Firmin by Sam Savage

Firmin was yet another book picked up to try and avoid reading Sunnyside. I really think that book is going back to the library unread. I don't usually remember where I've read about particular books, but this one was fairly recent so I can say this one comes from a review at Savidgereads. Narrated by Firmin, a rat, it's not something I would have ordinarily picked up, but it was a glowing review and it's about books!

Firmin is the runt of the litter, who spends his infancy struggling to find space on the teat, so resorts to eating books in the basement of the bookshop his mother has made his nest in. Doesn't sound like a particularly tasty diet, but it has an unusual effect on Firmin. It, by some unknown process, enables him to be able to read. As soon as he discovers this, he becomes a voracious reader, working his way through all the books found in the basement where his family's nest was located. As his family desert the nest, he is the only one who remains in the bookshop, and as he discovers the rest of the bookshop, he makes what is probably my favourite quote in the book.

"Sometimes the books were arranged under signs, but sometimes they were just anywhere and everywhere. After I understood people better, I realised that this incredible disorder was one of the things they loved about Pembroke books. They did not come there just to buy a book, plunk down some cash and scram. they hung around. They called it browsing, but it was more like excavation or mining. I was surprised they didn't come with shovels. They dug for treasures with bare hands, up to their armpits sometimes, and when they hauled some literary nugget from a mound of dross they were much happier than if they had just walked in and bought it."

Firmin, therefore is a story narrated by a book-loving, cinema visiting, thinking rat. He is not a cartoon character though. He is still a rat, with all the tendencies usually attributed to a rat, except he can read, and formulate ideas. Unusually for stories narrated by animals, this was actually quite a melancholic tale. We are told at the start that it is a sad story, and Firmin is never quite at ease with himself. He can read the books, but as he is a rat, he cannot speak, or articulate any thoughts. He spends a lot of time watching the owner of the bookshop and imagines that they are similar, and even that they are friends, but when he believes him to have let him down he is devastated, although he never quite lets go of the bookshop.

Firmin is a fully realised character. As readers we get to learn all about his wishes and desires, the main one being his desire to love and be loved. He never quite achieves this, mainly due to the fact that he is a rat, but with human thoughts, and his anibility to communicate these thoughts. Although his attempts to learn sign language are amusing, but his attempt to try it out on the public has mixed results.

All this is set against the background of the destruction of the area that the bookshop is situated in, it being demolished for modernisation. This progresses throughout the novel, obviously climaxing at the end of the story. Firmin is the eyes of us all, although he seems to see what is going on and how it affects all the residents and businesses of Scollay square with innocent eyes, seeing only the destruction and desolation in a microcosm as it affects his own world, for example, food becoming scarce as the population decreases, and his favourite haunts shutting down.

I find it difficult to say quite why I liked this book so much. I was gripped by Firmin's story, and his adventures both in the bookshop and out of it. I loved the way his worldview was totally informed by literature and the shock when he realised it was not like this. And his totally unique worldview, and optimistic view of the way humanity would treat a cultured rat! Peppered with literary references, he compares virtually everything he experiences to literature, and even each chapter is prefaced with a picture of a book mentioned during the story. It was just a really entertaining, thought provoking story, and I was engrossed from beginning to end. And I'll just finish on my second favourite passage because I couldn't leave it out.

"I had discovered a remarkable relation, a kind of preestablished harmony, between the taste and the literary quality of a book. To know if something was worth reading I only had to nibble a portion of the printed area. I learned to use the title page for this, leaving the title page intact. Good to eat is good to read became my motto"

I just love this idea!

The Herring-Sellers Apprentice by L.C. Tyler

I just want to start by saying I loved this book! I picked this up from the library pile for two reasons. I thought it might make me smile and I am having major difficulties getting into Sunnyside, or even caring anything about the characters at all. The Herring Seller's Apprentice is a detective story, with a difference. It is obvious that it is different when we get the postscript at the start of the book and the beginning at the end!

Ethelred Tressider is an author who writes three different types of novel under three different pen names. Cozy detective mysteries, historical mysteries and fluffy romances. He lives alone, and at least during this book, the only other person he is close to is his literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle. When Elsie is paying a visit to him, he receives a visit from the police informing him that his ex-wife has disappeared and her car has been found on the beach complete with apparent suicide note. Ethelred is understandably surprised about this, especially since she lives nowhere near him anymore. This would obviously leave him the prime suspect but he has an alibi as he was in France at the time. Elsie thinks it doesn't quite sound right, and wants to investigate themselves. Ethelred is reluctant to do this, at least that's what he says to Elsie anyway. But it appears that he is investigating, although certain things he will only do once he has 'lost' Elsie.

