Recommendations

Post-Truth

Post-Truth by Matthew d’Ancona is both timely and thought provoking.

In recent months we have been bombarded with allegations of “Fake News”, “the politics of fear”, “alternative facts” and wherever you sit on the political spectrum at the very least some economy in truthfulness (although nearly always from those that you already disagree with).

This is a short tour through the genesis of the phenomena that d’Ancona describes as Post-Truth written in an easily readable academic style. Starting in 2016 it follows both the Trump campaign in the US election and the Leave campaign in the UK’s EU referendum and explores how emotion and identity have replaced truth in political discourse in both countries. d’Ancona highlights the collapse of trust in experts and facts and the way that social media has magnified the impact of misinformation, conspiracy theories and ultimately Fake News.

Post-Truth is a disturbing read, the reader is left shocked at the speed with which our discussion of events has been polluted by lies and misinformation in the last 2 years. Of course the bubble effect means that most who read this book will already agree with it while those who the reader might think ‘ought’ to read it will dismiss it as a crazy liberal conspiracy theory – that may be an indication of the long journey we face to get back to a norm of debate based on fact.

4.5/5

Alice in Brexitland

Alice in Brexitland by Lucien Young and Leavis Carrol is an amusing if somewhat predictable riff on Alice in Wonderland.

Alice dozes off on the afternoon of 23rd June 2016 to wake in a strange world of Brexit characterisations where she meets the Corbynpillar, the Cheshire Twat, Humpty Trumpty and the Queen of Heartlessness. If you were/are a Remainer you may find this mildly amusing and reinforcing of your views, if not you probably shouldn’t waste your money.

2/5

Judas

Judas by Amos Oz is set in Jerusalem in the winter of 1959. Shmuel is an idealistic left wing student who drops out of college and takes a job as a companion to Gershom Ward, an elderly invalided intellectual. As the novel unfolds Shmuel becomes obsessed with Atalia, Gershom’s widowed daughter-in-law and her late husband and father.

At one level this is a story of a young man’s fascination with an older woman and the gradual unfolding of tangled family relationships. At another level it provides an interesting insight into the debates within the zionist movement before independence in 1948 and the political tensions in the subsequent period, I don’t know how historically accurate the book is but Oz provides a thought provoking glimpse of alternative possibilities. A third strand to Judas is Shmuel’s stalled PhD thesis on Jewish attitudes to Jesus and the character and role of Judas in Jesus’ betrayal. If the Israeli politics and Judas strands are meant to be linked, the connection passed me by.

I found Judas to be a tiresome and unrewarding read, I struggled to empathise with any of the characters, I’d rather read history than search for glimpses in the narrative and by the end I didn’t care how the plot finished I just wanted it to be over. This was 2 star material slightly redeemed by the interesting historical bits.

2.5/5

A Horse Walks into a Bar

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman is an uncomfortable read to say the least.

Dovaleh (David) is an ageing stand up comic performing in a poorly attended bar in Netanyah in Israel. Instead of telling the jokes that the audience had expected they are exposed to the detail of his personal tragedy and some formative events from his childhood years. Several of the audience members turn out to be old friends who had been invited to this performance at whom the personal pain is partly directed.

This is one of several books by Israeli authors focussed on the the early life stories of the children of Holocaust survivors who arrived in Israel before 1948. The parents were scarred by the events they experienced and then had to adapt to making a new life in a new country, the children struggled to balance integration in the evolving Israeli society with their loyalty to their parents. Dovaleh is one of these kids.

This is a profoundly disturbing read, I felt like a voyeur who was compelled to watch someone’s melt down and unable to turn away. I can’t say that I enjoyed it but I didn’t want to put it down until I had finished it. The end was a little flat but perhaps after the emotional rollercoaster ride that was a relief rather than a disappointment.

A Horse Walks into a Bar won the Man Booker Prize for 2017

4/5

Birdcage Walk

There is a dark tension about Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore. This historical thriller/mystery is set in the radical community of Bristol at the end of the 18th century.

