A Review of Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser

 

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This was one fun book. Flashman yet again finds himself somehow in the thick of chaos and history. This time entering the Crimean war as the mentor to a young German prince named Willie who he had earlier taken out on the town, gotten drunk beyond recognition, stripped and painted black and abandoned. Willie was none the wiser. He is part of several historical events in the Crimean war and by the skin of his teeth and blind luck lives without a scratch and is taken prisoner by the Russians. There he is taken to an estate in what is now present day Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnieper. He meets a young Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev who scares Flashman. He is kept at Count Pencherjevsky's estate where he of course beds Pencherjevsky's daughter, and sister-in-law. There he also meets Scud East, a fellow POW who he knew back at Rugby.

Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville Jr.

Scud East and Flashy eaves drop on a conversation and learn of the Russian plans to attach British India. Scud East wants to make a break for it and try to get back to British lines. Flashman wants nothing to do with escape and the foreseeable capture and execution by Pencherjevsky's cossacks. One night there is a peasant rebellion at Pencherjevsky's estate and Pencherjevsky demands that Scud East and Flashman take his daughter and make a break for it. They do. After getting a few miles out of town they both realize that they now have the perfect opportunity to escape. Their escape tales them to the Arrow of Arabat (a spit linking mainland Ukraine to the Kerch peninsula). They are chased by Cossacks and East makes it away.

Arrow of Arabat

Flashman is captured sees his old enemy Ignatiev and is taken across the Russian steppe, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea. He is thrown in a jail cell with two Tajik prisoners who are Yukug Beg and Izzat Kutebar. Miracurasly they are freed from prison due to a cunning and daring young lady named Silk Eyes.

Flashman wants to make a break for India via the Afghan mountains but the Tajiks want him to help them attack the Russian camp in order to stop their invasion of their country and India. Flashman finally gives in and they make a daring attack blowing up Russian munition ships and make there escape. Flashman is escorted to India by two Afghans via Kabul. He visits some of the locations that we know so well from the first installment of the Flashman papers and reports to the first British soldier he sees. They think he is a mad man and it takes some convincing for Flashy to be believed. Flashman has done it yet again.

This was a really fun book. Flashman is the center of things, bedding women, getting up to no good, caring only for his own behind, and yet making it out unscathed after being involved in some intense battles. GMF is a great writer.

A few lines I like from the book are:

"However fearful my present predicament, however horrid the odds and danger ahead, they'd get no better with being fretted over"

"One thing tribulation teaches you, and that is to wear the mask when there's nothing else for it."

A Review of A Private Venus by Giorgio Scerbanenco

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I liked this book. Dr. Duca Lamberti is an MD who has just recently gotten out of prison for euthanasia. He is given a job to sober up a wealthy man's son, Davide. He starts the job and through a trip to a cemetery learns that Davide killed a woman the year prior and that is why he drinks. But it is not so simple. Davide carries the blame of a young woman's suicide when in reality she fell prey to a human smuggling/prostitution ring when she fought back against what was happening.

Now Duca, Davide, police officers and one of the murder girl's friends set a trap to catch the killers.

I enjoyed the prose, I enjoyed the tense scenes, I enjoyed the violence and I enjoyed the metaphors when Dr. Lamberti describes how Davide will be sober when he is done with him. "Drinking mineral water", "drinking cream and honey". Nice metaphors. Duca's father was a police officer who took the mafia on when he was on the force. That is until a would be assassin tried to kill him and ended up ruining one of his arms in the process. Duca's father also gave him the advice that you have to answer violence with violence. Sometimes it is the only language that a person speaks. You don't speak French to a German. You don't play nice with a mafioso or a pimp. You use their language.

I think that revenge was also well used in this book. Duca's father was forced into a desk job after the attempt on his life and died while Duca was in prison. Now Duca has the chance (and uses it) to enact some revenge on the type of men that hurt his father.

Good book. My library has the second installment which I'll read. Who knows if I'll read all four.

