Month: July 2012

The Shadow of the Wind second post

Posted on By Margot

First published: July 2012

I have just finished reading this book. A delight to read. What kind of book is it? A love story? A historical novel? A thriller. A comedy – or a tragedy. Like all great books, this book does not easily fit into such categories for it is a multi-layered novel.

So some observations

Syria is descending into civil war. The cruelty and brutality will beggar belief. Zafón’s book is set against the recovery from such a civil war. The Spanish Civil War ended finally in April 1939 – Barcelona had fallen to Franco’s republicans in January. The aftermath of the civil war was cruel and brutal. Even 10 years later, the repercussions can still be felt.

Stalking the streets is Inspector Fumero, a psychopath who enjoys cruelty, who glories in prolonging the suffering of his victims and specialises in murder. Is Fumero’s characterisation over the top? Sadly no, for we just have to look at what is happening in so many parts of the world to realise that there are instances of Inspector Fumero in all totalitarian regimes.

The story hinges on lies and the suppression of the truth. The character of Julian Carax, the fictional author of the Shadow of the Wind, falls in love with his benefactor’s daughter, Penelope. But the untold truth is that Julian is in fact his benefactor’s illegitimate son. The love affair is ended tragically and for Penelope, barbarically. Julian is forced into exile. And now the second distortion of the truth – the fate of Penelope is kept from Julian by his closest friend. But when Julian discovers the truth, then another tragedy unfolds. Julian sees himself accursed, the devil, and scours Barcelona for copies of his work to destroy.

And another motif is bought into play – the motif of redemption.The boy Daniel is entranced by the work of Julian Carax, he wants to know about the author, there is no ulterior motive. For so long, Julian had regarded himself as a thing absolutley outside  the decency. Yet Daniel, with his enthusiasm and innocence remins Julian of what he once was.  Slowly Julian changes, and when the pregnant Bea has had to flee from the wrath of her family, it is Julian who takes her it and protects her. The story of Penelope and Julian echoes the story of Daniel and Bea. History does not repeat itself and Bea and Daniel escape the tragedy that engulfed Julian’s life. At the end of the novel we find that Julian has begun writing again.

It is not often that you come across a book that is so satisfying to read and stays with you . This is just such a book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_of_the_Wind


Updated: July 9, 2012 at 6:10 pm

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Posted on By Margot

Audio book read June 2007, first published July 2012

This is a story of a family caught up in the terrible events of the Biafran War. In the 1960’s we had pictures of terrible starvation in Biafra – the images of skeletal, pot-bellied children stay with me even today. The tragedy was that Nigeria had the potential to be a rich country, and yet the population was starving to death because of the intransigence of a few generals. One wonders if such a situation would be tolerated today.

The book was an eye-opener onto an African world, from an African perspective at a time of appalling suffering. Biafra was a nation state that reached out for independence yet starved into submission and this story follows this process through the lives of Odenigbo, a university professor, Olanna and Ugwu, Odenigbo’s house boy. Olanna is sometimes described as Odenigbo’s mistress, but today we would describe her as Odenigbo’s partner.

There is meat enough in the relationship between Odenigbo and Olanna without a civil war. This begins with a story of middle class Africans, educated in English and treading the line between traditional African and global/British middle-class culture. Olanna and her twin sister Kainene are modern African women from a wealthy family. There is the personal level in this story bringing to life the events that we witnessed through news programmes. What do you do when your partner impregnates another woman (although if Ugwu’s account is to be believed, Odenigbo is tricked into this)? How do you cope when your relatives are massacred in an inter-ethnic uprising? And what impact does it make on you when you have to live in a refugee camp?

Half of a Yellow Sun does what all great literature should do – open the doors into a different world and then reveal a shared humanity. It is worth reading

Links

http://www.halfofayellowsun.com/index.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/aug/19/fiction.shopping2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_of_a_Yellow_Sun

Audio book: http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/ref=sr_1_3?asin=B004EWB8O2&qid=1342363666&sr=1-3

The spy who came in from the cold by John le Carré, published by Victor Gollancz, September 1963

Posted on By Margot

First Published July 2012

What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. Do you think they sit like monks in London, balancing the rights and wrongs? (Alec Leamas in The Spy who came in from the cold)

Spying is a nasty sordid business in a world where there are no good guys – only our side and the enemy. The rules are that the ends justify the means. The individual is expendable for the sake of what is perceived to be the greater good. If you think that spying is glamorous, exciting and even noble, then prepare to be disabused by this book. This is not a romantic fiction, but a grim reality check. When the liberal throws up his or her hands in horror when the news breaks that our Secret Services have been involved in interrogating witnesses under duress or involved in “extraordinary rendition” then this book says get real, the world and the relationships between states is not genteel and good-mannered. John le Carré tackles these issues in the closing chapter of the book. Up to this point the book has been a slow burning firework and now it explodes with raw emotion. This is the point, the climax to which the book has been building and now there can only be one ending as the firework burns itself out and crashes to the ground.

