The Soulmate - Sally Hepworth

50%

25.03.26

The last book I read by Sally Hepworth I reviewed as 'ridiculous in every way', and this was no different. It was very silly in a way I didn't hate - but it could have been so much better and so much more memorable.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson

 50%

17.12.24

This was a 'by numbers' Christmas cash-in (literally - the structure was based on an Advent calendar) that was almost self-aware enough, in the usual Stevenson style, to pull off. But not quite - it lacked the passion to be anything other than a gimmicky read - although I liked the determined portrayal of the festive Australian summer.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson

58%

21.10.24

Fair play to Stevenson for tackling that difficult 'second in the series' with so much meta energy. His decision to continue with the trademark self-referential elements livened up the old 'murder on a train' cliche, but the characters and plot were still too confusing and I don't think I'll remember much about it.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

65%

14.08.23

There's a thin line between cleverly self-referential and plain irritating, but I think this mostly balanced on it successfully. It's an entertaining murder mystery that plays by the rules - all sorts of rules - and is a lesson in writing (and editing) itself too. The actual story was more confusing than exciting but the hook - a family of killers! - held it together, even though (spoiler!) that turned out to be somewhat misleading.

The Last Anniversary - Liane Moriarty

 63%

10.11.22

The first third or so of this was pitch-perfect - a balance of humour and pathos, with quirky characters to carry you through. But then it started to meander a bit, some points of view fell flat, the multiple story lines got slightly wearisome, many of the topics were a little problematic - but to its credit, not all the ends were tied by the last page.

Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

 

64%

31.08.22

The strong, engaging (female) characters made this one of the better Moriarty novels, even if (spoiler!) it had the same formula as The Guest List, i.e. 'identity of murdered person will only be revealed at the end but clearly the man who abuses women will get his just desserts'. I also like the Australian-ness of it all: it's disappointing to note it was adapted for TV with an American setting. 

Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty

 

68%

10.01.22

This was the Moriarty book I should have been reading (for book club) over Christmas. As much as I resented having to pay £9.99 for the Kindle ebook, it was infinitely better than Nine Perfect Strangers. The characters were vividly drawn, and every detail of the story became satisfyingly relevant in some way - until it was spoiled by the silly pandemic chapters at the end, which not only made the book 50 pages too long but also read as if the publisher had asked the author to shoehorn them in at the last minute to make the story 'current'. It was a shame as, until then, the delicious unlikeliness of almost everything in the novel had been what made it so enjoyable.

Side note: I plan to avoid the current pile of pandemic-set stories. I understand publishers like current affairs, and authors like the challenge of deciding how their characters might react to lockdown, but I read novels to experience other worlds - if I wanted contemporary realism, I'd read the news. Still, I've started a new pandemic label, in case I can't avoid it.

Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty

 

52%

27.12.21

Billed as a thriller but more of a character study. I was expecting something interesting to happen - a murder, a plot twist - but no, it was just an ultimately rather inconsequential story, which is interestingly how I described the previous Moriarty I read.

The Good Sister - Sally Hepworth

 

49%

29.05.21

Ridiculous in every way.

The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion

59%
10.04.15

The Rosie Project was a solid comic novel but you can take a good thing too far. This reads like a rushed reaction to the original's success, with little of the charm of the first. Rosie, for one, has lost her personality completely and Don, the 'socially challenged' narrator, is just unpleasant. And what's the point of them being in New York? But it is funny and engaging at times - a holiday book, perhaps.

The Night Guest - Fiona McFarlane

57%
16.11.14

The most thrilling thing about this psychological thriller was the poetic turns of phrase and unexpected plot details. The rest was rather improbable and, I expect, ultimately unmemorable.

The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty

51%

04.11.14

I asked my husband what he thought the secret was. He guessed it without knowing anything about the book. Hopefully it's not a typical husband's secret. In any case, this was a surprisingly inconsequential read that didn't quite gel. The details about life in Australia were interesting, though.

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

70%
16/01/14

I don't think I've ever read an Australian comic novel before - well, this was a good one to start with. From laughing out loud to grappling blindly for a tissue to staying up rather late to find out what happens next, it brightened my January. As long as I don't analyse it too much (it's that Curious Incident discomfort again).

The Other Side of the Bridge - Mary Lawson

49%
07.06.09

Am I missing something with this current crop of 20th century-set literary fiction? I know what I did miss in this one was a proper plot, and was not startled by originality or elegant prose. It all seemed rather pointless - write a history book if you're so proud of your research. But it must be said that most of my reading group enjoyed it - so again I wonder if I'm missing something.

The Idea of Perfection - Kate Grenville

 60%
01.01.02




This won the Orange Prize - I'm not sure why, when it was up against 'The Blind Assassin'. Perhaps they hadn't had an Australian novel win for while. The author takes such pains to paint her creations as ordinary people that they become freakish and remote. Nobody seems capable of having a normal conversation because they spend so much time worrying about the implications of every word. Still, some parts are fairly amusing, and it's quite informative about small-town Australian life.