The Man in the Picture, by Susan Hill

REVIEW - THE MAN IN THE PICTURE: A GHOST STORY (4*)

by Susan Hill (Profile Books, 2007)

When I heard that this novella was loosely inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, possibly my favourite book of all time, I was eager to give it a try!  It's my first Susan Hill, but knowing her reputation for chilling writing I reckoned I'd be in safe hands.  Happily, I wasn't disappointed, and found The Man in the Picture a thoroughly absorbing little read.

It is really a story within a story within a story.  The first narrator is Oliver, a Cambridge alumnus visiting his old professor Theo in his college digs.  One cold night, sitting by a roaring fire, whisky in hand, Theo tells Oliver how he came to own one of the art works in his collection, a macabre painting depicting a crowded Venetian carnival scene.  Within his story, in turn, is the bizarre experience of the Countess who owned the painting before him.  Between these three Hill conjures a tale of menace and vengeance, peeking into the sinister corners of Venice and the history of a terrifying picture with a life of its own, the entire novella suffused with the theatricality of the Carnivale and the scent of oil paint.

This is a quick read, but a wonderfully atmospheric one that I think pays an interesting kind of homage to The Picture of Dorian Gray without trampling all over it.  Hill handles her Russian doll trio of narrators beautifully, so that each is distinct from the others and I never got confused - which could easily have happened given that everything hinges on one work of art.  I wouldn't say it is a surprising novella, because I could see where it was all leading, but it was still delicious to just sink into it for a day and immerse myself in the spooky story and the darker side of the masked celebrations whirling through the streets of Venice.  Recommended!

Notable Quotables:

• "Someone must just have returned.  In a couple of weeks term would have begun and then lights would be on all round - undergraduates do not turn in early.  I stood for a moment looking round, remembering the good years I had spent within these walls, the conversations late into the night, the japes, the hours spent sweating over an essay...  I would never want to be like Theo, spending all my years here, however comfortable the college life might be, but I had a pang on longing for the freedoms and the friendships."
• "I have read that everyone who visits Venice falls in love with that city, that Venice puts everyone under her spell.  Perhaps I was never going to be happy there, because of the painting and of what I had seen, but I was taken aback by how much I disliked it from the moment we arrived.  I marvelled at the buildings, the canals, and the lagoon astonished me.  And yet I hated it.  I feared it.  It seemed to be a city of corruption and excess, an artificial place, full of darkness and foul odours.  I looked over my shoulder.  I saw everything as sinister and threatening."
• "I knew only too well the fierce power of jealousy which fuels a passion to be avenged.  It does not happen very often but when it does and a person has their love rejected and all their future hopes betrayed for another, rage, pride and jealousy are terrible forces and can do immeasurable harm."

Before I Go To Sleep, by S.J. Watson

Yes, I'm still here!  And happily, I've been reading like a maniac.  If you remember, back in February I wrote a post called When do review books become homework? in which I asked for your thoughts and tricks for balancing all the different things you want to read.  In the comments, Jess mentioned that she creates a reading pile at the start of each month, with a complete mixture of books - old, new, library, review and so on - that she can choose from as she goes.  I tried it this month and it's been fantastic - I read Wonder, Kiss Date Love Hate, The Sisters Brothers, The Invisible Man and Before I Go To Sleep from the list, and a couple of other titles besides! 

I'd started a tentative list for next month too, but I've ended up setting it aside for later as I now have a pre-formed list to work from...  Yes, that dreaded moment has arrived when all of my library books are reaching the end of their renewal allowance and I have about a month left to read a whole pile of titles!  Ooops.  To be fair, I've had them since before Christmas, so it's about time I got stuck in!  My upcoming reading list now includes The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (I'm partway through it already, so far so good!), Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman (ditto - I might end up getting my own copy of this one as I'm already wanting to take copious notes from it), Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin and White Noise by Don DeLillo.  I might not finish all of the books that need to go back, but I'm determined to give it a good shot!

