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kris_mccracken's reviews
2529 reviews
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
5.0
This novel is one of the bleaker that I've read (right up there with McCarthy's The Road). Brutal in its frank and quick depiction of violence, there are a few twists and turns that deliver gut punches along the way.
This isn't a book that one 'enjoys' as much as 'experiences'. It was a dark and challenging ride, but highly worthwhile.
This isn't a book that one 'enjoys' as much as 'experiences'. It was a dark and challenging ride, but highly worthwhile.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4.0
A rich and evocative memoir that does not pull any punches. Maya Angelou tackles themes such as individuality, rape, racism, class, literacy and self-worth. There’s a lot here, given that it covers Angelou’s life from the age of three to seventeen.
It’s not easy going. The darkest moments are offset by the knowledge of Angelou’s current stature in the canon. The highlight of the piece is the portrait of Annie Henderson (her maternal grandmother), a strong, resourceful woman who nurtures her grandchildren despite her lack of education and anchors their lives in a way that their parents are simply unable to do.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
It’s not easy going. The darkest moments are offset by the knowledge of Angelou’s current stature in the canon. The highlight of the piece is the portrait of Annie Henderson (her maternal grandmother), a strong, resourceful woman who nurtures her grandchildren despite her lack of education and anchors their lives in a way that their parents are simply unable to do.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The Hustler by Walter Tevis
4.0
Another fantastic member of the noir canon. A reasonably straightforward tale of flash young pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson, and his quest for glory (and a pocket full of cash). It is a book about winning and losing, self-reflection and what it takes to know oneself.
As with many books of the genre and era, the only female character of any note – Sarah, Eddie’s damaged and fragile love interest – is weakly realised. She exists purely to advance our understanding of Eddie, but to that end, she serves as a useful device to move the story along at a cracking pace.
This is one that can be knocked over in a single sitting, and – gender politics aside – does not feel dated or antiquated in the tone or moral of the tale. I would recommend this most favourably if the testosterone does not hinder your enjoyment!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
As with many books of the genre and era, the only female character of any note – Sarah, Eddie’s damaged and fragile love interest – is weakly realised. She exists purely to advance our understanding of Eddie, but to that end, she serves as a useful device to move the story along at a cracking pace.
This is one that can be knocked over in a single sitting, and – gender politics aside – does not feel dated or antiquated in the tone or moral of the tale. I would recommend this most favourably if the testosterone does not hinder your enjoyment!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
4.0
Interesting enough, but I suspect that I am not Harari's core target audience. I was already familiar with a lot of the work referenced here. While he has managed to weave an interesting arc that runs through the interconnected research, there were points in which my confidence with the linkages made was stretched rather taut! For one, I'd treat his certainty in terms of biological determinism with a significant grain of salt. The book - in my opinion - frequently tends to underplay social determinants to the detriment of the overall thesis.
That said, it is certainly worth exploring and makes a significant contribution to the mainstream understanding of the emergence of our species. Still, I'd ensure going to the primary source material if you were looking to make a substantial academic case.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2
That said, it is certainly worth exploring and makes a significant contribution to the mainstream understanding of the emergence of our species. Still, I'd ensure going to the primary source material if you were looking to make a substantial academic case.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2
The Dry by Jane Harper
3.0
An entertaining little police procedural set in country Victoria. Standard 'big city cop returns to small home town and gets caught up in murder (and past ghosts)' motif, and I enjoyed it well enough.
A fair few red herrings are tossed about to undermine the resolution of the stories behind the various deaths (especially with the river dried up). The central figure of Aaron Falk is an interesting one, and I am likely to read more of the series featuring the detective. It served as an excellent palate-cleanser after the heady going of Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's The Discomfort of Evening.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2
A fair few red herrings are tossed about to undermine the resolution of the stories behind the various deaths (especially with the river dried up). The central figure of Aaron Falk is an interesting one, and I am likely to read more of the series featuring the detective. It served as an excellent palate-cleanser after the heady going of Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's The Discomfort of Evening.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
4.0
An enjoyable romp in the traditional English murder mystery form. Richard Osman has done a great job in conjuring up a rich and diverse group of characters with a keen eye for unsolved murders and plenty of time on their hands.
The decision to set the novel in a retirement village allows Osman to give his elderly cast colourful backstories and useful skills required to both solve crimes and advance storylines. While it gets a little crowded at times, there's enough killing off of characters along the way to keep things moving and thin the herd!
