Sometimes it feels like GR/Amazon wants to turn us all into clones. That they'd like us all to read the same books. This once again became evident witSometimes it feels like GR/Amazon wants to turn us all into clones. That they'd like us all to read the same books. This once again became evident with their recent most popular thirty books of the year. For me though GR is much more about discovering lesser known gems. This though is a very popular book. To some extent I found it a book of two halves. I loved the first half. The science and imagination of it was enthralling. But he's much better at science than he is at psychology. There are a lot of characters and they soon began to resemble each other too much for my liking. It felt like the same conflicts were being enacted over and over again. Also a kind of Disney vibe crept in. That said as a debut novel it's hugely impressive....more
Abandoned. I just didn't connect with this at all. Didn't care for the writing or the characters. Largely a matter of personal taste because objectiveAbandoned. I just didn't connect with this at all. Didn't care for the writing or the characters. Largely a matter of personal taste because objectively there's nothing much wrong with either but I can't be bothered to slog through all its futuristic jargon....more
A fantastic feat of imagination. And really well structured too, with an exciting twist towards the end. This was my first foray into science fiction A fantastic feat of imagination. And really well structured too, with an exciting twist towards the end. This was my first foray into science fiction and a thoroughly enjoyable experience on the whole. What I found really interesting is no matter how much imagination is deployed to build a startlingly new vision of life, at some point story has to become the focus and, as we all know, all stories have already been told! While the author was creating her world there was a thrilling sense anything might happen. But once the focus shifted from the world at large to single characters the emotional terrain became much more familiar. As a reader you’re simply asked to care about the safety of the central characters and it doesn’t so much matter if their wellbeing is being threatened by an evil stepfather or Darth Vader. The emotions appealed to are the same. What becomes key now is the sophistication of character development. And for me the characters were the weakest part of this novel. The central character tended to be irritable as a young girl and was no less irritable as a middle aged woman. The writing tended towards the vernacular and melodramatic at times – maybe this is a YA formula – but I rather tired of being told the central female character always felt like killing anyone who tried her patience. I wanted more sophistication. I enjoyed the first two thirds of this novel when the outcome was utterly unfathomable to the final third when possibility narrowed to only a few outcomes. I think if you’re a SF buff this is a five star read; if, like me, you prefer people and what makes them tick as subject matter, it’s a 4 star read but a highly commendable one. ...more
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
In which our worst nightmares about the end game of the Trump administration aThanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
In which our worst nightmares about the end game of the Trump administration are realised! It’s 2084 and the world is controlled by UniCorp – “a complicit elite of greedy power-crazed executives. For decades they sponsored and organised terrorism and hazardous environmental projects that caused catastrophic natural disasters. And when they had whipped up enough fear and division and poverty they took over. One by one sovereign countries were replaced by militarised authoritarian states. All run by UniCorp.”
The novel begins with Alowa. Alowa has no long term memory. She keeps returning to one mysterious image she possesses of a boy dancing in smoke. She fears she might be an “immigrant”– slang in the novel for “a bioengineered facsimile of a human being, an individual whose neuropaths are plotted by computer chips.” When she escapes from her life in an “executive dome” as a “dispenser” she meets a mysterious old man who seems to know much more about her than she knows about herself. She is told the boy she sees dancing in the smoke is called Solstice and he has her memories and she will have to enter History to find him. History is a game the entitled have masterminded for entertainment. The edition of History Alowa enters is a recreation of the wild west. She is part of a wagon train, heading towards hostile Indian country. Rumour has it that these Indians, the Sa’i Tor Shyela tribe, are all immigrants. Solstice meanwhile is being managed by a terrorist organisation who might well be a tool of the government. He is haunted by his memories of Alowa. “Every night I build a fire for you, Alowa. Every night I dance on the rooftop for you. Look at the flames, Alowa. Aren’t they beautiful? Look at the smoke. I’m dancing in the smoke, Alowa.”
Part two is set in contemporary London and Italy and we are slowly fed clues as to how it relates to the dystopian world of part one. I loved this part, a moving story of a woman whose husband is betraying her, who is suffering panic attacks and whose child is being bullied at school. She will take her son with her to Italy to discover more about her family tree. Part three is set in Italy during WW2 and here the character who is perhaps the beating heart of the novel appears. It’s the story of a Jewish family who live in an Italian fishing village. Part four (the shortest) is set at Wounded Knee in 1890. A poetic account of the massacre. For the denouement we return to 2084.