 

A Review of The Terra-Cotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri

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Second entry in the Inspector Montalbano series. This one starts with Montalbano meeting with his friend and manager of the pasture, Gege Gullota. Gege relays to Montalbano a message that mafia member Tano The Greek would like to meet with the inspector. Montalbano meets with Tano and Tano tells him that he is tired of the mafia life and would like to be taken in in a staged arrest so he can save face. Montalbano agrees and sets up an arrest. Tano's now angry former mafia buddies now enact revenge and kill Tano. Before Tano dies he tells Montalbano about a cave near Vigata that used to store WWII black market goods but now stores illegal arms.

Montalbano finds the caves and searches it connecting it to a grocery store heist that occurred in town a few days prior. Upon further inspection of the cave, Montalbano is able to find out that there is a second portion of the cave that was sealed off. He and his team make their way into the second cave with pickaxes and shovels and find the bodies of two young lovers placed in some ritualistic resting place.

The bodies are placed on a rug with a bowl with coins in one corner, an empty jug of water, in another corner and a terracotta dog watching over them in the final corner. Montalbano is able to piece together information from the bodies and interviewing local townsfolks to figure out who the two lovers are. Now he wants to know who killed them and who placed them in their ritualistic rest. He learns that the grave is a combination of the Christian legend of the Seven Sleepers (coins and water jug) as well as an Islamic symbol of the dog called Kymtyr.

Knowing that the person who placed them there must be someone familiar with both Christian and Islamic traditions and customs he searches and determines that the dead girl's younger cousin, Lillo. Lillo hasn't been heard from since the allied invasion of Sicily and is presumed to have either changed his identity or is dead.

Montalbano using his clever mind makes a big scene at the cave where the bodies were found using an advertising airplane and gets the story all over news stations and newspapers all over Italy. Finally Lillo contacts Montalbano and tells him the story. Lisetta Moscato and Mario Cunich were to young lovers. Lisetta's father raped Lisetta so she ran away. Her father sends one of his men to murder the couple. Right after they are murdered, Lillo walks in and kills the assassin. Lillo then stages the bodies in the cave, is presumed to have either been killed in the allied bombing or somewhere else and isn't seen from again.

Very good book. This is not one of those detective books that is all action, interrogations, and murder. This is a detective that uses his brain to solve cases. Here we see an old mystery accidentally surface and Montalbano solves it. Looking forward to the next installment.

 

A Review of The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri

 

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A little bit different of a detective book than what I am used to reading in the sense that Inspector Montalbano is a fleshed out character already. He is a police inspector in the fictional town of Vigata (inspired by Camileri's hometown of Porto Empedocle in Sicily).

When a dead man in found in "the pasture" an outcrop near an abandoned factory where prostitutes and drug dealers practice their trade by trash collectors, Inspector Montalbano is assigned the case. After being told that the man, Silvio Luparello, died of natural causes due to a weak heart Inspector Montalbano decides to fully flesh out what happened. What unfolds is a case of political power strives, mafia practices, and incestious affairs.

I enjoyed this book. I think Inspector Montalbano is a good character and has certain values that pair well with being a detective. This case was one that didn't follow the usual detective book formula and was very enjoyable. I think that the only things that was a little confusing was all of the names. Of course I am not complaining that I, as an American, had a hard time with the Italian names, but I think that the next book in the series I read I'll make a list of the names and who they are while reading.

A Review of Dawn by Elie Wiesel

Thought provoking and sad. Elisha is a holocaust survivor now resistance fighter in post WWII Israel who is fighting for his country's independence. He has been with tasked with the reprisal execution of John Dawson, a British army captain. Wiesel touches on philosophy, religion, what makes a person, justice, morality, and death.

A Review of Suspicion by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

 

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Inspector Barlach is sick and recovering in the hospital. To kill time he flips through magazines. One being a copy of Life Magazine that has a photo of a concentration camp doctor/torturer, Dr. Nehle. Barlach's doctor, Dr. Hungertobel spots the photo of the Nazi doctor and turns pale. The tortuer bears an extremely similar resemblance to an old acquaintance of his, Dr. Emmenberger. Barlach coaxes out the reason why Dr. Hungertobel turned pale and grows a suspicion that Dr. Nehle and Dr. Emmenberger are one in the same. Forced into retirement he is tasked with solving the case and bringing some justice to the world on his own. 

