Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Sisters, Ruthie and Lucille are left by their mother in the porch of their grandmother’s house in the small town of Fingerbone in Idaho.   Their mother doesn’t come back and her body is found later.   In Fingerbone the people are embittered, the environment harsh and the winters long.  Friendless, the girls seek solace in each other’s company.  Their grandmother cares for them as best she can, but enlists the help of her sisters-in-law (Nona and Lilly) should anything happen to her.  After the death of their grandmother the elderly sisters-in-law arrive, but are anxious and can’t cope with two adolescent girls.  Sylvie, the girl’s wayward aunt, arrives and takes over their care.  It is clear from the start that Sylvie has led the life of a transient and Ruthie and Lucille’s fear that they will be abandoned again is tangible.  The story is narrated by Ruthie who is haunted by memories of her ancestors and drawn to the lake where many of them died.  As the girls approach adulthood Ruthie becomes more introvert and feels a connection with her aunt, whereas Lucille scorns her aunt’s attempts to raise them and dreams of a more conventional upbringing.  The story is one of loneliness.  It was one of those novels where, when you reach the end, you feel the need to re-read it, which I couldn’t do as I had borrowed it from the library!

My Criminal World by Henry Sutton

This is a story within a story.  Struggling writer, David Slavitt is at a crossroads in his life.  His agent is harassing him, his publisher is ignoring him and his day to day life is getting in the way of writing – well that’s his excuse.  Meanwhile, his successful and beautiful wife is working longer and longer hours while he copes with the childcare and the housework.  As he begins to see a plot for his new novel he suspects his wife is having an affair with one of her Ph.D students and real life and fictional life appear to be merging.  The novel is interspersed with sections from the new crime novel David is writing with the effect that two stories unravel side by side.  For me, the structure worked and I enjoyed the writing style. 

Wanting by Richard Flanagan

The story begins in 1841 and centres on an orphaned aboriginal girl, Mathina, one of the remaining indigenous people exiled from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and living on Flinders Island under the care of George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Aborigines.  He can’t comprehend why most of the people in his care are dying, despite adopting western dress and eating a western diet.  Sir John Franklin, the governor of Van Diemen’s Land and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin visit Flinders Island.  They are drawn to Mathina and, when Lady Franklin learns that the girl is an orphan, they decide to adopt her.  Lady Jane sees the adoption as an experiment in converting a savage.  Mathina is taken from her own people and transported to the home of the Franklins on Van Diemen’s Land.  Running in parallel is the story of Charles Dickens who meets Lady Jane several years after her time in Australia.  Sir John has been lost on an expedition in the Arctic and rumours are rife about cannibalism.  Lady Jane is determined to clear her husband’s name and seeks out Dickens to write an article.   In this way the story of Mathina, The Franklins and Dickens become entwined.  The story depicts the barbaric cruelty inflicted on the aborigines by the European settlers.  It also highlights how someone can think they’re doing the right thing, but how that can have damaging consequences that last a lifetime and beyond.  It was a disturbing and thought provoking read.  

The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

This is Trezza Azzopardi’s debut novel, shortlisted for The Booker Prize in 2000.  Set in the Maltese community of 1960s Cardiff the story is about the Gauci family, Frank and Mary and their six daughters.   Although there are multiple viewpoints, most of the story is told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, five year old Dolores.  Life is tough, the family are poor and Frank is a gambler with a violent temper.  The family learn to survive any way they can. It is a story about migration, acceptance and sibling relationships.  The book is in two parts – part one is about the events in Dolores’s early childhood, where the author paints a realistic picture of a world seen through the eyes of a child.  Part two is about the sisters reuniting for the funeral of their mother thirty years later.  Dolores is driven by the need to fit in, to know her story and to belong.  The sibling rivalry is still there even after thirty years and we see the sisters recalling events from their early childhood showing how the interpretation of a five year old is different to that of an older child.  Yet, their memories are a bond that ties them, despite their years apart.  I like stories about families, particularly sisters.  It is a gritty read, but even though it is dark, I didn’t find it depressing.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be looking out for other novels by the same author.  

The Immortals by Amit Chaudhuri

Set in Bombay in the 1980s, the story charts the relationship between two families, from different casts, linked by their love of classical Indian music.  Mallika Sengupta is the wife of a wealthy businessman and mother to Nirmalya.  She is a talented singer, but chose not to pursue her musical dream and to focus her energies on being a wife of a successful businessman.  She hasn’t cut her ties with music altogether and wants her son, Nirmalya to learn her craft.  She employs Shyamji, the son of an acclaimed classical Indian musician to teach her teenage son. Nirmalya hates his parent’s corporate world and is searching for fulfilment, which he finds through his love of music and his relationship with Shyamji and his family.  I enjoyed the observations of life in Bombay and the interactions between the two families.    I enjoyed the beautiful prose, but prefer a pacier read.  

The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2014.  The story follows the life of Dorrigo Evans born in rural Tasmania to a poor family.  He goes on to become a surgeon.  The story is multi-layered, but the main topic of the book is Dorrigo’s experience as a Japanese prisoner of war in a camp on the Burma Death Railway.  Running parallel to this is Dorrigo’s affair with his uncle’s young wife, Amy.  This affair haunts him throughout his life.    At times a harrowing read, it is beautifully observed and told from different points of view.  I disliked the style of writing at first as I found it too fragmented dealing with the different strands of Dorrigo’s life in what seemed a random way.  Towards the end of the book the strands come together in an unexpected way.  I liked the way the stories of the other main characters are tied up, but not too neatly or in an overly sentimental way.   As always with books about war, it paints a grim picture of the human race and the cruelty inflicted by mankind.  It made me cry and will be a book that stays with me.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The story is not a Whodunit, but a Whydunit.  Like the Goldfinch, the narrator, Richard Papen, is a misfit desperate to reinvent himself.  The story is set in a college in New England in the 1990s and, like the Goldfinch, features drink and drugs.  Richard, feeling rudderless and wanting to escape from his boring suburban life and his uncaring parents, gains a scholarship to Hampden College.  At Hampden he finds himself drawn to a group of five clever and elitist students (Henry, Camilla, Charles, Francis and Bunny) who are studying Greek under a charismatic classics professor. Richard is invited to study with the closely knit group, but he is never fully accepted.  It opens with a prologue depicting the aftermath of the death of Bunny and it is clear that one of the group has murdered him and the others are implicit in the murder.    The first half of the book leads up to Bunny’s death and the second half the fallout and impact of his death on the group.