So, onto my reviews...  I finished this book on Monday night, and read the entire of The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill on Tuesday, so expect a review of that one soon.  And I'm also hopefully going to be reviewing Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell (which we appear in, hooray!) within the next couple of days - I'm expecting the postie with it any time now!  Should be good for a laugh...  :) 

REVIEW: BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (3.5*)

by S.J. Watson (Black Swan, 2012)

I definitely liked this book - but not as much as I expected to when I eagerly pre-ordered it in January.  I think this was mostly because of the word 'thriller' emblazoned across it; for me that conjures expectations of a taut, suspenseful page-turner, when in fact it was more of a slow-burning literary novel that just happened to have a crime driving it forwards.  It was a great book, just not in the way I expected when I started reading, and I think that dented my overall enjoyment somewhat.

It opens as Christine wakes up.  She has no idea where she is or who is lying beside her.  Fumbling her way to the bathroom, she is horrified to find a fifty-something woman staring back at her in the mirror.  Around her reflection are photos that she has no recollection of posing for, and the man in her bed introduces himself as her husband Ben.  Before he goes to work he explains that she had an accident and now has amnesia, waking up every morning unable to remember where she is, sometimes feeling like a twenty-something woman, sometimes even feeling like she is still a child.  A little while later Christine gets a call from her doctor, who meets her for coffee and hands her a journal that she has been writing for the past few weeks.  Back home she opens it and is confronted by a scrawl across the front page: 'Do not trust Ben.'  She reads on, determined to piece together her history... Who is telling her the truth, and who is lying - and why?

Much of the book is made up of this journal, which is simultaneously a great device and a slightly irritating one.  It contributes quite heavily towards the slower pace of the novel, because Christine repeats herself so much, particularly earlier on.  You could argue that this is made necessary by the subject matter - she has amnesia, after all - but as a reader I admit I found it a little dull at times.  At the same time, it did mean that as each piece of the puzzle fell into place, it had quite an impact.  Like Christine, I had to read between the lines as the daily entries built up, trying to work out how her returning memories fit together, who she could trust and what might really have happened to her.  It was a good mental workout!

I'd certainly say that this is a thought-provoking novel.  It really makes you think about how an individual's identity and sense of self is tied to memory, to a personal history filled with experiences and people and places, and how bewildering it would be to have to start afresh every day.  There are little moments scattered through the book that really hammer home how carefully Watson must have had to consider each and every page, and how impossible a linear narrative would have been without the journal.  Christine doesn't know about 9/11 and the war on terror, for example.  She's never seen a mobile phone before, has no knowledge of her own middle-aged body, and has no real feeling of love for Ben because to all intents and purposes, she's meeting him for the first time each morning.  This would be a great novel for a book club, because there's just so much potential for discussion - in fact, there are a set of questions at the end of the book for that purpose.  I'd definitely recommend it - just don't make the mistake of expecting a fast and frenetic read like I did!

Notable Quotable:

• "I realise I do not have ambition.  I cannot.  All I want is to feel normal.  To live like everybody else, with experience building on experience, each day shaping the next.  I want to grow, to learn things, and from things...  I can't imagine how I will cope, when I discover that my life is behind me, has already happened, and I have nothing to show for it.  No treasure house of recollection, no wealth of experience, no accumulated wisdom to pass on.  What are we, if not an accumulation of our memories?"

Kiss, Date, Love, Hate, by Luisa Plaja

REVIEW: KISS, DATE, LOVE, HATE (3.5*)

by Luisa Plaja (Corgi, 2012)

I think the target market for this book is probably a bit younger than I would normally go for - aged 13-14, perhaps - but nevertheless it was a fun little read.  Lex is what she calls 'an Improver'.  She is always being called to see Mr Trench in his office, and now he has a novel form of punishment for her: she and her fellow Improver Drew must take his half-term film course, along with their more studious school friends who have already signed up by choice (shock horror).

At the same time, Lex and her friend George are helping test a Sims-esque computer game for his father.  Things get interesting when they realise that the changes they're making to their avatar settings in the game - in Life, Looks and Love - are miraculously coming true, and they decide that this is their chance to do a little sneaky matchmaking.  But does Lex want to be with her perfect ex Matt, or with rebellious Drew?  Can George handle all the attention he's suddenly getting from the ladies?  And more importantly - how on earth will they deal with the fall-out when the game expires at the end of the week?

