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kris_mccracken's reviews
2529 reviews
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4.0
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
As expected, The Kite Runner is emotionally hard going. Compounding the novel's tension, the US withdrawal of Afghanistan was taking place as I read this rather harrowing exploration of fathers and sons, betrayal and redemption framed by Afghanistan’s tumultuous past.
Hosseini manages a masterful job of redeeming the character of the central narrator here, but he does make the reader pay for this hard-won understanding. In offering an insight into the mysteries of Afghani life, culture and recent history, the book is rarely dull.
I often find the endings of such books disappointing, but this is not the case here. While some of the unlikely coincidences that occur during the third act’s redemptive arc, there’s a real heart to the damaged optimism in what leads to a lovely final moment of the book, perhaps my favourite part of the whole thing. Not even the inevitable failures of the cynical US policy to Afghanistan could dent that.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2
As expected, The Kite Runner is emotionally hard going. Compounding the novel's tension, the US withdrawal of Afghanistan was taking place as I read this rather harrowing exploration of fathers and sons, betrayal and redemption framed by Afghanistan’s tumultuous past.
Hosseini manages a masterful job of redeeming the character of the central narrator here, but he does make the reader pay for this hard-won understanding. In offering an insight into the mysteries of Afghani life, culture and recent history, the book is rarely dull.
I often find the endings of such books disappointing, but this is not the case here. While some of the unlikely coincidences that occur during the third act’s redemptive arc, there’s a real heart to the damaged optimism in what leads to a lovely final moment of the book, perhaps my favourite part of the whole thing. Not even the inevitable failures of the cynical US policy to Afghanistan could dent that.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
4.0
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
Despite my concerns over the sudden release, I found it an excellent follow up to Osman’s enjoyable debut. Set in the immediate conclusion of the first book, the story moves along at a great clip as we re-join the colourful band of misfits who occupy an aged care community in what should be sleepy Kent.
However, with a couple of former MI5 agents knocking around, a local drug kingpin, and a banal money laundering criminal, all living local, events soon ensure that the town is anything but sedate. Yes, the bad guys are underdeveloped to the point of caricature, but our central cast are genuine, lovable and balance everyday concerns, the shadow of mortality beautifully with their more hair-raising adventures
The Man Who Died Twice is not Booker Prize fare, but it is an easy and delightful read
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Despite my concerns over the sudden release, I found it an excellent follow up to Osman’s enjoyable debut. Set in the immediate conclusion of the first book, the story moves along at a great clip as we re-join the colourful band of misfits who occupy an aged care community in what should be sleepy Kent.
However, with a couple of former MI5 agents knocking around, a local drug kingpin, and a banal money laundering criminal, all living local, events soon ensure that the town is anything but sedate. Yes, the bad guys are underdeveloped to the point of caricature, but our central cast are genuine, lovable and balance everyday concerns, the shadow of mortality beautifully with their more hair-raising adventures
The Man Who Died Twice is not Booker Prize fare, but it is an easy and delightful read
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
A Town Called Discovery by R.R. Haywood
4.0
A Town Called Discovery by R.R. Haywood
Moving at breakneck speed, the novel begins with page after page of unrelenting mindfucks, and rarely lays off. I have never read anything that begins like this. Confusing, painful, violent death after death after death. For every step of progress, there is pain, death and betrayal over and over again.
“Welcome to Discovery” indeed! I could complain about the lack of character development, but given that our protagonists have been drawn into existence with their pasts erased, it would be a churlish grievance.
I shall say no more, the book so punishing and relentless in its pacing that it will be a delight for any thriller, sci-fi, action or even horror fans out there. I’m now keen to explore Haywood’s deep back catalogue, which I trust is as good a recommendation that you can get!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Moving at breakneck speed, the novel begins with page after page of unrelenting mindfucks, and rarely lays off. I have never read anything that begins like this. Confusing, painful, violent death after death after death. For every step of progress, there is pain, death and betrayal over and over again.
“Welcome to Discovery” indeed! I could complain about the lack of character development, but given that our protagonists have been drawn into existence with their pasts erased, it would be a churlish grievance.