Stutthof Concentration Camp

He puts a call out for his longtime friend, the Jew Gulliver, to come to his room and help him on the case. Gulliver enters his room one night and the inspector and Gulliver speak. Gulliver not only can help the inspector with his case, but also knows the torturer. Gulliver was at Stutthof conventration camp just outside of Danzig. He was not only there but his life was saved by the infamous torturer. The story goes that Dr. Nehle would allow any Jewish prisoner leave Stutthof and return to a different camp if there were to undergo a procedure with no anesthesia. Hundreds of Jews tested fate and were operated on by Nehle but only Gulliver survived. Gulliver was allowed to leave, part of a mass execution that he mirracurasly survived and has lived like a ghost ever since. He also is the one who gave the photo of the torturer to Life Magazine. 

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Barlach also gets help from his aquantance Fortschig, the owner of a small newspaper. Fortschig is tasked with writing a story saying there is a famous Swiss doctor who was an infamous nazi torturer during the war who now lives a normal life. He does so. 

Barlach is admitted to Dr. Emmenbergers private treatment facility and is on a mission to find out if Nehle is Emmenberger or it was a big coincidence. 

This book is a fun read. Barlach is an old tom cat who can't stop chasing mice. He goes into a hospital run by someone he believes is a Nazi torturer alone. Fun read. Wish more were made. 

A Review of Blood Work by Michael Connelly

 

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Medically retired FBI agent Terry McCaleb just recently received a new heart. He got the heart from a woman who had been shot in a gas station robbery. Easy enough. Then Graceiella Rivers steps on his boat asking for his help. Her sister is the one who was killed in the gas station. Terry takes the job against his doctor's orders. Ok this is interesting. A highly trained FBI agent taking on what appears to be a "simple" murder rather than some crazy killer that no one else can solve. Then in the last 100 pages he loses me. Would have been a lot cooler to see Terry solve this case rather than turn it into some crazy killer story. Looking forward to reading more Bosch stories rather than side characters in the Bosch universe.

A Review of Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

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6.8/10 

Oh man. This is a sad book. The unnamed narrator is a middle school student in 1990 Japan. He is ruthlessly bullied and has a lazy eye. He has been tormented for years and is all alone in this world. That is until he finds a note from a classmate in his pencil case. The sender is Kojima, a girl in his class who is also bullied. She is bullied because she has "signs". Signs are remembrances she purposefully has in order to keep her father's spirit alive in her. She doesn't wash, wears dirty clothes, and doesn't eat enough. They become friends. They continue writing each other notes and occasionally meet in person. However, no matter how close they become neither one sticks up for one another when the other gets bullied at school. 

One summer day the narrator and Kojima go on a trip to a museum to see what Kojima calls "heaven". Heaven is a painting that she likes very much. While on this trip they bond and become even closed. Kojima tells the narrator that she likes his eyes. Something that he has never heard before. 

The narrator one days gets beaten so bad he goes to the hospital. There he sees and confronts one of his bullies. He asks why all this torment is directed towards him and the bully just says that is the way life works. He doesn't care about him and isn't going to stop because he has fun doing it. The bully tells him that if he wants it to stop then to do something about it. The narrator knows he wont have the strength to do anything.

The narrator's doctor tells him that fixing his lazy eye would be not a problem and a cheap one at that. Not sure what to do with this news he tells Kojima. Kojima is upset. She thinks that their "signs" is what makes them them. She says to allow the bullying to happen is what makes them bigger people than their bullies. She allows it because she allows it. Kojima shies away from the narrator and stops replying to his notes. 

One day she finally agrees to meet up with him at the place they first met. Turns out the bullies intercepted the letter and forced Kojima to reply to the narrator. There they attempt to get the narrator and Kojima to have sex in front of them. The narrator can't do anything to stop it. He is frozen. Meanwhile Kojima strips naked and scares off the bullies. An old lady intervenes and this is the last time the narrator and Kojima see each other. 

The narrator gets the eye surgery. His life changes. Finally things are in focus and the colors he sees so much more vibrant. 