Although I'm not a huge fan of 'high school' fiction - I've done it once, I don't want to relive it now - I actually rather enjoyed this one.  The quirky premise drew me in, and I liked the fact that the sparkling humour - which occasionally felt a little forced - was mostly spot on and really made me chuckle!  It's also a British novel, which makes a nice change when it comes to the pop culture references, in particular.  A smart, fluffy read that proved to be a great diversion during a busy weekend at work - though I'd probably recommend that on this occasion, you buy it for the teenage girl in your life rather than for yourself...

Notable Quotables:

• "The trouble with the world is that everyone fancies the wrong person.  We're all in a love-chain made of broken links."
• "It's amazing how quickly you get used to changes - welcome changes, anyway."

Note: Many thanks to the lovely folks at Random House Children's Books, who sent me this book in return for an honest review.

Nina Here Nor There, by Nick Krieger

REVIEW - NINA HERE NOR THERE: MY JOURNEY BEYOND GENDER (4*)

by Nick Krieger (Beacon Press, 2011)

I picked this one up on a whim, partially because it's one of the shortlisted titles for the Indie Lit Awards this year, in the GLBTQ category.  It is a refreshing new take on the transgender memoir by travel writer Nick Krieger, about his journey from Nina to Nick.  This isn't a standard 'I was a woman, now I'm a man' tale, however - which is what makes it really stand apart from other books in the genre.

When Nick's transformation began - I saw it as a transformation rather than a transition, because it feels more triumphantly beautiful than the latter term implies - he was still Nina Krieger, a sporty lesbian surrounded by strong, feminine women she called her 'A-gays'.  But when she moved to San Francisco's Castro neighbourhood, she was unexpectedly drawn into a whole new community.  Here there were people who wore binders and 'packed', people who had surgery but didn't take hormones, people who took hormones but didn't have surgery: a surging, diversely queer group that took the traditional concepts of 'male' and 'female' and completely broke them down into a fluid and highly individual concern.  In these new surroundings Nina finally found the means - and the confidence - to explore her own relationship to her body and her gender, in particular her complete detachment from her breasts and her preference for a male image.

While this may sound like a typical transition story, it really isn't.  By the end of the book, Nina has become Nick, 'she' has taken on the pronoun 'he', and he has taken the huge (and long awaited) step of having top surgery to remove his breasts.  Since then he has also taken testosterone to accentuate his male features.  But Nick Krieger is not a man, nor does he want to be.  As a genderfluid or gender variant individual, he is happiest at a personally determined point between male and female.  And that, I think, is what makes this book so interesting.  Krieger's exploration of his own body, values, relationships, assumptions and experiences invites the reader to do the same thing, regardless of who they are.  There is no sense of 'It was terrible being this person, so I changed myself' - instead he writes with great positivity about his journey towards a full understanding and full expression of himself.

I really enjoyed it - and I think I might enjoy a reread even more, now that I have a better idea of who's who and know a little more about the author.  It made me think about myself from a different perspective, and I found Krieger's honesty inspiring.  He doesn't make sweeping statements about the transgender experience, but instead keeps his focus personal and subjective.  It is a book about self-discovery and identity that I think everyone can learn from, and I like the fact that he charts this self-discovery one stage at a time.  He never apologises for choosing to do something or not, for taking things slowly and perhaps making decisions later that he wouldn't have thought possible before.  That, after all, is how people evolve.  The book is often drily amusing, often quite moving, and always fascinating, and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in gender, sexual identity and LGBTQ literature. 

