The Party Crasher, by Sophie Kinsella.

 

   

       Aahh, Chick Lit:  where would we be without it? – the stories that are lighter than air, have predictable, clearly-defined characters (you always know who the heroine is going to end up with), and a compulsory happy ending.

            And there’s nothing wrong with that!  As far as I’m concerned, Chick Lit plays a very important part for the Dedicated Reader:  after wading through some very serious, worthy stuff lately, it was great to have a complete change of scene – to be entertained.  And Sophie Kinsella is just the writer to do it. 

            Effie Talbot is still not over the recent breakup of her parent’s marriage, even though she and her siblings are adults in their 20’s and 30’s. The fact that her dad has recently acquired a girlfriend fills her with fear and dread – not to mention loathing, for new girlfriend Krista seems to be ruling the roost, the roost being the old family home, a local eccentric landmark that everyone adored, full of secret cupboards, hidey-holes and attics, the perfect place for children to create wonderful childhood memories – but not any more:  Krista has put it up for sale, along with various beloved items of furniture that the siblings believed to be theirs.  And because Effie is known for speaking her mind (in a Bull-in-a-China-shop way) she has fallen out with dad, and no longer visits the family home.  Worse still, she hasn’t received an official invitation to the ‘House-Cooling’ party to which absolutely everyone (including her beloved ex-boyfriend) has been invited. 

            What to do?  For Effie has a little treasure that she wants to retrieve from the house herself, something most precious that she hid after her break-up with Joe:  can she sneak in while the neighbourhood is carousing, find her keepsake, then sneak out again undiscovered like cat-burglars do in the movies?

            Of course not.  Effie’s presence is almost revealed several times, and only prevented by her expert knowledge of all the various hidey-holes she still remembers – but along the way she is forced to eavesdrop on some very frank conversations regarding her character, and the real reasons for the sale of their beloved home.  And there are previously unknown revelations about her brother and sister’s lives that come as a shock – she isn’t the only one who has had it rough lately.

            Sophie Kinsella pulls off an impossible plot beautifully because her characters are so funny that the reader is happy to suspend disbelief;  she’s one of the Queens of Chick Lit:  long may she write and reign!  FOUR STARS.    

 

Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden.

 

            This is Lakota Author Weiden’s debut novel. It is a worthy addition to the Thriller genre, but there is so much more to read between the lines, and the lines themselves can be brutally honest about the Land of the Free, especially in South Dakota on the Rosebud Indian Reservation – the Rez.

            Virgil Wounded Horse is the local Fixer:  because the tribal police are paper tigers and the Federal authorities are not interested in prosecuting rapes, child abuse, domestics and all the usual ‘minor’ crimes, he is seen as the Last Resort, the real law, the rough justice who, because of his superior size, speed and nous, always gets a fitting revenge for his clients.  Money well spent, and if the cause is particularly close to his heart (like child abuse), he’ll rearrange his quarry’s features (and future) for free.

            When he is hired by an ambitious tribal councilman to find the source of new sales of heroin entering the Rez, he regards this latest job as strictly business – until his 14 year-old nephew nearly dies of an overdose.  Now, it is frighteningly personal:  whichever sumbitch started this ball rolling will wish he had never been born – as he dies a horrible death.

            Virgil’s detective-work eventually leads him to Denver where he discovers that the Mexican cartels are interested in flooding northern Reservations with heroin, aided by local criminal Rick Crow, a Lakota who bullied Virgil mercilessly at school for being a ‘half-breed’.  Yes, there is very old bad blood here, but new problems arise:  the FBI, famous for their lack of interest in anything connected with Rez crime unless – unless – it’s connected to murders and drugs, want Virgil’s nephew (his only family member still alive!) to wear a wire, and buy black tar heroin on the high school grounds from Rick Crow and his gang. Then they can make an arrest.  It’s almost more than Virgil can bear to think about and, if it weren’t for his nephew’s agreement to go along with the FBI’s plan, he’d send that boy off to Mars, rather than consent to such a scheme.

            As always, things go horribly wrong;  there is a mighty twist to the tale that I never saw coming, and Virgil learns yet again how power and ambition can banish the finest dreams – BUT.  What also comes through loud and clear is the struggle to build a decent existence for the first inhabitants of their beautiful land, and the enormous difficulty in retaining their precious native identity, essence, ageless customs and spirituality in the face of The American Dream.  A dream that is broken.  Weiden and Virgil, telling it like it really is.  FIVE STARS.   

              

 

Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen.

 

   

          It is the end of 1971 and Pastor Russ Hildebrandt is a conflicted man:  he has been a faithful and devout Christian all his life (he is now 45), but God has lately been sending him challenges – and temptations, in the form of a comely, recently widowed parishioner who displays a vulnerability that touches his heart, something his wife has not done for many years.