Elsie herself however does not give up that easily, and she starts investigating Ethelred herself, as she does not quite believe that everything he is telling her is true. In fact it is, although in a very literal way, which is not revealed until the end of the book. The relationship between Ethelred and Elsie was one of the best parts of this book. Although they are essentially only business associates they do seem to know each other quite well, even down to what they will each do. They seem to be double bluffing each other all the time. For example, when he gives her a letter to be opened if he disappears, when Elsie opens it at the first opportunity it starts 

"Dear Elsie (it read) I assume that you will read this in the first lay-by on the way home. And that's fine by me"

It then goes on to talk to her about where he might be going, not just where he's gone.  Going back to Elsie, she also narrates sections of the book,and this brings me nicely round to the other aspect of this book that I liked. It was self-referential. It was written as a detective story, using all the conventions of detective fiction, including red herrings, multiple suspects, and an ending that could be worked out (I did, just about) but at times refers to itself as a story. When Elsie first starts her narrative parts of the story she says

"If there's one thing that gets up my sodding nose, its starting a new chapter and finding that the poxy narrator has changed. Changing the typeface just adds insult to injury, as if the author (silly tosser) reckons the reader won't recognise it's somebody else without putting it in twenty-four point sodding haettenschweiler. Or whatever"

And just to add to it, the typeface changes dramatically at this point! It changes again when we start to get extracts from Ethelred's detective stories inserted into the story. This was probably the only point I didn't quite see the need for. I think his struggles with writing his generic fiction was supposed to be some kind of pointer, but I didn't quite get that bit. But it wasn't a huge part of the book, almost incidental, so it didn't detract from my enjoyment at all.

I really enjoyed this, and there is more in this series so I am looking forward to reading those too!

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

Jamaica Inn would be my second Du Maurier book, the first being her most well known, Rebecca. I loved that, and immediately decided I needed to read more. This also fulfils my aim to read more books published before I was born (by miles) as it was first published in 1933. There was no real reason for it being this one I chose to read next, it was just the first one I came across! It's very different in storyline to Rebecca, but similarly moody and atmospheric.

Mary Yellan travels to Jamaica Inn in the wilds of Cornwall to live with her Aunt Patience and her husband, Joss, after her mother's death. She doesn't want to go, and would rather stay in her home village, but she is fulfilling a promise she made to her mother before she died, and she refuses to break her word. From the first coach journey to the Inn, an ominous mood is created as the driver does not even want to leave her there, telling her tales of an evil landlord, and implying that no-one visits anymore, and everyone drives past without a second glance. Once at the Inn, Mary discovers the brutal attitude of her uncle for herself, and sees the downtrodden, shell of a woman her mother's sister has become, totally different from the last time she saw her.

There is obviously something illegal taking place at the inn on a regular basis, which Mary assumes is smuggling, with carriages arriving, and things being unloaded and stored in a barred room in the inn. She suspects it may be something more, especially on hearing (but not seeing) the presence of an unknown man in the Inn on the first occasion she is witness to these nocturnal activities. Believing it to be just smuggling, she initially covers for the landlord to the local magistrate,mainly to protect her aunt, who she has already decided she will extricate from her situation somehow. With her assumptions about smuggling, Mary has really only scratched the surface of her uncle's illegal activities, but she doesn't discover the true extent of his law breaking until he spills the beans when drunk.

Mary lives a lonely existence at Jamaica. She really only has two friends, aside from her aunt Patience, and she is so downtrodden, she cannot support Mary at all, apart from to tell her to humour her uncle, and not challenge him. She has a strong confidant in a local vicar, who she trusts implicitly and she is reluctantly drawn towards Joss' younger brother, Jem, although she never entirely trusts him. You can't really blame her for that, he does freely admit to being a horse stealer, amongst other things. Both of these men play a crucial role in the eventual outcome of the story, but not until there has been a few twists and turns along the way.

To all intents and purposes this is a fairly simple, gothic (almost mystery) story. What makes it special is the beautiful descriptions of the rugged Cornish landscape, which I can only assume is accurate, at least for the time. And it is not just portrayed beautifully, it is used to mirror the moods and emotions of the characters, particularly Mary. Obviously this tale takes place in winter, so it is cold and bare, and often raining. But this only adds to the ominous, almost fatalistic feel of this novel. Something bad is always around the corner.