I took down some notes while reading this book. I am just going to write them here exactly as I wrote them initially. Trapped in a helpless situation. "Next year it'll get better". Staying in room. No one to talk to. Suicide a way out. But what comes after death. Cold November. One friend that you can relate with and not feel so alone. So insecure that you can't even turn your head in class. Not leaving room. Escape reality via books. Doctor is that one adult that wants to help but isn't quiet sure how. Don't want to disappoint parents. Momose is an asshole. Doesn't care. Thinks that nothing matters. Seasons bring back memories.

A Review of Elegy for Kosovo by Ismail Kadare

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Elegy for Kosovo is a short novel written during the Bosnian war in the late 1990s. It does not cover the modern war in the region but rather a battle from 1389 and the aftermath. On the plains of Kosovo in 1389 two armies stood face to face. One being the Ottoman army trying to get a foothold into Europe and spread Islam. The other being an amalgamation of Serbs, Albanians, Romanians, Wallachians, Croats, and Bosniaks defending their home countries. The crescent versus the cross. 

Battle of Kosovo, by Adam Stefanović (1870)

During the battle men are slaughtered on the plains of Kosovo and the leader of the Ottomans, Murad I, is killed in action. He is said to be killed by Serbian soldier Miloš Obilić but it is uncertain. His double may have been killed and then his inner circle seized the opportunity to kill the read Murad I and install his son as the Sultan (his son being the one who wanted to turn the empire's attention toward Europe rather than Asia). Christian banners can be seen from the edge of the battle until one by one they fall.

Miloš Obilić, the alleged assassin of Sultan Murad I.

After the battle we follow a ragtag group of Christian minstrels who flee from the battle making their way north. With them is one Turk who wants to convert to Christianity but still feels his Muslim faith inside of him and one Jew. They make their way north through small villages who often do not help the group and bar them from entering their towns. Eventually they make their way far enough north where a phony trial is held for the Turk. He is burned at the stake for holding on to two faiths simultaneously. His final works while he being engulfed by the flames is a cry for his mother. 

The minstrels finally make their way to a welcoming land where they are told to perform for her.

This woman realizes that Europe must not only protect the castle of Europe (the heartlands) but also the courtyard (the Balkans). 

This region of Europe is still tense with ethnic tensions and death. One day I hope that the plains of Kosovo contain no more spilled blood. 

Richard Eder puts it brilliantly in his review when he says "He has the gift of writing parables of great weight in the lightest of tones." 

Murad I's quote to end the book is also poignant. "O Lord, hear my prayer! Take away all the mud around here, for even a few drops of blood are enough to hold all the memory of the world."

The Plains of Kosovo

A Review of The Fortress by Meša Selimović

A Review of The Fortress by Meša Selimović

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Synopsis from Goodreads: A novel on 18th century Sarajevo under Ottoman rule, featuring a soldier returned from the wars. A Muslim, he marries a Christian girl who supports him while he dabbles in politics, eventually leading a raid to rescue a friend from jail.

My review: Ahmet Shabo is a Bosnian war veteran from Sarajevo. He saw many of his friends killed in the marshes around Chocim in one of the many Russo Turkish wars. He comes back from the war a changed man. He doesn't fit into society. His family has all died while he was away. He finds solace and love in Tiyana, a Christian woman. They live together and shortly she falls pregnant. Meanwhile, Ahmet loses his job for speaking out against the society he lives in. He is blackballed. He is fired from his job as a scribe by a man he saved at Chocim. He can't find a job and suffers great turmoil. He eventally gets involved in a rescue of another man who spoke out and is investigated bya quasi police member.

This is a very intersting book that explores the suffering that man can go through. A theme that I saw often was fatalism. Shabo thinks that his fate is decided and there is nothing he can do (and often times should do) in life. No matter the choice he makes people will suffer. Hard to put my thoughts about this book down in writng. Ahmet Shabo and Prince Myshkin from The Idiot seem to be cut from the same cloth in my opinion.

Also I think I am going to count this book as a Bosnian book. I was thinking of counting it as Serbia but then I thought that I wouldn't count Richard Rodriguez as Mexico so why would I count Mesa Selimovic as Serbia? 

A Review of A Girl in Exile: Requiem for Linda B. by Ismail Kadare

 

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Another Albanian book read.

I hate totalitarian regimes. You see the paranoia, fear, and pain that everyday Albanians went through during the time in which their country was run by a dictator in this book.

