Shames humanizes the unspeakable horrors faced by innocent people throughout World War II without romanticizing any of these events. Margit Wolf is sent to a concentration camp, a fortunate survivor among thousands who are not so lucky. While the novel is about a love story between a rising ballerina and established maestro, it is really Margit Wolf’s story that is told.
Tag: fiction
A review of Lola Bensky by Lily Brett
the interviews she conducted as a young journalist during the sixties. Reading the book you get the definite sensation that you’re experiencing a unique insight into rock stars like Hendrix, Cher, Mama Cass, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Pete Townsend and Mick Jagger.
A review of Asleep Without Dreaming by Barbara Forte Abate
Dramatic tension and reader interest are stirred by revelations about Stella. In flashbacks and in the present action of the novel, she emerges as a self-centred, bitter, thieving whore who hates her own daughter. She parallels another horrible parent in the story. Jesse urges Willa not to waste emotional energy trying to understand her, as some things in life just can’t be understood.
A review of Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris
Peaches for Father Frances is a delicately written, and absolutely engaging story that centres around Vianne’s return to Lansquenet, and her special ability to transcend people’s appearances and cultural trappings, and see into the heart of who they are. This is a beautifully written novel, full of mystery, character growth and excitement with a broad range of appeal.
A review of Face of the Enemy by Joanne Dobson and Beverle Graves Myers
A minor character speaks of seeing Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club, but we readers never get to go there and see him perform. Perhaps I’m spoiled, with too high expectations, because so many creative artists, from Thomas Wolfe to Woody Allen, have already brilliantly evoked New York.
A review of Blue Friday by Mike French
Mike French’s Blue Friday is a science fiction that draws on George Orwell’s 1984 to show a society gone mad. Though written in a light-hearted farcical way, the novel takes a hard look at state sanctioned control and the way in which it perverts even the most humanistic of subjects (such as work-life balance and “family values”).
A review of For Keeps by Aaron Paul Lazar
Sam Moore is an exceptionally well drawn character. Existing fans of this series will enjoy the progressive story of Sam, as For Keeps goes deep into his psyche, revealing his long suppressed pain and a surprising number of secrets. For new fans, For Keeps provides enough back story to enable this book to be read as a standalone novel.
A review of Curiosity Killed the Sphinx, and Other Stories by Katherine L. Holmes
Holmes likes to use language vividly and originally. Cars “crept to the curb on tire tiptoe”; a woman walks in a “toothache of time”. Holmes also uses patterns of imagery to convey her themes. In one of my favourite stories, “Nuts and Bolts”, a childfree couple choose not to spend a holiday with friends – the “same old bunch” with a third baby among them, but to stay in the city together.
A review of The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood
The Bellwether Revivals has been compared to Brideshead Revisited, because of the brother-sister relationship and the social class element. The ending, however, is reminiscent of that of Sons and Lovers, that great coming-of-age working class novel by D.H.Lawrence, following in Thomas Hardy’s tradition.
A review of The Hum of Concrete by Anna Solding
There is an intense intimacy in Solding’s writing style. The words come as a confession: a kind of whispered tale that draws the reader in and invites collusion. The characters progress naturally through time, beginning with key moments of youth and awakening perception, and moving through coupling, and later parenthood.