If you're after a spot of good old fashioned crime-solving fun with enough highs, lows, laughs and tears to keep one engaged, this is likely the book for you.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The decision to set the novel in a retirement village allows Osman to give his elderly cast colourful backstories and useful skills required to both solve crimes and advance storylines. While it gets a little crowded at times, there's enough killing off of characters along the way to keep things moving and thin the herd!
If you're after a spot of good old fashioned crime-solving fun with enough highs, lows, laughs and tears to keep one engaged, this is likely the book for you.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Famished Road by Ben Okri
3.0
There is certainly some lovely writing in Ben Okri's The Famished Road. Lovely writing that delivers many exotic and imaginative stories. Some of these stories are rooted in the certainty of the real world. Others exist on another otherworldly plane.
It's just that there is so much of it. So many words, so many deviations, departures and detours from the story and the point that I do believe that you could skip three hundred pages and you wouldn't really notice.
The entire novel exists in a kind of fugue state with characters cycling in and out of death and sleep and work and life and reality and unreality that the reader themselves surely also drifts in and out of consciousness (this reader felt like he did).
I suspect that this maddening aspect of the tale is itself for life in Africa, so perhaps the point is well made. However, I am not sure that 600-odd pages are required to make it.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
It's just that there is so much of it. So many words, so many deviations, departures and detours from the story and the point that I do believe that you could skip three hundred pages and you wouldn't really notice.
The entire novel exists in a kind of fugue state with characters cycling in and out of death and sleep and work and life and reality and unreality that the reader themselves surely also drifts in and out of consciousness (this reader felt like he did).
I suspect that this maddening aspect of the tale is itself for life in Africa, so perhaps the point is well made. However, I am not sure that 600-odd pages are required to make it.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
2.0
Wow.
Wow, but not in a good way.
That was underwhelming.
I generally have no real problem with an author employing an internal stream of conscious narrative or multiple viewpoints, but I found this one so unbearably dull.
I think that this confirms that I am more a Steinbeck kind of guy when it comes to an understanding of the failures of American society.
⭐ 1/2
Wow, but not in a good way.
That was underwhelming.
I generally have no real problem with an author employing an internal stream of conscious narrative or multiple viewpoints, but I found this one so unbearably dull.
I think that this confirms that I am more a Steinbeck kind of guy when it comes to an understanding of the failures of American society.
⭐ 1/2
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
3.0
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
The book opens with three seemingly unconnected vignettes that take place across a couple of decades. First, a three-year-old girl disappears overnight while camping in her backyard with her sister. Second, two decades later, a solicitor witnesses the violent murder of his beloved daughter by a seemingly random stranger. Lastly, between the two incidents, a struggling mother loses her temper with her husband seemingly embeds an axe in his skull while their baby looks on.
We then shoot to the present and meet our central character, Jackson Brodie, a struggling private eye (ex-army, ex-police) and an all-around good bloke who has inherited the dregs of the three mysteries. The constant shifting between stories left me dazed at points, and I struggled to keep up with which clue went with what case.
Part- convoluted family melodrama, part- mystery thriller, the book serves up a series of intriguing character studies that recalls the best of Muriel Spark. Still, I found the brisk momentum of the book and ceaseless sliding and tumbling backwards in time undermined the framing narrative as new characters and increasingly improbable events hit the exhausted Jackson.
Nonetheless, the book kept my interest, and we got our resolutions at the end, which is the general requirement of the genre.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
The book opens with three seemingly unconnected vignettes that take place across a couple of decades. First, a three-year-old girl disappears overnight while camping in her backyard with her sister. Second, two decades later, a solicitor witnesses the violent murder of his beloved daughter by a seemingly random stranger. Lastly, between the two incidents, a struggling mother loses her temper with her husband seemingly embeds an axe in his skull while their baby looks on.
We then shoot to the present and meet our central character, Jackson Brodie, a struggling private eye (ex-army, ex-police) and an all-around good bloke who has inherited the dregs of the three mysteries. The constant shifting between stories left me dazed at points, and I struggled to keep up with which clue went with what case.
Part- convoluted family melodrama, part- mystery thriller, the book serves up a series of intriguing character studies that recalls the best of Muriel Spark. Still, I found the brisk momentum of the book and ceaseless sliding and tumbling backwards in time undermined the framing narrative as new characters and increasingly improbable events hit the exhausted Jackson.
Nonetheless, the book kept my interest, and we got our resolutions at the end, which is the general requirement of the genre.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½