Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom

Tuesdays With Morrie
Mitch Albom

The best selling memoir, chronicles Albom's visits to his old college professor, Morrie Schwartz, in the months before Morrie passed away from a Motor Neuron Desease.

Morrie Schwartz is an inspirational teacher and mentor, touching the lives of his students. Sixteen years as passed since Albom last seen his professor. He is reminded of the promise he made on his graduation to keep in touch and learning of Morrie's illness decides to visit him.


Visiting his old prefessor every Tuesday, Morrie's wit, wisdom and the joy he takes in living strikes a strong chord with Albom. Having moved away from the ideals he once held in college, Albom is witness to the values that although have not made Morrie rich, have remunerated him with a rewarding and happy life. Growing up, Albom once inspired to the same principals of happiness but has lost sight of them in his quest to become a successful sports reporter. Each Tuesday Albom learns a new lesson from his professor... the secrets of living a happy life.

This is not the type of book I normally choose to read. Picked by a member of our book group (she also picked Eat, Pray, Love), it smacks of smug, over bearing sentimental clap trap that makes Oprah fans salivate. There is nothing new to be learnt that we have not already been taught by Oprah in her quest to educate and better our lives. I have not seen the Albom-Oprah episode but can only imagine the visit was filled with lots of tear-jerking sentiments and heart-felled audience enthusiasm who despite having heard the same message a thousand times (afterall most of it is just commonsense), believe it to be far more powerful when received from the whispy last breaths of a dying man.

Albom's memoir, however noble in its intention, still comes across schmaltzy and preachy. It might be a reflection of our society that we flock with such enthusiasm towards parables in the hope of unlocking the secret to life's happiness. Maybe if we are serious about change, we should stop looking to outside sources and take a quiet moment to reflect on ourselves. We might just find the answers already there. 3 stars

The Street Sweeper - Elliot Perlman

The Street Sweeper

Elliot Perlman

Vintage

On a busy New York City corner, four people, a street sweeper, an oncologist, a history professor and a little girl are clustered in a small group. From those who pass them on that busy corner, few if any have any idea as to what has led the group here. Yet these seemingly unrelated individuals from different walks of life are bound by a common history of struggle, bravery, and unexpected kindness of those who have come before them.

Recently released from prison, Lamont Williams is an African American janitor working on probation in an Manhattan hospital and seeking to locate the daughter he has not seen for the past few years. By chance on one of his shifts, Lamont befriends an elderly patient, Henryk Mendelbrot, a Holocaust survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau prison camp.

Whilst Henryk recalls the horrors of those dark days in Poland from his hospital bed, a few kilometers uptown, the historian Adam Zignelik, a history professor at Columbia University and the son of a civil rights lawyer, is on the cusp of a professional and personal crisis. Desperate for something to save him, he uncovers the remarkable story of a man who was determined to record the voices and stories of Holocaust survivors.

As the two men struggle to survive in the early 21st-century New York, their different paths converge in ways neither could have foreseen. Their stories span the 20th century, sweeping across continents and touching on pivotal historical moments, to finally bring us to the present. In the hands of a less skillful author, The Street Sweeper could have ended up a sentimental Holocaust or a preaching civil rights story. But Perlman's fresh approach and skill breathed new life into these well-visited chapters of our history. 4 stars

To Be Sung Under Water - Tom McNeal

To Be Sung Under Water

Tom McNeal

Abacus

The first time we fall in love, lasts forever.

Love is complex. It can uplift spirits and it can bring them crashing to the ground. Traversing between Vermont and Nebraska where her parents have separated to, Judith meets and falls in love with Willy Blunt. They separate, promising to wait for one another when she leaves for college. But now Judith is introduced to a different world and has new sets of friend. She meets Malcolm and consciously starts to let go of her past; starts to let go of Willy and the promises she made him.

In her mid-forties, Judith is living in California. She is married to Malcolm and together they have an intelligent teenage daughter. In her career, she's a successful film editor and puts in long hours to meet deadlines. By all counts, Judith has everything a modern career woman aspires to in the 21st-century. But Judith is not happy. She suspects her husband is having an affair; her daughter behaves distant and she feels threatened by the new breed of ambitious editors gunning for her job. As Judith becomes more disillusioned with her life, her thoughts return to happier days. And to Willy Blunt. At this point the author raises the philosophical question: if you had the chance to reunite with your first love, would you do it?

For Judith it means returning to Nebraska and track down Willy Blunt. She discovers Willy shrunken by life. Married with two sons, he has never forgotten Judith. Alone in the log cabin he has built, he confesses to her these poignant words.

For you, I was a chapter-a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter-and for me, you were the book.