The Memory Tree is the most imaginatively mischievous and playful novel I’ve read for some while. There’s so much going on that it’s bound to alienate some readers - there’s conspiracy theory, sorcery, artificial intelligence, American Indians, the German SS, two attempted genocides, lions, elephants and sharks. You could say, now and again, it’s almost too imaginative for its own good. However it’s extremely well written and fast paced and I enjoyed its imaginative exuberance. I noticed a few misgivings about the ending but I liked it. Alowa and Solstice discover who they are and accept their heritage and responsibility. Essentially it’s a novel about heritage - with warnings about how we are treating the planet and our fellow human beings. As one character says, “If there is one thing in life that is fated it is our birth, that far-fetched conspiracy of circumstances which have to occur in order for us to get born.”...more
I’ve got a hunch you’re much more likely to enjoy this if you read it quickly, in one or two sessions. If you read it like I did, twenty pages or so aI’ve got a hunch you’re much more likely to enjoy this if you read it quickly, in one or two sessions. If you read it like I did, twenty pages or so at a time there will be days when nothing moves forward, when you’re faced with page upon page of padding.
Essentially it’s a novel that’s built around one fairy story idea. And all its best moments have a fairy story quality. Problem is, there’s also a lot of rather banal soul searching. Usually I don’t see twists coming but I had guessed this novel’s two twists after fifty pages. That wouldn’t have mattered had I found the characters and the writing compelling but for the main part I didn’t.
Most of the novel focuses on the interiority of the two main characters. Augie is basically the latest incarnation of Scrooge and though thoroughly predictable in his development he held my interest reasonably well. Sully, the astronaut who has abandoned her child to further her career, didn’t hold my interest at all and in fact often irritated me with her peevish sentimentality. She’s constantly shown as passive. Her head is often on a pillow in the novel. Usually remembering stuff but without bringing any new animating wisdom to her recollections. Her backstory reads like perfunctory reportage, upholstery. Personally I felt I was learning about Sully through Augie and there was no need for her constant dreary flashbacks which replace in the novel any lively interaction or character development of the crew of the spaceship. Put a few individuals in a closed environment and kinships and explosive antagonisms soon develop – it’s the secret of the success of Big Brother. Life on this spaceship is bland. We have a moody Russian, an excitable chap from the Middle East, a dreamy Indian woman and Mr Love Interest. For me Sully should have had a harder crust which slowly melted. That would have made her more interesting, more active too. Instead it felt like the author was trying too hard to make her likeable and so she comes across as wishy washy.
It’s one of those novels that is a film in the making. Walt Disney will love it. And I can easily imagine the film being better because they’ll cut the banal soul searching and liven up the characters and relationships on the space ship. And the Augie ending is brilliant.
Apologies to all those who loved it. I can be a cynical beast! ...more
80s pop culture for me is like a bargain basement crammed with musty junk.
The people in this novel have theI’ve never played a video game in my life.
80s pop culture for me is like a bargain basement crammed with musty junk.
The people in this novel have the worst taste in music and film humanly possible.
So I struggled with this novel to begin with. Which wasn’t helped by one of the cheesiest boy meets girl conversations I’ve ever come across.
But suddenly it came alive, thanks to some great imaginative plotting. And that ingenious plotting was sustained throughout.
It’s a bit like the Da Vinci Code in virtual reality. Except it’s more mischievous, better written and the baddies are miles more convincing. It’ll make a great film – the little guys with big hearts against the evil corporation.
“But some memories are more important than others,' she says. 'Because some memories belong to more than just one other person...Some memories tell us“But some memories are more important than others,' she says. 'Because some memories belong to more than just one other person...Some memories tell us about who we are. They need to be kept safe so that things can change for all of us."
This is set up so well, a mysterious dystopian London, sort of medieval in character, where a young orphan, Simon arrives with an important mission he knows he will forget as soon as evening arrives. He will forget because a totalitarian regime is in power and besides having destroyed the written word has built a gigantic musical instrument that plays at vespers every evening a music so devastating that it has the power to erase memory and even induce sickness. Every person has a few “objectmemories” like the few mementos a dementia patient has in her care home room but essentially has to begin each and every new day from scratch, in the perennial limbo of amnesia. (Probably worth saying here that this is not recommended for anyone who takes a perverse delight in not suspending disbelief! Some of the premises of this novel do not hold up too well to deep enquiry. How, for example, do the police remember they are the police if everyone’s memory is erased every night? In fact, how is there any order at all? However to a large extent Smaill’s beautiful prose, as intricately woven as the web of a spider, takes care of this problem. It bewitches you away from the sceptical rational questioning voice within and envelops you in the story. )
I would say it’s a novel of two halves. The first half I loved to bits. Simon teams up with a pact of young outlaws who live by the river and forage in underground tunnels for “mettle”, a commodity they can trade for food. The leader of the pact is the enigmatic Lucien. It will be Lucien, a renegade member of the Order, who helps Simon recover his memories. The novel changes tone about half way through – marked by the appearance of a rather twee clichéd eccentric old female character, the last surviving memory keeper. At this point it felt a bit like an editor or agent had intervened and said, how can we make this more commercially appealing? And all of a sudden the novel becomes a romance and an adventure story, its lovely literary qualities replaced by a lot of whimsy and a Hollywood plot – two lovestruck freedom fighters – with the twist that they are gay - take on a totalitarian regime single-handedly. It’s still enjoyable but I did feel a bit let down. However, on the whole, a tremendously impressive debut novel.
