Tag: Reading Challenges

Book Review – Six Lives by Lavie Tidhar @HoZ_Books

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About the Book

Book cover of Six Lives by Lavie Tidhar

Six lives, connected through blood and history, each rooted in the dirt of their inheritance, look to the future, and what it might hold.

THE GUANO MERCHANT – In 1855, Edward Feebes travels to the guano islands of South America, to investigate an irregularity in the accounts of the House of Feebes & Co.

THE BLACKMAILER – In 1912, post-mortem photographer and reluctant blackmailer Annie Connolly plots her escape from Ireland to America on board the Titanic.

THE IDEALIST – In 1933, idealistic Edgar Waverley faces a choice of the heart when he becomes embroiled in a country house murder.

THE SPY – In 1964, hapless KGB agent Vasily Sokolov makes his career conjuring valuable information from worthless detritus.

THE MOVIE STAR – In 1987, actor Mariam Khouri looks back at ‘Black Dirt’, the movie that lifted her from the streets of Cairo.

THE HEIRESS – In 2012, Isabelle Feebes attempts to break with her poisonous heritage once and for all. Can she forge a new life for herself in the New World? Can you ever truly escape your past?

Format: Hardcover (464 pages) Publisher: Apollo
Publication date: 29th August 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Having very much enjoyed Lavie Tidhar’s novel Adama, I was pleased to spot Six Lives on NetGalley, especially since I’ve lately become a fan of interconnected stories.

I particularly enjoyed the first four stories. The fifth set in Cairo was interesting for its insight into the political history of Egypt in the 1970s and 1980s but I couldn’t warm to the angst of Isabelle, the subject of the sixth story. Having said that there are some clever touches in this final story such as the bookshelf of Isabelle’s adopted mother, Henrietta, which contains volumes with titles that relate to the previous five stories. And there’s an object that appears in each story, handed down the generations sometimes purposefully, sometimes accidentally.

Each story skilfully evokes the milieu of the period. The first set in mid-nineteenth century Peru is particularly notable for the amount of historical detail, meaning I learned more about the trade in guano than I ever thought possible. And I had no idea there was such a thing as memento mori photography which features in the second story. The third, written in the style of a ‘Golden Age’ murder mystery complete with country house setting, a brutal murder, a range of characters (including an Agatha Christie-like author of detective stories) and lots of possible motives, was the most entertaining. I imagine the author having a lot of fun writing this one, ticking off one trope of the genre after another.

It’s possible to detect several themes in the book. One is the value to be found in detritus, such as the guano which is the source of Feebes family’s prosperity – ‘the birds rained excrement upon those lonely outcrops of rock, and their shit turned to gold’ – or the intelligence material that KGB agent Vasily Sokolov harvests from the discarded papers of foreign embassies. Neatly, the film which makes actress Mariam Khouri a star is entitled ‘Black Dirt’.

Another theme is the consequences of actions and the moral choices people make. For example, the guano traded by Feebes & Co is used not only as fertiliser but increasingly for manufacturing munitions. And the Chinese workers who dig the stuff and load it onto waiting ships are pretty much slave labour, their lives merely an entry in a profit and loss account. Ironically, it is the Chinese from whom Edward Feebes obtains the supplies of laudanum he has become reliant on. These consequences become part of the inheritance of those who come later, often unaware their good fortune may have been earned through the suffering of others.

Even if I warmed to some of characters more than others, there’s no doubting the storytelling ability of the author. And who can resist chuckling at an absurd sentence like, ‘Rain rained and snails snailed and squirrels squirrelled squirrelly things‘. I enjoyed coming across the little connections between the stories, especially the ones that could easily pass you by. I was thoroughly entertained by Six Lives which I think demonstrates the author’s versatility, mastery of detail and sly humour.

I received a review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.

In three words: Absorbing, assured, clever
Try something similar: Ancestry by Simon Mawer or Held by Anne Michaels

About the Author

Author Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar’s work encompasses literary fiction (Maror, Adama and Six Lives), cross-genre classics such as Jerwood Prize winner A Man Lies Dreaming (2014) and World Fantasy Award winner Osama (2011), and genre works like the Campbell and Neukom prize winner Central Station (2016). He has also written comics (Adler, 2020) and children’s books such as Candy (2018) and A Child’s Book of the Future (2024).

He is a former columnist for the Washington Post and a current honorary Visiting Professor and Writer in Residence at the American International University in London.

