In the Heart of the Country – J M Coetzee

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

On an isolated sheep farm in the heart of the South African veldt a spinster, past her prime, reflects on her meaningless, wasted existence. Or, in her view, her non-existence, with a father who largely ignores her and a few native servants whose life beyond the house is a tantalising mystery.

In her ennui she daydreams and speculates, blurring hopes, fears and reality.

The arrival of a young bride to the farmhand sets off a new round of speculations; is it in reality or in her imagination that her staid, self-absorbed father takes an increasing, and to her shocking, interest in the recent arrival.

Further marginalised (at least in her own mind) by the new favourite, she aches for something to happen to prove she is alive, to get her noticed, to make an impact before she fades into the dry dust of the interior. But when she makes her long gestated intervention it unleashes more than even she imagined.

The book is short, narrated by the (un-named) spinster in 266 numbered, immensely powerful, paragraphs, with an intensity of language than conveys anxiety, angst and anguish, then despair, desperation and disgust (to name but a few).

What does it say about South Africa? Maybe that the human condition is not that different either side of the racial divide of the time; particularly as the balance of power shifts.

We Are All Made of Glue – Marina Lewycka

Georgie Sinclair works from home; she gets paid as a sub-editor for the trade magazine “Adhesives in the Modern World” and fails to get paid for her first novel, the constantly rewritten, resubmitted and rejected “The Splattered Heart”.

The home she works from is recently broken, with hubby Rip bunked up with friends and his stuff in a skip outside. Their daughter is away at university, and their son spends half the week with each parent and too much time on crackpot religion websites.

Despite, or because, of this she is drawn into the world of Naomi Shapiro, an old lady who relieves the skip outside of Rip’s gramophone record collection (among other items). She lives alone with an indeterminate number of cats in nearby Canaan House, a rambling, ramshackle pile barely fit for human habitation.

As Georgie becomes Mrs Shapiro’s go-to friend, her life opens up and fills with new responsibilities – for cats, property and care of the elderly – and new people – social workers, estate agents and handymen. Her narration is breezy and inviting and the reader is soon on board.

While dealing with her new hectic life, which provides a rich vein of comedy, Georgie’s curiosity over Mrs Shapiro’s seemingly tragic past uncovers a history that goes back to the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the establishment of the Israeli state; although she gets a different perspective on the latter from her handyman, Mr Ali, an exiled Palestinian.

Closer to home there are dishy new men to consider, corrupt officials and grasping entrepreneurs to combat, a wayward son to worry about, an errant husband to deal with, and the next deadline for “Adhesives” to meet.

Clearly it is packed with plot and characters, comedy and pathos, international relations and human interaction; possibly over-packed, although the 400 pages turn quickly and easily. The message maybe that while politics and profit are divisive, people can be brought back together and live, if not in love, at least in harmony – provided the right glue can be found.

The Bat – Jo Nesbo

When Inger Holter, a 24 year-old blonde Norwegian girl, is found dead, raped and strangled, in Australia, Harry Hole is despatched from Oslo to liaise with the local police (and also to remove him from a sticky situation back home).

The Sydney PD expects him simply to sit in and report back to the grieving parents that everything that can be done is being done. But that is not Harry’s style and soon he is running the show, making connections with similar unsolved assaults on blonde women; it points to a serial killer on the loose.

As the investigation unfolds, Harry is partnered with an aboriginal detective, Andrew Kensington, which gives him an opportunity to see the country and its history through the eyes of the dispossessed natives. Kensington also acts as a guide to Sydney’s places of interest, both tourist hotspots and its less savoury hangouts.

In one of the latter, a gay bar where Inger worked, he connects with the lovely Birgitta. She is a fellow Scandinavian, but Swedish and a redhead, and so not in imminent danger, apart that is from Harry’s awkward advances.

The plot is complex, twisting, with more than enough characters to keep the killer hidden deep into the book. As the first Harry Hole thriller, some background on the main man is disclosed (usually to Birgitta as they get close) and some of Harry’s disclosed demons threaten to re-emerge as pressure mounts to make an arrest.

The story moves along at a good pace and thoroughly engages. Though credulity is stretched occasionally, it remains intact to the end, with Harry’s success in finding the killer, wooing Birgitta, and regaining his peace of mind, all staying uncertain into the final pages.

Closing Time – Joseph Heller

Fifty years after the WWII events of Catch 22, and the world is a different place, but for John Yossarian it remains full of nonsense and contradiction.

Only now he is less angry, more cynical, and ground down to accepting that catch 22 is not just alive and well, but thriving in a fin de siècle United States of America.

He suffers a malaise that doctors cannot diagnose, but a pretty nurse can assuage in return for romantic attentions and generous gifts. And money is no object thanks to his financial interest in Milo Minderbinder’s global business (nothing changed there except the scale) and its latest product – the M&M A&E Sub Supersonic Invisible and Noiseless Defensive Second Strike Offensive Attack Bomber – with which they court the military procurers.

Of more interest to them is ex-Chaplain Albert Tappman whose inadvertent passing of heavy water in his urine makes him both a potential defence risk and military asset.

These and other surreal situations (including a subterranean amusement park and an outrageously extravagant wedding held inappropriately in the seedy Port Authority Bus Terminal, where the down and outs are removed to be replaced by role-playing actors) are mixed in with nostalgic recollections and the morose musings of Yossarian and his fellow veterans.

The effect is mesmeric in parts, but a moral bleakness is the lasting impression as the WWII generation is left behind, as their country hurtles towards the new millennium (or Armageddon) on a journey Yossarian, at least, is content not to be a part of.

Review of 2014

2014 was another successful year for Bibliodyssey with 48 blogs posted; and notable for the completion of the Along the Library Shelf reading journey. From the titles reviewed the following are picked out as books of my reading year and are recommended (full review in bracketed month).

General Fiction:

The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion (Apr) – Fine romantic comedy.

The Redbreast – Jo Nesbo (Jul) – Good tense crime thriller.

The Universe versus Alex Woods – Gavin Extence (Aug) – Touching coming-of-age novel.

Stonemouth – Iain Banks (Sep) – All of the above in one book from a favourite author.

Books for serious readers:

Quarantine – Jim Crace (Jan) – Sparse haunting take on Jesus’s 40 days in the desert.

Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe (Mar) – Totally convincing tale of Africa as the white man moves in.

Lighthousekeeping – Jeanette Winterson (Apr) – Spellbinding, resonating story about stories.

Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel (Sep) – Thomas Cromwell’s ringside account of the court of Henry VIII.

Nonfiction:

Last Man Down – Richard Picciotto (Jan) – One fireman’s all too close-up account of the aftermath of 9/11.

Toast – Nigel Slater (May) – His nostalgic, amusing and touching account of childhood through food related anecdotes.

Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand (Jul) – The incredible life of athlete, pilot, castaway and PoW Louis Zamporini

A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson (Dec) – Funny and wise account of walking the Appalachian Trail

Best sport book:

Acing Through the Dark – David Millar (Aug) – His fall, mea culpa and redemption