Notable Quotables:

• "As part of our ongoing personal investigations, we'd fallen into a knowledge-share.  I'd tell her about transgender history, pathology, and theory from my self-assigned reading list; she'd tell me about binding, packing, and gender bending as it was practiced.  She readjusted her bulge again.  I stared, embarrassed by my transparency, my eagerness to discover what was beyond my books and absorb what Jess must have learned directly from the sources."
• "I pleaded with him to stop, telling him that if he continued, I wouldn't be able to talk to him anymore.  Only upon hearing my own desperation did I realize I'd been hoping for an apology... But he perceived my begging as a threat, and we fell into the worn grooves of our arguments, the same tired fight where he tried to use the power of fatherhood to control me, and I shut down, trying to hold tough, except now I was too old to sing the "Somewhere over the rainbow" refrain in my head until he was done forcing his opinion, stance, argument, and rhetoric, disguised as questions, down on me."
• "I stood alone for a few minutes, thinking back to the first time I'd walked through the doors, how different I was, how different we all must have been when we'd entered this place, before we understood that queers received nine adolescences like cats received nine lives, and the permutations of gender were infinite, the complexities a challenge to explain in a language only built to hold this or that, when many of us were other, something we could see here long before we could speak it."
• "I use words to express myself and yet they do not define me, cannot crystallize a life that is in constant flux.  Words are tools for communication like gender is a system for organization.  And even as I play into the system by choosing a bathroom, a pronoun, a box on a form, I see it was a framework built upon faults, an institution that oppresses us all with some victims suffering more than others, a juggernaut.  Some people see it as a binary, a spectrum, a continuum, or a rainbow.  But when I envision my own gender, it is with my eye to the lens of a kaleidoscope that I spin and spin and spin."

You can read more by Nick Krieger at his website and blog, both of which are well worth a look.  I'll leave you with the trailer for the book, which I really love - that's the author looking very sexy at 0:36 by the way!

The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells

REVIEW: THE INVISIBLE MAN (3.5*)

by H.G. Wells (Penguin Red Classics, 2007)

I always thought my first foray into H.G. Wells would be The War of the Worlds - but actually this made a fantastic starting point!  A quick read, The Invisible Man is accessible, vivid and packs quite a punch along the way, and I really enjoyed it. 

It's about... well, an Invisible Man.  Except when he first arrives in the little town of Iping, no one KNOWS he's an Invisible Man.  Swathed in bandages, wearing gloves and heavy clothes, and with a hat and goggle-like glasses hiding his features, everyone assumes he's had a terrible accident.  It's only when odd things begin to happen and the increasingly volatile gentleman is provoked into revealing his secret that all hell breaks loose.  Is he a sympathetic victim or a murderous madman?  Will he find someone to help him?  How on earth did he reach this point in his life?  How DOES a man render himself invisible anyway?

What really surprised me, at least earlier on in the book, is how funny it is.  The small-town characters are so amusing - Mr Marvel, the tramp, has some particularly good one-liners that made me chuckle - and some of their brilliantly observed little foibles are ones we all recognise even if we'd rather not admit to them!  Nearer the end of the book the humour gives way largely to the Invisible Man's eloquently-told story and the melodramatic thrill of the chase, which was interesting but for me, not as enjoyable as the quick wit of the first half.  Nevertheless, I'm very glad to have finally read this classic of science fiction writing - and I'm still looking forward to The War of the Worlds!

This is my first book for Hanna's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen challenge, which is running through until the end of 2012.  You can see my challenge progress HERE, and find out how to sign up over at Booking in Heels. 

The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt

REVIEW: THE SISTERS BROTHERS (4*)

by Patrick deWitt (Granta Books, 2011)

'You have never thought about quitting?'
'Every man that has ever held a position has thought about quitting.'

Okay, first up let me say that I would never normally have picked this novel up.  Then I saw the folks on the TV Book Club gushing over it, proclaiming that it was perhaps their favourite book from their entire run and that it was a complete surprise - so I picked it up anyway.  And I'm SO glad I did, because they were right - it WAS a complete surprise.  Who would have thought that a western noir about a pair of assassins would have buried its way under my skin so completely?

The book follows the fortunes of the notorious Sisters brothers, Eli and Charlie, as they set out on their latest job - to kill a man called Hermann Kermit Warm, on the orders of their boss, known only as The Commodore.  Set against the California Gold Rush of the mid-19th century, their mission takes them from Oregon City to San Francisco and beyond, in search of the elusive Warm and his claim.  Along the way they drink, flirt and fight with all kinds of weird and wonderful folks, from prospectors to prostitutes.  It's quite a ride, for the brothers and the reader alike!

