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Reviews by Cloggie Downunder

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The Lost Symbol
by Dan Brown

entertaining (6/5/2011)

The Lost Symbol is the 3rd in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series. The story goes over 24 hours and starts with Langdon being flown by private jet to Washington to give a lecture as a favour to his long-time friend (and Mason), Peter Solomon. Soon enough, this turns out to be …more

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
by Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn

A Must Read (5/25/2011)

Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, is a “must read”. It is by no means an easy book to read; it is sometimes quite confronting; in places you will cry; you will be disgusted by the actions of some …more

The Almost Moon: A Novel
by Alice Sebold

Powerful (5/23/2011)

The Almost Moon is the second novel by Alice Sebold. Helen Knightly narrates the story, which begins when she murders her mother, Clair. As we follow events over the next 24 hours, we learn about Helen’s life and what brought her to this momentous act: her love-hate …more

The Burning Wire: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel
by Jeffery Deaver

an invisible weapon (5/22/2011)

The Burning Wire is the ninth novel in Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series. This time Rhyme’s target is a killer who utilises the power grid to cause arc flashes and set his victims on fire, or electrifies a building or an elevator to electrocute them. It seems that the …more

The Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel
by Jeffery Deaver

Check your password! (5/13/2011)

The Broken Window is the eighth of Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series. The tale begins with a plea from Judy Rhyme to help her husband, Arthur Rhyme, Lincoln’s estranged cousin, who has been arrested on a murder charge. Flawless evidence against him leads Rhyme and Sachs …more

The Bodies Left Behind: A Novel
by Jeffery Deaver

classic Deaver twists and turns (5/11/2011)

The Bodies Left Behind is Jeffrey Deaver’s 11th stand-alone novel. The scene is lakeside Wisconsin, where Brynn MacKenzie, a sheriff’s deputy, responding to an aborted 911 call, stumbles into the aftermath of a double murder. Managing to escape from the murderers, she finds …more

Roadside Crosses: A Kathryn Dance Novel
by Jeffery Deaver

twists anf red herrings galore (4/27/2011)

Roadside Crosses is the second in Jeffrey Deaver’s Kathryn Dance series. The story starts with a roadside cross memorial which is dated for the following day, the day that police find a kidnapped teenager left for dead in the trunk of her car. Kathryn’s interrogation of the …more

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel
by Alexander Mccall Smith

Mma Ramotswe makes you feel good again! (4/23/2011)

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party is the twelfth book in Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Mma Ramotswe has plenty to keep her busy as someone is killing cattle on a southern cattle-post, Charlie the apprentice seems to have fathered twins and …more

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy

Love and betrayal (4/19/2011)

The God of Small Things, the first (and so far, only) novel by Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, was written between 1992 and 1996. This (semi-autobiographical) story takes place in the village of Ayemenem and the town of Kottayam, near Cochin in Kerala, and is set principally …more during two time periods: December 1969 and 23 years later. The main characters are Esthappen (Estha) and Rahel, seven-year-old two-egg (i.e. non-identical) twins, and their mother Ammu. Ammu falls in love with Velutha Paapen, a Paraven (Untouchable) who works for the family’s Pickle Factory, a man the twins already list amongst their most-loved. But even in 1969, with a Communist Government, parts of India are still firmly in the grip of the Caste system. By breaking the "Love Laws," or "The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much”, Ammu and the twins set in motion “The Terror”. The manipulations of Ammu’s aunt, Baby Kochamma, are instrumental in bringing down The Terror, and her subsequent cruelty to Ammu and the twins will leave readers gasping.
As well as commenting on the Caste system and Class discrimination in general, the novel examines Indian history and politics, the taboos of conventional society, and religion. But more than anything, this is a story about love and betrayal.
The innocent observations of 7-year-olds, their interpretation of unfamiliar words and phrases, the (typically Indian) Capitalisation of Significant Words, the running together of and splitting apart of words , the phonetic spelling, all are a source of humour and delight in this novel. “It’s an afternoon-mare”, Estha-the-Accurate replied. “She dreams a lot”. Even as Estha is being molested by the Orangedrink Lemondrink man in the Abhilash Talkies, his observations (“Not a moonbeam.”) bring laughter. Echoes, repetitions and resonances abound. Roy is a master of the language: “So futile. Like polishing firewood.” Her prose is luminous. This novel is powerful, moving, tragic. Beautifully written, with wonderful word pictures.
This novel demands at least two reads: once to learn the story; a second time to appreciate the echoes and repetitions and understand what the early references mean. It deserves a third reading to fully appreciate the prose, the descriptive passages. On this, my third reading, I read parts I would swear I had not read earlier. And I had tears in my eyes very early in the novel. I loved this book when I first read it: I love it even more now. I remain hopeful that Arundhati Roy will share her considerable literary talents with her eager readers in the form of another novel. (less)

Sing You Home: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult

Another excellent Picoult (4/16/2011)

Sing You Home is Jodi Picoult’s 18th novel. As always, Picoult deals with big issues. This time it is homosexuality and the attitude of society, government and, in particular, organised religion, to those who are openly homosexual. But other issues also make an appearance: …more

More Twisted: The Collected Stories of Jeffery Deaver, Volume II
by Jeffery Deaver

Excellent Deaver twists (4/16/2011)