I shall say no more, the book so punishing and relentless in its pacing that it will be a delight for any thriller, sci-fi, action or even horror fans out there. I’m now keen to explore Haywood’s deep back catalogue, which I trust is as good a recommendation that you can get!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, Frederick Forsyth
3.0
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
It is a slow-burning thriller copied many times since; I appreciated this one more than enjoyed it. Forsyth doesn’t shy away from delving into the mundane detail of the assassination caper. Nevertheless, while the book meanders down some lonely byways, an appropriate tension is maintained right through to the final set-piece.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
It is a slow-burning thriller copied many times since; I appreciated this one more than enjoyed it. Forsyth doesn’t shy away from delving into the mundane detail of the assassination caper. Nevertheless, while the book meanders down some lonely byways, an appropriate tension is maintained right through to the final set-piece.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
1.0
The Land That Time Forgot is a pulpy sci-fi/ fantasy romp first published in serialised form in Blue Book Magazine in 1918. As such, I should not have been surprised by the primitive understanding of gender politics or the solitary female character's presentation as quite so feeble.
I was more taken aback by the presentation of the ‘Wobblies’ – the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) – as evil ne'er-do-wells hell-bent on the destruction of all that is good in the world. Now, one might expect such a thing from the vicious Hun (yes, the Germans are all bestial monsters too), but I’ve always liked the IWW. There’s no point in me exploring the implications of the thoughts of an American businessman on labour relations.
Ho-hum. Given the above, I found this a tedious and simplistic tale that pales in comparison to Jules Verne or H.G. Welles, and the thoughts of Edgar Rice Burroughs on primitive man and the upper and lesser races are best left unexplored. Suffice to say that I’ve not read so many mentions of “feeble-minded Negroid features” in a long time.
Perhaps the chap from the IWW was correct in trying to sabotage our hero all along?
Best avoided.
⭐ 1/2
I was more taken aback by the presentation of the ‘Wobblies’ – the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) – as evil ne'er-do-wells hell-bent on the destruction of all that is good in the world. Now, one might expect such a thing from the vicious Hun (yes, the Germans are all bestial monsters too), but I’ve always liked the IWW. There’s no point in me exploring the implications of the thoughts of an American businessman on labour relations.
Ho-hum. Given the above, I found this a tedious and simplistic tale that pales in comparison to Jules Verne or H.G. Welles, and the thoughts of Edgar Rice Burroughs on primitive man and the upper and lesser races are best left unexplored. Suffice to say that I’ve not read so many mentions of “feeble-minded Negroid features” in a long time.
Perhaps the chap from the IWW was correct in trying to sabotage our hero all along?
Best avoided.
⭐ 1/2
The Maid by Nita Prose
1.0
The Maid by Nita Prose
Part-murder mystery, part-quirky “coming of age” story, I struggled to fully embrace this book, as I could not stop thinking about the death of Elijah McClain. Elijah was a young, black neurodivergent man killed by Colorado police because he was “acting strangely”.
Why?
The book is told via the first-person narration of Molly, the young, neurodivergent maid of the title. Prose doesn’t explicitly identify Molly as white. Still, I’d say that it was a safe assumption, given the relatively easy ride she gets as the storyline plunges Molly into a whole world of trouble.
If only Elijah McClain were so lucky.
The mystery is seemingly secondary to the key selling point of the novel: that is, the ‘twist’ of Molly’s ‘special’ way of seeing things seems to delight most reviewers. I understand that the author wants to address the stigma of neurodivergence. As a character, Molly is not consistent enough – either in communication with others or in her inner monologues – to be believable. She shifts from a clueless dupe in the first half of the book to an astute observer of the unspoken nuances of social interactions by the story’s end.
While my mind can stretch to accommodate character development, the writing here is utterly pedestrian with a focus on telling, not much showing, and actions from our central narrator that is not at all consistent with her early characterisation and presentation of her struggles with determining intentions.