The most important thing about the novel, and its main draw, is that it is entirely narrated by Eli Sisters - and what a narrator he is!  I've never come across a cold-blooded killer I could really get behind in a book, but Eli was endearing, even loveable, from start to finish!  His narration is spare, thoughtful, poetic, uncompromising, yet strangely innocent, almost childlike at times, and very amusing.  That was one of the biggest surprises about the book - that it is so funny!  The author has really given us a supremely human story in the most unlikely of settings - underneath the casual brutality this is a book about two brothers making their way in the world together, laughing, teasing, arguing and reconciling as they go.  On this journey Eli is also questioning everything about his life: Will he ever be loved?  What has been he missing while he's been under the Commodore's command?  How is he different from Charlie?  Does he want to be an assassin any more or is there a better future out there for him?  He is no faceless killer, he is a man, with morals and a soft spot for his horse and a deep thread of kindness and generosity.  A intriguing protagonist, indeed.

Aside from his wonderful cast of characters, de Witt also offers us a fascinating insight into life in the American West during the Gold Rush.  It is a brutal and lawless place, and he dunks his readers straight in there headfirst so we can almost taste the dirt, smell the cold metal of the brothers' pistols, hear the raucous laughter coming from the saloons...  It was a time when men let their guns do the talking, gold fever swept across America, and San Francisco regularly burnt to the ground and had to be rebuilt as it struggled to cope with the influx of people hoping to make their fortunes from the nearby rivers.  Through Eli, deWitt shows us 19th century California in all her terrible glory, and it is hard to tear yourself away from the pages once you've immersed yourself.

I'd absolutely recommend this book, to men and women alike.  There were moments that made me laugh, moments that made me well up, moments that made my heart sink and moments that made my eyes go wide... and I loved every last one of them.  Eli might end up being one of my favourite characters of 2012 - he's such an unlikely and unusual hero - and his journey was exciting, compelling and pretty darn unforgettable.  Put aside your feelings about westerns, about violence, about historical fiction, about Man Booker nominees, whatever's stopping you picking this book up, and just read it already!

Notable Quotables:

• "I sat on the bank and watched him splashing and singing; he had not had anything to drink the night before and there had been no other people around to upset his volatile nature, and I found myself becoming sentimental by this rare show of innocent happiness.  Charlie had often been glad and singing as a younger man, before we took up with the Commodore, when he became guarded and hard, so it was sad in a way to watch him frolic in that shimmering river, with the tall snowy mountains walling us in."
• "'Each job is different.  Some I have seen as singular escapades.  Others have been like a hell.' I shrugged.  'You put a wage behind something, it gives the act a sort of respectability.  In a way, I suppose it feels significant to have something as large as a man's life entrusted to me.'  'A man's death', she corrected."
• "'All you will get from me is Death.'  Charlie's words, spoken just as casual as a man describing the weather, brought the hair on my neck up and my hands began to pulse and throb.  He is wonderful in situations like this, clear minded and without a trace of fear.  He had always been this way, and though I had seen it many times, every time I did I felt an admiration for him."
• "I was thinking that a man like myself, after suffering such a blow as you men have struck on this day, has two distinct paths he might travel in his life.  He might walk out into the world with a wounded heart, intent on sharing his mad hatred with every person he passes; or, he might start out anew with an empty heart, and he should take care to fill it up with only proud things from then on, so as to nourish his desolate mind-set and cultivate something positive anew."

Review and GIVEAWAY: Wonder, by R.J. Palacio

REVIEW: WONDER (4*)

by R.J. Palacio (Bodley Head, 2012)

"I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid.  I mean, sure, I do ordinary things.  I eat ice cream.  I ride my bike.  I play ball.  I have an XBox.  Stuff like that makes me ordinary.  I guess.  And I feel ordinary.  Inside.  But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds.  I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go."

