Book Reviews: 22 August
OUT NOW
IZA’S BALLAD by Magda Szabó, translated by George Szirtes (Harvill Secker, £16.99, offer price, £13.99) In her award-winning novel The Door, the Hungarian author explored intergenerational clashes and the conflict between traditional and contemporary values. Here she revisits these themes with the story of Ettie, a recently widowed elderly woman from a small town, and her daughter, Iza, a high-achieving doctor, based in the capital. Iza takes charge of her mother’s life, moving her out of the crumbling family home and into her modern Budapest flat. Tensions soon erupt between them. Fiercely independent, Iza is irritated by her mother’s need for companionship, while ‘the old woman’ (as she is referred to mostly in the book), feeling isolated, redundant and baffled by modern city life, sinks into depression.
Szabó nails with incisive clarity the painful dynamics between the two characters – wounded figures circling each other in the dark.
The taut narrative unfolds to its devastating conclusion, as Iza’s emotional blind spots ultimately leave her stranded and alone. A perceptive study of family relationships, bereavement and old age, it is harrowingly beautiful.
Juanita Coulson
THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin (Canongate, £7.99; offer price, £7.59) American author Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel of feminism and desire, which so shocked readers and critics upon initial publication, has since become a revered classic.
Edna Pontellier, married with two children in Louisiana, finds herself opening up to new, unconventional possibilities. Chopin’s heroine is completely honest with herself and knows all along that she will never ‘sacrifice’ herself. It was that sense of independence, besides the prevalent sensuality in the story, that so provoked its early readers.
Chopin was not unique among her generation in addressing the restrictions experienced by women of her time, but she did so candidly and unflinchingly. Although consistent with the themes of her other stories, The Awakening’s vivid exploration of suppressed longing makes a bold statement.
Now, with a new release in the UK, we can rediscover a plucky and masterly novel.
Philippa Williams
THE LONESOME HEART IS ANGRY by Paul Charles (New Island Books, £11.99; offer price, £10.79)Rural Northern Ireland of the early 1960s is the setting for a tale of matchmaking, love triangles, farming, gossip and murder.
Curious mating customs are something of an Irish speciality: a pair of impoverished twins come to a wealthy matchmaker’s door, seeking an unlikely solution to their housekeeping problems.
It is a soft, pleasing tale set in the small fictional Irish town of Castlemartin before the Troubles – a peaceful and charming vision of a region about to undergo brutal changes.
This is Charles’s second book about Castlemartin – his first, The Last Dance, was set in the dance halls of Ireland, where he once worked as a musical promoter.
Part love story, part murder mystery and part musing on the pop music of the early 1960s, spiced with lovely Irish humour, it is well worth a read.
Thomas Hughes
BOOK OF THE WEEK
A family in exile MAN AT THE HELM by Nina Stibbe (Viking, £12.99; offer price, £11.69)
Every unhappy family is, famously, unhappy in its own way, and it’s hard to imagine a more uniquely, charmingly and hilariously dysfunctional bunch than the Vogels.
True, they seemed to have rubbed along well enough until 1970, but when 11-year-old Lizzie’s wealthy father then decides he is in love with an engineer from his factory, Lizzie, her siblings and her mother are exiled to a distinctly hostile village and forced to begin again. While Mrs Vogel takes to her bed, whisky and pills, Lizzie and her sister start the search for someone to take their father’s place – after all, ‘without a man at the helm, all the friends and family and acquaintances run away’.
But none of the candidates are up to scratch – not even plumber Charlie Bates, who would look like a gnarled Frank Sinatra were it not for his bloodshot eyes and unfortunate teeth, ‘like a row of shutters slightly ajar’.
Stibbe’s gift for brilliant pen portraits, demonstrated in her sparkling debut – Love, Nina – is again in evidence here. But this novel, while in many ways a deeply affectionate hymn to the sheer insanity of family life, also has a real poignancy: we are reminded that when adults vacate their posts, a price is paid by the children taking charge.
