AN IDLE KING by Andrew Paterson #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: Military drama set mostly in Afghanistan

'An Idle King is a modern retelling of an ancient story about lost soldiers who can never go home.'

Callum King, a former army officer, is trying to come to terms with civilian life, including family difficulties and the depressing veterans' meetings.  Following news about one of his soldiers who was involved in the incident that led to Callum's discharge, he joins a team employed by a private security company, going back into Afghanistan for a chaotic, dangerous and mysterious mission.

That the author has a military background is clear from this book, not only in the practical detail but the way in which he describes the emotional state rigours of his characters.  The book is extremely well-written and certainly kept me turning the pages; Andrew Paterson has a good deal of understated talent.

The secondary characters are a fairly stereotypical bunch that one would expect in a story of this genre, whether in a book or a film - the naïve newbie, the brute, the big fatherly guy who doesn't talk much, the one female officer who becomes his right-hand-woman, the psychological wreck ... but because they're so well-drawn they didn't feel clichéd at all.  Callum himself is complex and confused; although the book is written in the third person, it still manages to show us inside his and others' heads rather than coming from a detached, omniscient narrator.

The revelation about the true nature of the mission comes as a shock to the reader as well as to Callum - it says a lot about this world, and none of it good.  There were so many quotes I loved, that spoke about the wider world as well as the country that Paterson clearly has great feeling for:

'Your people have been coming here for thousands of years trying to conquer our country.  You might as well throw sand against a mountain.'

'Habs spots a caravan of Kuchis trundling along the dried out riverbed ... mostly men in long wool coats, shepherding goats and sheep.  But some women, too, riding on the backs of camels or walking with small children in their arms ... together on some ancient migration, following routes seared deep into their forgotten histories.'

'Nation states are finished.  The future is the market state.  Instead of parliament and politicians, now the world's run by hedge fund managers and venture capitalists.'

'Callum knows all these men even though he hasn't met them before ... the scars on their faces, the missing limbs, the suffering in their eyes.  They're the children of war, soldiers in name only.  Boys who grew up without fathers.  Boys who were handed a rifle or the trigger to an improvised explosive device by old men who live far away ... and when the old men were finished with them, they were tossed aside like spent shell casings.'

'They're two old soldiers who went away to fight wars in far off places started by fat men for petty reasons.'

The ending is one of those that offers some resolution but not too much; it's sad and kind of mournful, but so right for the story.  It really is a very good book; I'd most definitely recommend.

DONKEY BOY and other stories by Mary Smith @marysmithwriter

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
 

How I discovered this book: It was submitted to Rosie Amber's Review Team, of which I am a member.  Two years ago I read No More Mulberries by this author, which I liked a lot.

This is an interesting and diverse collection of stories, set in several locations, from Scotland to Pakistan, where the author lived for a while.  Some of them were written as monologues, which have been performed.

I liked those set in Pakistan best, my very favourite being Accidents Happen, about a girl whose mother marries a man she hates.  I liked it so much I read it again, straight away.  I also liked Donkey Boy itself, about a little boy who has to work for his father instead of going to school, and Trouble with Socks, about the sort of ghastly, patronising auxiliary in a care home who thinks that physically disabled means mentally deficient.  The last one, a longer story called The Thing In Your Eye, was interesting.  A woman believes she sees evil in people in their eyes; this left me a little unsure, as I didn't know if we were meant to think it was all in her mind (as everyone else does), or if she really could 'read' people.  

They're all unusual, with a theme of private sadness.  I liked a very short one called My Name is Anya, too, about an Afghani girl adopted by Scottish parents.  They're ideal for a nice bit of lying on the sofa, afternoon reading when you're not in the mood for complicated plots.

NO MORE MULBERRIES by Mary Smith

4.5 out of 5 stars

Family drama set in Afghanistan

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

This was one of those books that stayed with me when I wasn't reading it; the emotions of the main characters, Miriam and Iqbal, were so well painted.

Jawad was the love of Miriam's life; they met in her hometown in Scotland and struggled against initial family opposition to marry, after which they had a son and set up home and a medical practice in his native Afghanistan.  At the beginning of the novel Jawad is dead, and Miriam's second marriage to Iqbal, a doctor, is causing them both problems ~ for Iqbal, the shadow of Miriam's first husband, his need to conform to the culture of the village in which he grew up, the stigma attached to his childhood leprosy.  Miriam struggles with the restrictions placed on her by Iqbal's place in society, and her rose tinted memories of her ex-husband.

This book gave me great insight into the culture of rural Afghanistan, not a country I knew much about at all.  I was surprised by how normal life went on despite all the conflict of the time (it's set in 1995).  What struck me most was how stifling village life appeared to be, with everyone knowing everyone else's business and having plenty to say about it!  My sympathies lay more with Iqbal than with Miriam, I must say; her initial reason for marrying him (ie, to get back to Afghanistan, rather than love) and the fact that she was still in love with a dead man must have been apparent to him, yet she expected him to behave in a way that would make her happy, never thinking about what it might cost him.  I did find her pain over the loss of Jawad heartbreaking, though.

The novel is very well paced, with detail about the culture woven subtly into the main story.  I found it hard at first to keep up with all the different characters, but this was partly because the names were not familiar to me.  I felt sad when I finished it, and it made me want to read more about the people.  Recommended!