Oh, what a treat of a book!  In August Pullman, Palacio has created one of the most loveable and memorable characters in modern children's literature.  August is ten years old, and is a completely normal little boy in every way but one - he was born with severe facial disfigurement.  The book opens as his mother tries to persuade him that it might be time to go to 'real school' for the first time.  August has always been loved, protected - and taught - by his family, but during his year in the fifth grade of Beecher Prep, life is going to be very different. 

Auggie's story is pretty irresistable reading.  Switching between various viewpoints as the book progresses, including Auggie himself, his sister Via and his friends Jack and Summer, the author deftly explores the effects of Auggie's disfigurement on his life and the lives of everyone around him.  It's a clever device that allows the reader to not only get inside Auggie's head as he faces the trials and tribulations of school life, but also to get the wider picture of how other people are coping, what people are saying, and how his new friends react to the pressure being placed on them by the less savoury characters at school.

It should come as no surprise that while Palacio offers much to smile, laugh and chortle over in this novel - it is lightly written, quite amusing and her children's voices are spot-on - there were also parts that made me frown, parts that made my eyes open wide with horror, and parts that made me tear up with indignation.  It's a sad fact of life that a lot of kids (and a lot of parents) are relentlessly cruel to people who are perceived to be 'different' - and that's exactly what makes this book so important.  I'd go as far as to say that it should be required reading for every child.

From start to finish the emphasis is on kindness and courage.  Palacio doesn't steer away from moral gray areas - her characters make mistakes along the way and things aren't always as they seem - but ultimately she shows very clearly how bullying and insensitive behaviour can have a harmful ripple effect on people's lives, and how strength, friendship, compassion and good humour are always the better choices.  I finished the book with tears in my eyes, a smile on my face - and a little place in my heart reserved for Auggie.  Highly recommended!        

Notable Quotables:

• "I wish every day could be Halloween.  We could all wear masks all the time.  Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks." - Auggie
• "... waking up to a snow day is just about my favorite thing in the world.  I love that feeling when you first open your eyes in the morning and you don't even know why everything seems different than usual.  Then it hits you: Everything is quiet.  No cars honking.  No buses going down the street.  Then you run over to the window, and outside everything is covered in white: the sidewalks, the trees, the cars on the street, your windowpanes.  And when that happens on a school day and you find out your school is closed, well, I don't care how old I get: I'm always going to think that that's the best feeling in the world.  And I'm never going to be one of those grown-ups that use an umbrella when it's snowing - ever." - Jack
• "It's like people you see sometimes, and you can't imagine what it would be like to be that person, whether it's somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who can't talk.  Only, I know that I'm that person to other people...  To me, though, I'm just me.  An ordinary kid." - Auggie

Note: Many thanks to the lovely folks at Random House Children's Books, who sent me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

~ GIVEAWAY! ~

I'm giving away my gently-used ARC of this book to one of my UK readers.  If you fancy getting a taste of the Auggie magic for yourself, just leave a comment on this review with your email address, and I'll choose a winner at random sometime next week.  Good luck!

**The giveaway is now CLOSED**

Mixing It Up Challenge Update #1

Okay, it's time for our first Official Update post!  This is where you get to check in, discuss, commiserate, celebrate, and ask questions!  I've also reposted the original linky here so you can maybe visit a few of the other challengees and cheer them on...  A little motivation goes a long way! 

If you haven't joined up yet, there's still plenty of time, never fear!  Please don't sign up using the Linky on this post - it's just a copy - instead you can find all the challenge details, categories, guidelines and ideas, plus how to sign up, over HERE.

My First Two Months

Hmmm, well, I didn't dive headfirst into my challenges with quite the vim I'd expected, given my reading fever in December!  I had about three weeks in January where I barely read a page, thanks to a flurry of music-listening and telly-watching that ended up consuming most of my time, oops...  Not that it wasn't just as enjoyable in its own way, but it didn't get me off to a great start!

