Katrina's Views: A Fraction of a Whole - Steve Tolz (Short list 2008)

This is one of last years Booker Nominees which I'm still trying to read through! The novel is a sons account of living with a father who is livig in the shadow of his dead brother. Sounds confusing, huh! Terry Dean became a national hero despite being a serial killer, he took it to himself to rid the sporting world of cheats and was killed whilst in prison.
His brother, Martin, had a pretty strange life, even without the murderous brother, he spent 7 years of his childhood in a coma, travelled the world, fathered and 'looked after' our narrator, rarely worked, ended up being sectioned then tried to make Australia a country of millionaires. And then became Australia's most hated man.
As you can see from above, Martin's son Jasper had a pretty strange background he writes the novel telling his own story within that of his father's.

According to Amazon this is the book they felt should win, I still haven't read White Tiger (It's waiting on a shelf). I loved the first 500 pages, the text was fast paced and amusing but then it started to drag. Last night I decided just to skim read the last 150 pages. I still loved the characters and wated to know what happened, but I didn't need the detail - and things were getting far fetched even for this book.
I'm glad I read it, but I feel the 720 pages could be edited down by a good 200 pages. Anyone else read this? What did you think?

Katrina's Review of Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh (2008 Shortlist)

Boy this book has taken me so long to read, a week and a half may not sound so long to some people but thats more than double the time I normally take.
An Indian housewife steps down to the Ganga to wash and sees a vision of a ship, she goes inside and immediately draws what she has seen. What is so shocking about the vision is that the woman has never seen even a drawing of a ship before, yet before long her life has dramatically changed and the ship, the Ibis has become an important element of her life.
This book is littered with characters from far reaching areas of life - a mixed race American, a young girl born and raised outside of the traditions of the British or Indian culture, a fallen raja, and an Indian widow on the run after marrying below her caste. Each has an individual story, a reason to end up onboard the Ibis.
These characters where all gripping and I will be looking out for the next instalment of the triology to see what becomes of them.
Having read and loved The Glass Palace I was disappointed with this book, I did find it was overly long, and although I loved all of the characters, the vast array of plot lines and the ranges of langauges, religious and cultural traditions and beliefs created a very challenging read.
Have you read this? Id be interested to hear other peoples opinions on this book.

Katrina's Review of The Gathering (2007 Winner)

Lots of reviews of this book say it is too depressing, too miserable. This is a book about a suicide, its hardly likely to be full of happiness and joy.
The book is narrated by a middle aged, middle class woman, with a seemingly perfect life - she's at home looking after the kids, whilst her husbands business is going so well she can buy anything she wants. But she isn't happy.
When her brother commits suicide she starts mulling over events in the past, her past and her families past, as well as the present, her lifeless, loveless marriage. Veronica is from a large family, one where the kids all drag up each other. The mother has too many kids to care about each child individually, and she also has some type of problem, so the family is constantly trying to protect her from the live going on around her. Veronica seems to hate, and yet love her mother, and also blames her father for having to grow up in this overly large family.
After her brother's suicide, Veronica explores a past she would have never known, the meeting of her grandparents, and how that meeting led to the event that she says it the root cause of her brother's death.
This novel is firmly based in the thoughts of the narrator, no great event happens, and you guess early on what childhood event will be revealed. I felt I never knew whether to trust this narrator, at some points she even told you that she couldn't clearly remember events. I also didn't really like her, or any of her family, they all seemed fairly self absorbed, no one really seemed to love anyone else, they all just existed side-by-side.
Saying that I thought it was well written, and a good read.This was the last book I had to read for the 2008 Man Booker Challenge, this year I read:
1. The Gathering (winner)
2. The Famished Road (winner)
3. Sour Sweet (Short listed 1982)
4. Moon Tiger (winner 1986)
5. Mister Pip (Short listed 2007)
6. The Orchard on Fire (Short listed 1996)
By far my favorite was Mr Pip. In the next year I shall be reading all the of the 2008 shortlist, as well as some previous winners and runners up

Katrina's review of The Famished Road (1991 Winner)