The characters were also very well written. Aunt Patience (appropriate name I thought), comes across very well as a woman who has been so completely worn down by her husband, and is juxtaposed very well with Mary, who is determined not to let this happen to her. Mary as headstrong and independent, but not unrealistically so, as she realises as an unmarried woman, she really needs somewhere to live, as living on her own is not really an option. I short, I really enjoyed this, possibly not quite as much as Rebecca, but still definitely worth reading.

Ghosts by Edwidge Danticat

With Edwidge Danticat being Haitian, she's been quite prominent over recent days, but I have to confess I'd never heard of her. Haitian literature was something I'd never even considered, and in fact, I don't know very much about the country itself (something I think I may have to remedy judging from this story). I just thought it was timely to read this story now, and hopefully might serve as an introduction to a Danticat novel at some point.

The scene is set with Pascal and his family living in the area called Bel-Air, which he describes himself as 'a mid-level slum'. It is not over-run with gangs, but it does have one major gang active in the area. His family run a restaurant in the area, but that has also become central to the gangs activities. Working for the radio station Pascal decides he would like to pitch an idea for a radio show based on Gang members sharing their exploits (for want of a better word). Understandably, this is turned down, but then when a similar show is broadcast anyway it sets in place a series of events that lead to the radio station being burnt down and Pascal being arrested for the crime.

As to where it goes from there, that would probably be giving too much away. Suffice to say, it's a pretty no holds barred expose of corruption and gang predominance in almost all aspects of Haitian life, and culture. The whole story is a fairly grim description of life in Haiti. From what I've read, the gang warfare, bribery and corruption are a pretty normal part of life and if so, some of the comments in this story are pretty chilling.

"The officers were laughing even as he hiccupped and sobbed. To his ear, there was no difference between their laughter, their taunting, and that of Tiye and his crew. They could all have switched places, and no one would notice."

"One day, it might occur to someone, someone angry and powerful, someone obsessive and maniacal—a police chief or a gang leader, a leader of the opposition or a leader of the nation—that they, and all those who lived like them or near them, would be better off dead."

I think this is what I found most interesting about this story. The unfairness, violence and brutality is talked about through the whole story with a sense of acceptance, not outrage. No-one is surprised, and everyone just seems to get on with life, working around the issues of gangs and brutality. The setting and political climate is described perfectly, and the lack of horror in the characters reactions to events seems only to highlight the horror I felt.

The Seance by John Harwood

I've been waiting for the Seance a long time. I'd requested it from the library in time to read over Halloween! According to the library catalogue, it was on the shelves, but no-one could seem to be able to find it! But it did eventually turn up, or the library gave up looking and bought a new copy? It is a brand new book, so could be either!


It is really a story within a story, as it starts in one place and then veers off in a different direction altogether. We start (and finish) the story with Constance Langton, a priviledged child in Victorian England and a brief overview of her life in her childhood home. However, although she was financially privileged, emotionally both her parents were distant. Her mother is in permanent mourning for her younger sister, who died in infancy, and her father has very little emotional attachment to her at all. Constance is brought up in the care of her nurse, and is then sent to school. When her father eventually leaves, a chance encounter leads Constance into the world of seances, and what she sees as an opportunity to make her mother happy again. Constance convinces her mother to attend a number of seances with her, and in consultation with the 'medium', Constance pretends that Alma is speaking through her and for a time, her mother seems to improve. But when the 'contact' with Alma leads to disastrous consequences, Constance is left to face life with her increasingly distant father.

Constance is saved from this fate in the nick of time by the appearance of a distant uncle, who offers her the chance to live with him, which she gladly accepts. She then discovers she is the sole inheritor of a run down estate, Wraxford Hall, with a dubious history, and at first the only advice the solicitor will give her is to sell it, sight unseen and to never ever live there. And just to add to the intrigue, he is shocked by her appearance as she seems to bear a striking resemblance to someone he once knew. He does eventually reconsider though, ands sends Constance a packet of journals explaining the history of the decrepit house and what happened there.

This is where we veer off into a totally different story, and move into a story of the spooky and disturbing events that happened at Wraxford Hall, which include eccentric old men, mysterious accidents, mesmerism, villainous men and suspicious deaths. The story itself is full of intrigue, mystery and murder. Nell Wraxford, a woman who possibly has real clairvoyant powers flees her stifling, distant family to her friends in the countryside, falls in love with a man her family would consider unsuitable, is blissfully happy for a short while until tragedy strikes, and all the supernatural connections with the Hall are threaded into the story. The story within the story ends with murder, in a most bizarre fashion, and the disappearance of numerous central characters.