Rudian Stefa is an Albania playwright that is called into questioning by government investigators. The reason why is that one of his books was found belonging to a young woman who recently killed herself. The government being its totalitarian self investigates suicides to see is there are any strange doings involved in them. Especially suicides that are done by someone who has been interned. Interned meaning that someone (sometimes whole families) who have been banished from the capital city of Tirana and forced to live in exile in small communities far from anywhere. They live in these small towns and have to check in every night with the police to ensure that they haven't left. "For Linda B., a souvenir from the author" is what was signed by Rudian in Linda B's book (the girl who has killed herself). He had signed it a few months prior when Linda's friend, Migena, came to a Tirana book signing. She got it signed for Linda because Linda is obsessed with Rudian. She reads about him, listens to radio shows about him, and watches any news involving him. It is her way of escaping her village and her oppression.

Migena and Rudian start a relationship a few months after the book signing after Migena reaches out to Rudian. Rudian can't just let the suicide go. A young woman is dead who had written about him in her diary and was obsessed with him. He wants to know why she killed herself. Rudian searches for an answer, talks to Migena, reaches out to the investigator who had originially questioned him, and has dreams about Linda.

We find out why she took he own life. She had to get out of her village. She prayed for cancer to appear in her breasts so that she would be qualified to go to Tirana for treatment. She prayed that the government would end her family's exile. She got neither. Rudian falls in love with Linda B. He dreams about her, wants to marry her post mortem. He thinks of old mythology and the meaning behind them. One being when Orpheus going to hell to rescue Eurydice. He must not look back for her on the way out no matter how tempting the thought be. The book ends five years after it started. Rudian is at a book signing. In line are Migena and her new fiance, the investigator from before, old friends, and a few celebrities.

A sweet voice said for the second time, "Can you inscribe it with my name?" "Of course," he replied. Before He raised his head the unknown girl said her name; "Linda B."

Don't.

There was only this exclamation inside him, nothing else.

He doesn't look up.

He signs the book "For Linda B., a souvenir from the author." and hands it back to woman.

"The girl took it in her hand and just for a moment their cold fingers touched in that dark void."

Review of Moscow to the End of the Line by Venedikt Erofeev

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Not even sure how to review this book. Reminds me of Heart of a Dog. A drunk's trip from Moscow to the town of Petushki to see his son and the kid's mom. He meets people on the train, talks to angels, speaks about God, and dreams of succeeding from the USSR and declaring war on Norway. This book is strange. You can taste the booze on your tongue while reading this. You can feel your head ache and your feet trip over themselves from drink while reading this book. Poor guy. Sounds like Erofeev and the narrator of the book (also named Venedikt Erofeev) are sad men. Dead drunk not able to make it more than 1 train stop without having to raid their suitcase full of liquor. Spoilers ahead. He eventually makes it to Petushki but is asleep and doesn't get off at his stop. By the time he completes the loop and makes it back to Moscow he is being chased and attached by 4 men. He comes face to face (literally gets his head slammed into the side of one of the walls) with the Kremlin (a building that not once has he seen during any of his numerous drunken walks around Moscow). He ends the story with a murder via an awl. The narrator's murder at the end made me think of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. Not sure if that is what Erofeev was going for but that is what I got.

I get that it is a comedy book and is a satire but man it was sometimes hard to get there mentally. This man is dead drunk pretty much every waking moment. He waits outside liquor stores for them to open, he orders brandy at restaurants at 9 AM. He is a mess. Meanwhile he has got a son and a partner waiting for him in Petushki. 

Review of Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare

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This was an interesting book. To me the story boils down to post communist Albania getting its legs under it. 10 years after the fall of communism in Albania what direction will Albania turn. Will it start turn towards the west. Both good and bad (NATO, European laws, bank robberies, having to lock up your possessions due to theft). Or will it turn back towards its older self with the good and bad that came with that (the Kanun, revenging blood, etc). We see a little of both. We see a bank robbery rock the local comunity and people reacting to it as it is so out of place. We also see a blood fued come to head, the Kanun being discussed, and even a woman's pubic hair preference being discussed.

