Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks AND Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

I’ve chosen this time to write about two books for reasons I shall go into later. Firstly though the Emile Zola I read was a Penguin ‘Red’ classic, a series of books which supports AIDS charities around the world. Please look them up at http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/static/minisites/red/index.html and buy some, it’s all in a good cause.

Now a quick synopsis of each book. 

Charlotte Gray is the story of the title character and her activities during the war. Charlotte becomes an agent dropped into ‘free’ France during World War Two. Initially she is just a courier but she stays and helps the embryonic French Resistance and encounters the horrors of the war. Like many of Faulks’ best novels Charlotte Gray combines deep and harrowing emotion with characters which seem to become 3D owing to how well they are crafted. It also poses the Faulksian question of ‘what is faithfulness in a relationship?’ The story moves along apace and never leaves you disappointed as a reader, unfolding with a narrative grace reminiscent of all of his best novels (although in my opinion lacking in some). An excellent book by an excellent author. I can highly recommend ‘Human Traces’, ‘Birdsong’ and ‘Engleby’ if you want to experience him at his best. His upcoming BBC2 programme “On Fiction” will almost certainly be as good!

Thérèse Raquin, at first glance, would appear to be a different kettle of fish. It is the story of the Raquin family and the boredom of Thérèse which leads her into the arms of her husband’s friend Laurent. Upon the unleashing of her passion she and her lover concoct an unspeakable crime and live with the consequences until the end of their lives. Zola writes in the preface to the 2^nd edition that the book has often been reviewed unfavourably, with critics of the time believing it to be immodest and gratuitous, characteristics it often seems to possess. It is indeed racy, aggressive and, for want of a better word, chilling. However he goes on to claim that he is merely documenting the ‘animalistic’ responses of human beings to their senses and pleasures and this gives the book a more philosophical tone, asking questions about morality and human consciousness with a French flair and some skill. Zola is not as skilled at narrative as Faulks and the book drags in places but is still well worth a read for the detail and the ‘noir’ depiction of Paris in the 19^th Century which is evoked.

Where the books merit comparison is in their treatment of passion and mental obsession. Charlotte Gray is led towards what would typically be called positive feelings in her passion for Peter Gregory, a British Airman. One of Faulks’ strongest points is the way he characterises passion and makes it human. Therese on the other hand is driven to negative actions and thoughts during the throes of her passion for Laurent. In both books the reader is transported into an inexplicable and previously misunderstood world. As I have said many times the ability to make a reader see points of view that would never have occurred to them without being written down is one of the greatest strengths of fiction. This, to me, is the power of books and what makes them so enduring and so important to society. A little bit of understanding can go a long way, just as with the issues surrounding the problems of AIDS.

Ship of Magic: Book One of the Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb

The first in the trilogy of Robin Hobb’s ‘Liveship Traders’ series was a wonderfully self indulgent read for me. Science Fiction and Fantasy have always been the bedrock of the books that I read and always make me feel good!

The story revolves around the key characters and the decisions they take in the world Hobb sets her books in. The traders of Bingtown have certain priveleges in trading across the territories of Jamaillia and can create ‘Liveships’ from Wizardwood, ships that come alive after the death of three captains from the owning family. Liveships can help sail themselves, can access areas regular ships can’t and can outrun the ever increasing pirate attacks. This is the basic premise of the book and to go into ANY more detail would require something the length of an essay. The story centres around the liveship Vivacia and the characters which surround/come into contact with her and unfolds with a rare narrative grace.

 Robin Hobb's Six Duchies (Farseer Books) and Cursed Shores (Liveship Traders)

Hobb’s stories revolve around the consequences of actions on characters and how they move on and develop from choices over which they had no control. If you’ve never read any of her stuff before it can seem very hard going and does take a little getting used to. However by the time you have adjusted yourself to her prose the books become almost impossible to put down. This style also delves into the inner workings of any character and you feel a strong connection with what happens to them. This has the effect of shifting your mood alongside that of the characters; one area which I think can define a brilliantly written book (such as Sebastian Faulk’s Engleby and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief).

One of the key themes which runs through the book and which adds another layer of meaning and understanding to the experience is contradiction and resolution. The way in which the characters (underpinned by the dominant religion, the following of ‘Sa’) resolve conflicts is gone into in great depth and is a joy to read. The character of Wintrow best highlights this as an acolyte of ‘Sa’ and one who struggles to ‘choose’ between the surname of his father (Haven) and the surname of the trading family which ties him to the Liveship Vivacia (Vestrit).

Overall the book is hard work but more than worth it once the pace starts to pick up. I’m really looking forward to book 2 “The Mad Ship” once I can finally afford to buy books again!

22 Days in May: The Birth of the Lib Dem/Conservative Coalition by David Laws

This is a book review about a political book, by someone who is interested in politics and is a staunch Liberal Democrat. This will make me biased but doesn’t necessarily make me wrong. I shall at least endeavour to write about the book and not degenerate into political ranting. If you disagree then please feel free to comment.

The book tells the story of the British General Election of 2010 and its aftermath and consequences. It also makes an attempt to explain why a Lib Dem/Conservative, expected by almost nobody, came to fruition. The appendix contains documents that will be of interest to all students of politics with some of the key documents reproduced for the first time. 

David Laws was one of the 4 key Liberal Democrat negotiators and gives a clear and concise account of how he saw events and what he thought about them. The book starts by explaining some of the groundwork that the Liberal Democrats laid from 2009 to prepare for the possibility of a hung parliament. This included setting up the negotiating team and drawing up some basic documents based on the most likely hung parliament situations, a full coalition agreement with Labour and a ‘Confidence and Supply’ agreement with a minority Conservative administration. The book then moves through the disappointment of the election, the negotiations with the Conservatives and Labour and finally a sense of what life in government is like as Chief Secretary to the Treasury at a time of cuts.

The book can be a little long winded at times but that didn’t stop me from devouring it in a very short space of time. The passages regarding the negotiations give a fascinating insight into the process of negotiation and the people involved at a time when these details are seldom seen as interesting or in the interests of politicians to promote. It also serves as an excellent reminder that politicians are only human. Politics at its best when so often we see it at its worst.

However the most intriguing part of the book is Laws’ explanation of the state of British politics in which the coalition was born. This can teach anyone who is interested how British party politics might play out in the next few years. It documents the Conservatives’ moves into the centre ground, the ‘new’ (small n) Labour generation who have moved away from the Lib Dems and the apparent new trend within the Lib Dems themselves to toward a new ‘economic liberalism’ whilst maintaining their core social values. It is, whether you agree with it or not, a very interesting look at our political parties.

Very well worth a read and one of the first ebooks I’ve purchased because it was cheaper than the paperback!