Tag: a good book

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline was a very interesting novel. Those of you who grew up in the 1980s will be in for a trip down memory lane as it’s littered with pop culture from that period.

It is set in a Dystopian 2040s, in which, the world is in a very dark place. An energy crisis, caused by a depletion of fossil fuel and global warming has left humanity with a depressing future.

To escape from this, people spend most of their time in the OASIS; a virtual reality simulator created by a computer programmer called James Halliday.

I could imagine the OASIS as being a real paradise where providing you have enough money, could lead to endless possibilities; I mean you can even purchase a spaceship and travel from world to world! It’s a scary thought for the future, that’s for sure.

Anyway, upon his death, Halliday announced in his will that he’d left an Easter egg hidden in the OASIS simulation and the first one to find it would receive his estate. For those who are unaware, an Easter Egg is a signature left within a video game by its creator (or programmer). To get this final prize, a series of keys must be won by completing puzzles set out by Halliday. These often involve old school games such as Pac-Man, Dungeons & Dragons to mention a few.

The novel follows Wade Watts who lives in poverty but is able to access the OASIS thanks to his online school. In his spare time, he actively looks for the Easter Egg; people like this are called “Gunters”

I really loved this novel, not only for the story, but for the references to 80’s pop culture; namely films, books, and computer games. As our protagonist is hunting for the clues inside the OASIS I was looking for the references on each page; a game within a game if you will.

Overall, it was easy to dip in and out of thanks to the short chapters, and the characters were really easy to like. For a debut novelist, Cline manages to create a world (OASIS Simulation) that is very appealing, I began to wish one existed. The only gripe is that for me the book went on a little bit too long.

Have you read Ready Player One? Post in the comments below or join in the discussion on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Woman in the Window by A.J Finn

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Woman in the Window hardback front cover

I can’t remember how I heard of this novel. The title – The Woman in the Window – like so many other thrillers these days, has an unmistakable ring to it, just like The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl.

But why the hell not?

Being an author is a cut-throat market with many not even making a full-time wage, so a catchy name that evokes a response from potential readers is a good way to go! After all, it’s the writing style and story that always rises to the top.

A.J Finn’s novel has created quite a buzz since its publication in 2017; in fact, the movie rights were sold in multiple countries before it was even published.

Meet Anna Fox, a 38-year-old woman who delights in spying on her neighbours through her window. Early on, we learn that she hasn’t really got anything else to do! As an agoraphobic (who hasn’t left the house in over a year) she lives alone, drinks way too much red wine, and watches the same black and white movies on repeat.

Anna’s husband has left and taken her daughter with him. One evening, stacked on painkillers and booze, she hears a scream from her neighbours’ apartments and sees something horrific!

The question is, can she trust herself?

Don’t worry, I haven’t told you anything that isn’t in the synopsis of the book. One thing I’d say is that The Woman in the Window has a clever plot with many twists and turns. One of these twists I worked out on page 121 (of 500) but after some careful thought, I think this was a device by Finn to take you away from the finale as I didn’t see it coming at all.

I had a strange experience with this novel; once I stopped reading, I wasn’t that enthused about getting back to it. However, when I did start reading, I found it hard to stop! You do the math, eh!

Overall, a good reading experience that really introduces you, sympathetically, into the life of an agoraphobic person and which keeps you guessing about the integrity of each character until the very end.

Click here to buy The Woman in the Window from Amazon

Have you read Finn’s popular page-turner? Post your thoughts in the comments below or join in the discussion on Facebook or Instagram.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S Lewis

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Yes, I’ve watched the films, who hasn’t? They’re great! But I had really fond memories of reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was younger. And like the Pevensie children in the novel, I was drawn back!

This novel is by far the most popular in The Narnia Series, and it’s easy to see why. Published in 1950, it offers complete escapism for the reader; Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are evacuated from London to avoid the Blitz and are sent to a big house in the countryside. This is one location in the novel and the other, of course, is the magical world of Narnia.