So far I've completed three out of my sixteen categories - all the easiest ones first, what a surprise!  First up was my Children's/YA choice, which was Seizure by Kathy Reichs, the second in her Virals series.  It was a kind of fusion of Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean, with powers...  I tackled the Journalism/Humour category with the very funny How to Leave Twitter: My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop by Grace Dent, which I highly recommend to all the Tweeters out there!  And finally, for my Modern Fiction category, I went for Christos Tsiolkas's debut novella Loaded, about a young gay Greek man in Australia.  It was like a kind of modern Catcher in the Rye - cynical, intelligent, angry and explicit - and I really enjoyed it!

Over to you...

How are you getting on so far? Have any of your not-so-familiar genres surprised you? Have you had any particularly good (or particularly bad) reads already?  Leave your comments below!  Then if you have a few minutes spare, go and visit some of the other blogs on the Linky and show them a little encouragement.  We all need a cheerleader once in a while for all these reading challenges!

The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey

REVIEW: THE SNOW CHILD (5*)

by Eowyn Ivey (Headline Review, 2012)

I couldn't wait to read this book after all the amazing reviews and early hype spilling across the pond towards the end of last year.  Happily the buzz was entirely justified and it's turned out to be my first five-star book of 2012!

Ivey's stunning debut novel is set in Alaska in the 1920s, where middle-aged couple Jack and Mabel are struggling to survive on their new homestead.  While Jack is breaking his back every day trying to clear enough land to establish a farm, Mabel is quietly wilting under the winter sun and grieving for the stillborn baby that has prevented her ever having a child of her own.  The only solace in this lonely existence is the rowdy Benson family on the next homestead - jovial George, his earthy wife Esther and their three sons. 

Then one night, during the first snow of the winter and in a moment of giddy high spirits, Jack and Mabel build a little girl out of snow outside their cabin.  The next morning, to their dismay, the girl has been knocked down and Mabel's scarf and mittens are gone.  Soon afterwards they catch a glimpse of a small girl flitting through the forest with a red fox in tow, and they are mystified.  Is this the girl they created together, come alive through their shared longing for a child?  Or is she just a little girl in need, trying to survive in the wilderness by herself?  And so Faina comes into their lives, changing their world forever...

It is an absolutely beautiful book, and well on track to be one of my favourites of this year.  It's not a fast-paced story, but one that I wanted to savour and enjoy, page by page.  Ivey's descriptions made me feel like I was there in the cabin and walking through the woods with her characters; I could feel the chill in the air, smell the spruce trees and taste the snow on the breeze.  I think one of the things I liked best about the book was its tenderness and humanity.  There were moments that made me smile, moments that made me sigh, and moments that made me well up.  Every character pulled me in so that I was utterly invested in their happiness and wellbeing, and every conversation and interaction is rooted in such deep emotional awareness that it felt pitch-perfect and utterly real. 

Alongside this, of course, was the magical presence of Faina herself.  She is such an ethereally beautiful character, yet also strong and brutally capable, so that the reader, like Jack and Mabel, never knows quite what to make of her.  I like that this magical element - based on a Russian fairytale - is written with a very gentle touch, so that it never feels implausible and the reader is left to come to their own conclusions.  Highly recommended to readers who like their books to be firmly rooted in human relationships, who appreciate being able to a get a real sense of place as they read, and who enjoy authors like Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen who interweave their novels with a thread of magic and wonder.  Read it!    

Notable Quotables:

• "Through the window, the night air appeared dense, each snowflake slowed in its long, tumbling fall through the black.  It was the kind of snow that brought children running out their doors, made them stick out their tongues, turn their faces skyward, and spin in circles with their arms outstretched."
• "When she turned to pull the door closed, she noticed a glimpse of blue in the snow-laden spruce trees beyond the barn.  She strained her eyes and no longer saw blue, but instead red fur.  Blue fabric.  Red fur.  A child, slight and quick in a blue coat, passing through the trees.  A blink, and the little coat was gone and there was slinking fur, and it was like the flipping black-and-white pictures she saw when she had peered into a coin-operated, lit-up box in New York City.  Appearing and disappearing motion, child and woodland creature each a passing flicker." 

Note: Many thanks to the folks at Headline, who sent me this book in exchange for an honest review.