Leni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,...
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If you love Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle), please read this. Here it is:
After the end of the second World War, a remote English country house called Hundreds is falling to pieces around the Ayres family. A country doctor is called out to see to the ailing maid. He acquaints himself with the elderly Mrs. Ayres and her daughter Caroline, begins to treat her son Roderick for a war injury, and slowly becomes a fixture. After a while, strange things start to happen.
On one level, this is a ghost story. The strange, unsettling things that happen at Hundreds might be caused by a poltergeist, or an unhappy spirit, or possibly some psychospiritual manifestation of the unhappy family themselves. The story is measured (i.e., a little slow--but I loved it) and builds suspense nicely. As a ghost story, this is as good as Jackson or James.
But it's also quite obviously a story about class. Doctor Farraday is a member of the labouring classes, who pulled himself up to his profession thanks to the hard work of his parents. (His mother once served in Hundreds as a governess.) With so many houses destroyed in the Blitz, and so many people displaced, England's new Labour government is struggling to supply housing. The huge, ailing estates of the formerly-rich (most now penniless) are a natural target. As Farraday becomes a part of the household, so does the modern, workaday world encroach on the family's land--and housing begins to be built on the grounds that Farraday remembers loving as a boy. So, it's complicated.
This is, besides a scary book, also a lovely, bittersweet book. Waters has powers of description that amaze me. She pays attention to all the right details--in how people behave, in how the house looks, in everything. Four big shiny stars for this one.
This book is amazing, one of the best I've read this year. I liked it so much I wrote a fan letter to Alden Bell--and got a very nice note back.
The story is about a 15-year-old girl surviving in a country given over to zombies, after some unnamed apocalypse. She kills the wrong man, and is pursued by his vengeful brother. Along the way she picks up a charge--a mentally handicapped man, whom she looks after as well as she can.
There are shades here of Charles Portis, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Flannery O'Connor...I know. It's that good. It's Southern Gothic written by a talented stylist interested as much in character as he is in zombies. I know, I know. Just read it. It's terrific.
This book is amazing, one of the best I've read this year. I liked it so much I wrote a fan letter to Alden Bell--and got a very nice note back.
The story is about a 15-year-old girl surviving in a country given over to zombies, after some unnamed apocalypse. She kills the wrong man, and is pursued by his vengeful brother. Along the way she picks up a charge--a mentally handicapped man, whom she looks after as well as she can.
There are shades here of Charles Portis, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Flannery O'Connor...I know. It's that good. It's Southern Gothic written by a talented stylist interested as much in character as he is in zombies. I know, I know. Just read it. It's terrific.
Short and not exactly bittersweet, but maybe rueful. Trillin paints, in about 75 pages, a portrait of the woman behind the wife in his many books. Alice was a larger-than-life person with talents and flaws, like everyone we love. This is a beautiful little book.
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(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Best book I (re)read all year. It's funny, tragic, completely absorbing. Portis is a master of narrative voice--Mattie Ross is a completely convincing, absorbing tale-teller. I've loved this story for years, and was so excited to see the Coen Brothers make it into a movie this year. Total win for 2010.
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(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
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karenlibrarian has commented on (5) products.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
karenlibrarian, February 22, 2012
If you love Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle), please read this. Here it is:After the end of the second World War, a remote English country house called Hundreds is falling to pieces around the Ayres family. A country doctor is called out to see to the ailing maid. He acquaints himself with the elderly Mrs. Ayres and her daughter Caroline, begins to treat her son Roderick for a war injury, and slowly becomes a fixture. After a while, strange things start to happen.
On one level, this is a ghost story. The strange, unsettling things that happen at Hundreds might be caused by a poltergeist, or an unhappy spirit, or possibly some psychospiritual manifestation of the unhappy family themselves. The story is measured (i.e., a little slow--but I loved it) and builds suspense nicely. As a ghost story, this is as good as Jackson or James.
But it's also quite obviously a story about class. Doctor Farraday is a member of the labouring classes, who pulled himself up to his profession thanks to the hard work of his parents. (His mother once served in Hundreds as a governess.) With so many houses destroyed in the Blitz, and so many people displaced, England's new Labour government is struggling to supply housing. The huge, ailing estates of the formerly-rich (most now penniless) are a natural target. As Farraday becomes a part of the household, so does the modern, workaday world encroach on the family's land--and housing begins to be built on the grounds that Farraday remembers loving as a boy. So, it's complicated.
This is, besides a scary book, also a lovely, bittersweet book. Waters has powers of description that amaze me. She pays attention to all the right details--in how people behave, in how the house looks, in everything. Four big shiny stars for this one.
The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
karenlibrarian, July 14, 2011
This book is amazing, one of the best I've read this year. I liked it so much I wrote a fan letter to Alden Bell--and got a very nice note back.The story is about a 15-year-old girl surviving in a country given over to zombies, after some unnamed apocalypse. She kills the wrong man, and is pursued by his vengeful brother. Along the way she picks up a charge--a mentally handicapped man, whom she looks after as well as she can.
There are shades here of Charles Portis, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Flannery O'Connor...I know. It's that good. It's Southern Gothic written by a talented stylist interested as much in character as he is in zombies. I know, I know. Just read it. It's terrific.
The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
karenlibrarian, July 14, 2011
This book is amazing, one of the best I've read this year. I liked it so much I wrote a fan letter to Alden Bell--and got a very nice note back.The story is about a 15-year-old girl surviving in a country given over to zombies, after some unnamed apocalypse. She kills the wrong man, and is pursued by his vengeful brother. Along the way she picks up a charge--a mentally handicapped man, whom she looks after as well as she can.
There are shades here of Charles Portis, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Flannery O'Connor...I know. It's that good. It's Southern Gothic written by a talented stylist interested as much in character as he is in zombies. I know, I know. Just read it. It's terrific.
About Alice by Calvin Trillin
karenlibrarian, January 22, 2011
Short and not exactly bittersweet, but maybe rueful. Trillin paints, in about 75 pages, a portrait of the woman behind the wife in his many books. Alice was a larger-than-life person with talents and flaws, like everyone we love. This is a beautiful little book.(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
True Grit by Charles Portis
karenlibrarian, January 1, 2011
Best book I (re)read all year. It's funny, tragic, completely absorbing. Portis is a master of narrative voice--Mattie Ross is a completely convincing, absorbing tale-teller. I've loved this story for years, and was so excited to see the Coen Brothers make it into a movie this year. Total win for 2010.(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)