Much of this story is etched into my memory from reading the books and watching the films but I did find one part of the story (don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler) I’ve never really paid attention to before. It’s a conversation between Peter, Lucy, and Professor Digory Kirke, which goes like this:

“But there was no time,” said Susan. “Lucy had had no time to have gone anywhere, even if there was such a place. She came running after us the very moment we were out of the room. It was less than a minute, and she pretended to be away for hours.”

“That is the very thing that makes her story so likely to be true,” said the Professor. “If there really is a door in this house that leads to some other world (and I should warn you that this is a very strange house, and even I know very little about it) – if, I say, she had got into another world, I should not be at all surprised to find that the other world had a separate time of its own; so that however long you stayed there it would never take up any of our time. On the other hand, I don’t think many girls of her age would invent that idea for themselves. If she had been pretending, she would have hidden for a reasonable time before coming out and telling her story.”

I loved this part because you have two children worried about their little sisters sanity, only for a well respected Professor (and adult) to basically say, “Why not? Keep your minds open to other possibilities.” A great lesson for anyone reading this novel!

The writing style is very simple and easy to read which is such a difficult thing to achieve. I also really liked the little drawings scattered throughout the book. Overall, a brilliant story by C.S Lewis, and one which I feel has more than enough depth for adults and children to enjoy.

Click here to buy The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on Amazon

If you’ve read The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe or any of the Narnia series, please post your comments or join in the discussion on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

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The Chalk Man popped up on my Facebook feed many times over a month or two. Stephen King actually tweeted a comment saying “If you like my stuff, you’ll like this.”

I guess marketing’s golden “rule of 7” really does work because I eventually bought it for my Kindle. The author C.J Tudor is relatively unknown, in fact, this is her first published novel.

So, full of expectations I gave it a go!

For those who grew up in the 80’s & 90’s, you’ll find this novel nostalgic. No mobile phones, not many computer games, just pure meeting-in-the-park vibes.

The novel begins in 1986, when Eddie – the protagonist – witnesses a horrific accident at the fair. From this tragic incident, Eddie develops a friendship with his teacher, Mr Halloran.

Eddie and his friends, Fat Gav, Hoppo, Metal Mickey and Nicky start drawing chalk men on the pavement outside each other’s houses in a code that only they understand. It is these drawings that eventually lead the gang to an unexpected discovery.

When the novel picks up again in 2016, it reminded me so much of the structure of IT by Stephen King but without the depth. Of course, IT is over 1,000 pages so that’s not a negative comment. I really enjoyed that The Chalk Man has so many sub-plots running throughout the novel which all tie up nicely at the end.

After the excellent beginning (the incident at the fair is all I’ll tell you) it took about 100ish pages for something else to happen. Although this was a little frustrating, I kind of liked that the gang were just riding around on their bikes and wasting time at the local park.

That’s exactly what I was doing in the 1980’s!

Overall, a good psychological thriller that deals with tragedy, friendship, childhood, betrayal, and secrets.

Roll on the next one from CJ Tudor.

Click here to buy The Chalk Man

If you have any thoughts on The Chalk Man, then I’d love to hear them. You can join in the discussion on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Alternatively, write in the comment section below.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

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“Sometimes dead is better”

Wow, Pet Sematary by Stephen King really did live up to expectations. It’s scary as hell; personally the film also scared the crap outta me too.

In the introduction King writes:

‘When I’m asked (as I frequently am) what I consider to be the most frightening book I’ve ever written, the answer comes easily and with no hesitation: Pet Sematary.” (p.xi)

In fact the novel nearly wasn’t published, King continues:

“All I know is that Pet Sematary is the one I put away in a drawer, thinking I had finally gone too far” (p. xi)

Luckily for us, King had one book left on his Doubleday deal before he could leave, and instead of writing something new, he sent them Pet Sematary.

Now it’s being review by literaturefiend.

