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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
This was an interesting story about an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister and the lives that are involved. It was not as funny as was lead to believe, but I still had some interest in what happened.
Smart, poignant, clever character study of three people in and around the actual historical event of a bombing of a Brighton hotel where Margaret Thatcher was staying in 1984. The setting is historical but the characters and their lives are imagined.
The writing in this excellent novel is so good that it wasn't until I was well into it that I stopped to find out if its central premise -- an IRA attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher with a bomb -- was a real event. Despite having a more than passing interest (for an American) in 1980s Britain, I'd never heard of this attack. As a work of "near" historical fiction, I'm not sure those who can recall the bombing will read it differently, but as someone who came to it fresh, I found the entire book riveting.
The story switches back and forth between the life of the IRA bomber and that of the manager of the Grand Hotel, where the bombing occurred, and the manager's teenage daughter. We meet the Belfast-bred bomber six years earlier, as he is recruited as an eager youth and trained in his craft. He's an idealist, who thinks that if the mission is successful, the Troubles will be over. Meanwhile, in the weeks leading up to the attack, the hotel manager is bustling around to tend to every detail of the upcoming Conservative Party conference, on the belief that if everything goes well, he'll get the promotion that will pay for his daughter to go to college. And the daughter serves as the jaded eye of youth on it all.
Not a whole lot else to say other than the story is gripping, the characters are compelling, and the writing is great.
The story switches back and forth between the life of the IRA bomber and that of the manager of the Grand Hotel, where the bombing occurred, and the manager's teenage daughter. We meet the Belfast-bred bomber six years earlier, as he is recruited as an eager youth and trained in his craft. He's an idealist, who thinks that if the mission is successful, the Troubles will be over. Meanwhile, in the weeks leading up to the attack, the hotel manager is bustling around to tend to every detail of the upcoming Conservative Party conference, on the belief that if everything goes well, he'll get the promotion that will pay for his daughter to go to college. And the daughter serves as the jaded eye of youth on it all.
Not a whole lot else to say other than the story is gripping, the characters are compelling, and the writing is great.
This book really captured me - it was not on my radar at all, and I only read it because it's in the Tournament of books this year. This guy really knows how to write - I found myself wanting to underline and re-read certain passages cuz he gets a description exactly right, but using words I (and most) would never think to put together.
This book is not so much about the action, but about the characters - they are all 3 dimentional and I feel like I knew them.
This book is not so much about the action, but about the characters - they are all 3 dimentional and I feel like I knew them.
I probably would have enjoyed reading a nonfiction book about this event more. In fact, I am probably going to have to read several books about the UK in the '80s and the damage that Thatcher inflicted.
Two books in one. Interesting story about IRA plot to blow up Thacher. Interspersed with boring, emo teen romances.
Where have all the editors gone, long time passing?
Where have all the editors gone, long time passing?
Call it more a 4.5 rating; this is an excellent, sad book about that terrible period in the Troubles and how it caught up people not even involved.
I picked this book up expecting a political thriller – what I got was something very different and perhaps more interesting. Though the Brighton bombing is at its heart, it is not a story of intrigue or suspense but a character-driven account of the lead-up to the Tory Party conference in Brighton, seen through the eyes of three fictional characters. Dan is an IRA member who is tasked with setting the bomb, Moose is the Grand Hotel’s deputy manager, hoping that Thatcher’s stay during the conference will lead to a longed-for promotion, and Freya, his teenage daughter, is working at the hotel after leaving school, waiting for her life to start.
The author delves deep into his characters, their longings, their regrets, their ambitions. There are subtle threads that run through all their stories. Dan and Moose are both committed but not uncritical members of institutions with rules and rituals and complex alliances. There’s a freshness to the prose and some striking observations of daily life, both dark and comic.
Telling the story through fictional characters builds the tension. We don’t know exactly what will happen to Dan, Moose and Freya, but we know about the bombing and its aftermath and that gives their stories added poignancy. We’re reminded that while we are musing on our purpose and our fears, trying to create our own narrative arc, the thing that we can’t control is coming, regardless.
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I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley.
The author delves deep into his characters, their longings, their regrets, their ambitions. There are subtle threads that run through all their stories. Dan and Moose are both committed but not uncritical members of institutions with rules and rituals and complex alliances. There’s a freshness to the prose and some striking observations of daily life, both dark and comic.
Telling the story through fictional characters builds the tension. We don’t know exactly what will happen to Dan, Moose and Freya, but we know about the bombing and its aftermath and that gives their stories added poignancy. We’re reminded that while we are musing on our purpose and our fears, trying to create our own narrative arc, the thing that we can’t control is coming, regardless.
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I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley.
slow-paced