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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
Jonathan Lee’s novel focuses on the lead up to the Brighton Bombing in 1984. An IRA bomb meant to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher went off in the beachside Grand Hotel during a Conservative Party conference that fall. Lee focuses on three invented characters – Phillip Finch, hotel assistant manager, his 18-year-old daughter Freya, and Dan, a 20-something IRA man from Belfast.
Phillip Finch, or Moose, is a disillusioned man. After his wife left him for another man, he raises his daughter Freya alone. Starting his life as a high diver, he becomes a diving coach, and later ends up in the hospitality business. He hopes that a successful hosting of the Conservative conference, will lead to a promotion to General Manager at the Grand Hotel. His daughter, Freya, is reluctant to go to university, but unhappy working as a receptionist at the Grand Hotel, with her father. Dan lives with his widowed mother in a Protestant neighborhood, where they are one of two Catholic families. His father was a victim of the Troubles, which may have pushed Dan into the IRA.
Despite the terrorism at the center of this novel, Lee constructs portraits of many of the banalities in these characters’ lives. Dan’s mother is concerned about Japanese knotweed in their back garden, and pushes her son to do something about it. Freya avoids a friend who is involved with protestors, and Moose wonders if Coke is one of the sugary things his doctor told him to avoid. Life in Brighton, particularly in the hotel, is ordinary. Moose worries for weeks about getting the exactly right color of napkins for the Conservative gathering. Freya worries about a friendship/romance with another employee. Dan worries if the bomb he planted will go off, and never about the terror it will cause people in the hotel.
It took me several chapters to get a feel for the tone of the book. While the story of a terrorist event could be written as a thriller, the author chooses to remind readers that until these events strike, everyone is caught up in their daily humdrum lives. I found myself unable to put this book down from the middle towards the end. Readers know that a bombing is coming, but just not exactly when.
I was enchanted by the colorful, crazy “Captain” who tells Freda that there is not a better writer alive than Bernard MacLaverty. By 1984, MacLaverty, born in Belfast, but living in Scotland, had written several novels including [b:Lamb|319570|Lamb|Bernard MacLaverty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387775488s/319570.jpg|1533997] and [b:Cal|253202|Cal|Bernard MacLaverty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345904001s/253202.jpg|1074397]. Reading this line is pushing me to read some of the unread MacLaverty books on my shelf. I also loved it when the character Marina, seemingly not a native speaker of English, misspeaks and says “No man is an Ireland”. Lee writes “He wanted to pick up on the pronunciation, correct the error, but to do so would be petty – and- after all Ireland was an island...”
I tend to be very bothered by anachronisms and such errors in novels. Lee makes a few, but I could not confirm all. Freya and her father apparently enjoy reruns of the American sitcom Rhoda. Rhoda ran from 1974-78 in the US. I couldn’t confirm that it was actually shown on British TV in the 1980’s. It didn’t even become available on VHS until the 1990’s. He also describes a reporter using a moleskin notebook - it's 1984. In 1986, moleskin notebooks stopped being produced and before that seemed to be used primarily by artists, and writers, but probably not journalists. If there were any journalists using them, they would have been very esoteric. Other anachronisms include a reference to vegans. Although the concept existed at the time, some online research revealed in the early 1980’s vegetarianism was considered “out there” and veganism wasn’t part of mainstream conversation.
Lee also quotes a person referring to someone’s “command of Gaelic”. The Irish language is generally referred to as Irish, and it is mostly Americans who call it Gaelic. Gaelic is what is spoken in Scotland, and though it is sometimes called Scots Gaelic, more commonly the terms used are Irish and Gaelic to distinguish the two.
Because this book pulled me in and kept me reading, it is worth a high rating. The author provides enough detail of Dan's IRA life to make it realistic, and appears to ground his details in actual events. The thoughts and feelings of the three principal characters are consistent with their situations and ages. Above all, the book leaves the reader thinking about the impact of terrorism and the ordinary lives it disrupts, and destroys.
Phillip Finch, or Moose, is a disillusioned man. After his wife left him for another man, he raises his daughter Freya alone. Starting his life as a high diver, he becomes a diving coach, and later ends up in the hospitality business. He hopes that a successful hosting of the Conservative conference, will lead to a promotion to General Manager at the Grand Hotel. His daughter, Freya, is reluctant to go to university, but unhappy working as a receptionist at the Grand Hotel, with her father. Dan lives with his widowed mother in a Protestant neighborhood, where they are one of two Catholic families. His father was a victim of the Troubles, which may have pushed Dan into the IRA.
Despite the terrorism at the center of this novel, Lee constructs portraits of many of the banalities in these characters’ lives. Dan’s mother is concerned about Japanese knotweed in their back garden, and pushes her son to do something about it. Freya avoids a friend who is involved with protestors, and Moose wonders if Coke is one of the sugary things his doctor told him to avoid. Life in Brighton, particularly in the hotel, is ordinary. Moose worries for weeks about getting the exactly right color of napkins for the Conservative gathering. Freya worries about a friendship/romance with another employee. Dan worries if the bomb he planted will go off, and never about the terror it will cause people in the hotel.
