by Scott W Clemens | Oct 5, 2022 | Uncategorized
In the past two weeks, I’ve listened to three audiobooks — Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan, and A Familiar Stranger by A.R. Torre, and Cloud Cookoo Land by Anthony Doer.
LITTLE BEACH STREET BAKERY, by Jenny Colgan: I’ve become a fan of Jenny Colgan since I discovered her work earlier this year. She writes Romance the way Romance should be written. Her heroines are plucky and resourceful, meet with adversity and overcome it, and are universally likeable people. I should elaborate on that last trait, but that’s a separate post. Little Beach Street Bakery is set in Cornwall, in the real-life village of Saint Michael’s Mount, fictionalized as Mount Polbearne. Colgan does a marvelous job of making the town an important character in its own right. The dialogue is natural, the characters (mostly) appealing. If the book has a weakness, it’s in its similarity to another of her books, The Bookshop on the Corner. These are feel-good, hopeful novels that will remind you of JoJo Moyes and Maeve Binchy.
A FAMILIAR STRANGER, by A.R. Torre: I decided to try this novel because it shows up in the “Also bought” line below the reviews of Evelyn Marsh, and because it has decent ratings and over 400 ratings. A Familiar Stranger is a unique psychological thriller told from multiple viewpoints, which the author plenty of room for misdirection and keeps the reader guessing. I found the beginning a little slow, but when the point of view changed, I was compelled to keep turning pages to figure out who was fooling whom. Unfortunately, the characters are, with one exception, unlikeable. Also, I found the moral denouement a little too pat for my taste, though it will probably satisfy most readers. Despite my reservations, A.R, Torre has crafted a page-turner here, and I intend to try more of her work.
CLOUD COOKOO LAND, by Anthony Doer: I don’t limit myself to one or two genres, I read across genres. After all, a good book is a good book. I love literary novels. Unfortunately, this highly rated literary/sci-fi novel fell short of the mark. The conceit isn’t enough to salvage these disjointed, dystopian stories. I felt Simon Jones’s narration made a buffoonery of what might have been an instructive little fable. Marin Ireland’s narration was adequate. But no narrator can improve a fatally flawed story. We are left with the belief that human beings haven’t learned anything over the past millennia, nor are we capable of improvement. How depressing!
I would have given up on this title early on, and only kept listening to the end because sometimes a book that starts badly is saved by a brilliant ending. Unfortunately, the ending of Cloud Cookoo Land was underwhelming. Not worth your time.
by Scott W Clemens | Sep 17, 2022 | Uncategorized
5 out of 5 stars. I’m grateful to have spent time getting to know Eleanor Oliphant. This is undoubtedly one of the most compelling character arcs ever. For some reason, I’m reminded of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. So mind-bogglingly good, it’s hard to fathom that this is a debut novel. Don’t miss it.
by Scott W Clemens | Aug 27, 2022 | Uncategorized
Evocative of another time, The Go-Between explores the mores of the late Victorian Age at an English country manor, as seen through the eyes of a visitor about to turn 13 years old, or rather it is told by an old man who, upon finding his old diary, remembers what it was like to be turning 13 in the summer of 1900, not quite fitting into the adult world, ignorant of so much, yet keenly observant. Looking back from a distance of 50 years, separated by two World Wars and the breakdown of the class system, he can see that “The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there.” It’s a graceful, beautifully written novel, reminiscent of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. Highly recommended.
by Scott W Clemens | Aug 25, 2022 | Uncategorized
I’ve read a lot of good books this year, but none as captivating as A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor. Towles. I’m in awe of Towles’ facility with language. It’s like watching a one-man stage show, where you lose yourself in a character at once more inventive and more fluent than anyone you’ve ever met, but wish you had. I didn’t want it to end. At first, I thought this was a throwback to Henry James, but A Gentleman in Moscow is so much more. It’s full of humor and heart and erudition. For those of us who scribble for a living, this is a humbling experience.
Most of us try to write the most succinct sentence, but a great author can achieve the sublime through embellishment. As highlighted by another reviewer, the following two sentences beautifully illustrate Towles’ power of observation, his deft use of language, his playfulness, and unhurried pace. Instead of writing “It was a long sentence,” Towles writes:
“Here, indeed, was a formidable sentence–one that was on intimate terms with a comma, and that held the period in healthy disregard.”
And while he could have written succinctly that “His troubles kept him awake,” Towles displays an effortless inventiveness by writing instead:
“But, alas, sleep did not come so easily to our weary friend. Like in a reel in which the dancers form two rows, so that one of their number can come skipping brightly down the aisle, a concern of the Count’s would present itself for his consideration, bow with a flourish, and then take its place at the end of the line so that the next concern could come dancing to the fore.”
I’ve read the hardcover and listened to the audio edition, and I’d like to give a shoutout to the narrator of the audio edition, Nicholas Guy Smith. His upper-crust English accent perfectly portrays this upper-crust Russian. Smith handles all of the characters’ accents (including an American) with aplomb.
by Scott W Clemens | Aug 25, 2022 | Uncategorized
My review of the audio edition of BearTown, by Fredrik Backman:
Ingmar Bergman Meets The Mighty Ducks
How depressing! I would have given up on this downer at the midpoint, but for the fact that I didn’t feel I could review it without actually listening all the way to the bitter end. I wanted to review it to give readers a warning. This is the story of a dirty little town populated by despicable people with parochial views. Of the more than twenty characters, I found only three that were somewhat sympathetic, and even then I found it hard to care what happened to them. Backman’s writing style is hampered here by his choice of the present tense, which makes it read more like a synopsis than a novel; you’ll find no description here. On the positive side, Backman details the entwining relationships in this stultifying small town. It’s only made bearable by the excellent narration of Marin Ireland.
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