Stephanie Cross
COFFEE TABLE BOOK
ILLUSTRATION NOW! VOL 5 edited by Julius Wiedemann (TASCHEN, £24.99; offer price, £22.49)
The latest in Taschen’s brilliant Illustration Now! series showcases the work of exciting contemporary illustrators from around the world – Paolo Galetto’s Portrait Of Anna Klossowksi De La Rola (2011) is pictured here. Featuring 150 artists from over 30 countries, the beautiful images encompass a wide range of techniques and styles, with commercial commissions for high-profile brands and highly expressive personal pieces.
Each one is striking for its originality, superb draughtsmanship and magical charm. Steven Heller’s introduction, giving an overview of illustration history and styles, adds to the visual pleasure of the images.
JC
PAPERBACKS
MADDADDAM by Margaret Atwood (Virago, £8.99; offer price, £8.54) A new Atwood novel is always an eagerly anticipated pleasure, and expectations run high. Written as an oral history, Maddaddam brings together the survivors from her previous novels, Oryx And Crake and The Year Of The Flood. It is through this history that Toby attempts to explain the origins of the world, as a side dish to the main story of Zeb, her lover.
Encompassing the majestic storytelling that has come to define Atwood’s plots, her trademark imaginative characters and loquacious wordplay, Maddaddam exceeded my expectations.
Martyn Colebrook
THE POISONING ANGEL by Jean Teulé (Gallic Books, £8.99; offer price, £8.54)
This novel tells the true story of Hélène Jégado, a 19th-century Breton woman who poisoned more than 30 people over a 20-year period. Favouring arsenic-laced cakes and soupe aux herbes, she hired herself out as a cook, polishing off each of her employers.
Curiously written, it reads more like a fairy tale than a novel. There is no development of Hélène’s character, and there is more than a hint of Gallic whimsy, which is not to all tastes.
More of a curiosity than an enjoyable read.
Victoria Clark
ALSO ON THE SHELF
A PERFECT HERITAGE by Penny Vincenzi (Headline Review, £19.99; offer price, £17.99) Two alpha females lock horns in this tale of tradition versus business interests set in the luxury beauty industry. Another holiday blockbuster by this popular bestselling author. But, at 768 pages, perhaps best read on your Kindle rather than carried around.
JC
3 GREAT BOOKS: SET IN LATIN AMERICA
- THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene
- LABYRINTHS by Jorge Luis Borges
- THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS by Isabel Allende
AUDIO BOOK OF THE WEEK
A SINGLE BREATH by Lucy Clarke (Whole Story Audiobooks, £25.52; no offer price)When recently widowed Eva tracks down her drowned husband’s estranged family, all her memories of him are thrown into question. Another gripping off ering from the author of Richard & Judy Book Club Pick, The Sea Sisters. JC
WALK THIS WAY
Walking is good for the soul – and an inspiration for writers. Here’s our pick of the latest wanderers’ booksLIKE A TRAMP LIKE A PILGRIM by Harry Bucknall (Bloomsbury, £16.99; offer price, £14.99)
Long-distance walking, for pleasure or pilgrimage, is the ultimate in ‘slow’ travel. As he traces the 1,411-mile Via Francigena route from London to Rome on foot, Bucknall observes that it leaves one ‘free to wander, free to wonder and free to muse’.
Though not particularly religious, he finds spirituality in his solitude and surroundings, offering a prayer now and then and admiring the majestic places of worship along the way. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s classic Time Of Gifts trilogy casts such a shadow, it takes some confidence to write about a transcontinental walk. But Bucknall takes up the challenge and although (perhaps appropriately) he strays into the occasional narrative cul-de-sac, he has produced an interesting song of the open road.
Richard Tarrant
THE MOOR by William Atkins (Faber & Faber, £18.99; offer price, £15.99)
Moorland walks and cheap snack lunches don’t sound like a premise for an excellent book. But Atkins achieves just that, weaving literature, local history, geology, botany, natural history and politics into his walks across England’s moorlands. The moor’s desert-like landscape, peat and harsh climate, make it both rugged and romantic. Then you have the men of the moors, such as Heathcliff, Ted Hughes and Ian Brady: brooding, romantic or murderous. Like a peat fire, this book is a real slow-burner.
Thomas Hughes
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