sarahmatthews's reviews
79 reviews

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks

Read on audio

Narrator: Leonie Elliott

Jonathan Cape

Pub. 2022, 340pp

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I enjoy following the Women’s Prize for Fiction and this novel was one of the few that appealed to me this year. Set in South London, Bristol and Jamaica, it follows Yamaye and her friends as they discover the world of dub reggae and nights out at The Crypt, a nightclub under a church in Norwood.

The first part of this book was very engaging and I really enjoyed how the audiobook incorporated music in some sections as it added atmosphere and is something I’ve not come across before. It evokes a specific time in British history and the adventures of the 3 girlfriends illustrates what it was like to grow up as a second generation immigrant in London. The audiobook narrator was excellent, often bursting into song and switching to patois effortlessly.

As a young black British woman in the 80s, Yamaye is faced with so many challenges, from the secrecy of her father to the brutality of the police. The writing is beautifully poetic with a unique voice that kept me reading when the really traumatic sections came along.

The book started to lose its way for me a little in the Bristol based chapters but picked up at the end which was quite a ride! 

I found the pacing uneven and this may be because the book was written over the span of 10 years so probably underwent many rewrites and edits.

I’m so pleased it was included in the Women’s Prize shortlist as I may not have discovered it otherwise.   

 

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

Read in Braille

Pub. 1944, 301pp

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I absolutely loved this Christie, it’s one of the best of her non-Poirot books I’ve read.

It has a different feel to many of her others so it really stands out. There’s a group of interesting characters set around the world of tennis. I really enjoyed the way she developed the relationships in the story as well as creating a wonderfully plotted murder mystery. And of course I was totally fooled by all the misdirections. These characters are very memorable and there’s an unexpected element to the story in which Christie was ahead of her time. I can’t be any more specific than that! This novel has jumped into my top 5 Christie books.

Here’s a taster of its set up:

“When you read the account of a murder...you usually begin with the murder itself. That's all wrong. The murder begins a long time beforehand. A murder is the culmination of a lot of different circumstances, all converging at a given moment...”

The In GAD We Trust Spoiler Warning podcast episode about it is particularly good: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/in-gad-we-trust/id1516423562?i=1000571623214

Free Love by Tessa Hadley

reflective medium-paced

Free Love by Tessa Hadley

Read on audio

Narrator: Abigail Thaw

Pub 2022, 312pp

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Over the past couple of years the name Tessa Hadley has come up on my favourite book blogs several times and on Backlisted podcast but it was listening to her talking to Daisy Buchanan on  You’re Booked earlier this year that persuaded me to buy her most recent novel, Free Love.

The first chapter is a wonderful set piece which introduces the reader to the central family,  includes some amazingly awkward interactions between characters and shows you their inner thoughts in a gently amusing way, reminding me very much of Barbaara Pym and Elizabeth Taylor.

The story revolves around Phyllis, a ‘60s housewife living in a sleepy London suburb with her husband Roger and children Collette and Hugh. She’s not happy where her life seems to have landed her and seizes an opportunity to throw caution to the wind. The narrative is told mostly from her perspective but we also see the inner thoughts of the other main characters,   a tricky thing to pull off that’s done brilliantly. The characters often become lost in their thoughts, imagining how a situation might play out or drifting into daydreams.

I enjoyed reading about Collette who is a very unhappy teenager, feeling ignored and bored with school and her school friends, none of whom really understand her. She figures out some of what’s going on in her family as the book progresses, in an understated and accidental manner. At one point she’s being nosey, looking at her mother’s address book:  ‘She was guided by some instinct  of cunning she didn’t know she possessed. The book fell open in her hands, to its pale blue back page and there, among the upholsterers and electricians, penciled very faintly in the corner, she found in Phyllis’ writing miniaturised as if it were in hiding, the letter….’ But I’ll say no more!

A beautifully observed novel  with great insight and fabulous characterisation.  

The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans

The premise for this one was very appealing as I always love a novel about the art world or a family saga and this had both.

There was a lot I enjoyed about it, especially the modern timeline but I found I put it down when the 1890s timeline came in as I just didn’t connect with the characters and couldn’t care about what was happening there, just wanting to return to the present.

I really liked the garden diary element of the structure which was a great hook to get Juliet out of her daily struggles and connected again to country life and enjoyed the general chaos of her family.

I read this in hardcopy Braille to start with then switched to electronic Braille and finally, when I realised just how long the book was, I switched to audio for the last two parts, which I read in a day.

I found the story really engaging overall but it felt uneven and a bit of a struggle to stay with at times, finding myself putting it down for several weeks. I think it was a bit repetitive and over explained. The ending felt far too drawn out (I definitely didn’t need to read an epilogue) but ultimately I’m glad I finished it as the conclusion was satisfying if a little predictable. One to stick with. 

Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Moshi-Moshi: A Novel by Banana Yoshimoto

tr. Asa Yoneda

read as e-book, using a mix of electronic Braille and TTS

pub. 2010, 210pp

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Yocchan is living with her mother after her father dies in suspicious circumstances, trying to cope with her own grief while encouraging her mother to return home. Her mother believes the family home is haunted and is very happy to spend her days living in her daughter’s apartment, like a housemate, pottering around the local shops and cafes all day while Yocchan works in a bistro.

Yocchan’s father was a musician in a rock band, Sprout, and she travelled with him and her mother when he went on tour, living a rather bohemian childhood. She has fond memories of him as a loving father:

“He kept every promise he made to Mom or me, no matter how small, writing them down in his diary or on the back of his hand. even now, when I think of his hands, I see them in my mind's eye covered in notes.”

As the days go by, Yocchan reflects on life with her father, wondering about how well they really knew him:

“Even when he was alive, Dad had been like a hologram projected between us, showing us each a different image.”

Mother and daughter help one another cope with what has happened, talking frankly about their shared past and consoling each other. They keep returning to the day he died, trying to make sense of the tragedy, speculating on what he might have been thinking and feeling.

As the novel progresses, details emerge about yocchan’s father that may explain the mystery of his death and she has to confront his failings while continuing to support her mother.

I fell in love with Banana Yoshimoto’s elegant writing from the start and gulped this book down in a day. The afterward about loss and the importance of community was very touching and now I want to find an accessible copy of Kitchen, 1988, her most famous novel.

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

emotional reflective medium-paced

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Read in Braille

Pub. 2021, 368pp

Faber

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This novel is set mainly in Ireland, both in a small town and in Dublin, where best friends Alice and Eileen studied and lived together.

This is a book in which you could say nothing much really happens, and that’s my kind of book! It concerns questions of identity, sexuality and wider issues including politics, global warming and religion.

I love Sally Rooney’s writing and this book is just as good as the previous two. There’s a gorgeous rhythm to her prose and I find that when you get started you just want to read and read! And her dialogue, to me, continues to be her biggest strength.

I liked the mix of ways characters interact with each other; in person, through text messages and over email. It makes for a varied structure. There are some very amusing texts between Eileen and her sister Lola who’s preparing for her wedding whereas the emails between Eileen and Alice have a different tone, becoming very philosophical at times while mixing in anecdotes about their lives: “The state of the world being what it is, humanity on the cusp of extinction, here I am writing another email about sex and friendship…what else is there to live for?”

Of all the relationships, I enjoyed reading about Eileen and Simon most as I felt it accurately captured what it’s like to be in a high pressure situation, with the real fear that, if you go for it, it could go horribly wrong and the thought of the potential fallout is unbearable.

I’m glad I left it a couple of years before reading this book as I’d forgotten about the TV series of Normal People and all the hype surrounding this book’s launch. It meant I just enjoyed reading it as it was without the background buzz of the usual ‘Sally Rooney discourse’ on publication.

Rooney has a gift for eloquently expressing the awkwardness of human interactions and I didn’t want it to end.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Read on audio

Narrator: Helen Laser

Pub. 2023, 323pp

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I have a weakness for books about the publishing world so when I saw Yellowface popping up everywhere I was intrigued. The premise is so outlandish however that I thought I’d just be rolling my eyes and I normally avoid overhyped books. So what made me pick it up? A review from a writer I trust who loved it, and honestly, she was right!

The main characters in this dark satire are Yale college mates, both of whom are aspiring writers. After graduation Athena’s career takes off and she becomes a publishing darling while June’s 1st book doesn’t make it into paperback. There’s a freak accident, Athena dies and June takes Athena’s manuscript that’s (conveniently) been kept a secret, finishing it herself. It’s published and is a bestseler.

Kuang’s skilled, sharp 1st person narration manages to make this work and what follows is a complex story that critiques the publishing industry; literary scandals, racial tokenism and reliance on social media for marketing. Athena’s a Chinese-American writer and June’s white and as the book is about the unsung contributions of the Chinese Labour Corps in WW1, June’s given a racially ambiguous pen name. It all kicks off on Twitter when someone points out the similarities of the writing to Athena’s and accuses June of plagiarism. I’ve spent long enough on “book Twitter” to recognise the scandals the author is alluding to and, to be fair, this probably did add to my enjoyment of the book. Though with the current fragmenting of social media and the rebrand to ‘X’, the references to Twitter may make it feel very dated very quickly.

I really enjoyed how Kuang kept twisting things by adding more and more to the backstory of the central friendship so that even though it’s bluntly obvious June’s jealous and bitter, Athena’s no saint either. There are some toe-curling scenes that are uncomfortable to read, as they should be, and it’s all very heightened and exaggerated to land her points.

I thought the author showed how June’s self delusion could happen very convincingly at times, but later in the novel it did become a little repetitive and I wanted more  development of the character. This book throws up so many issues about storytelling and doesn’t offer any easy answers.