The novel follows Dr Louis Creed and family as they move into a new house in the small town of Ludlow. The house is on a main road and it isn’t long before Jud Crandall (a neighbor from across the road) warns the Creeds about the dangers of the passing trucks. Louis – whose father died when he was young – discovers a paternal connection with Jud. The role of the father is to protect, but it is Jud who shows Louis the Micmac burial ground which ultimately leads to the catastrophic events in this novel.

There is a path which leads from the Creed home to the Pet Sematary. This is a lovely concept, started by the town’s children to bury their beloved pets; the majority of which killed on the road by oncoming trucks. Death is something all children must come to terms with and you really feel their innocence with little devices, such as the misspelled Pet Cemetery sign which has an “S” instead of “C”. Also I loved the handwritten grave markers with little messages from the children:

“TRIXIE, KILT ON THE HIGHWAY SEPT 15, 1968” and “HANNAH THE BEST DOG THAT EVER LIVED 1929-1939” (P. 38)

Things are no different for the young Ellie Creed who takes her first visit to the Pet Sematary (and experience of death) pretty hard. She has a beloved cat named Winston Churchill (or Church for short) who she would like to live forever.

“He’s my cat! He’s not God’s cat! Let God have his own cat! Let God have all the damn old cats He wants, and kill them all! Church is mine!”

When Ellie’s cat is killed by a truck, Jud tells Louis about the Micmac burial ground which lies beyond the Pet Sematary. This is a place of evil, a burial ground that somehow brings what is buried back to life – only when they return, they aren’t the same.

When Church returns King writes:

“The feel of the cat caused Louis to break out in gooseflesh, and he had to clench his teeth grimly to keep from kicking it away. Its furry sides felt somehow too slick, too thick – in a word, loathsome” (p. 162)

You get the idea right?

The book then gets even darker. Think of the horror, chasing your young son who is running towards the road, a speeding truck coming from the opposite direction. King explores this scenario when it happens to Gage Creed (Louis’ son); would you just accept it, or… exhume your sons grave, and bury him in a place where you know he’ll return?

Read it to see how it plays out…

The central theme of this novel focuses on coming to terms with grief and the loss of a loved one. There is Rachel Creed, haunted by the memory of her sister who suffered from spinal meningitis before her death; Pascow, a young student who is killed by a truck on the main highway to mention a few.

I can see how Pet Sematary scared King, as much of it is based on personal experience. His own child Owen running for that main highway (thankfully King tackled him in time), his daughter’s cat Smucky flattened by a truck (thankfully, not coming back from the dead) and the real Pet Sematary (thankfully, the burial ground beyond is fiction).

This all happened and I think it shows King’s creativity at its best. He certainly highlights the notion that “sometimes dead is better.”

Section that Stayed

A university student is brought into the campus surgery after being hit by a truck. The finality of this passage stayed with me throughout the whole novel.

“He was a young man, age approximately twenty, and it took Louis less than three seconds to make the only diagnosis that mattered: the young man was going to die. Half of his head was crushed. His neck had been broken. One collarbone jutted from his swelled and twisted right shoulder. From his head, blood and a yellow, pussy fluid seeped sluggishly into the carpet. Louis could see the man’s brain, whitish-gray and pulsing through a shattered section of his skull.”(p.70)

What did you think of the novel? As always Literature Fiend would love to hear any discussions points, or suggestions for further reading. Please contact us, or leave a comment below, it would be great to hear from you.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

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John Steinbeck is a great humanist writer who focuses the majority of his work on the less fortunate members of society, usually in California. His main qualities as a writer lie in the description of landscape and the tender aspects of his character’s. For the above themes, I suggest you check out Of Mice & Men, Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden.

Cannery Row was published in 1945 and is set in Monterey, California during the great depression. Cannery Row is a waterfront street which had a number of sardine canning factories (the last of which closed in 1978.)

Rather than focus on the workers of these factories – many of whom were out-of-towners – it deals with the colourful inhabitants of ‘The Row’ during the time the canning factories are closed:

“It is the hour of the pearl – the interval between day and night when time stops and examines itself.”