            He has also fallen out with Rick, one of his assistant pastors who runs ‘Crossroads’, the youth section of the Parish;  Rick has long hair, eyes like burning blackcurrants and a newly fashionable foul mouth, but is majorly successful at spreading the word of God to young people searching for answers to life’s big questions – ‘he’s SO cool, man!’  Whereas Russ is not:  he’s totally not cool, and embarrasses his children if he turns up at Crossroads meetings and takes over the prayer sessions in an attempt to assert his seniority. 

            Yes, there are aspects of his calling that are less than satisfactory, but his home life gives him no pleasure at all;  his wife Marion – who runs his house, mothers their four children and writes his sermons – has gained a huge amount of weight and is succumbing to a distressing mental instability, caused not least because she misrepresented herself to Russ when they first met;  now her secrets are causing her to unravel.  His children, three of whom are teenagers, have their own problems and insecurities to deal with, in fact Perry, aged 15, is working on a strong drug habit – but none of them would ever think of confiding in Russ or - God Forbid! -  being councilled by him.  They are all pretty much a mystery to him.

            Which means that celebrated author Jonathan Franzen has created the perfect straw man as his main character –BUT!  As each member of the family tells their side of the story, we are drawn inexorably into the Hildebrandt ethos:  which characters are justified in acting as they do, which ones are taking everyone else for a ride, and why.  The fight between Good and Evil, God, the Devil, and Temptation has never been told more cleverly, convincingly – or humorously.  Were we really like that back in the 70’s? 

Russ and his family have arrived at the Crossroads of their lives in a decade that contains Vietnam and the draft, and very little Peace and Love.  As this is the first book of a trilogy, I am looking forward to Mr Franzen showing us which direction they travelled.  FIVE STARS.    

 

             

 

Never, by Ken Follett.

 

          In a preface to his latest epic tale, Ken Follett tells us that when he was researching ‘Fall of Giants’, the first of a trilogy of novels beginning with the First World War, he was shocked to find that ‘that was a war that nobody wanted.  No European leader on either side intended for it to happen.  But the emperors and prime ministers, one by one, made logical, moderate decisions – each of which took us a small step closer to the most terrible conflict the world had ever known.  I came to believe that it was all a tragic accident.’

            ‘And I wondered:  could that happen again?’

            Which is the premise for ‘Never’, starting in the North African country of Chad in the Sahara desert,  its population impoverished and entirely dependent for their existence on the huge but shrinking Lake that is their Oasis.  Because of Jihadi terrorist activity in the region, the USA and France have secret agents stationed in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital city, and Mr Follett starts the action with several rounds of confrontations between the good guys and the terrorists to set the scene – and no-one does blood and gore better than he, but this is just a preliminary round, for the American President is soon drawn into the fray when it is discovered that the jihadis were using weapons supplied by China:  how did they get them?  Who sold them?  Where did the money come from?

            Questions that don’t receive satisfactory answers, and the situation is compounded by the Supreme Leader of North Korea deciding to rattle a sabre or three by flaunting his possession of missiles with nuclear warheads:  he’s a loose cannon that China definitely doesn’t need as an ally, but fate has added a further complication:  the female president of South Korea has decided it’s her destiny to invade North Korea and unite the Korean people once and for all, ‘before she dies’.  She has the military hardware, backed by the USA, and the single-minded conviction that it is her God-Given right:  how can she fail?

            Mr Follett is an economical, no-frills writer;  he writes short sentences and relies on the reader to form their own mental pictures of his characters, but his research is meticulous and his ratcheting-up of tension throughout this mighty tome (you need strong wrists – 816 pages) is heart-in-the-mouth stuff, especially when we compare our current worrying times with what should be a work of fiction. 

            Nuclear War, coming soon to a place near you.  ( God forbid!)  FOUR STARS.

 

 

The Hungry and the Fat, by Timur Vermes.

 

  

          For those myriads who are already familiar with Timur Vermes and his wonderful satire ‘Look who’s Back’ (none other than the little tyrant himself!) – the prospect of another hilarious, biting commentary on contemporary Germany is to be savoured – and reflected upon:  how much is satire, and how much is truth?

            According to the rising Far Right parties in Deutschland, the country is awash with refugees, mostly Muslim, all allowed in by Mutti Angela (that fat cow!). Now she is marching off into the sunset, greeting retirement without a backward glance, leaving all the new Nazis to clean up the mess after her.  It’s not to be born!  Add to that a private TV channel hoping to up its ratings on the Reality Celeb circuit, has decided to send Nadeche Hackenbusch, model and TV star, and purveyor of such vital feminine aids as the Hackenpush-up (a push-up bra guaranteed to levitate any size breast skyward), to a huge, real refugee camp in Africa, where she will dispense food, water, advice (advice?), Hackenpush-ups (to women who have never worn such things in their lives) and endless sympathy for their plight, all the while being filmed by a camera crew, her endless good deeds recounted breathlessly by a magazine writer.  She will be known as Germany’s ‘Angel in Adversity’.  The ratings – and advertising – should go through the roof!

