The Fairy's Tale - FD Lee

47%
12.01.20

Well-meaning and I didn't actively dislike it but ultimately it's a book in search of a decent editor who can wave their magic wand to sort out the incoherent plot, strange irrelevancies and weird mix of US/UK styles.

Joy - Jonathan Lee

55%
07.12.12
And the prize for Ironic Title of the Year goes to... "Joy", a bleak story of unpleasant people leading unhappy and pointless lives. Apparently Lee's previous book was very funny but he must have wanted to redress the balance here. Even the lighter moments are weird or tainted in some way. The language, admittedly, is sharp and poetic, and the unfolding of the plot from different viewpoints reveals twists and nuances that could be savoured under different circumstances - but, for me, the characters were never convincing and, well, I just wanted a little more joy.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

68%
29.07.11

I have no idea how I've managed not to read this for so long. It's one of those classics that you can almost get away with not reading, because it's so absorbed in literary culture. It's about a court case, right? And racism? Told from a child's point of view. Well, sort of. My impression is that it's more character-driven than plot driven - the plot is almost incidental, a devise to throw light on the vividly drawn population of a particular town. The court case is almost an awkward intrusion among other tales of childhood. But it's not told from a child's point of view at all - the narrator is an adult remembering events as a child, which (whisper it) doesn't always ring too true. It is also rather weighed down with metaphor - almost as if it was written in order to inspire a million essays. I did enjoy it but, as with all classics, let's not get distracted by sentimentality here.