Connect with Lavie
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Book Review – Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan @TransworldBooks

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About the Book

Book cover of Heart, Be At Peace by Donal Ryan

Some things can send a heart spinning; others will crack it in two.

In a small town in rural Ireland, the local people have weathered the storms of economic collapse and are looking towards the future. The jobs are back, the dramas of the past seemingly lulled, and although the town bears the marks of its history, new stories are unfolding.

But a fresh menace is creeping around the lakeshore and the lanes of the town, and the peace of the community is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way. Young people are being drawn towards the promise of fast money whilst the generation above them tries to push back the tide of an enemy no one can touch… 

Format: Hardcover (224 pages) Publisher: Transworld Books
Publication date: 8th August 2024 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

I first heard about this book when I attended a recording of BBC Radio 4’s Bookclub to listen to Donal talk about his first novel, The Spinning Heart and answer questions from the audience of readers. In response to one reader worried about Bobby’s fate at the end of the book, Donal said they would get reassurance in the sequel.

Like The Spinning Heart, Heart, Be at Peace consists of a series of internal monologues by twenty-one different characters – men and women – each with a distinctive voice.  It’s described by the publishers as a ‘companion novel’ to The Spinning Heart that can be read as a standalone. Personally, I think you get a richer reading experience if you’ve read The Spinning Heart because you’re learning about the continuing impact of events in the earlier book, as well as catching up with characters who are already familiar to you and seeing what they have made of their lives in the intervening years.

For some of the characters, what they’ve made of themselves is not much. Others have come out of their experiences stronger and wiser. Their stories sometimes involve dark themes, such as mental illness and there’s often violence, or its legacy, just under the surface.

Bobby was essentially the ‘hero’ of The Spinning Heart and he has pretty much the same role here. He is almost universally admired by his community. ‘Bobby is one of those rare men who measures himself against the wellbeing of the people around him. If there’s a problem he takes it personally and does his damnedest to solve it.’ He worked hard to help the town recover from the failure of the local building company that was the focus of the first book. He’s a regular visitor to his ailing mother-in-law and a faithful husband, despite seeming evidence to the contrary. He’s also shown forgiveness towards a man who, given the circumstances, you’d think he should hate. Perhaps it’s because Bobby came so close to acting in the same way himself.

Pokey Burke, the man responsible for the bankruptcy of the building company is still around and has found a new outlet for his devious ways, aided by an unwitting dupe. His role as villain of the piece has been usurped by Augie Penrose, the local drug dealer. Bobby feels a responsibility to take action out of fear for his children. In fact the urge to act is so strong it risks taking him down a path he has tried to resist, haunted by the memory of his violent father. As it turns out, there is someone with an even stronger motivation for ridding the community of the purveyors of the vile trade, just one of the many connections between characters and events.

If this sounds like the book is all about Bobby, it’s not. Each of the other characters has something to contribute although, as is to be expected, some resonate more than others. We learn about their hopes and fears, doubts and regrets, their successes and failures. We also get insights into other characters, and to events past and present. There are confessions, revelations and new perspectives. And there’s the odd touch of humour too since, let’s face it, most of us have some funny little ways unique to us.

As in The Spinning Heart, the final voice we hear is Bobby’s wife, Triona, the woman who knows him best. ‘I know what he’s capable of and what’s beyond him. I know his goodness better than he knows it himself.’ Full of compassion and understanding it means the book concludes on a note of optimism.

I appreciate the polyphonic structure of the book may not work for every reader, but it did for me. I felt the characters really came alive on the page even, possibly especially, the flawed ones. My introduction to Donal Ryan’s writing was From A Low and Quiet Sea. Now, having read The Spinning Heart and this book, I’m eager to explore the rest of his back catalogue.

I received a review copy courtesy of Transworld via NetGalley. Heart, Be at Peace is book 7 of my 20 Books of Summer 2024.

In three words: Immersive, authentic, moving
Try something similar: Mouthing by Orla Mackey

About the Author

Author Donal Ryan

Donal Ryan is an award-winning author from Nenagh, County Tipperary, whose work has been published in over twenty languages to major critical acclaim. The Spinning Heart won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards; it was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was voted ‘Irish Book of the Decade’.

His fourth novel, From A Low and Quiet Sea, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, and won the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His novel Strange Flowers was voted Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, and was a number one bestseller, as was his most recent novel, The Queen of Dirt Island, which was also shortlisted for Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.

Donal lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. He lives with his wife Anne Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.