Worst of all are the outrageous racial stereotypes that had my jaw-dropping. The offensiveness of this drew me back to the story of Elijah McClain, and I shake my head at how no editor picked up on the tone-deafness of large parts of the book. Published this year and set in the present day, the ‘racial reckoning’ of the past two years has clearly missed HarperCollins.
For a book about breaking stereotypes, the treatment of the minor characters, especially the maid staff and the illegal Mexican immigrant/ dishwasher, was eye-rolling and plainly offensive. It’s good that these happy, kind (but simple) souls have the young, white neurodivergent maid looking out for them!
The dénouement involves a courtroom scene amongst the worst I’ve read and an ending emerging from nowhere. Who needs Chekov’s gun when you’ve got MacGuffins and red herrings littered all about the place?
That’s enough from me. This was rubbish.
⭐ ½
Part-murder mystery, part-quirky “coming of age” story, I struggled to fully embrace this book, as I could not stop thinking about the death of Elijah McClain. Elijah was a young, black neurodivergent man killed by Colorado police because he was “acting strangely”.
Why?
The book is told via the first-person narration of Molly, the young, neurodivergent maid of the title. Prose doesn’t explicitly identify Molly as white. Still, I’d say that it was a safe assumption, given the relatively easy ride she gets as the storyline plunges Molly into a whole world of trouble.
If only Elijah McClain were so lucky.
The mystery is seemingly secondary to the key selling point of the novel: that is, the ‘twist’ of Molly’s ‘special’ way of seeing things seems to delight most reviewers. I understand that the author wants to address the stigma of neurodivergence. As a character, Molly is not consistent enough – either in communication with others or in her inner monologues – to be believable. She shifts from a clueless dupe in the first half of the book to an astute observer of the unspoken nuances of social interactions by the story’s end.
While my mind can stretch to accommodate character development, the writing here is utterly pedestrian with a focus on telling, not much showing, and actions from our central narrator that is not at all consistent with her early characterisation and presentation of her struggles with determining intentions.
Worst of all are the outrageous racial stereotypes that had my jaw-dropping. The offensiveness of this drew me back to the story of Elijah McClain, and I shake my head at how no editor picked up on the tone-deafness of large parts of the book. Published this year and set in the present day, the ‘racial reckoning’ of the past two years has clearly missed HarperCollins.
For a book about breaking stereotypes, the treatment of the minor characters, especially the maid staff and the illegal Mexican immigrant/ dishwasher, was eye-rolling and plainly offensive. It’s good that these happy, kind (but simple) souls have the young, white neurodivergent maid looking out for them!
The dénouement involves a courtroom scene amongst the worst I’ve read and an ending emerging from nowhere. Who needs Chekov’s gun when you’ve got MacGuffins and red herrings littered all about the place?
That’s enough from me. This was rubbish.
⭐ ½
Searching for Caleb by Anne Tyler
4.0
Searching for Caleb by Anne Tyler
Forty years is a long time when it comes to contemporary fiction. I have been catching up with the works of Anne Tyler and was surprised to find – upon finishing – that this was first published way back in 1975. I did not have that sense while reading, which is a testament to the timelessness of her approach.
An exploration of an insular family and the implications for those pursuing an alternative way of living. The notion of ‘convention’ and familial loyalty is investigated, with the insularity of the Pecks not emerging with particular esteem.
While the book commences as standard, if somewhat offbeat far, as the story progresses, characters more fully emerge, and the themes of searching and self-actualisation are developed, it becomes far more complex and engaging.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Forty years is a long time when it comes to contemporary fiction. I have been catching up with the works of Anne Tyler and was surprised to find – upon finishing – that this was first published way back in 1975. I did not have that sense while reading, which is a testament to the timelessness of her approach.
An exploration of an insular family and the implications for those pursuing an alternative way of living. The notion of ‘convention’ and familial loyalty is investigated, with the insularity of the Pecks not emerging with particular esteem.
While the book commences as standard, if somewhat offbeat far, as the story progresses, characters more fully emerge, and the themes of searching and self-actualisation are developed, it becomes far more complex and engaging.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
4.0
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
A grandly sweeping epic set sometime between 28,000 and 25,000 BCE, in which Auel chooses to explore the corrosive nature of patriarchy through the lens of an abandoned Cro-Magnon girl’s assimilation into a band of Neanderthals at a time of their accelerating demise.