At the beginning of the novel Steinbeck writes:

“It’s inhabitants [Cannery Row’s] are, as the man once said, ‘whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,’ by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, ‘Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,’ and he would have meant the same thing” (p.5)

A group of men, led by Mack, who have no ambition except to sit around and get drunk and live rent free in an old shed, affectionately called, The Palace Flophouse and Grill. Instead of looking at them in a stereotypical way, Steinbeck has Doc – a well respected marine biologist – describe them in a positive light,

“Look at them. There are your true philosophers. I think. […] Mack and the boys know everything that has ever happened in the world and possibly everything that will happen. I think they survive in this particular world better than other people. In a time where people tear themselves to pieces with ambition and nervousness and covetousness, they are relaxed.” (p.106)

The local shopkeeper, called Lee Chong who’s store is described as “while not a model of neatness, was a miracle of supply” (p.7), has a similar air of affection. The people who work at the local whorehouse are all described with similar fondness. This is Steinbeck’s way of showing the reader how reliant the inhabitants are upon each other.

This novel marked a change in his normal style, in the sense that the novel had no real plot. Just a series of chapters highlighting the “real” Cannery row. Aside from human interaction, Steinbeck talks about nature; particularly about animal life and how it co-exists alongside human life.

“A well-grown gopher took up residence in a thicket of mallow weeds in the vacant lot on Cannery Row[…] It was beautiful in the early morning when he first poked his head out of the burrow. The mallows filtered green light down on him and the first rays of the rising sun shone into his hole and warmed it so that he lay there content and very comfortable” (p.144)

There are many descriptions like this in the novel, but I think it really highlights the way Steinbeck was thinking at this stage in his life. He is deeply pondering man’s place within the eco-system of the natural world.

Overall, Cannery Row is littered with excellent description, heartfelt dialogue and deeply human characters. It shows an author who is brimming with confidence, and who has deep compassion towards the poor. On top of that, it is a rapid read at 147 pages; this comes well recommended.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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I’ve been thinking about what to write since I finished Tartt’s masterpiece a few weeks ago. An epic work which weighs in at 864 pages, which I really loved reading.

The length of The Goldfinch may put some people off; but the investment is well worth the effort.

Throughout the novel the themes of loss and friendship are dealt with on so many different levels; too many to mention in this short review.

It follows Theo Decker from childhood to adulthood, after the loss of arguably the most important figure in his life – his mother. Theo sort of imprints the memory of his mother onto a painting he steals after a terrorist attack on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, his mother’s favorite painting, I might add. Worried about what the authorities will say (as Theo ponders coming clean) the painting sparks an obsession, and not just for the protagonist.

It is important to point out that the painting of The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, is a truly remarkable piece of art as you can see from the image on the right. It is said to be one of a dozen surviving works by the Dutch Artist; many of which were lost when his studio was destroyed by the explosion of the Delft gunpowder magazine on October 12, 1654. Fabrititus – a pupil of Rembrandt – died in this explosion aged 32.

Tartt’s novel is full of memorable characters, apart from Theo. For me, I really enjoyed the lifelong friendship with Boris – a Ukrainian with so much depth to his personality – and was really touched by their relationship, not to mention their crazy adventures.

In this section of the novel Boris talks to Theo about girls:

“Here is my experience. Stay away from the ones you love too much. Those are the ones who will kill you. What you want to be happy in the world is a woman who has her own life and lets you have yours.” (p. 667)

And who can forget Hobbie, the furniture restorer who I imagined for some reason to be a blood relative of the BFG; but more than that, he is a simple character, more than content spending his days in his workshop restoring furniture – I really admired this about him.

The writing style is typically beautiful. However, there is a section in the last third of the book when Theo is contemplating his own mortality and whether he should continue to live. The descriptive quality and somber subject matter is well captured. I mean throughout this section the “Black Mood” was transferred from the page and really affected me to the extent that I had to put the book down on a regular basis; it seemed to suffocate me.

