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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
This is a rare novel, in my experience. It’s the kind of novel that makes a writer sit up and pay attention. It’s the kind of novel that makes a writer feel both humbled and glad to be a writer himself, because Jonathan sets the bar high. He gives us something to aim for. On every page you can find a sentence or a scene or a turn of phrase so outstanding, so memorable, that you just have to pause and go over it again so it can resonate in your mind. And if you’re an avid reader who’s not necessarily a writer, so much the better. You have stumbled upon what I guarantee is one of the best reads of the year.
This novel probably deserves a better rating, but I just did not find it compelling in the end. The first chapter hooked me, but as the story alternated between the three protagonists, it lost its verve. I did not feel that I had a strong feel for the characters. And it is on the characters that its success hinges. The bombing that ties them together is merely the device for the author to explore these peoples' lives and motivations. Still, the writing was excellent and a number of passages were quite brilliant.
I love serendipity. Unexpectedly, I have time to read some (or all depending on my luck with the library) of the books for the Tournament of Books (aka The Rooster). I picked up High Dive because it is on the tournament, and it was available.
What a fascinating read about the IRA and England in 1984. Thatcher planned an appearance at Brighton, and the IRA had advance notice. I was emotionally involved in the safety of locals working at or near the hotel where Thatcher planned to stay. The complexity is well written, and I look forward to his future novels.
What a fascinating read about the IRA and England in 1984. Thatcher planned an appearance at Brighton, and the IRA had advance notice. I was emotionally involved in the safety of locals working at or near the hotel where Thatcher planned to stay. The complexity is well written, and I look forward to his future novels.
The September 1984 bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton (its goal: the assassination of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) is the frame around the lives of three people, each trying to make sense of their lives. But this isn't a political thriller; it is an intimate study of these people, their hopes and dreams, faults and strengths. In the end, the time bomb makes its entrance, and none of them will ever be the same. Poignant and memorable. Highly recommended.
In 1984, a bomb was planted at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. The intent was to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, put together by the Irish Republican Army. We follow Dan, the orchestrator of the plot, and Moose and Freya, the manager of the hotel and his daughter, during the four weeks leading up to the bombing. While the concept was cool, the execution fell short. These characters were just so boring and I probably would have enjoyed following the IRA viewpoint a lot more. I wanted to see exactly what goes into a murder plot, and that we got very little of. However, I hadn't known anything about this event, so now my mind is broadened just a little for having read this book.
I just could not get into this. I was bored most of the time and forced myself to finish. I wanted to like it but just never could get into it.
This is not a countdown tick-tock to the 1984 Grand Hotel Bombing. That's history and there should be no surprises by now. It's a series of pieces on fictional visitors and workers at the hotel in the weeks before and during the bombing. It's literary. I enjoyed it.
So close to five stars. Like the bomb Dan plants at The Grand Hotel a month in advance of Thatcher's stay, this book has a long fuse. Lee makes you wait for the climax you know is coming and delights you with character studies in the meantime forcing you to invest in the (fictional) human side of this event. I love books that take real historical events and create a fiction around them and this is among the best of them. It loses a star for just being a little too long towards the end. I felt he kept me waiting just a little too long and my interest started to wane, diluting the effect of the climax. He could have written a much pacier version of this story but I'm so glad he didn't as my investment in the characters was so much deeper.