Although To Be Sung Under Water has all the ingredients of a sweet and tender love story, and although McNeal's writing is staggering, I could not find myself being drawn to the story or the characters. I understand that there are loves that never leave our hearts; feelings that no amount of time or distance can erode. But I failed to understand Judith. She has a comfortable life. Her suspicions over her husband's infidelity are unfounded and her relationship with her daughter can be resolved if she spends less time holing herself in her past and more time with her.

I had high expectations from To Be Sung Under Water. I really hoped to fall in love, to swoon, to be heart sick over the unrequited love. But in the end, the story failed to connect. 3 stars

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern
Harvill

Le Cirque des Rêves arrives unexpectedly one day. Behind the black & white striped canvas tents lays an enchanting world of beauty and unexplainable illusions. A sumptuously rich and textured tale, The Night Circus is dark as it is dazzling.

At the centre of the tale is the rivalry between two magicians and their pupils, trained from an early age for a single purpose. Celia and Marco unbeknown to one another have been hand picked to compete in a game where only one will be left standing.

The circus is the venue by which the opponents display their skills and set challenges for the other to follow. But this time, the opponents are too well matched, and what begins as a show of talent grows into something deeper. And darker. Something that could effect the fate of the circus and those involved with it.

The Night Circus is a tale of love, rivalry and wondrous illusions. The plot is cleverly played out, and tucked between chapters are small invitations for the reader to experience the circus firsthand. Highly original and artistic, The Night Circus is sensuous and ultimately satisfying.

4.5 Stars.

For The Term Of His Natural life - Marcus Clarke

For The Term Of His Natural Life

Marcus Clarke

Penguin

Accused of a crime he did not commit, Richard Devine- an English aristocrat, is sentenced to life imprisonment at the penal colony of Tasmania. Taking on a new identity (to save his mother grief and shame), the now Rufus Dawes sails to Van Diemen's Land on board a convict ship. What he discovers upon arrival, he encounters a penal system entrenched in treachery, savagery and cruelty.

This book polarised our small book group. Whilst some debated the circumstances which conspired to convict Dawes, I argued in favour of Clarke's writing. Whilst the dense layout of text irritated some of our readers, I applauded the content and prose. And whilst they thought the relationships were highly improbable, I again stood my ground and pointed out its merits.

In truth, I forgive the book's follies because I enjoyed the imagery and took great pleasure in the structure of the sentences. I sighed longingly at my inability to match Clark's skill. Had Clarke been a lesser writer, then I may have been less forgiving. But since he's not, I continue to argue in his favour.

4 Stars

Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht

The Tiger's Wife
Tea Obreht
W&N

There appears to be a new trend amongst the up and coming literary giants. Beautifully composed and artfully layed out novels, this new breed of young authors are telling stories steeped part in legend and part in reality. The Tiger's Wife is one such book. An amalgamation of interwining stories, it encapsulates the purity, mystery and darkness of the human spirit.

The book opens with the protaganist Natalia hearing the news of her beloved grandfather's passing. A shroud of mystery surrounds his death and his decision to travel to the remote village just before he passes away. Deciding to investigate, Natalia heads out to the village to unravel the mystery. As the story unfolds we come to realise the key to her grandfather's life and death "lies between two stories: the story of the tiger's wife, and the story of the deathless man".

Mistaking the style at first glance as YA, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a tale that effortlessly transcends genres to knit a mystery shrouded in darkness and Balkan folklore. Unravelling each piece of the puzzle presented new joy and my delight in Obreht prose was endless.

The Tiger's Wife is extravagant, folkish, bizarre and ultimately a joy to read.

4 Stars

Fall of Giants - Ken Follet

Fall Of Giants
Ken Follet
MacMillan

Fall Of Giants is both wonderful and disappointing at the same time. An epic novel, it has a cast of characters with intertwining lives, whose stories traverse across a sweeping world stage.

What makes 'Fall Of Giants' wonderful is its vast historic content. With an army of historians at his disposal, Follet weaves a tale on a massive scale, taking care to illustrate all view points. I particularly enjoyed the Russian revolution and Follet's close attention to detail which had me absorbed throughout the second half of the book.

What let the book down for me is Follet's writing. Historical facts are drummed in with patronizing regularity. Follet has a habit of drawing the readers' attention to obvious points. As the result the narrative comes across coerced and details that may have been better served left subtly for the reader to decipher are force fed.

Another issue I have with this book is the two main characters Ethel and her brother Billy. Despite their very limited schooling, both possess superior oratory talents. Follet explains this rather unlikely skill (several times as if trying to convince not just the reader but also himself) by the family's minister father's habit of encouraging his children to debate around the dinner table.

Overall, Fall Of Giants is an ambitious and enjoyable read. Heavily researched, it makes for an entertaining saga filled with war, love, betrayal and intrigue. 3 stars