This book about the life a a spirit-child, he struggles and fights for his chance to live, and at many times has to fight against the spirits who want him to return to the spirit world.
The book deals with many African political and social problems, including poverty, hunger, lack of stability and the dirty tricks and means used by politicians to capture as man votes as they can. The whole community is filled with spirits and their actions can affect the life of all, yet the boy is the person most affected. He moves between normal life, the spirit world and a time and space where they both converge.
I'll be honest and say that this book was a struggle, I'm sure that their were many references to folk tales, religion and cultural beliefs that I just didn't know enough about to recognise. However, this is a book that I wish I had had the opportunity to study when I was at university, it would have been great to learn about the influences, origins and context of the novel and to attend seminars and hear other peoples views about it.
Challenges:
2008 Booker Challenge: Book 5/6
Fall into Reading: Book 1
Olympic Challenge: Nigeria
Book Awards 2: Book 1/10

Katrina's Review of Mister Pip (Short List 2007)

I have been meaning to read this book since it came out and I had it down for a few different challenges, so I was very happy when it arrived as part of a bookring, a great book and free too!

The novel is focused on a small island in Papa New Guinea, the islands men have travelled to Australia to work in the mines leaving the women and children on the island till they can find a way to join the men. Then war strikes, daily routines are hit and dreams of seeing fathers and husbands again are put on hold.

The only white man on the island decides to start up the school again, many of the lessons are dedicated to Great Expectations, the children are gripped. Matilda the main character uses the novel as a means of escape from the war and also a way to understand the world around her.

I thought that this was one of the best reads of this year so far. The language was fantastic, the characters well rounded and the shock well placed. Definately a novel I'll be recommending to others.

Katrina's Review of Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay (Shortlisted 1996)

This is one of those books I would never have even picked up in a bookshop as the cover just doesn't look like my type of read but when I saw the title on Bookcrossing I thought I'd give it a go. And I'm really glad I did.The novel is set in a quaint English countryside in the 1950/60's I'd guess, against this background is set the story of two young girls with not so quaint lives.

April's parent's own a little tea shop which doesn't do much business, she attracts the unwanted attentions of an elderly old man. And Ruby lives in a pub with parents who pay her very little attention except with their fists. The girls become good friends but try and deal separately with their problems.

The narration is told by April and the author manages to pull of a child's voice and point of view well, without the novel seeming like a child's book. This really reminded me of Tatty which I read last year and loved.Definitely a book I'd recommend to others.

Katrina's Review of Moon Tiger (Winner 1987)

I would never have picked this book up but it was on the Booker winners list, of which I am trying to read all the winners, and it fitted in with a few other challenges. It got pulled towards the top of mount tbr because the name 'Moon Tiger' sounded exciting, adventurous and romantic - which is what this book wishes to be, but some how doesn't quite get there.

The book's narrator is Claudia, an old lady who is nearing the end of her life, with her death looming she decides to write a history of the world. Her life history gets mixed in with a sparse amount of world history. We here of her lovers her incestuous relations with her brother, her poor attempt at motherhood as well as her jaunts in Egypt as a journalist during the war and her fairly selfish life as a popular historian.

She is created as a woman who keeps everyone distant from her, self sufficient and self involved - which she is - which is why I think I couldn't really care with the story. She seemed so distant that we couldn't believe in this gaping short lived love affair, we couldn't believe that she felt the horror of war or the horror of her upcoming death.

It was an ok read, certainly not gripping and one I'm sure to have pretty much forgotten by next week.

Katrina's Review of Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo (1982-Short List)

I love Asian books and seeing the title and the author I expected this book to be set in China, however this book is about a Chinese family who have recently moved to 1960's London. The family - a young husband and wife, a baby and a sister all start of living in a small flat whilst the husband works in a Chinese restaurant. In the novel it is the women who are in charge, they pester the husband into setting up his own business and become much more integrated into the English culture than he does. However, Chinese customs and beliefs are still followed rigorously. The interpretations on British life and the misunderstandings are humourous and I could have quite happily have read another couple of hundred pages about the family life of the Chens.

The book alternated chapters between the Chen family and a group of Chinese gang members called the Hung Family. The chapters about the gang contained initiation ceremonies and lots of violence, they never really seemed to hang true and the link to the Chen family was very weak and appeared just there to provide the ending. Personally I just skim read these chapters as a means to get back to the Chan family drama.

This is my first read for the 2008 Booker Challenge, as this was short-listed for the Booker prize in 1982. Although it was an enjoyable read I can see why it wouldn't have won a Booker prize.