It took me several chapters to get a feel for the tone of the book. While the story of a terrorist event could be written as a thriller, the author chooses to remind readers that until these events strike, everyone is caught up in their daily humdrum lives. I found myself unable to put this book down from the middle towards the end. Readers know that a bombing is coming, but just not exactly when.
I was enchanted by the colorful, crazy “Captain” who tells Freda that there is not a better writer alive than Bernard MacLaverty. By 1984, MacLaverty, born in Belfast, but living in Scotland, had written several novels including [b:Lamb|319570|Lamb|Bernard MacLaverty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387775488s/319570.jpg|1533997] and [b:Cal|253202|Cal|Bernard MacLaverty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345904001s/253202.jpg|1074397]. Reading this line is pushing me to read some of the unread MacLaverty books on my shelf. I also loved it when the character Marina, seemingly not a native speaker of English, misspeaks and says “No man is an Ireland”. Lee writes “He wanted to pick up on the pronunciation, correct the error, but to do so would be petty – and- after all Ireland was an island...”
I tend to be very bothered by anachronisms and such errors in novels. Lee makes a few, but I could not confirm all. Freya and her father apparently enjoy reruns of the American sitcom Rhoda. Rhoda ran from 1974-78 in the US. I couldn’t confirm that it was actually shown on British TV in the 1980’s. It didn’t even become available on VHS until the 1990’s. He also describes a reporter using a moleskin notebook - it's 1984. In 1986, moleskin notebooks stopped being produced and before that seemed to be used primarily by artists, and writers, but probably not journalists. If there were any journalists using them, they would have been very esoteric. Other anachronisms include a reference to vegans. Although the concept existed at the time, some online research revealed in the early 1980’s vegetarianism was considered “out there” and veganism wasn’t part of mainstream conversation.
Lee also quotes a person referring to someone’s “command of Gaelic”. The Irish language is generally referred to as Irish, and it is mostly Americans who call it Gaelic. Gaelic is what is spoken in Scotland, and though it is sometimes called Scots Gaelic, more commonly the terms used are Irish and Gaelic to distinguish the two.
Because this book pulled me in and kept me reading, it is worth a high rating. The author provides enough detail of Dan's IRA life to make it realistic, and appears to ground his details in actual events. The thoughts and feelings of the three principal characters are consistent with their situations and ages. Above all, the book leaves the reader thinking about the impact of terrorism and the ordinary lives it disrupts, and destroys.
Meh. Not sure what I expected, but I didn’t care for it.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Literary fiction set in England and Ireland about the true-life bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984. Follows the bomber, the assistant hotel manager and the manager's teenage daughter, who works at the hotel's front desk. The characters are fictional, and I found the writing literary and compelling, but I ultimately didn't love this book.
The first twenty pages and the last twenty pages were excellent. The 330 in between were very slow. For a book about what led up to a famous terrorist bombing, there's virtually no action. And while the characters of Dan and Moose were well-drawn, the author was less successful at getting into the head of 18-year old Freya. I had high hopes for this but was disappointed.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A surprisingly quiet character study, given the summary. I'm in love with Jonathan Lee's writing. He had me at "Time got fat on silence" and then delved into this whole spiel about young women having to decide whether they want to be gossiped about as a tease or a slut and ljaldfjal;jsd;fla; Reminded me of Gillian Flynn's Cool Girl rant. Fabulous.
A completely entertaining mixture of fiction and history. The setting itself couldn't be more dramatic--a 1984 assassination attempt of Iron Lady Thatcher, a literal blowing-up of the Irish/British tensions--but I especially enjoyed the quiet moments that dominate the novel. Most of the book's energy is studying the ways different pairs--fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, employee and employer, governors and the governed--all misunderstand each other. At the center of it all is Moose, an abandoned husband doing his best to raise his teenage daughter, Freya, and the greatest tragedy of all may be that we understand how much she loves her Dad, even if he is never quite sure.
I enjoyed the shifting point of view, which bounces from Moose to Freya to Dan, a (probably) fictional accomplice to the convicted bomber. I do wonder if the book would have been even stronger if Dan had been more of a true believer, and less of a conflicted foot soldier, though I do see how making him feel that way emphasized the sense we had that all of these people were trapped by the world around them.
And, to keep you from thinking the whole read is a bummer, I should mention that it's often quite funny.
I enjoyed the shifting point of view, which bounces from Moose to Freya to Dan, a (probably) fictional accomplice to the convicted bomber. I do wonder if the book would have been even stronger if Dan had been more of a true believer, and less of a conflicted foot soldier, though I do see how making him feel that way emphasized the sense we had that all of these people were trapped by the world around them.
And, to keep you from thinking the whole read is a bummer, I should mention that it's often quite funny.
I read the plot description and thought, ooh, I wonder what the author will add to the basic historical facts to fill out an exciting book.
Nothing.
The one-paragraph summary of the book contains the ENTIRE plot. Everything else is deep character studies and mundane life that is supposed to feel transcendent in some way, since there's a literal bomb coming at the end, but doesn't. I felt bait-and-switched.
Nothing.
The one-paragraph summary of the book contains the ENTIRE plot. Everything else is deep character studies and mundane life that is supposed to feel transcendent in some way, since there's a literal bomb coming at the end, but doesn't. I felt bait-and-switched.