Tag: Review

Book Review – Hell’s Gate by Laurent Gaudé, trans. by Jane Aitken & Emily Boyce

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About the Book

When his son is killed by gangsters’ crossfire on his way to school, Neapolitan taxi driver Matteo is consumed by despair.

But just when he feels life has lost all meaning, he encounters a man who claims the living can find ways into the afterlife. And legend says that there’s an entrance to the underworld beneath Naples.

What if Matteo had a chance of bringing Pippo back from the dead?

Format: ebook (272 pages) Publisher: Gallic Books
Publication date: 4th May 2017 Genre: Fantasy

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My Review

This is a strangely unnerving little book, blending a story of loss and vengeance with elements of magical realism and questions about the nature of life and death.  Gaudé powerfully depicts the impact on Matteo and his wife, Guiliana, of their son’s death; how despair “stalked them constantly, surprising them at moments they least expected” with revenge becoming “the only form their love could take”.

However, their emotional responses become markedly different. Matteo is consumed by guilt, constantly reliving the day his son was shot and wondering about “the minute microscopic changes that could have altered the course of events”.  Guiliana’s response is implacable anger – at the man who killed their son, at the sympathy of friends and relatives, even at God for allowing it to happen – becoming like some avenging angel or heroine of Greek tragedy.  

Her challenge, “Bring me my son, Matteo. Bring him back to me” sees Matteo embark on a Dantesque journey in the company of four companions in pursuit of the idea that life and death are not distinct states but that portals exist to allow travel between the two. Gaudé’s depiction of this journey blends elements of a Miltonic view of Hell with the mythology of the Greek underworld but is recounted as if it is real leaving the reader to wonder if the subsequent events should be accepted as fact or as a manifestation of intense grief. A thought provoking read that I admired rather than loved.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Gallic Books via NetGalley.

In three words: Imaginative, emotional, thought-provoking

About the Author

Laurent Gaudé is a French novelist and playwright.  He studied theatre and has written many dramatic works. In 2002, he was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt for The Mort du Roi Tsongor, winning it two years later for his novel, Le Soleil des Scorta. Since 2008, he has been working regularly with contemporary composers for whom he writes texts or opera librettos. He is also the author of two collections of short stories, Dans la nuit Mozambique and Les Oliviers du Négus. (Photo/bio: Author website)

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Book Review – Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

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About the Book

stay

Yejide is hoping for a miracle, for a child. It is all her husband wants, all her mother-in-law wants, and she has tried everything. But when her relatives insist upon a new wife, it is too much for Yejide to bear.

Unravelling against the social and political turbulence of 1980s Nigeria, Stay With Me is a story of the fragility of married love, the undoing of family, the power of grief, and the all-consuming bonds of motherhood. It is a tale about the desperate attempts we make to save ourselves, and those we love, from heartbreak.

Format: ebook (295 pages) Publisher: Canongate
Publication date: 2nd March 2017 Genre: Literary Fiction

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My Review

Yejide is smart, sassy, well-educated and runs her own business but she doesn’t have the one thing she desires and her family expect – a child.  The pressure to conform to the demands of her family and culture becomes unbearable for Yejide, creating strains in her marriage to Akin.  Akin is similarly pressurised by the expectations of his family, especially his mother.  This pressure results in actions that will have unintended and dramatic  consequences for Yejide and Akin, and for those around them. 

Told from the points of view of both Yejide and Akin and shifting between different time periods (which are sometimes difficult to keep track of), this is an assured debut novel that keeps the reader guessing.  The author deftly inserts several emotional bombshells at various points that change the tone and direction of the entire narrative.  However, there is also humour in the cast of supporting characters. 

There are fascinating insights into Nigerian/Yoruba culture such as the rituals of greeting, significance of naming and the importance of hierarchy within families (particularly in polygamous families).  An intimate family drama, the story plays out against the backdrop of  political events in Nigeria but these are very much secondary to the novel (unlike, say, in Half of a Yellow Sun). 

Listen to Ayòbámi talking about Stay With Me on BBC Radio 4’s Bookclub here.

I received an advance review copy courtesy Canongate Books via NetGalley

In three words: Moving, dramatic, assured
Try something similar: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin

About the Author

Ayòbámi Adébàyò was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Her debut novel, Stay With Me, won the 9mobile Prize for Literature, was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction, the Wellcome Book Prize and the Kwani? Manuscript Prize. It has been translated into twenty languages and the French translation was awarded the Prix Les Afriques. Longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, Stay With Me was a New York Times, Guardian, Chicago Tribune and NPR Best Book of the Year. Ayòbámi Adébàyò splits her time between Norwich and Lagos. (Photo: X profile)

Connect with Ayòbámi
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