Sometimes this book was hard to understand, sometimes easy, sometimes poignant. I have another one of Kadare's book checked out right now and am planning on reading it soon. Hell, I might even read all of his works my library has.

Review of Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West By Cormac McCarthy

Extreme violence and convouluted sentences fill this book. A tree of dead babies, scalp afet scalp cut off from the heads of Indians. The only character that was flushed out was The Judge. He was a creepy hairless albino who stood near 7 feet tall, spoke several languages, was versed in law, played the fiddle, and could dance. Oh and he was extremely violent. The preacher near the begining of the book who calls The Judge the devil was right.

I just couldn't get into this book. Felt repetative at time and the vioence was overdone in my opinion. I have greatly enjoyed some of McCarthy's other books but I just couldn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped. I think the vocab choice was also an area that this book missed. Using archaic words that at a certain point I stopped caring to look up made me probably lose some of the story.

There was some brilliant prose in this book (like the description of the coals in the fire), and scenes that are creepy (coin trick) and scenes that are scary (Judge searching for the Kid), and scenes that are boring. I will probably try rereading this book in the future to see if it sticks with me more then.

A Review of Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

 

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Narrated by Los Angeles insurance salesman Walter Huff this book is about an insurance salesman who is too drawn in by beauty to ignore the red flags that pop off in his head.

Huff pitches Mr. Nirdlinger about car insurance. Soon after Mrs. Nirdlinger (Phllys) asks him privately about life insurance. Huff knows what this means. Nothing good. Phllys wants her husband dead and to collect on the insurance. Huff and Phllys construct a plan to off the unsuspecting Mr. Nirdlinger.

Huff is able to game Mr. Nirdlinger into beleaving that he was originally overcharged on his car insurance, take a cash refund and cut a new check for the corrected price of "car insurance". What he didn't know is that he just bought life insurance. With a double indemnity for a death that happens on a train.

Huff and Phllys plan Mr. Nirdlinger's murder and execute the plan almost perfectly. No witnesses to the murder and plenty of witnesses who saw Mr. Nirdlinger arrive to the station, get on the train, and smoke on the back deck before he falls off to his death. Except one of Huff's coworkers named Keyes. Keyes smells something funny and treats it as a murder he can't prove.

Huff and Phllys now have to deal with the outcome of their almost perfect insurance fraud.

Very enjoyable and I liked this more than Postman.

Review of Closely Watched Trains by Bahumil Hrabal

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A novella about a young Milos Hrma working at a train stop in occupied Czechoslovakia in 1945. He is a man up to the point of being a man a someone who just came back from leave after a suicide attempt. Luckily he was rescued by God is disguise as a brick layer.

Sexual accomplish and sexual acts are a big theme in this book. Milos fell short when he first attempted to lose his virginity. He wilted like a lily. But now he is a man. A man through and through. For he didn't wilt like a lily this time.

Oh and there are also some brutal descriptions of dead animals, eyes being poked out, train cars filled with dead and dying cattle, and a train sabotage. Good and interesting book.

A Review of Embers by Sandor Marai

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A Hungarian general recluse living in a grand estate receives an old friend who he hasn't seen in 41 years.

Two friends who were attached at the hip from ages 12 to 34 now haven't seen eachother in 41 years. In this book we find out why and we also learn about human nature. During the first few chapters of this book before the long soliloquy starts this book was shaping to be a 5 star book. It lost me during the soliloquy.

Henrik (the Hungarian General) and Konrad (his old friend) were one the best of friends. They met while attending a military school. Henrik is of rich aristocratic nobility while Konrad is from a poor region of the Austro-Hungarian empire where his parents do without in order for Konrad to thrive.

One day during a hunt in 1899 something happens. The next day Konrad flees the empire and spends the next decades in either the tropics or in London. During the book we find out why Konrad fled, more about the General's life and perception of things, and about human nature.

A Review of The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan

 

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This was a gritty and raw description of the early days of the war in the Donbas. Thirty-something year old Ukrainian language teacher Pasha sets off to the city to pick up his nephew Sasha from the orphanage. Grey, drizzly, cold, stiff hands, wet boots.

