Black Swan Green – David Mitchell

It is 1982 and Jason Taylor is 13, an ordinary kid living in the quiet backwater that is Black Swan Green tucked away in the Malvern Hills. His family – executive father, home-maker mother, older sister who calls him ‘thing’ – is middle class normality, better off than most but not excessively.

He also knows his place in the schoolboy pecking order – outside the top dogs who set the trends and call the shots, but above the perennial no-mark losers who bear the brunt of their juvenile posturing. There are two flies in the ointment: he’s a secret poet (“how gay”) and has a stammer that is getting increasingly hard to disguise and that he worries will sooner or later become a stick for the bullies to beat him with.

Jason takes us through this formative year as his stock within the adolescent pack fluctuates according to events and the whims of others. The account is articulate, painfully accurate but without self-pity – he accepts the way of his world; but when the going gets really tough, at home as well as at school, will that be enough to survive?

The quality of writing and characterisation drew me in easily and just as I was thinking this is a pleasant nostalgic read (It’s a Knockout on TV; space invaders in the pub; Chariots of Fire at the cinema and the Falklands war in the news), but going nowhere special, something kicked in and gripped me through to the end.

David Mitchell was born in Worcestershire and was 13 in 1982 so he writes from personal knowledge of the time and place that oozes authenticity. He absolutely nails the world of the 13-year-old boy, at least in 1982 (and 1966 for me); particularly how small incidents magnify in the lens of adolescence into ludicrous highs and desperate lows.

Having also enjoyed ‘The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet’ (see August 2012 review) I am in danger of becoming a bit of a Mitchell fan and may try one of his more esoteric creations such as ‘Cloud Atlas’.

King Solomon’s Mines – H Rider Haggard

Part of the ‘Into and out of Africa’ reading journey

Grizzled veteran big game hunter and adventurer Allan Quatermain (familiar these days for his resurrection in the 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) is on a boat to Natal when he is approached by two other Englishmen – the aristocratic Sir Henry Curtis and ex-Royal Navy Captain John Good – who are on a mission to find Curtis’s estranged younger brother.

It’s a small world in colonial Africa and Quatermain has heard tell of a young hothead who set off to find the legendary King Solomon’s Mines, fount of untold riches in gold and diamonds. A fool’s errand in Quatermain’s view but as it happens he does have a map he was given years ago by a dying ‘Potugee’ that purports to show the way. And while he wouldn’t undertake such a wild goose chase for the fabled riches, he is prepared to lead an expedition with the noble cause of helping a couple of good chaps recue a fellow Brit. Of course if there are any diamonds available he will take a share.

What follows is a ripping yarn that helped to make the template for many more, with hardships endured, pitched battles fought, and narrow squeaks negotiated; all faced with stiff upper lip and manly camaraderie.

The story is presented as a memoir of Quatermain, so he obviously makes it, but the fate of his comrades and success of the mission are the driving force of the narrative. The wonder of the African interior probably has less impact on the modern reader – we’ve seen it all on TV courtesy of David Attenborough – but at the time of publication would have contributed to the book’s popularity.

Published in 1885 as the European scramble for Africa was gathering pace, Haggard sets this tale in the Southern Africa that he knew from personal experience. As such the book is of its time and its attitude to the native African is instructive. The white man’s supremacy is a given but there is respect for the inferior race, many of whom have admirable, even noble, qualities (including deference!). Indeed the attachment of one of the party to a young native girl could have led to a rather awkward social situation if not terminated by an unfortunate (or fortunate) incident. More distasteful is the gleeful description of the wanton slaughter of elephants, only valued for their ivory tusks.

In summary an instructive read with a period charm and a strong narrative thread that carries the reader steadily through the 300 pages of adventure and derring do.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote

The unnamed narrator is looking back a few years to the early 1940s when, newly arrived in New York, he moved into an apartment block and was intrigued by the mail box label for Apartment 2 which declares “Miss Holiday Golightly, Traveling”.

The name and the voice on the stairs soon take form in the delightful Holly – petit, short hair, dark glasses perched on up-turned nose, and chic little black dress (in other words Audrey Hepburn) – and he is smitten by the kitten. As other neighbours tire of her charms in the wake of her late night parties, that she either hosts or returns from keyless and demanding entry to the block from anyone she can rouse, he is more than happy to step up to the plate.

Is she just a good time girl, a gold-digger, or something more professional? What is her background? What’s behind her weekly visits to Sally Tomato imprisoned in Sing Sing? The more she reveals the more the less sense it makes.

Told mainly in snappy New York dialogue it’s an engaging portrait of a free spirit in single minded pursuit of the good life, epitomised by having breakfast at Tiffany’s among the diamonds and the rich smells of alligator wallets and silver.

The narrator is not in that league so he shouldn’t have a chance with Holly; but he’s on hand when her fragile confection of a world looks in danger of collapsing.

Little more than a novella in length and format it makes an excellent quick read.

Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The book’s title is odd but accurate. It’s about love and is set in the Caribbean coast of South America between the middle of the 19^th and the early 20^th century when cholera was an ever present threat at least to the poorer communities.

The story moves backwards and forwards in this period exploring aspects of love. Fear not of apparent spoilers below – what happens is set out early and it is the how that engrosses.