The book itself doesn't end here though. We return to Constance, determined to prove that that Nell was innocent, possibly that she's still alive and even that she may be her daughter. The idea of fake Seances returns to the plot here, as Constance takes a trip to the hall and eventually unwinds all the twisted threads and discovers the truth, with the usual twists that accompany Victorian fiction.

I really enjoyed this book. All the twists, turns, red herrings and vague suggestions kept me guessing right until the end. The plot hinges on various aspects that are mentioned throughout the story, and everything that Constance works out is laid out throughout the story, when you go back and look for it. The portrayal of women in Victorian society was covered very well, especially the idea of them being possessions of their husbands, and at their beck and call. Both the central female characters in the story suffer for being women in Victorian England. It was typical of this type of fiction that the plot was turned on it's head at least twice, and just as we think we've figured it all out, something else comes along and changes it all. Brilliant!

The Bad Girl by Mario Vargo Llosa

The Bad Girl wasn't what I was expecting. I don't know what I was expecting it to be like, but it wasn't this. I want to say it's a love story, but there's not a lot of love in it, just sexual obsession, selfishness and cruelty. Then I thought I would say it was story of a couple's progression through life from early teens to late middle age, but that's not really right either, because I don't think they could ever be classed as a couple, and we only get to see certain parts of their life, when they do actually come together, although the book spans half a century.

So starting at the beginning, I'll try and say what this book actually is. Ricardo is Peruvian, and as a teenager he falls totally in love with Lily, a Chilean girl living in Peru, and although she seems to feel the same, she will never commit to him, and following an embarrassing incident, disappears totally from his life. Following this, Ricardo works hard to achieve his only real ambition in life, which is to live in Paris. He lives frugally, and works sporadically as a translator, and later an interpreter, but the only real friendship he develops is with Paul, a man who runs a restaurant, but whose main interest is the political rebellion taking place in Peru. This is the turning point, for this is when he meets a woman calling herself Comrade Arlette, immediately realises she is his teenage sweetheart, falls in love all over again and throws his heart and soul into getting her out of the revolutionary movement she has got herself involved in. She promises to return to Paris as soon as she is able, and he waits. But when she does return, she is married to a relatively well off Frenchman, and he is devastated.

This pattern repeats itself throughout the book, with each long chapter focusing on a different period in Ricardo's life, with Lily, who Ricardo terms 'the bad girl' showing up, each time with a different name and a different identity. She lets him keep falling in love with her, help her escape whatever crisis she has got herself into, and then leaves to find a different life. The bad girl is characterised as a shallow, materialistic woman, who is really only out to make a nice, easy life for herself, and will trample over anyone to get what she wants. Although, it is difficult to say she is the same person each time Ricardo meets her. She re-invents herself so much that she is almost a different person each time. As readers, we don't feel we know her as we see her life through Ricardo's eyes, and he only ever knows her as her current alias, never as what she really is. The end does clear some of this up, and the explanation of who she is and why she behaves the way she does helps understand her, and softens the fairly harsh image of her portrayed throughout the book.

I liked this book. As well as the relationship between 'Lily' and Ricardo, the descriptions of the places they find themselves in, particularly the cultural and political situations are interesting and informative. The only thing I'm struggling with is coming to a decision about what I think about Ricardo. On one hand I want to say he's a fool for keep taking her back, and letting her manipulate him, but on the other hand, his loyalty is admirable and it is interesting to see how he does harden against her, and how gradually the story moves from him chasing her, to her searching him out. Again the end does shed some light on his character, but I still remain ambiguous about his credibility.

Is it me....or my books?

I've felt recently that I'm becoming slightly over critical with the books I read. I enjoy them all, it's very rare I actually pick up a book I don't like at all. At first I thought it was just me, either trying to find something to criticise, or just picking the wrong books to read in the first place. The only way to find out was to go back and read my reviews, and try and figure it out. Which is when I think I came upon a surprising conclusion............

I think I read too much fiction published in the last few years!

My reading habits have always tended towards recent fiction, and I've always been happy with it. However, over the last few months the best books I've read have been the older ones, such as The Heart of the Matter, The Woman in Black and The Bookshop. Now there is always the possibility that this could be co-incidence, and I'm perfectly prepared to believe that. But I am going to make a concerted effort to change the ratio of new books to slightly older ones.
The only thing left now is to define (mainly to myself) what I'm classing as recent! I was going to pick a definitive date, but that seems a bit harsh. But the date I'd got in mind was 1976 (year I was born), so I'll go with that as a rough guide. So in brief, hopefully more, but by no means all, of the books I read (for now at least) will have been published before I was born, there or thereabouts.