Every so often I like to escape into a sci-fi novel. A problem though that I have with them is that underneath all the ingenious new world building anEvery so often I like to escape into a sci-fi novel. A problem though that I have with them is that underneath all the ingenious new world building and soaring flights of imagination there often sits a hackneyed plot, culminating in a war between the good guys and the bad guys. This unfortunately falls into this category. The writing though is great and so are many of the set-pieces. Most of the science went over my head but on the whole an enjoyable read. ...more
I don’t know much about thrillers. My understanding is, to work they need a good twist. Well, this has, not one, but two ingenious twists. And it’s thI don’t know much about thrillers. My understanding is, to work they need a good twist. Well, this has, not one, but two ingenious twists. And it’s these twists, rather than character development, descriptive writing, insights into the human condition that keep you reading. This novel is pretty much all plot. It read to me like it was conceived as cinema rather than a novel. I suspect most people read it in one or two sittings. Which is another way of saying they get it over with as quickly as possible. To write a critique of this novel would involve distinguishing the very different aims of novels and cinema. All told, I would have preferred watching this on a screen because there’s nothing the book did that cinema couldn’t do better. And that way it would only have consumed two hours of my life, instead of about twelve. That could never be true of a truly first rate novel.
So, yep, the plot is great. But everyone has praised that. For people who are tempted to read this because of all the hype but usually prefer let’s say more literary novels I’ll offer a few warnings! The lead character is flimsy, not only is he too good to be true, so is his marriage. The depiction of marriage here is like a TV commercial for marriage. Probably I’m a bit cynical at the moment having just gone through an unpleasant divorce but, hey, couldn’t there be a bit of tension, a bit of dissatisfaction in the marriage? Would have made both husband and wife a lot more interesting to me. Then there’s the philosophy. Does it offer thought provoking insights into the consequences of choice? Not really, because the outcomes of choice here are so simplified. Then there’s the prose style. One sentence paragraphs so charged with melodrama you feel that husky guy who does the voiceovers for film commercials should be reading it. "I step back out into the rain. It's getting darker by the minute. Colder. Without a coat or a jacket, I'm soaked to my skin within two blocks."
Finally, at the end of the day, the greatest scientific discovery in history gives birth to the same old story (with an ingenious twist, it’s true) – the good man on the run from a malevolent conspiracy. It’s Jason Bourne doing battle with quantum mechanics.
In short, it’s great fun. But it’s also a bit trite. It asks some big questions. But it provides cinema rather than answers. Personally I preferred The Matrix, which is a film not a novel but then you could say the same about this. It’s a film, much more than a novel. ...more
They say the past always repeats itself and this was like a hallucinogenic history of California (hence the title) reorganised to take place in a dystThey say the past always repeats itself and this was like a hallucinogenic history of California (hence the title) reorganised to take place in a dystopian future when climate change has done its worst and it’s stopped raining in California. Most of its inhabitants have been evacuated east. Luz and Ray, like many other social misfits, have stayed on. Luz is a damaged former child star; her partner Ray is an equally damaged war veteran on the run from the authorities. Luz reads biographies of the west’s founding fathers and experiments with the wardrobe of the film star former owner of the house where they are shacked up; Ray gets on with the practical stuff. One night, at an outdoor party, they encounter a small child. When they see the child seems to be the property of a gang of crackheads and is being subjected to abuse they decide to kidnap her. Fearful the gang will come after them they decide to make for a vast sand dune sea where it’s rumoured there is a cult with a prophet who successfully dowses for water.
I read today that the author’s father was a member of the Charles Manson family and Levi the cult leader here is very much a Manson figure – a far more convincing and sinisterly enigmatic character than Emma Cline came up with in her novel.
Gold Fame Citrus probably has as many flaws as it does qualities but the qualities are so fresh and bold that it’s well worth reading. At times the narrative is genuinely nail-biting; at other times it becomes wilfully digressive and overwritten and a bit pretentious. It’s in the nature of young writers to be ambitious and Watkins experiments with various voices in a not entirely successful attempt to create a bigger picture. There’s a documentary voice, a choral voice and a cataloguing of faux fauna of the desert sea and while there’s some humour in these digressions Watkins chooses to freeze the dramatic tension to fit them in. Personally I wished she had stayed with the central narrative voice. What ultimately holds it together are the insightfully developed and compelling central characters. There are some great insights into motherhood and sexual relationships. This is definitely the most whacky novel I’ve read this year though at heart it’s actually a very straightforward love story. No question the author had an awful lot of fun writing this. It felt very personal, very intimate. Luz and Ray are memorable characters and the novel boasts some fabulous storytelling amidst all the bigger picture sideshows....more