Three Book Reviews
Read recently:
All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson, 2008, 403 pages.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932, 237 pages.
The First Century after Beatrice by Amin Maalouf, 1992, 192 pages.
All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson.
This book is the latest in the series of Robinson's Yorkshire-based crime novels, featuring Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and more recently, his colleague and one-time lover, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot. Robinson himself is a Yorkshire man now living in Toronto.
The story involves the discovery, by schoolchildren, of a man found hanging in the woods, and of another man found beaten to death in his elegant home. It is no secret that the men were a couple; the questions are why did they both die on the same day, and whose hand is behind it all?
The book really lacked a certain excitement and sense of mounting tension. The investigations, both in Yorkshire and in London were humdrum, and although Robinson managed to hold my interest quite nicely, I felt that the book and the ending were too pat, and that there was no element of surprise whatsoever. Not Robinson's best effort, is my opinion.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
As I hadn't read this since I was 15 or 16 years old [30 years ago] and remembered almost nothing of it, I am treating it as a new book. I remember not liking it much in highschool, mostly because I didn't understand what was going on and why this book was so important. I can safely say that I get it now.
This time around I was thrilled by Huxley's writing, amazed at his foresight, enthralled and horrified by the story. Surely it is one of the best books I have ever read. My review ends here as most people have already read this book and don't need me dithering on about it!
The First Century after Beatrice by Amin Maalouf.
This novel, by the Lebanese writer and journalist, is a journey into a world where pharmaceuticals are available to make it possible to only have male children. In the societies that populate this planet where sons are desired greatly, the situation soon gets out of hand, with few daughters left to help carry on the species; a world gone wrong. The book is narrated by an entomologist with connections to the people most profoundly involved in the effort to right this wrong; one of these people is his wife, a journalist, is one of the first to report on the danger of these pills and their implications.
It sounds like an interesting story and it could be, if Maalouf's story-telling were not so ploddingly slow. It took me days to get through a bare 192 pages of this book, partially because I didn't really want to pick it up. I did finish it, wanting to know the ending, but I was deeply dissatisfied with the book and don't recommend it.
All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson, 2008, 403 pages.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932, 237 pages.
The First Century after Beatrice by Amin Maalouf, 1992, 192 pages.
All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson.
This book is the latest in the series of Robinson's Yorkshire-based crime novels, featuring Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and more recently, his colleague and one-time lover, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot. Robinson himself is a Yorkshire man now living in Toronto.
The story involves the discovery, by schoolchildren, of a man found hanging in the woods, and of another man found beaten to death in his elegant home. It is no secret that the men were a couple; the questions are why did they both die on the same day, and whose hand is behind it all?
The book really lacked a certain excitement and sense of mounting tension. The investigations, both in Yorkshire and in London were humdrum, and although Robinson managed to hold my interest quite nicely, I felt that the book and the ending were too pat, and that there was no element of surprise whatsoever. Not Robinson's best effort, is my opinion.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
As I hadn't read this since I was 15 or 16 years old [30 years ago] and remembered almost nothing of it, I am treating it as a new book. I remember not liking it much in highschool, mostly because I didn't understand what was going on and why this book was so important. I can safely say that I get it now.
This time around I was thrilled by Huxley's writing, amazed at his foresight, enthralled and horrified by the story. Surely it is one of the best books I have ever read. My review ends here as most people have already read this book and don't need me dithering on about it!
The First Century after Beatrice by Amin Maalouf.
This novel, by the Lebanese writer and journalist, is a journey into a world where pharmaceuticals are available to make it possible to only have male children. In the societies that populate this planet where sons are desired greatly, the situation soon gets out of hand, with few daughters left to help carry on the species; a world gone wrong. The book is narrated by an entomologist with connections to the people most profoundly involved in the effort to right this wrong; one of these people is his wife, a journalist, is one of the first to report on the danger of these pills and their implications.
It sounds like an interesting story and it could be, if Maalouf's story-telling were not so ploddingly slow. It took me days to get through a bare 192 pages of this book, partially because I didn't really want to pick it up. I did finish it, wanting to know the ending, but I was deeply dissatisfied with the book and don't recommend it.