Plenty of Simple Book Reviews

The Fall by Simon Mawer: Simon Mawer has given us a good novel, just not a great one. It can be electrifying and dizzying at one point and then detached and mired in its characters’ own lack of inertia the next. A more even novel would have been received better, but The Fall is still an enjoyable read that will leave you guessing the truth until the very end.

The Havana Room by Colin Harrison: Still, The Havana Room manages to capture the soul of a city, although it’s not an honorable one. New York is as complex as the characters within The Havana Room and just as full of secrets and desires for more. Perhaps the city is really the central character here, flawed, beautiful, and impossible to understand. Within its scope, Colin Harrison paints a portrait of a man struggling to understand himself and his place within it, and to give up wanting more and appreciate what he has. Enjoy the secrets of The Havana Room.

The Diviners by Rick Moody: There are those who will probably enjoy this book more than I did. Those who know the people and industries satirized here or are part of that big city madness to make money, be seen at the right events, and profit at your adversary’s mistakes. Perhaps more of those “aha” moments ring true to those intimately involved with them. For me, though, The Diviners was a disappointment on a promising premise that never played out to my satisfaction.

Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje: This is Michael Ondaatje’s gift to the rest of us, his net for holding everything dear to us, even if it eventually leads to heartache and the divisions in our lives. There is nothing predictable in Divisadero and each thread leads to another story that mirrors each other, turning back on itself, so that even its divisions are blurred. This is the poetry of this novel, and the poetry of our lives, that has been expertly captured here.

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh: For the most part, The Hungry Tide is a compelling book about ordinary people bound together in an exotic place that can consume them all. It’s the basest of human emotions, love, jealousy, pride, and trust, that will make the difference. That’s a lesson we all can learn, again, as we follow Piya, Kanai, and Fokir into the heart of tide country.

Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes: Easter Island is a satisfying read that explores the mysteries of the human soul in the most isolated place in the world, the navel of the earth. Both Elsa and Greer find that searching for oneself can be fraught with peril, since no man, or woman, is an island.

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips: Despite a few bumps along the way and some mean, pernicious behavior of the gods, Gods Behaving Badly eventually rescues itself from the traps it must avoid. When it tends to get repetitious or too over the top, Marie Phillips guides it back to a scene or setting that highlights human foibles or insights, and the novel is back on the road to being an entertaining read. Once Neil and Alice are confident enough to take over the novel, it glides full of humor to its immortal conclusion. Gods Behaving Badly is an original concept wrapped around a familiar theme, and the combination of the unique setting, absurd and lecherous as it is, with a sweet love story makes it a successful debut novel for Marie Phillips. While you can’t necessarily count on the gods to do the right thing, reading Gods Behaving Badly is a safe bet for any reader.

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard: All this makes The Great Fire an easy book to put down, and difficult to read at times. Ultimately, there’s little invested in the characters besides some gentle interest as to how each of their stories would play out. The plot, whether it be the love story or the different reactions by each character to the postwar world, is slight and never consuming. Others may be able to look past these shortcomings and indulge themselves in the fine literary qualities presented in this novel, and enjoy it much more than I did. For me, it was like going to a movie or a play where the scenery was perfectly captured, the costumes entertaining and optimally chosen for each character, and the acting brilliant, except they forgot to wrap it around an engaging story. Perhaps sitting back and enjoying the presentation can be an enjoyable experience, if you can live without the story. The Great Fire, despite its praise and award, was a disappointing book because of its inability to foster much interest in the lives of the people within it.

Annette Lybacki hopes that you found this piece helpful and invites you to read her articles on DUI Lawyer 101 for some Hints and Tips on DUI Lawyers.

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