Depression is a theme that is re-visited throughout the novel. In this passage Theo describes the difficulty of living a normal life after tragedy:

“…and though the darkness sometimes lifted just enough so I could construe my surroundings, familiar shapes solidifying like bedroom furniture at dawn, my relief was never more than temporary because somehow the full morning never came, things always went black before I could orient myself and there I was again with ink poured in my eyes, guttering around in the dark” (p. 573)

I’m not surprised that The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014 and unlike other reviews I’ve read I don’t care it was a decade in the making. Tartt openly admits that she’s a slow writer, but the descriptive detail and depth of research really does help to pack a punch.

And you know what? I’m happy to wait another ten years if I get to read something as well crafted as The Goldfinch again.

See you in 2024 Tartt. It’s a date!

Wait Until Spring Bandini by John Fante

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I was so impressed by Ask the Dust, that I went straight to Amazon and ordered the “Bandini Quartet.” It has the four novels: Wait Until Spring Bandini, The Road to Los Angeles, Ask the Dust and Dreams from Bunker Hill.

It works out much cheaper than buying them separately, and if you want to read them all – which after reading one Fante novel, trust me you will – is well worth the investment.

In this novel we get an insight into what things were like for Arturo Bandini (or Fante, however you want to look at it) as a child. And the answer is pretty bleak; the family are poor – like most during the depression era – and constantly struggling to pay their food bill at the local shop, let alone the rent.

Arturo – in typical fashion – has his mind consumed with a girl from his school, Rosa. She however, doesn’t reciprocate his feelings:

“Rosa, his girl. She hated him, but she was his girl. Did she know that he loved her? Was that why she hated him? Could she see the mysterious things that went on inside him, and was that why she laughed at him?” (p.42)

Svevo,Arturo’s Father, is a bricklayer and hates the winter; he is constantly being “rained off” as we say in England, due to bad weather. He is ashamed that he cannot bring more money into the household; in the first few pages we see these worries as he walks into:

“…the yard of his house that was not paid for..” (p.8) and to his “…house that was not paid for” (p.7).

On the other hand his wife is a deeply religious woman, rich, in the sense that she makes the home a home. She is described as angelic and despite the lack of money, the love in the household is strongly felt:

“Maria had a white rosary, so white you could drop it in the snow and loose it forever” (p.7).

The routine of the Bandini household is torn apart – partly through miscommunication and partly through the local rumors in the neighborhood, when Svevo goes to work for the rich widow Hildegarde to earn money for his family. It is his pride that obstructs his true feelings:

“Bandini sobbed – a grown man, forty-two years old, weeping because it was Christmas Eve and he was returning to his sin, because he would rather be with his children” (p.137)

Through the use of a omniscient narrator the reader can identify with every character at one stage or another; this way their love, thoughts and feelings towards each other really shine through. That said, I much preferred the first person narrative (from Arturo) in Ask the Dust, which made me laugh out loud on many occasions.

This novel, is an excellent piece of writing; which is poetic throughout, not to mention heartbreaking at times. The more Fante I read the more I begin to understand the term “way ahead of his time” because if it wasn’t for the popularity of Bukowski we may have seen Fante’s work buried deep in dark attics and second hand bookshops.

And that my friends, would be a tragedy in my eyes.

Best Part

Arturo is trying to be a little more “saintly”, but for reasons I’ll not reveal he lashes out in frustration. He is in his garden when:

“He [Arturo] found a lump of coal the size of his fist, stood back and measured his distance. The old brown hen nearest him got the blow in the neck as the whizzing lump all but tore her head loose and caromed off the chicken shed” (p.46)

This was a harsh act, but the reason I liked it so much is that a few pages later the hungry family are tucking in to a succulent roast chicken.

Rating: 7/10

Literature Fiend

Every book changes your literary journey.

Tag: a good book

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Woman in the Window by A.J Finn

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S Lewis

The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

“Sometimes dead is better”

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Wait Until Spring Bandini by John Fante

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