Lizzie Fawkes’ mother Julia is an iconic pamphleteer in the radical politics of the time, Lizzie moved from town to town with her mother and stepfather until they settled in Bristol where she met her husband John Diner Tredevant, a builder and developer. As the story unfolds, Lizzie’s husband and mother pull her in different directions while uncertainty gnaws at the reader.

The period and setting are fascinating, the dark tension is pervasive from early on and builds to a good climax but overall there was something contrived and unsatisfying about Birdcage Walk

3.5/5

Crimson Lake

Crimson Lake by Candice Fox is set in a small town outside of Cairns in Northern Australia.

Ted Conkaffey is an ex police officer accused of abducting and assaulting a teenage girl, the prosecution was abandoned but he is never cleared of the crime that he denies. He moves to Crimson Lake in an attempt to restart his life. Amanda Pharrell runs a private investigations agency in Crimson Lake after her release from a 10 year sentence for the brutal murder of her friend. this unlikely pair of private detectives are trying to solve the mystery of a missing author while at the same time their personal back stories are unwinding.

This is a tense mystery thriller, right to the end you are uncertain of the guilt of the detectives or the fate of the author. Crimson Lake bowls along at a good pace, I liked the characters and the treatment of the alleged child abductor by the local vigilantes is thought provoking.

Well worth a read, there is a second novel planned with these characters which I will look out for.

4/5

Butterfly on the Storm

Butterfly on the Storm is the first in the Heartland Trilogy by Dutch author Walter Lucius.

A young boy is found outside Amsterdam, the victim of a hit and run incident, he mutters a couple of words to journalist Farah Hafez who recognises a fellow Afghani refugee which starts a fast paced political crime thriller that spans the Afghan revolution, the Russian invasion, attitudes to refugees, people smuggling and child abuse at the higher levels of society. This is a cracker of a novel, inevitably it will be compared to Larrson’s Millennium Trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc) but I found it more grounded and less dependent on techno miracles. I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series.

4/5

The Gin Palace Trilogy

The Gin Palace Trilogy by Daniel Judson is set in Southampton, Long Island. The hero ‘Mac’ MacManus is a working class detective in a small town who ‘helps people out’ and gets into some pretty tough situations as a consequence, particularly with the corrupt chief of the local police. Through the series his back story unfolds along with that of his deceased parents, the chief, his friend Augie and the dark figure of Frank Gannon.

These are fast paced, dark and gritty novels, there is a lot of violence and perhaps a few too many unlikely escapes but even so worth a read.

3.5/5

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions

I picked up Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano because of the intriguing title, which stirred thoughts of some of the Scandi humour of the last couple of years. Auntie Poldi is a middle aged German widow who has chosen to while away her latter years in a small Sicilian village with her nephew (hence the ‘Auntie’) and sisters-in-law except that she can’t just soak up the local colour and alcohol. She finds herself drawn into solving the disappearance of her handyman, Valentino which involves a close encounter with boss of the local Mafia and an enchantment with the investigating detective.

This is a charming humorous novel with some good characters and and a lovely Sicilian flavour, it isn’t heavy crime but it has sufficient twists to keep you interested. Definitely worth a read and I’m looking forward to the next Poldi novel in 2018

3.5/5

The Last Paradise

The Last Paradise by Anthony Garrido starts out in depression New York in 1931. Jack Beilis desperately seeking work to feed himself and his father is forced (or tricked) into joining the workers seeking to make a new life for themselves and their families in Russia.

Stalin’s Russia is not the workers’ paradise that Jack and his fellow Americans were longing for – hunger, cold, exploitation and  political intrigue. At first Jack seems to be prospering at the expense of many of his compatriots but is his success just an illusion? There seems to be no way back to the US.

The Last Paradise moves at a good pace and had enough twists to keep me interested. The historical detail made me want to  read more about the period

3.5/5