The mastery of this book is the quiet measured prose describing the interaction of the characters. They are all drawn with humanity and the evil of Mundt is thrown into sharp relief against the decency of Leamas, of the East German Fiedler, even George Smiley. But none can escape the strictures imposed by the world of espionage and the demands of the political masters. In many respects the old British state, unfettered by any ideology is more than a match for the enemies behind the iron curtain. Who are the good guys – there are none.

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_Who_Came_in_from_the_Cold

The spy who came in from the cold by John le Carré, published by Victor Gollancz, September 1963, Penguin Classics (2011) – Paperback – 272 pages – ISBN 0141194529

Also available in audio book format, ePub format and for Kindles

July 2012: A drought in Surrey?

Posted on By Margot

Today it rained and tomorrow it will rain and also, according to the forecast, it will rain on Wednesday. June has been the wettest on record – to go with a wet May and an even wetter April. And yet our local water company, Veolia, is declaring a drought and the hosepipe ban is in full force. My garden does not look as though it is suffering from a lack of water – even before it started raining in April. Just what is Veolia trying to prove? That the amount of water saved from a hosepipe ban during the wettest summer on record will fill the aquifers? In which case, it is the wet summer not the hosepipe ban that is the cause.

As I drive over the Thames each morning on my way to work, I am constantly amazed a the level of the Thames at Walton. Not high enough to flood, but high enough. Now remind me. Is there not a myth that the water is taken out of the river at the pumping station to supply the local population. If that is the case, why are we on drought alert? Using the water at Walton for water supply would surely be preferable to allowing this water to flow out to sea. If our water does come from the pumping station, then why are we subject to drought restrictions when there is plainly not a water shortage in this area?

Perhaps I also take exception to use of the word drought. A real drought is when it does not rain for months if not years. It is when nothing grows and much dies. It is when vegetation catches fire spontaneously. A drought is not when you have to keep listening for flood alerts. It is not when your strawberries and raspberries rot because it keeps raining.

But Veolia says there is a drought. And they have spent the princely sum of £30 million to fix the leaks. They are also spending money to educate the consumer. And at the same time, they are have to pay off a massive debt. There is no money for the sort of investment in infrastructure that is really needed. It is definitely true that the bulk of the population lives in the south-east, but the water surplus in sin the north and west of the country. What is needed is a scheme to harness the water surplus in one part of the country to ensure that eh southeast does not go short. Such problems could be solved by the Romans 2000 years ago – but not in seems, the British in the 21st Century.

Veolia – the only drought you have is one of your own making. So get real.

Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger

Posted on By Margot

At last I have been able to get a legitimate copy of this as an eBook – at one stage I thought I was going to have to resort to downloading a pirated copy.

There are some things that I disagree with, such as the absolutism of Ratzinger’s position on the role of women and the priesthood. But in general Ifound the book thought-provoking and definitely has deepened my understanding of my faith.

For some very obscure reason, I could buy this as an audio book, which is how I first came across the book, but not as an ePub book (or even a Kindle book) – it can be sold to residents in Germany, the Netherlands or USA but not in the UK.

Originally this was my Lenten task, to listen to Jesus of Nazareth as I drove to work. I was not expecting too much – after all, this was written by the man known as God’s Rottweiler. But gradually it blew my mind and I can see why he was elected Pope. Gradually Cardinal Ratzinger unfolded the mystery of Jesus, showing how the Crucifixion is the right at the heart of the salvation story. He shows how Jesus is the total fulfilment of all the prophets before.

Jesus is the Son of God. But sons of God were not unknown at that time – the claim to deity was taken up by the Roman emperors. As the centurion at the foot of the cross declares “Truly this man was the Son of God” we have a statement of faith so deep that it cuts through the political world. To declare Jesus as Son was to deny the deity of the Roman emperor.

Jesus is shepherd – so many kings were seen as shepherds of their people – but Jesus takes this one step further.

I think the next book I need is a study guide.