More Twisted is a volume of sixteen tales of suspense by Jeffrey Deaver, including a previously unpublished Lincoln Rhyme story. Each of these tales, as the title suggests, has a twist. Most are set in modern times, but one is set in Victorian England and features Sherlock …more

Jasper Jones
by Craig Silvey

Execellent Aussie literature (4/12/2011)

Jasper Jones is Craig Silvey’s second novel. It is set during a hot summer in 1965 in a small West Australian town, Corrigan, and narrated by thirteen-year-old Charlie Bucktin. Charlie is surprised by Jasper Jones’ appearance at his sleepout window: Jasper needs his help. …more

House Rules: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult

Excellent Picoult (3/12/2011)

House Rules is Jodi Picoult’s seventeenth novel. The story involves Jacob Hunt, a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome and an obsession with forensic analysis, who is charged with and tried for the murder of his tutor, Jess Ogilvy. Five voices tell the tale: Jacob’s own; his …more

The Hand that First Held Mine: A Novel
by Maggie O'Farrell

O'Farrell does not disappoint (3/2/2011)

The Hand That First Held Mine is Maggie O’Farrell’s fifth novel. Two stories are told in parallel: Lexie Sinclair quits Devon for London when the charismatic Innes Kent arrives on her doorstep, and starts her life at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene; Elina and Ted are …more

The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King - A Nonfiction Thriller
by James Patterson & Martin Dugard

Case closed? Probably not! (3/2/2011)

The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard is described as the Ultimate Cold Case Re-opened. In the format of James Patterson’s signature (extremely) short chapters, the story is set out over three time periods: modern day, where we follow James’ progress …more

The Postcard Killers
by James Patterson

sex and violence (3/2/2011)

Postcard Killers is the first novel co-authored by James Patterson and Liza Marklund. It’s a thriller about young glamorous killers traveling around Europe murdering couples. Plenty of sex and violence, in the short chapter format that James Patterson seems to love. The …more

The Host: A Novel
by Stephenie Meyer

Excellent non-Twilight Meyer (3/2/2011)

Stephenie Meyer’s (so far) stand-alone novel, The Host, departs from her popular Twilight series and explores the theme of bodily possession of humankind by alien souls. As we follow the soul of Wanderer, who is implanted into the body of her host, Melanie Stryder, we …more

Dream of Ding Village
by Yan Lianke

will leave you gasping (3/2/2011)

Yan Lianke’s latest work, Dream of Ding Village, is narrated by Ding Qiang: “I was only twelve, in my fifth year of school, when I died. I died from eating a poisoned tomato I found on the way home from school…I died not from AIDS, but because my dad had run a blood …more collection station in Ding Village ten years earlier. He bought blood from the villagers and resold it for a profit.”
Qiang’s narration details how the dirt-poor villagers were coerced into selling their blood at Government-sanctioned collection stations and even, literally, “in the field”: the flattery or the appeal to patriotism that formed not the soft or hard sell, but the hard buy. Interspersed throughout the narration are the dreams of his Grandpa, Professor Ding Shuiyang: seemingly surreal but increasingly accurate and premonitory, from them we learn how, in the midst of abject poverty, bitterness and increasing hopelessness, some people’s behaviour sinks to breathtaking greed, corruption and short-sightedness.
Qiang gets to see both sides of the coin as his father, Ding Hui, was a “bloodhead”, who used criminally negligent blood collection practices, whilst his uncle, Ding Liang, contracted AIDS in the self-same place. Hui profits initially from buying and selling blood, then from selling Government-issued coffins to the families of the AIDS victims and developing Funeral Parks, then from matchmaking the dead so they will not be lonely in the afterlife. Dream of Ding Village portrays the death of the villagers and ultimately, the death of the village.
Filled with elegant prose, rich imagery, strong characters and allegory, Yan Lianke’s work exposes the nepotism and greed rife in China whilst at the same time giving us poignant moments of love, self-sacrifice and humanity between the villagers. It may be difficult to imagine that this subject matter could evoke humour, but the absurdity of certain situations (a free coffin from the Government as consolation for dying from AIDS; an AIDS couple arguing about who should die first so that a nice coffin and a good funeral will be assured; matchmaking the dead) does not fail to raise a chuckle.
Yan claims that Dream of Ding Village is a sanitized version of the documentary he intends to write. If only a fraction of the events portrayed had truly happened, then it would already be a tragedy of epic proportions: it is easy to see why the Chinese authorities have banned this book. The lack of responsibility taken or reparation made would certainly warrant a cover up. Dream of Ding Village is a powerful read: in places it will leave you gasping and it will stay with you long after you turn the last page. It will also make you grateful that you donate blood under conditions so vastly different from these. Cindy Carter’s excellent translation deserves a special mention. (less)

Small Wonder
by Barbara Kingsolver

The voice of reason (3/2/2011)

Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver’s second book of essays, was written after the events of 9/11, and touches on subjects as diverse as Terrorism, why the world doesn’t like America, Genetic Modification, Teenagers, Mothers, and Self-Sustainability. While I may not have …more

The Scarpetta Factor
by Patricia Cornwell

Better than the last few years (3/2/2011)

The Scarpetta Factor is Patricia Cornwell’s 17th Scarpetta novel. The Scarpetta novels have had a chequered history: they started out consistently good and then went downhill for a while. This one is quite an improvement on those of 5 or 6 years ago. While it’s a bit slow- …more

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