5 posts tagged “london”

An unnamed male teenage narrator describes summer in London in 1958.  In the earlier parts, his main concerns are his love for ex-girlfriend Crepe Suzette, his misgivings about his family, and spending time with his various friends.  However, as the novel progresses, he describes the rising racial tensions of the time, which inevitably spill over into violence.

The narrator lives in a poorer part of London which he refers to as Napoli, and whose population is very multi-cultural, and also houses a lot of people on the fringes of society at the time, such as homosexuals and drug addicts.  A new youth culture is just emerging and so is the popularity of jazz music in Britain.

I enjoyed this book, on the whole, although I found the narrator hard to engage with, despite the fact that we were seeing events through his eyes.  He seems to have more acquaintances than actual friends, and many of those are fairly transient characters, who seem to serve as a sounding board for the narrator's thoughts and beliefs.

Things do become more heated at the close of the book, and with it, the maturing narrator also starts to care about bigger issues.  However, although he has strong feelings about the events that take place, I found little emotion in his telling of such events.

I wasn't around to experience the era or the location of the times described, but the telling of the story does seem to have an air of authenticity about it, and described London as a vibrant and exciting place to be, but with an air of underlying tension.

I usually prefer character driven books, but in this novel, the characters take second place to the city of London itself, which is really the biggest character of all.

Overall, an enjoyable read, and much better than the film adaptation!

It is 1970s London, and Chris is bored with himself, his life and his dull marriage.  He meets Roza when he accidentally mistakes her for a prostitute, and despite this inauspicious start, the two become firm friends.  Chris finds himself regularly visiting Roza's home to listen to her tales of her father the Partisan. her life in the former Yugoslavia, and her experiences since coming to England.  As much as Roza seems to have a need to tell her tales, do Chris has a heed to listen to them, and slowly the two start to fall into an unusual kind of love.  But are Roza's tales true - and does it even matter?

This was quite an easy read - aided by the (on the whole) short, choppy chapters.  However, despite Chris and Roza being two of only three characters who we actually 'meet' throughout the story (rather than just being characters who Roza and Chris talk about), I find it hard to truly care about either of them.  

The book is narrated by both characters, but mainly Chris, and the reader largely gets to see things from Chris's point of view.

There were a few moments of wry humour, but this is more a story of a love which seems destined to be never entirely fulfilled, but you'll have to read to the end to find out what does become of them.

This is not a long book - just over 200 pages - and I think it was just the right length.  Much longer and I would have lost interest.  

This novel is set in London, just over 100 years into the future.  And what a future it is!  After a great flood came in 2014, London is practically under water.  Disease is rife (which child mortality rates at 50%), promiscuity is not only accepted, but actively encouraged, and privacy is illegal.  Furthermore, the vaccination of children is a heinous crime, as it is thought to be against 'The Love's' will.

Living in this depressing city is Trafford, an ordinary man, with an extraordinary yearning - he wants privacy.  He hates the fact that literally every aspect of a person's life has to be loaded onto the internet for anybody to read (it is expected that people put up videos of childbirth, sex and any other intimate acts), and that people are expected to keep a blog revealing all of their innermost thoughts.  

Trafford and his wife Chantorria (some of the least unusual character names in the book) have recently had a daughter, and with the infant mortality rates being so high, Trafford decides to have her vaccinated, risking great danger and the threat of death if this is discovered.  In doing so, he becomes involved in seeking out others who may feel the same way as he does - who want to think for themselves, rather than be told what to think.

I have yet to discover a Ben Elton novel that I haven't enjoyed.  This one is too funny and irreverent to be scary or disturbing in the way that novels like Nineteen Eighty Four are, but nonetheless, Elton does make some interesting points and observations about where the current obsession for celebrity gossip and reality television could lead.  It's not a believable story, but I don't believe that it was ever intended to be.

Trafford is the most believable character in the story - as it is told from his point of view, this is probably to be expected.  Many of the other characters are stereotypes and caricatures, but this is not a criticism - and it is possible to recognise some of their behaviour as typical of the type of person they are based on.

So all in all, if you are looking for a serious study about humanity and a dystopian society, this is not the book for you.  But if you are looking for an entertaining and light hearted read with some very pointed observations, this comes highly recommended.

This book, set in London in 1829, is the first book in a series about Pyke, a Bow Street Runner, and sometime crook of questionable (to say the least) morals.

The book is set at a time for great change for the policing system: Home Secretary Peel had his plans to set up one ruling Police Force, and thus put Runners like Pike, out of work.  His plans were opposed by many, and this conflict is very well illustrated in this book.

Pyke finds himself caught up in trying to solve a brutal triple murder, and his investigations uncover a web of deception which perhaps goes as high as the Government itself, and which threatens Pyke's livelihood and even his life.  

Aided by an enigmatic society beauty (which comes across far less cliched than that sounds), Pyke has to stay one step ahead of the powers that be at all time, as he faces danger from known and unknown persons.

I really enjoyed this book.  The action moves along at a fair old pace, and I never found myself getting bored.  1820s London is brought vividly to life, with detailed descriptions of the way of life.  However, the historical references did not detract from the main storyline; they merely served to help set the scene.

Pyke is a terrific main character.  He is a cruel and brutal man, who I felt I should dislike, but there was just enough goodness in him to make me want to root for him all the way.  As a character who was very believable, his actions still took me by surprise on many occasions.

There is a lot of violence and bloodshed in this book, and I can certainly see that that in itself would turn a lot of readers off.  I wouldn't recommend it to a squeamish friend!  However, if you want a good crime mystery with plenty of twists and turns, and don't mind some blood and gore, this is a great read.  I look forward to reading the next installment.