of my favourites. Hugely compelling, it has many of the hallmarks you’d expect from a classic Christie novel, including a central element of mystery, well-drawn characters, fantastic dialogue, and an intricate tapestry of clues that leads to a startling truth. Where this stands out among the rest of Christie’s work, however, is how heavily she leans into the conventions of gothic literature – complete with a grand, imposing house, and whispers of the supernatural.

We follow Mike and Ellie, a young couple from opposite ends of the social spectrum who set out to build their dream home in the country. Unfortunately for them, not all the locals are welcoming; the plot of land they’ve chosen rumoured to be subject to a historic curse. It soon becomes clear that someone or something wants them to leave.

As readable as ever, Christie builds a sense of brooding tension incredibly well, the subtly sinister undertones bringing to mind the work of Daphne du Maurier. There’s also some fantastic social commentary concerning class divides – both the freedoms and the trappings that come with money.

I won’t say much else as I don’t want to risk spoiling the experience of this little gem. Perfectly paced, the story plays out in some truly surprising ways, with Christie keeping me on my toes as much as ever. As I continue to gradually make my way through her back catalogue, I’d be thrilled to uncover some more that blend crime with elements of psychological horror as seamlessly as this.

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Sarah Hall & Theodora Goss | Mini Reviews

Mrs Fox by Sarah Hall
Published by Faber & Faber, 2019
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Beautifully written, strange enough to captivate, and brief enough to avoid overstretching our suspension of disbelief. This little allegorical tale of transformation could be interpreted in several ways, but to me it spoke poignantly of the difference between love and possession, embracing our true nature, and learning to let go.

As a taster of Hall’s work, it was great, and I’d definitely like to check out more from her in the future.

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Come See the Living Dryad by Theodora Goss
Published by Tor Books, 2017
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

There’s a great concept here, and I love the sentiment being explored – that those vilified in the past due to ignorance deserve retribution. But sadly, I found it a bit surface level. Granted, given the story’s short length, the author didn’t have a huge amount of scope to work with, but the central mystery plays out exactly as you’d expect, and the final section becomes a bit heavy-handed and literal.

Perhaps with a little more breathing space, things could have rolled out more organically, and these characters’ stories could have made a greater emotional impact.

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Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie | Book Review

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Published by HarperCollins, 1937
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

It’s always such a pleasure to come back to Christie, and every time I read one of her novels, I wonder why I don’t do so more often. I won’t really go into plot specifics for this one. As one of her most celebrated classics, you’ll either know all about it already, or you can enjoy unpicking its mysteries for yourself.

Suffice to say, Death on the Nile features all the very best qualities associated with Christie’s work: A cast of well-established characters; lots of twists and red herrings to keep you guessing; contrasting moments of thrilling excitement and wry humour; incredibly readable prose; deceptively shrewd examples of human observation; an intricate tapestry of clues that weave together to form a smart, satisfying conclusion.

The only negative I could mention relates to the length and pacing. There’s no denying this could have been shorter, with the novel’s first half given over to setting up context and motives for each of the many characters. In the hands of virtually any other writer, this would have become tiresome, but there’s an effortless charm to Christie’s writing, characterisation, and evocation of time and place, that allows her to get away with it. Once the first murder takes place, the pace ramps up considerably, and I’m pleased to say she kept me guessing until the very end.

It hasn’t dethroned my favourite Christie, which remains And Then There Were None, but this certainly ranks highly among the 16 I’ve read thus far. As I always say when I finish one of her books, I can’t wait to read more!

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As a side note, I buddy read this with my friends Jess and Rachel, which was lots of fun!

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Kwon Yeo-Sun & Kae Tempest | Mini Reviews

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun
Translated from the Korean by Janet Hong
Published by Apollo, 2021
Rating: ⭐ ⭐

At this book’s core is the murder of a teenage girl, as we look at how this event affects the lives of her sister and the two prime suspects across the years. Though set up like a thriller, however, this is in fact a quiet look at grief, and a dissection of the social landscape in modern-day Korea.

There are interesting ideas at play here, but the execution lacks emotional intensity, the central mystery somehow feeling both predictable and superfluous.

