A Far Cry From Kensington - Muriel Spark

52% 

02.06.26

I wasn't sure what to make of this character-led slice of life. Time was treated interestingly - the narrator looks back and forth on a surprisingly modern 1950s - and the scenes, especially of publishing, clearly had some basis in an amusing and awkward reality. But the plot, such as it was, seemed bolted on, and the odd and slightly unreliable narrator never seemed to get to the point. I doubt I'll remember it in a couple of months.

Back Trouble - Clare Chambers

59%

23.10.25

Wry humour, sharp observation and a strong sense of place and time - yes, it's a Clare Chambers novel. I have a few to read and this was engaging and interestingly structured, if not ultimately memorable or profound.

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 51%

06.08.23

I've struggled with Moreno-Garcia's style before - it feels awkwardly translated even though it was originally written in English. This story was also awkward - "walk through rooms, hallucinate, argue, repeat" with a final few chapters that didn't make sense. Not at all creepy, anyway, and, the colonial point was lost as the baddies could have been any nationality, as long as they were outsiders.

Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

 

51%

01.01.23

This book is so popular that my library reservation took three months to come through in the form of an enormous hardback. But I might as well have stood in line to be hit over the head with it, so heavy-handed is its execution. So women were disrespected in the 1950s - we get the point but the descriptions are so exaggerated they fail to ring true. Apparently also children were Roald Dahl's Matilda, you could become a champion rower by reading, not rowing, dogs were basically people who couldn't speak and people were, including and especially the main character, unlikeable and entirely unsympathetic. 

Creeping Jenny - Jeff Noon

70%

09.03.21

This was terrifically well written, entertainingly inventive and very, very weird. It's probably one of those 'love it or hate it books' - it is, after all, a silly satire on folk horror - but, as outrageous speculative fiction goes, I'm definitely inclining towards the love it.

Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers

 

60%
25.12.20

This was compared to Barbara Pym and Anne Tyler - well, it's a low-key story about women struggling through society but otherwise it was too heavy handed to reach those dizzy heights. Readable enough but from all the smog 'n' smoking (yes, we get it, it was the 50s) to the unnecessarily tragic or possibly open-ended ending (not a spoiler - the preface prefigured the probable death of a character), it just needed a lighter touch.

Recipe for a Perfect Wife - Karma Brown

55%
28.04.20

I don't really know what to make of this. On the one hand, it was an appealing two-day read with an interesting premise. On the other, the story depended on the protagonists' unrealistically irrational behaviour. Why do contemporary novels feature such unlikable women with whom we are expected to empathise? The ending of both narratives was decidedly iffy and heavy-handed. And, of course, it needed a decent edit, but what book doesn't these days?

Jane and Prudence - Barbara Pym

52%
22.08.19

I love Barbara Pym and her barbed wit but this, while likeable, was instantly forgettable.

Tangerine - Christine Mangan

46%
13.06.19

More of a lemon than a tangerine. If this hadn't been a library book, I'd have flung it across the room. A poorly written, badly edited, highly clichéd unconvincing story masquerading as literary fiction.

The Zig Zag Girl - Elly Griffths

59%
31.01.19

I wondered what Griffiths' 'other' series was like. It was quite different, not just because of its 1950s Brighton setting, and the characters lack the baggage of their Norfolk counterparts in this first book. A pleasant enough read, but not particularly memorable.