Nadiya Volkova, 24, grieves for her mother Katya Volkova, 60, killed by ­shelling

Pasha doesn't pick sides. He teaches Ukrainian but when he speaks to someone new he is unsure what language to speak in, what side to refer to as "us" and doesn't know where to call home. He sets off this awkward pudgy man with glasses and a beard that needs to pick up his 13 year old nephew. He returns three days later to The Station. He has seen death, destruction, homes destroyed. He has walked through mine fields, and assisted an exhausted surgeon save a life.

Ukrainian civilians walk by a destroyed vehicle

I really liked how Zhadan used animals as metaphores. He describes a cab driver as an iguana and refers to him as the Iguana for the rest of that character's time in the book. He does this and it helps readers not only picutre these characters, but also easily discern the characters. If he named them Vasily, Vladislav, Vladimir, Oleg, and Ivan they may become confused to the reader. Good call on his end.

I wish I was giving this book a higher score. The topic is a 5/5 but the prose and actual story are a 3/5. I didn't become emotionally invested in either Pasha or Sasha. Same goes for the supporting characters.

Ukrainian service members riding through the Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 2022

I am sure Zhadan will write more about this war now that the full scale invasion of Ukraine is over a year old. The Ukrainians have inspired millions from around the globe with their resilience and fight.

A Review of The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

 

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Set in pre-war Japan this locked room mystery book is narrated in a way that is almost meta. It references other mystery books such as Agatha Christi and also directly speaks to the reader.

Kenzo Ichiyanagi is set to marry Katsuko Kubo in the Ichiyanagi family's large estate in rurual Japan. The night following their wedding the residents of the house wake up to screams and the picking of a Koto. They find the newlyweds dead and soaking in their own crimson-colored blood. Enter the locked room mystery that now needs to be solved.

Kosuke Kindaichi, a twenty-something-year-old private detective, is sent for and he goes about solving the mystery. Is it the three fingered man who was asking about the location of the Ichiyanagi's estae a few days before and whose prints are being found all over the crime scene or someone else? Read the book and you'll be able to see for yourself.

I wish that the fleshed out the Kosuke character a little more. Basically all we know is that he is in his twenties, dresses kind of slovently and has unkempt hair. He solved a long unsolved crime in San Francisco while studying abroad in the USA and has become a private detective upoin returning to Japan. No real character developement with him.

I also wish that the explanation was done a little better or that the method was entirerly different.

Not a bad book and I will read the next book in the series, but I am no racing to get my hands on the next book because this one didn't leave me speachless

A Review of Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

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This is a book that has been on my "to read" list for a while. I had seen bits and pieces of the movie and it wasn't until years later that I was made aware that the 1999 movie Fight Club was based on the eponomous 1996 book Fight Club. I knew that fighting, there was soap, there was violence, and there was Edward Norton with a boring desk job wearing a tie. That was about it.

Cracking open this book was like watching GoPro footage from a downhill mountain bike race. Fast paced and energetic. The unnamed narrator has a boring desk job, a condo filled with crap that he thought buying would make him happy and the inability to sleep. For the past two years he has been attending medical support groups in order to find a sliver of peace and to be able to get a good nights rest. Until Marla enters his life and he loses his one area of escape. He can no longer sleep.

Enter Tyler Durden. The famous character played by Brad Pitt in the movie. Tyler is the unnamed narrators friend who gets them into mayhem. Literally. Tyler and the narrator start a club valled Fight Club. Where unsatisfied men go to a bar's basement and fight one another. No feel something. To feel tired. To feel their muscles used. To feel pain. To escape their boring lives.

Tyler Durden keeps on going further and further with the antics. He sets up shop in an abandoned house on Paper Street and starts making soap, training an army of followers, and cutting of the balls of people who try to stop fight club.

Very interesting book. I see why so many young men have read and re-read this book and why people who watch the movie or read the book get inspired. Their lives are boring. Hell, my life is sometimes boring too. A white collar desk job can only bring so much to your life. Yeah it brings you money and that money can afford you to buy yourself stuff and things. But we see that with the narrator. Money doesn't buy you a life that you are satisfied with. So people read this book and they get inspired. Maybe they start their own soap company. But as we hear in the afterword by Palahnuik, they usually find someone to fight. And then they can sport their newly bruised faces and feel something.

Good prose, good story, good characters, good twist.