THE DU LAC CHRONICLES by Mary Anne Yarde

3.5 out of 5 stars

5th century English historical fiction/Romance/YA

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE 
On Goodreads 

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Review Team 

This novel is British historical fiction set in the 5th Century, with many fictional characters and places.  At the beginning, Alden du Lac, once king of Cerniw (Cornwall, I believe), has been captured by the Saxons. 

I'd say this is definitely more of a book for teenagers/young adults, as the characters are of that age, and it's more of a historical (fantasy) romance than fiction about the historical period in time per se; the focus of the book is the relationship between Alden and his rebel Saxon saviour, Annis.  Although it's in two 'teen and young adult' categories on Amazon, the blurb does not make clear that it's aimed at this age group.  Note to publisher!

For the most part, it's well written (I found myself thinking 'oh good' when I started reading it), though there were a few instances of bad English that should have been picked up by a copy editor/proofreader.  But on the whole it's very well presented throughout. 

There's a fair bit of good atmospheric detail and the characters are sufficiently convincing, Annis being one of those great role models for girls, but I'd say it's for lovers of history based escapism (of which it is a good example) rather than the reader of serious histfic.  If you're a young reader of the former, I'm sure you'll love it!

 

FIVE DAYS ON BALLYBOY BEACH by David J O'Brien

3 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Review Team

In this light, nostalgic story set in rural Ireland, Derek and his four best friends from university (John, Bill, Sarah and Sinéad) spend five days camping together, to be joined by six more on the second night.  Amongst those expected is Derek's current girlfriend, Ana.  Although he is looking forward to having someone to sleep with, Derek would rather she wasn't coming; he has decided he is in love with Sinéad. 

This is an easy, relaxing sort of book, and has some pleasing detail of the flora and fauna of the surroundings, which, I imagine, is written from the author's experience.  The prose itself flows nicely, is well put together as far as sentence structure and grammar are concerned, and I liked the philosophical ponderings of the main character. 

On the whole, alas, I'm afraid I found the book a little flat.  The first twenty per cent-plus is an account of how the five spent their first night and next day on holiday.  O'Brien introduces the characters by saying which companies they work for and where they come from, etc, and by giving the reader a run-down of their character traits.  I thought their personalities would have been better illustrated by sharp, character revealing or amusing dialogue, or some conflict; as it is, the dialogue is just chat, the narrative no more than a mildly interesting snapshot of a group of young people spending time at the beach and going to the pub in the evening.

When the six other people turn up there are six more passages about home towns and employers and character traits.  Sadly, I found few of the eleven personalities distinguishable from one another. 

The book does pick up after about thirty per cent, with more plot: Derek's romantic/sexual quandary, a confession by one character and some discord between another couple.  However, I didn't feel the potential of any of these situations was fully explored.  A catastrophic event happens near the end, but even that is dealt with in a mild sort of way only. 

I'm sorry not to be more positive; the book is pleasantly written and does have a certain charm, but there is far too much mundane detail all the way through, and not enough depth or character development.

EIGER DREAMS: Ventures among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer

5 out of 5 stars

Non-fiction; articles about climbers

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Eiger Dreams is a terrific collection of (mostly) previously published articles by mountaineering maestro, outdoorsman and internationally acclaimed writer Jon Krakauer.  

I loved every one of these, there's not one single weak one.  He writes about the summer when thirteen experienced climbers were killed on K2, about the glacier pilots of Talkeetna in Alaska who fly the climbers out to base camps (a very risky business to be in!), and about the snobbery amongst the European mountaineering community of Chamonix.  There is much humour, too ~ an amusing piece about the English Burgess brothers, Yorkshire 'scallywags' of the climbing world, and about the boredom of being stuck in a tent in inclement weather.  

Best of all, at the end, there's a longer version of Krakauer's own experience, when he was twenty-three, of taking on the fearsome Devil's Thumb in Alaska ~ on his own (a shorter version is included in Into The Wild).  It's thrilling, funny and fascinating all at the same time, and the more I read all of these the more I wanted to know about the unusual people who become obsessed with this most dangerous of sports.

Very, very readable and highly recommended.

INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer is reviewed HERE, with links to my reviews of INTO THE WILD, UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, AND MISSOULA

MISSOULA: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

5 out of 5 stars

Non-fiction; legal; acquaintance rape

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

"Women don't get raped because they were drinking or took drugs.  

Women do not get raped because they weren't careful enough.  

Women get raped because someone raped them."  

Jessica Valenti ~ The Purity Myth

I'm always aware when reviewing a non-fiction book that I'm supposed to be reviewing the book, not the subject matter, but in this case it's quite hard!  In Missoula, Jon Krakauer has brought to our notice the shocking lack of credibility given to acquaintance rape, or non-consensual sex, with reference to a spate of such crimes that occurred at the University of Montana.

Of course, the occurrences make for gruelling reading.  In all instances, the alleged assailants were members of university football team the Grizzlies, which is a source of much pride within the town.  Few of the assaults were properly handled by either the university or the local authorities.  The case I found the most disturbing was that of Kelsey Belnap, who was gang-raped by several members of the team.  Her girlfriend, sympathetic at first, turned against her when she said she was going to report them; I was shocked at the attitude of many of the women I read about.
 

Sadly....

"The adoration of the Griz football team created a pernicious atmosphere of entitlement.  Coaches reinforced the team's sense of perogative by failing to report athletes accused of sexual assault or other crimes to university officials."

This book is a product of extensive research and interviews, and I feel the subject has been treated with great care and insight, and without prejudice.  I was most interested to read a small piece near the end about what made the author want to write this book, which, for me, underlined his sincerity.  

As in the other works of his that I've read, Mr Krakauer dips in and out of various cases, selecting examples to best illustrate pertinent aspects of a particular point.  Whereas I am in awe of the the razor sharp way he does this (so subtle, too ~ journalism at its best!), in this book I found it a little confusing as there were so many circumstances and names to remember, not helped by the similarity of some: Kelly as surname for one, first name for another, Kerry, Kelsey, Kaitlynn.  However, it only took a bit of concentration/recap to deal with.

Beau Donaldson ~ the trusted childhood friend of one of his victims

The author stresses, near the end, that the prosecutors of such cases are often lacking in their knowledge of, for instance, why rape victims might not necessarily react in a way that jurors might expect, during and after such an incident; as an example, one victim actually drove her assailant home afterwards.  She was in shock; she'd been conditioned to think that it might be her fault ~ had she led him on?  Because of this lack of preparation, prosecutors can be unable to make a valid case.  The discussion of the perceived myths about acquaintance rape made me see an event of many years ago in a different light, too ~ I think this book should be read by anyone who has had first-hand experience of anything similar, or ever found themselves thinking that a woman has 'asked for it'.  And keep remembering the quote from Jessica Valenti.

Mr Krakauer deserves many rounds of applause for writing this book.   I hope this review will bring it to the notice of someone it might help.

UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN reviewed HERE

INTO THIN AIR reviewed HERE

INTO THE THE WILD reviewed HERE

EIGER DREAMS reviewed HERE
 

LETTERS FROM A PATCHWORK QUILT by Clare Flynn

3 out of 5 stars

Historical Fiction

On Amazon UK HERE

When I began reading this book I had the impression that it wasn't very well researched, historically, but then it picked up and I began to enjoy it. There's a lot to the story; a great deal happens over a long time span to Jack and Eliza, who are cruelly separated as they are about to sail to America to start a new life.

My main problem with the book was that it wasn't long enough for the story. It's only an average length novel, though the story itself has so many events and location changes that, in my opinion, it needs to be at least a hundred pages longer, or possibly be spread over two books. Sometimes three years would zip past between paragraphs, with no clear break. Episodes that needed detail, atmosphere and description were skated over; for instance, at one point late in the book one of the characters becomes destititute and remains so for some time. He goes into and comes out of this situation in a matter of page or two. My general impression was that the author thought of a great story (and it certainly is that), but was more concerned about getting it finished than doing it justice, or perhaps found that she'd bitten off more than she could chew, I don't know!

Having said all that, I read the whole thing - I abandon books if I'm not enjoying them, but I did enjoy most of this despite being frustrated by it - the writer knows how to keep the reader turning the pages, for sure. It's basically a very good novel, it just could be so much better.  I'd read something else by her.

UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN by Jon Krakauer

5 GOLD stars

Non-fiction; the Lafferty murders; Mormon religion

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

If a murderer truly believes that he was instructed by God to kill, does this make him insane? 

In 1984, Brenda Lafferty and her little daughter, Erica, were murdered in a particularly brutal fashion by her brother-in-law, Dan Lafferty, after his brother Ron had a 'revelation' from God instructing him to 'remove' them.  The Lafferty brothers were both Mormon Fundamentalists ~ that is, Mormons who live by the rules laid down by the originator of the faith, Joseph Smith, which includes polygamy.
 

Dan Lafferty

The book starts off with details about the crime, then goes back to explain how Mormonism started, the history of the religion, the general population's reaction to the movement, and the changes that have occured through over the years since its inception, mostly the division between the LDS and the Fundamentalists.  The purpose of this is to explain the psychology behind fundamentalism in this religion, and to show what led the Lafferty brothers to do what they did.

I loved the clever structure of the book, the way it moved from present to past to build up a complete picture of of this 'violent faith'.  I didn't know much about Mormonism before reading this; my knowledge came only from the scarily plastic, smiling faces of the Osmond brothers in the 1970s and the more recent, hilarious take on it by South Park.  Jon Krakauer's book gives what I consider to be a balanced view, some of which details frightening scenarios ~ murder (and massacre), paedophilia, narcissistic delusions, mind control, hypocrisy, false representation of facts.  I read that he took three years to research the book, not only using a variety of written sources, but also interviewing those currently in the faith, those who have left it, been harmed by it ~ and Dan Lafferty himself.  
 

Joseph Smith tells sceptical town dwellers that he is God's chosen prophet

Under the Banner of Heaven considers the psychology of fundamentalism in all religions, not just Mormonism, and makes for fascinating reading.  I love the way Krakauer writes, never using twenty words where ten will do, giving an objective point of view at all times (though so cleverly that you can often feel his opinion whispering through the sentences!).  Normally, I would be only mildly interested in reading a book about cults or religions, but this had me gripped.

Joseph Smith interprets the revelations by putting his 'seer stones' into a hat, and Martin Harris writes them down.  Thus, The Book of Mormon

I loved the observation at the end (I hope this isn't a 'spoiler'!) from ex Mormon DeLoy Bateman who said that although he thought that people within the religion were probably happier than those on the outside, "some things are more important than being happy.  Like being free to think for yourself." 

Mormon Fundamentalist chic....  apparently the long plait with the high 'crest' at the front is the accepted hairstyle, and they also wear long underwear under these dresses.

Since writing this, I've watched the documentary Prophet's Prey, by Jon Krakauer and Sam Brower, about the life and crimes of FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints) leader and child abuser Warren Jeffs, and also Sons of Perdition, about three teenage boys who escaped from an FLDS community.  Both fascinating, if you're interested.
  
INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer reviewed HERE

   
INTO THE WILD by Jon Krakauer reviewed HERE

 
MISSOULA by Jon Krakauer reviewed HERE

  
EIGER DREAMS by Jon Krakauer reviewed HERE

 

MISS EMILY by Nuala O'Connor

4 out of 5 stars

Fiction about poet Emily Dickinson

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

 

I'm in two minds about this book ~ I started out expecting to be very impressed, and, when I wasn't completely captivated, wondered if my inability to appreciate it said more about me than the book.  There is no doubt that this novel is beautifully written, but although I was aware of this and, on occasion, read passages more than once to enjoy the words themselves, I didn't feel particularly compelled to read it.  After I'd finished it I had a look at the reviews on Amazon.com, where there are more and of more variation than on Amazon UK, and found that some people thought as I did ~ that there wasn't quite enough actual story to make a novel.  I didn't know much about Miss Dickinson before, and now I know that she was a recluse, liked to bake, adored words more than people and possibly felt more than friendship towards her sister-in-law.  That's kind of it.  Or perhaps that's just me.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Emily and her fictional maid, Ada.  The four stars reflect the authentic picture of domestic life at the time and the writing itself, which is delightful, but I can't say I found it memorable.  I think people who love the style of, for instance, Jane Austen, would love this, though.