To start (chronologically) there is Fermina Daza’s schoolgirl fixation on the plain but enigmatic Florentino Ariza, which he reciprocates in spades. She moves on, to be wooed by the sophisticated Dr Juvenal Urbino, and we see young married love bloom then fade to indifference under the pressure of in-laws; adultery rears its loveless, lustful head.

Meanwhile Florentino Ariza holds a torch for Fermina through the years, decades even, taking comfort where he can in his many affairs but unable to give of himself in his pitiful state of unrequited love.

Eventually, in old age, Dr Urbino suffers a parrot related death and the widow Fermina is revisited by her childhood suitor. Will this lead to a companiable friendship; a late flowering love; or a final crushing rejection?

The episodic time-shifting story meanders along like one of Ariza’s steamboats on the Magdelena River, with leisurely trips up tributaries and side channels. The long luxuriant paragraphs require unhurried reading but reward with total absorption into the time and place, and lives and loves, created by Garcia Marquez. It has passion and pain, joy and heartache, humour, irony and wisdom.

It reads longer than its 350 pages but is rich and satisfying throughout.

A Street Cat Named Bob – James Bowen

When James Bowen first comes across a ginger tom cat sat on his tenement stairs he just gives it a stroke and moves on. After a day or two it becomes clear it has no home and is in need of food and attention. James knows how it feels to be in that situation – he is off drugs but on methadone and trying to live on what he makes busking around central London.

This is not a lot but despite his meagre resources he takes in the cat, who he has named Bob, with a view to nursing it back to health and releasing it back to the streets. Bob has other ideas and sticks to James, even following him across London to sit in the guitar case as James plays, boosting takings in the process.

It is new to James to have responsibility for anything as his life since adolescence has been troubled, with each ‘second chance’ thrown away regardless of consequences. Now though, with Bob’s welfare to consider, he realises that he has to sort himself out.

It’s hard - there are hurdles and setbacks for James as he tries to come off methadone and get on to the legal side of the street; but through it all he has Bob’s unconditional affection and knowing looks to anchor him to the real world.

James Bowen is not an author, he is a musician, but his writing is simple, clear and genuine. As a cat ‘owner’ I found his descriptions of some of Bob’s more familiar antics spot-on, but Bob’s talents go much further than the average moggy.

The read is easy on the eye, but sheds discomforting light upon life on the streets today. In future buskers and Big Issue sellers may get a more sympathetic response from readers. But the strength of the book is simply in its remarkable story which is told well enough.

The Humans – Matt Haig

The good news for Professor Andrew Martin is that he has just achieved his lifetime ambition as a mathematician by discovering a proof of the Reimann Hypothesis, key to understanding the distribution of prime numbers (not that you need to know that).

The bad news is that his discovery is perceived as a threat to the rest of the civilized universe by its self-appointed guardians, the “Host”. Their view is that mankind’s lack of social development and a propensity to violence would make such a discovery dangerous. As a result the professor is immediately abducted, killed and replaced by a look-alike agent of the Host with instructions to eliminate all traces of the discovery. So bad news too for Andrew Martin’s wife, son and close colleagues at Cambridge University.

Haig has fun pointing out some absurdities of human customs, which take some getting used to even for the super-intelligent imposter. This is not helped by learning the English language and a skewed view of social behaviour from perusing a copy of Cosmopolitan.

At first these absurdities strengthen his contempt for humans. However as he establishes his position in his new typically dysfunctional family he slowly realises that beneath the superficiality of style and posturing there is something he has never known before – a feeling of belonging and responsibility for others.

The initial premise is easily swallowed, and then the book runs smoothly through the gears. From its comedic start it moves through insightful comments (my favourite that everything on Earth is wrapped up and hidden from plain view – food, bodies, even feelings) to emotional turmoil and tension as the new Professor Andrew Martin tries to resolve divided loyalties to his mission and his increasing respect for these earthlings.

A good book on more than one level.

When Will There Be Good News – Kate Atkinson

Joanna Mason’s mother, sister and baby brother were killed in a senseless attack when she was just six years old. She escaped unscathed and thirty years later is living happily in Edinburgh with a nice but dim husband and small baby. But thirty years was Andrew Decker’s sentence and now he is out.

It falls to DCI Louise Monroe to let Joanna know. The policewoman has got married since her previous outing in “One Good Turn”, but still broods on what might have been with Jackson Brodie (ex-army, ex-police, ex-private eye and current uncomfortably well-off man of leisure). He too has moved on in marital terms if not emotionally, with a new wife and a possible son from the previous relationship.

Brodie’s trip to Yorkshire, to surreptitiously gain a DNA sample from the potential son, propels him northward by train to crash back into Louise Monroe’s personal and professional life.

Added to the mix is sixteen year-old Reggie Chase, Joanna’s ‘mother’s help’ devoted to her and the baby but struggling to cope with a ravaged home life. And there is Joanna’s dog – Sadie the German shepherd.

Atkinson does what she does better than most – developing interweaving plot lines with such ease that the complexity is hardly noticed until a connection is made with a satisfying “ahh” from the reader. It’s not just the plot though; characters are interesting and engaging, with well-articulated opinions and emotions. Sardonic humour and social comment are blended in seamlessly.

It gets serious though when Joanna goes missing with the baby. Has she run, has she been taken, is her husband not so nice after all? We are kept guessing on that and the many subplots right to the end, when the book is closed to a final, satisfying, spine-tingling link.

Just excellent.