The Given Day - Dennis Lehane

The Given Day
Dennis Lehane

The Given Day is in that class of books my husband affectionately refers to as ‘widow makers’. Once I started reading this book, I was quickly immersed in the story and the rest of the world simply dissolved. The Given Day documents a time of violence and struggle for workers rights which saw the birth of the union movement. Against this historical and political landscape, Lehane writes a powerful and moving family epic with sharp and well researched narrative and surprising cameo use of historical figures such as Babe Ruth and J Edgar Hoover as pivotal character points.

Set in Boston in 1919, The Given Day follows the turmoil of events following the return of the WWI war veterans. During this time, the Spanish Influenza, escalating terrorism and the talk of prohibition plagued America. Danny Coughlin, a police officer and the eldest son of one of Boston’s legendary police captains, empathizes with the people’s grievances. Living and working in the predominantly Italian neighbourhoods of the North End, he is faced with the daily assault of the political dissent. He sees first hand the effect of poor working conditions have on those around him. In his own profession, Danny’s pay is below the poverty line and despite long shifts and often dangerous conditions; there is no compensation for his colleagues in the event of injury or disability. When he joins the union, he finds fierce opposition from his father who considers those who join unions as ‘Bolshevik’s and anarchists’ and the stage is set for a showdown between the two.

Another central character in the book is Luther Laurence, a coloured talented baseball player, on the run over a nightclub shooting in Oklahoma. Leaving his wife and unborn child, Luther flees to Boston where he finds employment in the Coughlin household. There he befriends Danny and the Coughlin Irish maid Nora. His troubles however are not far behind as he finds himself once again having to settle scores with old and new enemies.

Lehane’s style is impressive by the way the words leap out of the page with great energy and passion, bringing history alive in their punchy deliverance. I found myself savoring this book, not wanting it to end, and feeling a sharp edge of regret once the end finally came.

The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas

The Slap
Christos Tsiolkas
Allen & Unwin
A group of people are gathered at a suburban Barbecue. During the afternoon an incident between one of the guests and a four year old result in consequences that directly, or indirectly, affect all who are present.

Told almost as collection of short stories through the perspective of eight characters, all with different background, age, ethnicity and value systems, The Slap is a provocative, unflinching novel that explores our inner most beliefs and the conflicting issues we face.

I enjoyed having a different portal in which the same situation had been explored. Hearing the different points of view shows there is no black or white situation - that our beliefs are a sum of all our life's experiences.

The Slap is hands down my clear favourite amongst this year's Australian fiction and if there is any justice in the world, the judges of The Booker & The Miles Franklin Award will agree.

A Fraction Of the Whole - Steve Toltz

A Fraction Of The Whole
Steve Toltz
Viking

Short Listed for the Man Booker prize in 2008, 'A Fraction of the Whole' was originally rejected by agents and publishers in Australia. It was only through a chance contact that the book was brought to the attention of Random House America and like a real-life fairytale went on to receive worldwide release and a nod from the most prestigeous literary prize.

Set in Australia, the book follows the Deans Family as retold by Martin Dean.

'The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle more than any other man. I might as well set the story straight about both of them.'

And so begins the first part of the book where we are taken on a rollicking rollercoaster of a family yarn. Witty and side-splittingly funny, it is delightfully original and satisfying. Unfortunately that's where the fun ends. From there, Toltz takes the reader on a different tangent. We learn about his parents through his father's diaries upon which, the book loses all its adventurous flare and instead settles into a steady tedium that overshadowes it's original momentum. There are still occasional flashes of its brilliant start but they became increasingly rare as the book draggs on.

A Fraction of The Whole starts with a great deal of promise and probably could have kept it, had it been culled back by a few 100 pages to maintain its momentum.

Wanting - Richard Flanigan

Wanting
Richard Flanagan
Knopf

I heard Richard interviewed on the radio and was intrigued by the story. I love books that use historical characters and weave a fictional story around them - a reason why I enjoy Geraldine Brooks' titles.

The book opens in 1839 in an Aboriginal community at Flinders Island that is ravaged by consumption. Seven year old Mathinna, daughter of a chief king, has lost both her parents but still possesses a quality that charms all that come into contact with her. On a visit to the island, the new Tasmanian Governor Sir John Franklin and his wife Lady Jane become captivated by the girl. The childless couple decide to adopt the girl as an experiment to prove that the savage can be civilised.

Eighteen years later in Manchester, author Charles Dickens is enlisted and befriended by Lady Jane to defend canabalising rumours circulating around the Sir John's failed expedition to find the North West Passage. Dickens gallantly defends Sir John in a piece in his journal 'Household Words'. The piece inspires The Frozen Deep, a play in which Dickens, stars, produces and directs. He meets Ellen Ternan, a girl many years his junior who fills the void of his loveless marriage.

It was Mathinna rather than Dicken's story that kept me reading. After she was cruelly abandoned by the Franklins, her life spiralled into days fuelled by alcohol, sex and violence. Her upbringing in the Franklin household ensured she would never feel at home amongst the Aborigines and yet the colour of her skin ensured she would never be accepted by the whites. Wanting is a tragic meditation on desire and it's denial. Although I fell in love with the concept, I found most of the book a difficult task to read. Up to the point Mathinna was put into an orphanage by the Franklins I had trouble empathizing with any of the characters.

Wanting is the type of book which will surely be winning awards but have trouble finding readership outside die-hard literary circles. Personally I'd rather read something that has me glued to it's pages.