Bournville by Jonathan Coe

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Bournville by Jonathan Coe

Read on audio

Narrators: Peter Caulfield / Cara Hogan

Pub. 2022, 354pp

Penguin

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A new book from Johnathan Coe is always a treat, he’s one author I come back to without hesitation. I first read him in the ‘90s when I picked up What a Carve Up (let’s be honest, because of it’s gorgeous illustrated cover) and since then I’ve read most of his books. Recently, Middle England and Mr Wilder and Me have been great reads. His writing is so clear, funny and insightful and I enjoy how he tackles big, complex topics like Brexit and other burning political issues in a way that presents so many angles with empathy. In Bournville we start at those nervous days of the early pandemic when nobody quite knew whether to hug eachother and then we visit Bournville, a small area in Birmingham,on V. E. Day and we learn how Cadbury’s built this community, employing 1,000s and investing in housing.

We then follow the lives of an ordinary Bournville family, their summer holidays, marriages and frictions.

The tagline for this book is “Everything changes, and everything remains the same” and it’s so striking in the relationships, conversations and social issues discussed throughout the novel how this theme plays out. 

I particularly enjoyed how the different chapters often felt like short stories, like when David emails his cousin, recounting a shared episode in their past from his point of view. In fact I think David may have been my favourite character. As I learned from the afterward,he also appears in 2 other novels so now I want to reread these books!

Coe also always writes beautifully about classical music, here through Lorna and Peter

And the audio narrator, Peter Caulfield, does a stellar job, effortlessly switching between a whole host of regional accents.

The final chapters, as we enter the pandemic, are very moving and best read when you’re alone, and definitely with a comforting bar of chocolate.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Read on audio, narrated by Aidan Kelly

Faber & Faber, 124pp

Pub. 2021

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I’d heard that this book was special and it didn’t disappoint! This novella is set in a small town in Ireland and is told from the point of view of Bill Furlong, a businessman who supplies fuel to locals including the convent on the edge of town. It is nearing Christmas in 1985, times are hard for his customers, but their homes need heating and Bill is in demand.

This haunting story explores how Bill grew up and the hardships he underwent to ultimately become a well liked and successful business owner as well as a father of five girls.

one Christmas he accidentally finds himself in a moral dilemma that has a strong connection to his past and we see him grapple with his inner thoughts about it. The writing is moving, well observed and just on the right side of giving hints but not spelling it all out.

“Always it was the same, Furlong thought; always they carried mechanically on without pause, to the next job at hand. What would life he like, he wondered, if they were given time to think and reflect over things? Might their lives be different or much the same – or would they just lose the run of themselves?” 

The result is that you’re left wanting to know more and hoping for the best for Bill who is a decent person just trying to get by and provide for his family. This novella puts a spotlight on a piece of shockingly recent history I didn’t know about (the Magdalene laundries) and there are so many poignant moments. It’s staggering how the author develops the characters so fully in just over 100 pages and I really want to read more of Claire Keegan’s economical writing; she’s written another novella, Foster, and it’s going straight on my TBR list. The audiobook is expertly narrated but my only criticism is that reviewers of the hardcopy book talk of an afterward which annoyingly wasn’t included so I had to visit Wikipedia instead.

The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham

Read on audio 

Narrator: Francis Matthews

Pub. 1938, 350 pp 

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“Why it is that a garment which is honestly atractive in, say, 1910, should be honestly ridiculous a few years later, and honestly charming again a few years later still, is one of those things that are not satisfactorily to be explained and are therefore jolly and exciting and an  addition to the perennial interest of life.”

This Golden Age mystery revolves around a respected fashion house which is run by Val, who’s brother is Allingham’s famous private detective Albert Campion. Their most celebrated client is Georgia Wells, a self absorbed actress. Albert is drawn into this fashionable crowd when he’s asked to investigate the death of a promising judge who also happened to have been engaged to Georgia. Two further deaths make this a puzzling case that implicates many of the group.

I loved all the period fashion details in this story: "What's that?" she demanded. "A nightgown?"

Val ran a pencil through the design. She looked up, her cheeks red and her eyes laughning…"It should be made in something rather heavy and expensive. Berthe's new corded chine-chine, I think.

"Morbid and silly," said Lady Papendeik. "I like the little bows. What's the pocket for?"

"Indulgences," said Val cheerfully. "They're always in fashion."

I also thought the gossipy tone it had at times was very fitting, and Allingham’s turn of phrase is wonderful: “To the police a corpse is a corpse, and murder is a hanging matter and the whole affair slid out of the shrouding mists of the fashionable world and the gossip of the bridge clubs, and came under the glare of a thousand bull’s eyes and the ruthlessly indelicate curiosity of the press.”

Most of the characters are fairly unlikeable but entertaining, especially Georgia. Amanda, an aeronautics engineer, is the exception and is a great strong female character. The mystery zipped along and built to a satisfying conclusion. I did guess the killer but not from very early on.

As much as I adored this book there’s no getting away from the racism and sexism included which is shocking when read from today’s perspective. It’s worth being aware of before reading. There’s a marriage proposal that is truly baffling to me! It shows that attitudes in 1938 had a long way to go.