            Except that human nature gets in the way.  One occupant of the refugee camp is particularly resourceful and decides that, instead of receiving aid from Germany – albeit from the Angel – it would be far preferable to make the trek overland to Germany, their benefactor;  after all, look how many have already done so.  They could introduce new industries to Deutschland, like Goat-herding, for example:  there don’t seem to be many Goat herds - or herders, for that matter.  It could be a whole new industry. 

            Where there’s a will there’s a way and, despite initial utter disbelief then threats from the authorities 350,000 people start the trek from Africa overland to Europe, countries along the way divesting themselves conveniently of their asylum-seekers at the same time:  Germany is doing them all a favour!  Last but not least, the Angel in Adversity is leading the charge:  her ratings are stratospheric, and she and the resourceful one are now a couple.  (Never mind that she has a family of sorts back home).  All is well until it isn’t, when Germany decides to stop them in their tracks, and mass tragedy predictably occurs.

            Timur Vermes has again hit us where it hurts, exposing all our terrible flaws;  racism, NIMBYISM, hypocrisy and greed.  And because he must be very kind, he does it with great humour, most ably assisted by his excellent translator Jamie Bullock.  SIX STARS!   

 

The Stoning, by Peter Papathanasiou.

 

  

          Aussie Outback Noir:  this is the most recent variation of Down Under Crime writing, and there are already several established masters of the genre i.e. Gary Disher and Chris Hammer -  one would have to have something excitingly different to say to be able to buy these gentlemen a beer,  but with his debut novel, Mr Papathanasiou may even get them to shout a beer for him:  yep.  It's that good.

            Detective Sergeant George Manolis is sent from the city to investigate the brutal, biblical murder of the local schoolteacher in the small, dying town of Cobb.  She has been tied to a tree and stoned to death.  Investigating, he finds that the local police station follows its own rules which change according to circumstance – like the local hospital;  both places are loathed by the locals because they can only provide services they are staffed and funded for – which are minuscule.  By unhappy contrast, the new Detention Centre for ‘Reffos and worthless Boat People’ has ample staff and all mod cons for their charges.  There is huge resentment from those who remember when Cobb was a bustling, prosperous community – the town that George remembers from his childhood, when his late father Con used to run the local Milk bar.  George cannot believe his eyes at deterioration of everything, helped along by liberal supplies of drugs and alcohol:  add to that the racism and prejudice against the local Aboriginals – and anyone even slightly different, and Cobb is a place to leave, not to settle in.

            Yes, Cobb is a place to stay away from, but George doesn’t have any choice but to stay, especially when someone sets his beloved old Chrysler Valiant on fire the first night at his accommodation, then the replacement wreck he is given for the rest of his stay has the brakes sabotaged:  he misses death by a whisker.  Yes, there are plenty of secrets waiting to be revealed to a Detective of George’s capabilities, including his family’s hurried departure to the city while he was still a little boy, and the fact that the local police sergeant does everything he can to avoid meeting with George.  Everyone wants to know who stoned that poor woman to death, but no-one wants to tell him anything.

            Mr Papathanasiou has woven an intricate, compelling story encompassing many of Australia’s contemporary ills;  the hypocrisy of politicians;  sexual and racial prejudice, and the disintegration of what used to be salt-of-the-earth communities.  George solves the case (I guarantee no-one will guess whodunit!) but returns to the city a chastened man, perhaps paving the way for a sequel, which would be very welcome.  FIVE STARS          

 

SWEET SIXTEEN!

 

Yep, it’s that time of year again:  lists of all the Great and Good – so!  I’m going to make a list, too, of the best of the best, the Unputdownable, the Unforgettable, and the All-round Fabulous books that I have been fortunate enough to review throughout 2021.  Lucky me!  They’re not in any kind of order of preference (why would I do anything so logical), but they are all very special. 

 

Blacktop Wasteland, by S. A. Cosby

 

Olive, again, by Elizabeth Strout

 

Ash Mountain, by Helen Fitzgerald

 

The 100 Years of Lennie and Margot, by Marianne Cronin

 

The Last Bear, by Hannah Gold                         Junior Fiction

 

Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Katipo Joe Series by Brian Falkner

 

We Germans, by Alexander Starritt

 

Falling into Rarohenga, by Steph Matuku     Young Adults

 

Coast Watcher, by David Hill                             Young Adults

 

Salt to Sea, by Ruta Cepytus                              Young Adults

 

The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman

 

Silverview, by John Le Carré

 

Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr

 

Razorblade Tears, by S. A. Cosby

 

Pony, by R. J. Palacio                                            Junior Fiction

            There we have it, everyone – my best recommendations for a sure-fire, excellent dose of escapism, especially from Crappy old Covid.  Happy New Year!  (And I'm sorry for not being able to provide a link for each book;  you'll just have to do the old-fashioned search drop-box thing, for which I profusely apologise.  xx)