Tag: advance review copy

#BlogTour #BookReview Don’t Get Involved by F J Curlew @fjcurlew

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DON'T GET INVOLVED BLOG TOUR

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Don’t Get Involved by F J Curlew. My thanks to the author for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

Dont Get InvolvedAbout the Book

A missing shipment of cocaine. Three street-kids fighting for their lives. A mafia hit-man intent on killing them. A naive expat who gets in their way.

Who would you bet on?

Ukraine, 2001. A time of lawlessness and corruption. Three street-kids stumble upon a holdall full of cocaine belonging to the Mafia. Mafia hitman, Leonid, is given the job of retrieving the cocaine and disposing of the street-kids. To do so he is forced to step back into his old life and he doesn’t like it. The children run on their wits. Leonid hunts them down.

Nadia, a young woman with her own dark past, arrives in Ukraine looking for a fresh start. She wasn’t expecting this! “She had no idea of what, or who, she was supposed to be running from. Right now everything was a threat. Definitely militsiya, but who else? Everyone. Right now it felt like everyone.”

Format: ebook (255 pp.)                       Publisher:
Publication date: 7th October 2019  Genre: Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Don’t Get Involved on Goodreads

My Review

Having read and reviewed the author’s previous book, Dan Knew, I was pleased to receive her invitation to read her latest book, Don’t Get Involved, and take part in the blog tour.

The events in Don’t Get Involved unfold over the course of a year with the book frequently switching points of view and timeline, the latter in sections entitled ‘Winter’, ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’. I’ll confess it took me a while to get to grips with the narrative structure and work out the order in which events were occurring.

The street-kids – Dima, and brother and sister, Sasha and Alyona – eke out a hand to mouth existence on the edge of Ukrainian society, living in dilapidated buildings and being drawn into illicit activities that bring them into contact with unsavoury individuals. Just how unsavoury becomes increasingly apparent as the book progresses. The streetwise Dima is the de facto leader of the trio. Sasha is very protective of his sister, Alyona, who possesses a sixth sense for danger and has a curious affinity with animals. Alyona’s instincts will prove pivotal in events towards the end of the book.

The reader gradually learns about the traumatic events in Nadia’s life that have caused her to seek a new start in Kiev. There she meets Artem and we see their relationship gradually develop. One very moving episode – a detour from the main storyline – is when Artem takes Nadia to visit his grandfather, Bogdan. The story Bogdan tells is a harrowing insight into Ukraine’s troubled history during Stalin’s rule. I did think it would make superb material for a book in its own right.

The author has a distinctive writing style characterised by the use of short sentences, often only a few words long. This certainly helps to create a sense of urgency and tension in some of the action scenes and to emphasise the confused thought processes of key characters.

The book provides a fascinating insight into Ukraine – its culture, food, music – and the city of Kiev in particular with its streets full of cafes, bars and street kiosks. I do think a glossary would be a useful addition to the book.

Don’t Get Involved combines elements of a thriller with an insight into the history and culture of Ukraine…and a dash of magical realism. You can find out more about the inspiration for the book in the author’s guest post hosted by Mairead at Swirl and Thread earlier in the blog tour.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of the author.

In three words: Intriguing, dramatic, atmospheric

Try something similar: The Good Father by S. R. Wilsher (read my review here)

brockie-on-my-shoulderAbout the Author

Fiona spent fifteen years working as an international school teacher, predominantly in Eastern Europe. Much of her inspiration comes from her travels. Her writing has been described as, “Human experience impacted upon by political situation, interwoven with a love of nature.”

She now lives on the East Coast of Scotland with Brockie the Springer and Fingal the rescued Portuguese street-cat. Her days are divided between dog-walking in beautiful places and working on her stories. Not a bad life! Don’t Get Involved is her third book.

Connect with Fiona
Website | Twitter | Facebook

#BookReview Welcome To America by Linda Boström Knausgård @WorldEdBooks

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20190824_143008About the Book

Ellen is 11. She stopped talking when her father died. She thinks she may have killed her mentally ill father – she prayed hard enough for it. Her brother has barricaded himself in his room. Their mother, a successful actress, carries on as normal. “We’re a family of light!” she insists. But darkness seeps in everywhere and in their separate worlds each of them longs for togetherness.

Welcome to America is a dark and scintillating portrait of a sensitive, strong-willed child and a young mind in the throes of trauma, a family on the brink of implosion, and the love that threatens to tear them apart.

Format: Paperback (128 pp.)                Publisher: World Editions
Publication date: 3rd October 2019  Genre: Literary Fiction, Translated Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Welcome to America on Goodreads

My Review

In Welcome to America (translated from the Swedish by Martin Aitken) the author takes the reader inside the mind of a traumatised, troubled individual.  What’s surprising is that the articulate, introspective, reflective character we encounter is an eleven year-old girl.  Ellen’s mature use of language and extensive vocabulary seem way beyond her years.

Ellen feels guilt about the death of her father, a guilt born out of having wished for it,  albeit because of the strain his unstable mental state placed on her family.  ‘Death stood between us now, like a river running by, and I could wade through that river,  across to the other shore, and know I was safe.’   The manifestations of her father’s mental condition are not the only things that have caused fear in Ellen’s life.  There’s her brother’s inexplicable cruelty to her and his strange ways that include erecting barriers to prevent anyone entering his room.  And there’s her belief that she is responsible, through wishing for them, for events that are clearly accidental or not her fault.

Ellen’s is a odd, lonely and isolated existence but one she seems to find strangely comforting. ‘Night was the time I liked best… Night was a friend.  Silence wasn’t odd at night, and loneliness unfeigned.’  Her need to exercise control over some/any aspect of her life appears to be at the root of her decision to stop talking.  ‘I wanted to sit in enduring silence, to feel it grow strong and take everything into its possession.’ At times, she has to discipline herself not to speak, to restrain that natural impulse.

Although Ellen’s mother constantly insists, “We’re a family of light!”, for much of the book it feels very much the opposite.  However, gradually there are glimpses of light starting with something as simple as a sentence written in a notebook, a family meal, a shared pleasure and the thought, ‘It occurred to me that I might be happy’.   I can’t imagine anyone finishing this book and not wishing this to be the case for Ellen.

Yes, Welcome to America is dark and at times deeply troubling but it is also beautifully written and leaves the reader with the feeling there is always at least the possibility of happiness however fleeting.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of World Editions

Linda Bostrom KnausgardAbout the Author

LINDA BOSTRÖM KNAUSGÅRD is a Swedish author and poet, as well as a producer of documentaries for national radio. Her first novel, The Helios Disaster, was awarded the Mare Kandre Prize and shortlisted for the Swedish Radio Novel Award 2014.

Welcome to America, her second novel, was nominated for the prestigious Swedish August Prize and the Svenska Dagbladet Literary Prize. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

Connect with Linda
Website | Goodreads

About the Translator

MARTIN AITKEN is a full-time translator of Scandinavian literature.  His recent translation of Hanne Ørstavik’s Love was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award.

Website