A swift read, it’s the kind of book I failed to find many specific faults with, but which ultimately left me feeling cold, contemplating what could have been given the strength of the initial concept.

Thank you to the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Brand New Ancients by Kae Tempest
Published by Picador, 2013
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

In this contemporary epic poem about the triumphs and tragedies of two families whose lives intersect, Tempest draws on mythology to explore the ideas of storytelling, inheritance, and the ripple effects felt across generations. It also serves to bolster the piece’s primary theme: That even the most ordinary lives are in fact extraordinary.

Exploring violence, resilience, love, and heartache against the backdrop of working-class Britain, the story packs a weighty emotional punch, with Tempest’s signature eye for human observation, excellent use of rhythm, and clever word play all very much present.

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Love and Fury by Samantha Silva | Book Review

Love and Fury by Samantha Silva
Published by Allison & Busby, 2021
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This stunning novel serves as a love letter to the genius of pioneering feminist and writer, Mary Wollstonecraft, while also painting a picture of the very real, sensitive woman behind the legend.

Sticking true to historical events and paying suitable homage to the strength and lyricism of Wollstonecraft’s own work, Silva’s stunning prose evokes the time period to great effect, with much of the action taking place against the brutal backdrop of the French Revolution. Wollstonecraft’s life is a fascinating one full of bittersweet contradictions; an abundance of passion, joy, defiance, success, ridicule, and heartbreak packed into her much-too-short life.

Silva does an excellent job of celebrating her subject’s sharp intellect and early push for equality, exploring issues of gender, class, and sexuality with nuance and grace, as Wollstonecraft strives to resist a system structured to keep women down. That said, the book never feels like an academic text or a dot-to-dot biography. Wollstonecraft was a leader in many respects but she was also a human being, susceptible to the same flaws and tragedies as the rest of us. I think Silva handled the balance of reverence and honesty in portraying her heroine with aplomb.

Structured as a dual narrative, the story jumps between Wollstonecraft’s own retelling of her life, and her midwife Mrs B’s perspective of the days immediately following the birth of Wollstonecraft’s second child. This baby, of course, is none other than Mary Shelley, who would go on to secure her own legacy as a boundary breaking writer, but whose life would be marked by equal sorrow and strife. With most readers likely aware that their lives overlapped by just 10 days or so, the structure adds a further dose of poignancy, as the timelines edge closer together and inevitable tragedy looms.

Still, Wollstonecraft’s story is not without hope. We see moments of genuine happiness won through her determination to live freely. With the birth of her daughter, destined to become a legend in her own right, and the powerful impression she makes on Mrs B in her final days, Wollstonecraft’s place in history is secured; her role in women’s emancipation undeniable.

Whether familiar with Wollstonecraft yet or not, this is a gorgeous, evocative read; a character study that is equal turns inspiring, captivating, and moving.

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Amy Levy & Ananda Lima | Mini Reviews

Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy
Published by Persephone, 2007
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

First published in 1888, this forgotten classic was revived by the wonderful Persephone Books. I really admire the ideas Levy was exploring, with the novel essentially serving as an indictment of the strict hold societal rules held over people’s lives, with particular regard to class, wealth, reputation, and religion.

While I can appreciate that it would be somewhat revolutionary in its day for a woman to write an outwardly critical view of life as a Jew in Victorian London, by today’s standards it all feels a bit pedestrian and lacking in drive, with little in the way of outright conflict or development beyond what the blurb sets out.

Still, Levy’s prose remains very readable, capturing the look and feel of the era in which she lived, and though the delivery underwhelmed, her themes of expectation, hypocrisy, and suppression remain relevant.

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Mother/land by Ananda Lima
Published by Black Lawrence Press, 2021
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

An interesting dissection of language and identity within the context of life as an immigrant mother. The success of poetry depends almost entirely on whether you click with the poet’s style, and that’s a wholly subjective thing. So while I have no specific complaints about this collection, per se, it hasn’t become a new favourite either.

That said, there are a few gems to be found, and those who see their own experiences reflected in Lima’s will likely find it a considerably more powerful read.

Thank you to the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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