Category: Book Review

In this legendary novel that appears to predict the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Graham Greene introduces James Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman whose life is transformed when he is asked to join the British Secret Service."Our Man In Havana” is a satirical tale of espionage and intrigue. Wormold is out of his league in the world of cloak and dagger missions, sensitive information gathering, and covert operations. He is a middle-aged father of a 17 year-old beauty named Milly, running a small vacuum cleaner business in Havana with an assistant named Lopez. The British Secret Service has completely misjudged who he is. Unwilling to disappoint them or to give up the monthly salary and expenses, he fabricates coded reports and lists fictitious operatives and informants. Things get really complicated when the home office in London is impressed with his efforts and sends him a secretary and a radio operator.

This often light-hearted, atmospheric ‘entertainment’ was enjoyed by most of the group who felt encouraged to read more of this massively important author whose comments on present-day life still resonate despite being published over 50 years ago.

Pat Mutton

We were very pleased to welcome Wilma to our meeting this month where she talked about her first novel and gave us an insight into the writing and publishing of books. She used her own home on the Shropshire-Herefordshire border as her inspiration and local readers will enjoy visiting some local sites with her characters.

The novel takes bullying as its theme – bullying at work, in relationships and in the past. A crime from the distant past makes itself known to Mary Mitchell and she and her neighbour, Tim embark on a voyage of discovery to free the sisters from injustice. They also discover much about themselves and face up to modern day bullying.

Pat Mutton

Ten-year- old Judith lives a life of prayer, preaching and bible readings with her father, a man so absorbed in his relationship with God that he forgets to build one with his daughter. McCleen grew up in a similarly fundamentalist environment and the authenticity of the experience is part of what makes this book, and it’s astonishing young heroine, so memorable.

Painfully lonely and a helpless outsider, ten year old Judith finds herself bullied at school and escapes to the Land of Decoration, the miniature ‘Promised Land’ she has built in her bedroom. One night, consumed with fear she prays for snow to fall and close the school. When she wakes the next morning to find the town covered in the real thing, it can only mean one thing: she can perform miracles.

The consequences of this and other ‘miracles’ along with conversations with a vengeful God compelled our group to continue reading through this thoughtful and complex novel. McCleen has a vivid way with words which creates an often grim and claustrophobic atmosphere, not always easy to read but nobody could put it down!

Pat Mutton

With potent storytelling, King paints a surreal picture of small town America in the eighties. He felt that this was a decade when everything came with a price tag with the final items being honour, integrity, self-respect and innocence and he turned this concept into a small-town curio shop.

Leland Gaunt opens a new shop in Castle Rock called Needful Things. Anyone who enters his store finds the object of his or her lifelong dreams and desires: a prized baseball card, a healing amulet. In addition to a token payment, Gaunt requests that each person perform a little ‘deed’. Usually a seemingly innocent prank played on someone else from town. These practical jokes cascade out of control and soon the entire town is doing battle with itself. Only Sherriff Alan Pangborn suspects that Gaunt is behind the population’s increasingly violent behaviour.

If you’ve never read a horror novel before, you’d find yourself gently drawn into the mystery of this little shop and its strange proprietor who seems to be able to look deep into the soul of each customer and uncover their secret desires. But this is not for the faint hearted. There is an explosive sting in the tail. Love him or hate him – and we were decidedly split – his storytelling skills are undeniable.

Jonathan Edwards is a contemporary Welsh poet and this, his award winning collection of poems, is a moving portrayal of his family and experience. His work moves from wit to melancholy, capturing the life of these Welsh valley communities. What comes through strongly is the warmth and affection he feels towards his family.

Section one records the myths and legends of an everyday family with section two focusing on the harsher social and physical environment of a changing Wales. In section three he explores the world of adult relationships with love injecting another dimension to the collection. The final section includes a sequence of animal poems and new people.

There’s a lot to enjoy in this collection and we all felt that the selected poems truly came alive when read aloud.

Pat Mutton

The central character in this light-hearted, Scandinavian novel is Alan Karlsson. It begins on the day of his one-hundredth birthday as he sits in his room at the old people’s home contemplating the planned party, a party which he does not relish so he climbs out of the window and embarks on an adventure. Things just happen to him as he soon finds himself in possession of a suitcase full of money which belongs to a criminal gang who chase him across Sweden. As he progresses along his journey, he gathers around him a group of disparate characters and a series of flashbacks reveal his past involvement in key political events of the 20th century. The twin stories of Alan’s past and present day adventures provide a satire on the foibles of mankind and lead to a satisfyingly happy ending.

If you enjoy quirky, dry humour then the believable absurdity of both storylines will amuse you as it did for many of our group.

Pat Mutton