The Snakes, a novel by Sadie Jones

Part way between a thriller and a study of English mores, the book tells of the difficulties faced by a young people in their marriage when they come from very unequal backgrounds: he from a mixed-race working class family and she as a daughter of a multi-millionaire property tycoon.  She has little contact with her family until the couple decide to travel around Europe and to drop in on her brother who, they believe, runs a hotel in France, the property having been paid for by their parents.  An accident (more information would spoil the story) leads to revelations about the nature of parent/child relationships and the acquisition of excessive wealth.  This is well told and the characterisation is good. However, The 'thriller' part of the novel that comes near to the end is both unconvincing and unnecessary, unless of course the author is hoping to have her novel adapted as a script for a film, no doubt starring Kiera Knightley. I'll keep a look out for it. ❤❤❤

Other Minds: the Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Biology presented by a non-biologist, who presents the facts that cephalopods have ended up in a strange cul-de-sac in the evolutionary tree in which they have much larger brains than any other marine species, more akin to cats or dogs. He surmises  how this large brain is used by these creatures, by observations from his own deep-sea diving and by reference to a wide body of scientific literature.  From his limited observations of octopuses and cuttlefish he presents the hypothesis that they have developed a degree of consciousness that we do not ascribe to most other creatures and speculates that they may be among the very few creatures who, like apes and humans, have some form of 'inner language'.  How much use they make of this is difficult to see from his observations, which inevitably lack widespread confirmation or statistical study. Most alarming and in some ways sad is the fact that they breed only once and live for only two years on average, with the final part of their life in an apparent state of ill-health. ❤❤❤

The Story of a Marriage, a novel by Gier Gulliksen

Translated from Norwegian, this novel presents the mission of the author to understand how his apparently fulfilling marriage came to be destroyed by the unexpected affair of his wife with another man.  Gulliksen succeeds in not merely expressing his own emotions but also getting into the thought processes that his wife would have gone through.  This he does very convincingly without it seeming at all contrived. Although there is only a single story line the plot is never dull.  A clever piece of writing. ❤❤❤❤❤

Turbulence, a novel, or short story sequence, by David Szalay

A fine sequel to Szalay's acclaimed All that Man is and written in a similar style -- a series of short glimpses into the lives of individual, all linked in this case by the fact that they are required to undertake some sort of air travel.  The images are grimmer and more discordant than those in his previous book; each character has a problem and none of the problems is resolved in the time we have in contact with them (the book itself is very short). Szalay's narratives are convincing even although the characters come from widely disparate backgrounds and his fluid writing style links the stories effortlessly. Maybe this technique will not work a third time, though, and I wonder how he will tackle a sequel to this one. ❤❤❤❤

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a kind of road trip by Robert M. Pirsig  

I never read this book in 1974, when it was first published, although, like many other people, I thought I had. Certainly I do remember it being a topic of conversation at the time.  Whether I would have got through its 418 pages then is unclear; were it not for the fact that it was the first book to be discussed at the newly formed Oxton Men's Book Club, I would probably have abandoned it this time too.   Pirsig's book became a cult classic largely because of when it was written.  This was a time when there was a young person-led revolt against the pervading view of technology and science being the answer to the problems of mankind.  Zen philosophy (hardly mentioned in the book despite its title), Buddhism, study of the occult, alternative medicine and technologies were all being promoted and so the theme of Pirsig's book, viz. the search for a non-dualistic entity beyond the normal divisions of Classical versus Romantic thought would have been timely.   

The book has serious faults.  It can be divided into three components: a) a treatise on how to ensure the efficient working of a motorcycle by being able to understand in detail all its working parts; b) a very lengthy road trip westwards through middle America on said motorcycle with the narrator's 11-year old son as passenger; c) an autobiographical account of the narrator's growing obsession with philosophy both in the present day and, to a seriously compulsive extent, in an earlier period of his life when he refers to himself as Phaedrus.  Phaedrus was sectioned and spent time in a mental institution.  His obsession pervades at least half of the book, which is given over to elaborate and imprecise attempts to justify from the writings of other philosophers his findings on the definition of what he calls Quality -- a quest that he never completed.   

There is a sadness about the book when viewed from today's perspective: perhaps because, with age, we have lost the kind of earnestness required to pursue the author's search for a universal truth, or because truth is now no longer considered to be an absolute value. But also, I felt concern about the relationship between the author and his son, who, almost to the extent of abuse, was obliged to tolerate quite unreasonable behaviour from his father on the trip. The son himself subsequently suffered a mental breakdown as a young adult and then was murdered in the author's lifetime.     Those who know a bit more about motorcycle mechanics than I do say that that part of the book made interesting reading. ❤❤

The Secret Scripture, a novel by Sebastian Barry  

I was encouraged to read this 2008 novel after hearing Sebastian Barry speak at the Liverpool Literary Festival and finding it to be one of the three books he chose to elaborate on. Both of the others, A Long Long Way and Days Without End, are excellent.  