The story’s structure is far more effective than it has any right to be. The sensitive portrayal of the Neanderthal provides a glimpse of humanity that is equally effective as it is surprising. Notably, the good guys are inherently good, and in Broud – the resentful, sullen and bullying progeny of the clan’s leader – Auel has constructed a loathsome bad guy of epic proportions.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
A grandly sweeping epic set sometime between 28,000 and 25,000 BCE, in which Auel chooses to explore the corrosive nature of patriarchy through the lens of an abandoned Cro-Magnon girl’s assimilation into a band of Neanderthals at a time of their accelerating demise.
The story’s structure is far more effective than it has any right to be. The sensitive portrayal of the Neanderthal provides a glimpse of humanity that is equally effective as it is surprising. Notably, the good guys are inherently good, and in Broud – the resentful, sullen and bullying progeny of the clan’s leader – Auel has constructed a loathsome bad guy of epic proportions.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Blindness by José Saramago
2.0
Blindness by José Saramago
José Saramago's Blindness tracks an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city and swiftly following social breakdown. I must confess that I struggled with this one. It's not the story, which is unremittingly grim. Nor is it the experimental form of pages of run-on sentences and unparagraphed dialogue with nary a quotation mark in sight.
No, it is the unrelenting baroque nature of Saramago's writing (or perhaps that of his translator). The bane of many a translation from a romance language, I struggled with the overly florid verbiage in even the direst circumstances. Honestly, I can't quite imagine someone coming out with the following amidst pack rape, mass starvation amidst piles of human shit:
The plotline is intriguing enough, but I confess to finding the interminable soliloquies wearisome.
⭐ ⭐ ½
José Saramago's Blindness tracks an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city and swiftly following social breakdown. I must confess that I struggled with this one. It's not the story, which is unremittingly grim. Nor is it the experimental form of pages of run-on sentences and unparagraphed dialogue with nary a quotation mark in sight.
No, it is the unrelenting baroque nature of Saramago's writing (or perhaps that of his translator). The bane of many a translation from a romance language, I struggled with the overly florid verbiage in even the direst circumstances. Honestly, I can't quite imagine someone coming out with the following amidst pack rape, mass starvation amidst piles of human shit:
“Words are like that, they deceive, they pile up, it seems they do not know where to go, and, suddenly, because of two or three or four that suddenly come out, simple in themselves, a personal pronoun, an adverb, an adjective, we have the excitement of seeing them coming irresistibly to the surface through the skin and the eyes and upsetting the composure of our feelings, sometimes the nerves that can not bear it any longer, they put up with a great deal, they put up with everything, it was as if they were wearing armor, we might say.”
The plotline is intriguing enough, but I confess to finding the interminable soliloquies wearisome.
⭐ ⭐ ½
Beach Read by Emily Henry
4.0
Beach Read by Emily Henry
In the endeavour to broaden the scope of my reading, I've found myself taking increasing leaps of faith into new genres. Hence dipping into the oeuvre of romance writer Emily Henry.
I had doubts initially, as she laid out a cliched premise and began to develop what - at first glance - seems a shallow set of characters and sign-posted narrative arc.
Thankfully, Henry has the talent first to subvert and then deliver upon the potential of the genre novel. We get our sign-posted conclusion, but she manages to craft an exciting and engaging pathway there. Bonus points for delivering on the sexual tension and writing convincing sex scenes!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
In the endeavour to broaden the scope of my reading, I've found myself taking increasing leaps of faith into new genres. Hence dipping into the oeuvre of romance writer Emily Henry.
I had doubts initially, as she laid out a cliched premise and began to develop what - at first glance - seems a shallow set of characters and sign-posted narrative arc.
Thankfully, Henry has the talent first to subvert and then deliver upon the potential of the genre novel. We get our sign-posted conclusion, but she manages to craft an exciting and engaging pathway there. Bonus points for delivering on the sexual tension and writing convincing sex scenes!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½