A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This book has been sitting sadly and reproachfully on my shelf for over a year.  Why I didn't pick it up earlier, I really don't know.

It was an enjoyable read - with reservations.  It was easy enough to become involved in the story which moved swiftly along, easy to read and also enlightening.  It seemed to give a fascinating insight into lives, especially of women, during the troubled years before, during, and shortly after the influence of the Taliban, how the everyday lives of ordinary Afghani people were affected.

I have two main reservations though, even while recommending it.  The first is that Khaled Hosseini felt the need to explain the politics of the situation, the fighting between the different warlords and their followers.  That was fine but he did it by having the characters discuss what was happening, and it just didn't ring true. 

"And he's fighting Hekmatyar, of course, who has the support of the Pakistanis.  Mortal enemies, those two, Maassoud and Hekmatyar.  Sayyaf, he's siding with Massoud. And Hekmatyar supports the Hazaras for now."

My eyes glazed over during these passages: too many names I found difficult to remember.

The other reservation was that the characters were either black or white with nothing much in between:  Rasheed was too bad with no redeeming features, Tariq too good.  People are normally made up of so many different shades.  The women were rather better drawn but I still didn't feel I knew them, I didn't know how they thought. 

Don't let my reservations put you off though.  All round it was an easy and enjoyable read.  In spite of the tragedies of Afghanistan, the book ends on an optimistic note.  The real tragedy is that the optimism for the future of the country hasn't yet been fulfilled.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Synopsis from Amazon
Griet, the young daughter of a tilemaker in seventeenth century Holland, obtains her first job, as a servant in Vermeer's household. Tracy Chevalier shows us, through Griet's eyes, the complicated family, the society of the small town of Delft, and life with an obsessive genius. Griet loves being drawn into his artistic life, and leaving her former drudgery, but the cost to her own survival may be high.

I've found it difficult to review this book because although I found it easy to read and quite enjoyable, I was left with the feeling something was missing, the mystery and genius in the painting perhaps. The characters didn't seem well developed and really, neither did the storyline. In the synopsis above it mentions life with an obsessive genius - well it was hardly touched upon and Vermeer's character was possibly the least well-drawn. The child Cordelia seemed contrived, and the plague appeared to be thrown in almost as an afterthought.

Saying all that though, I cannot deny enjoying it, I just think it has been hyped up and hasn't lived up to my expectations.  I read it in just a few hours - it is a very short book. And it has definitely made me more interested in Vermeer's art, and in Delft.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner.

From the back cover:

In this dazzling evocation of late nineteenth century Paris, we follow Victor as his investigation takes him all over the city.  But what will he do when the deaths begin to multiply and he is caught in a race against time?
'A charming journey through the life and intellectual times of an era'  ~ Le Monde

This book is the work of two authors, two sisters who are booksellers, bouquinistes, on the banks of the Seine in Paris.  I find the translation a little awkward, even dated in places.  Whether this is a deliberate attempt to conjure up the era I don't know, but I found it a false note.  "Two stiffs in the same day" neither sounds like 1889 nor the present day.

It is very much set in Paris, and if you recognise the street names and the areas mentioned, it will conjure up an image satisfactorily.  For anyone who doesn't know Paris, I would say it's less successful. It's rather better at the era than the geographical setting.  All the same, it's interesting to read about the time when the Eiffel Tower was brand new, so for that alone it's worth a read.  Less so for the murder-mystery element which I didn't find especially compelling.

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

The Bookseller of Kabul gives interesting insight into the life of an Afghan family both before and after the Taliban.  It describes familyand social life, the political situation and how individuals, particularly women, are affected.  It isn't a compelling read, the writing doesn't seem very fluent and far from fast paced, however it's a book I am glad to have read and would recommend it.

Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb

 

Amélie Nothomb was born in Japan to a family in the diplomatic service and lived there until she was five. She speaks fluent Japanese and did return to work in a Japanese company for a year.

Although for some reason I thought it was going to be a “difficult” book, it wasn’t at all: it’s entertaining and very easy to read. My usual caution about reading books in translation was totally swept away because at no point was I aware of its having been originally in French.

I don’t know whether the fairly dreadful portrayal of Japanese corporate life is accurate or not, but the most fascinating part of the book I found was the section about Japanese women, “if the Japanese woman is to be admired – and she is – it is because she doesn’t commit suicide”. Japan apparently has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, but in spite of the pressures put on them by society, the rate is very much lower in women than men. How much that holds true now I’m not sure.

Something I heard quite a while ago was also mentioned in the book. When people were starting to become aware of water conservation, a hotel said it would be very difficult to put effective measures in to reduce water consumption because a large portion of their clientele was Japanese. Apparently Japanese women become terminally embarrassed if they feel they can be overheard in the bathroom and will turn taps on full in order to prevent this. I never really knew if this was true, but Amélie Nothomb says the same thing.

A Party in San Niccolo by Christobel Kent

This is the story of an English woman who goes to Florence to spend a week with friends in an effort to overcome depression. From the point of view of the setting, it is a wonderful book. The atmosphere and images of Florence are beautifully drawn and the characters of the ex-pat set are very believable. The storyline, something of a murder-mystery, is hardly fast-paced, but enjoyable.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

 

Written in 1958, this wonderful book tells the story of a man called Okonkwo, who lived in what is now known as Nigeria. It certainly is a fascinating account of how the Igbo people lived, but it's not so much about the man or his family, as about the way the first missionaries and other colonials imposed their views on Africa, written entirely from an African point of view. Their whole way of life was completely altered by the insistence of the British that the self-governing towns and villages should be amalgamated into their idea of a country.  At the same time it didn’t try to idealise life in Africa at that time: the brutality resulting from some of their beliefs isn’t hidden.

It’s a short book at 176 pages and I found it easy to read.