The Secret Scripture is a moving and frightening tale of the life of a woman, Roseanne McNulty, in rural Ireland who, partly on account of her religion and partly through an unfortunate chain of events is ultimately committed to a mental institution, although she clearly does not have a mental health disorder.  She is condemned to live there for the rest of her life to the age of 100.   

The story emerges from a set of diary writings Roseanne undertakes and a narrative by the psychiatrist who is treating her and who becomes obsessed by her story. As with all Barry's work, the characters express their predicament in a simple yet moving and poetic way.  It would be wrong to explain how the relationship between the two characters evolves and concludes, as the denouement is both deliberately shocking and, at the same time, comforting, even without the outcome being fully resolved.    

My only criticism is that, while the final act of the story is undoubtedly critical to the plot, there is an element of coincidence that, although rationalised, verges on being contrived. But this novel still confirms my view of Sebastian Barry as being one of the finest of current writers. ❤❤❤❤

The Aesthetic Life of Cyril Scott, a biography by Sarah Collins  

I read this because of the intention to install a commemorative plaque to the composer and poet Cyril Scott, who was born in Oxton, Wirral, and my promise to produce a booklet to accompany the unveiling of the plaque.  This is a continuation of my interest in Cyril Scott, after a brief lecture I gave on him locally a few years ago, regrettably just before this book was being published.   

Sarah Collins provides a very detailed and learned analysis of Scott's work, with less emphasis on the details of his music than on the way in which it was influenced by Scott's engagement with the occult and his exposure as a young musician to Symbolist culture and poetry. Scott was hugely prolific, not just as a composer but as a poet and writer on a wide range of topics, all of an unorthodox nature, including alternative medicine, sexuality and the occult. It is impossible to separate these aspects of his character from his music as, although he overtly declared that his music was not programmatic, it is clear from his personal correspondence that he believed that his music was inspired by messages he received from a spiritual Master, who existed on a separate astral plane.    

Scott's musical life could be divided into three phases: an early phases where his work was considered to be modernist and avant-garde, received performances and was praised in influential musical circles; a second phase where his influence started to wane and a final phase (he lived into his 80s) where he continued to compose but his work was ignored and deemed to be Romantic and out-of date. Yet his music has a consistency and singularity that merits the recent renewal of interest that has occurred.   

Sarah Collins' book is not for the casual reader but it is methodically researched and paints a fascinating and readable picture of an artist fully immersed in the European culture of the early 20th century.❤❤❤❤

The Cyril Scott Companion by Desmond Scott, Lewis Foreman and Leslie De'Ath (eds.)

An overdue book that tells you everything you need to know about the composer, poet and writer Cyril Scott, who was born here in Oxton. 676 pages of small print provide reviews of all his surviving music output, his writings on matters including alternative medicine and the occult, his poetry and fiction.  In particular, the sections written by his son Desmond Scott shed a fascinating light on the character of the man and help to explain some of the mystery surrounding the neglect and now, fortunately, re-emergence of his music. ❤❤❤❤❤

Early Work, a novel by Andrew Martin

A first novel  by this young American author, dealing with the plight of young authors looking to write their first novels.  So I have no immediate identification with the main character, nor with the drug and alcohol-fuelled lifestyle of 20-somethings in Virginia. But the author somehow manages to let the reader into the life of the main character, Peter, to sympathise with his carelessness, his incompetence, his lack of control over his own life. However much of a disaster his relationships turn out to be, we want him to be happy and perhaps we want the story to be a reflection of how we ourselves might have lived in other curcumstances.  There is no happy ending -- in fact, there is no ending at all to the tale; and we are relieved by this, because it lets us believe that Peter will one day find himself on the right road. A good book. ❤❤❤❤

History of Violence, a novel by Edouard Louis

This is partly a novel, and apparently partly an autobiographical story, recounting an incident that the author apparently experienced.  Rather than a straight recall, Louis relates the story as if it were being retold by his sister to her husband, and being overheard by the author, thus allowing him to add explanatory asides.  The novel is a tour de force in that it hinges entirely on one incident only, the rape of the author at gunpoint by an Algerian thief whom he had invited to his apartment for sex. The attack and the subsequent encounter with the police and the law understandably left the author seriously disturbed and he relates how his career, his relationships with his family and friends and, more importantly, his inherent racism that he had never previously recognised are left permanently damaged. An interesting and insightful read, even in translation.❤❤❤❤

All That Man Is, a novel by David Szalay

My review from 2018: Interesting sylistically in linking what are effectively seven short stories connected only by the general theme of loss or perceived deficiency of each of the male characters.  Despite the tenuous link, the novel holds together well. Sadly perhaps, it was quite possible to identify with several of the characters and to be moved by their plight (real or imagined). A very good book. ❤❤❤❤❤

I re-read it this year for the Oxton Men's Book Club and found it even more rewarding.