“Knife” by Salman Rushdie

This is an immensely personal, intimate, moving, and powerful account of 13 months in Salman Rushdie’s life. On 12 August 2022, when he is about to start a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, a man rushes onto the stage an attacks him with a knife. This almost claimed Rushdie’s life, and cost him the sight in one eye. The book charts 13 months of the physical and emotional impact of this attack on Rushdie and those in his closest circles of love and friendship. His account of the incident, and the impact it had on his physical health, his wife and family, is eloquent and moving.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the attack itself, and the aftermath of hospitalisation and rehab. The description of the attack is intense and immediate, and feels immensely personal. The second part is reflective on Rushdie reclaiming some sense of normality, and trying to find some perspective for the incident and its ongoing impact on his life.

I knew very little about Salman Rushdie before reading this - beyond the fact of the fatwa issued in 1989 for his death, due to the content of his book The Satanic Verses. And it was the long tail of that fatwa that, ultimately, and obtusely, resulted in the knife attack. Rushdie draws on his knowledge of history, politics, art, literature, and philosophy to try to bring meaning and context to what has happened to him.

It’s difficult to find fault with such a personal, honest, introspective - and, ultimately, engaging and well told - account.

Thank you #NetGalley and Random House UK / Vintage for the free review copy of #Knife in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: ★★★★★

NetGalley Review

“The Ministry of Time” by Kaliane Bradley

This was a compelling and engaging cross-genre combination of time-travel, mystery/thriller, historical fiction, and romance. It had a lot to pack in, and it did it very well.

According to the blurb: “In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel. Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as '1847' - Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to the Arctic.”

The first half of the story is establishing Graham and the other expats in the 21st century. This part of the book is a charming fish-out-of-water tale, as the expats try to adjust to cultural and technological differences from their own time. The main expat character, Graham, is incredibly likeable. He has a laid back, sarcastic take on the world, and his dry observations of what he seems around him are insightful and often pithy. I also really enjoyed the character of Maggie, from 1665, whose joyous and boisterous reaction to the pleasures of 21st century living were delightful, and made me laugh.

I don’t generally read historical novels, so it was an added interest for me that Graham Gore was a member of the Franklin Expedition, an ill fated expedition into the arctic.

The friendship between our main character (whose name, weirdly, we never find out) and Graham grows throughout the first half of the book, and continues to blossom as the story progresses. Most of the first two-thirds of the book are taken up with establishing the characters and the romance. There’s even a bit of smut thrown in, for those who like that in their books.

As the plot develops, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems with The Ministry, and our intrepid band of expats and ‘bridges’ are both caught up in, and try to navigate, the unfolding events. The time travel elements were quite satisfying - the time travel ‘door’ isn’t fully understood by The Ministry, and the cautious approach to time travel contributed to the plot. At about 80% of the way through the story, the pace picks up, things start to come to a head, and it became a real page turner.

Only one niggle for me: I would personally have preferred a different balance between the character/romance development and the mystery/thriller elements of the plot (less romance, more plot) - especially as, despite the focus and detail on their relationship, I never really felt the emotion in the romantic relationships.

But regardless of this, it’s a cracking story, with something for everyone, and a masterful combination of genres.

Thank you #NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton / Sceptre for the free review copy of #TheMinistryofTIme in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: ★★★★☆

NetGalley Review

“Hideaway” by Alastair Reynolds

Hideaway is a short story that starts the chronology of the Merlin series by Alastair Reynolds. It packs an enormous amount of plot into a very short space, and is a wild ride of world building, concepts, plot, jeopardy and character development, all wrapped up in a hard sci-fi shell.

Set in a universe where the last vestiges of humanity are running from the ‘Huskers’, who would have humanity wiped out. The inevitability of being trapped by the Huskers in a deep space equivalent of a pincer movement leads a group of Humans, including the title character, Merlin, to hide rather than run.

The story spans several years - the inevitability of the Huskers’ arrival doesn’t mean it’s imminent… just inevitable. During this time, our people find themselves in a star system in which they could potentially hide, but also has some mysterious characteristics. The exploration of these mysteries, and their consequences for our intrepid band of humanity, carries us through the story.

There is a lot of ground that gets covered, and the writing is very concise - although it sometimes felt like I was drinking from a plot and world-building fire hose. But the result is very satisfying. My only complaint is that the story feels a little empty of people, despite how many thousands there actually are. But this is almost certainly just a consequence of having to squeeze so much plot, and some decent character development of the small number of main characters, into the short space available. This left me wishing it had been a novella rather than a short story.

An enjoyable introduction to the series. I look forward to the rest.

My rating: ★★★★☆

“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman

No. Just… No.

Did not finish, at 23%

If I’m being generous, then this book is casually uncaring. If I submit to my discomfort reading this, then I’m going to say it’s cruel and heartless.

Eleanor Oliphant is obviously not completely fine - that’s no surprise as the title is intended to be ironic. However, she’s clearly had some horrific trauma early in her life. I have no training that qualifies me to say this, but it seems like she has PTSD. She may well have other disorders that could be identified and addressed with appropriate therapies. However, despite the fact that she has social workers visit regularly who are clearly familiar with her awful background, there is no evidence that Eleanor has had any issues diagnosed or is getting any meaningful support or treatment.

As a result of her damaged upbringing, she has difficulty relating to people and normal social situations. And she drinks heavily - something that also seems to be treated in a casual throw-away manner. And through all this, we’re invited to laugh at her as she makes various ‘humorous’ mistakes as she misjudges various situations. These same situations mightbe funny if the reason for Eleanor’s detachment and lack of social understanding weren’t so tragic (even so, I found the ‘humour’ quite heavy handed), but in the context of the what we’re supposed to believe about Eleanor’s background and upbringing, it feels like I’m being encouraged to point and laugh at the amusing freak. The freak who is a deeply damaged individual.

OK, so I stopped at only 23% of the way through the book, and maybe the author turns it around later on in a way that can mitigate this first quarter. But I searched out some other reviews from readers who feel the same way but had the tenacity to see it through to the end, and I don’t believe that’s the case.

So, no. Just… No.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆

"Takeout Sushi" by Christopher Green

I’m afraid that this collection of short stories really wasn’t for me, and I left it unfinished 60% of the way through (11 of the 17 stories).

These stories are small slices of life, mostly from the perspective of a foreigner living in Japan.  Each little vignette nicely captures a mood, but, while there was a charm in many of them, the mood that was mostly captured seemed to be that of a mundane daily life.  The world being painted felt quite grey.  Unfortunately, I simply wasn’t engaged by any of the stories, and I found the outcome of most of them to be unremarkable.  There were a few times when the author teased me with a what seemed to be a tantalising moment of insight - for example, the subjective nature of “under budget, and on time” in ‘Spinning Wheels’, or ignoring the roots while being captivated by the leaves in ‘The Tree’ - but these were unsatisfyingly underdeveloped.

Maybe I’m missing the point.  Maybe the point is to immerse oneself in the grey mundanity of daily life, and enjoy these gentle fables of regret, hubris, and growth.

I did laugh out loud in ‘Burned’, though.  And the illustrations are nice.

Thank you #NetGalley and Neem Tree Press for the free review copy of #TakeoutSushi in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆

NetGalley review

“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” by Mary Roach

A fascinating, if slightly outdated, exploration of all the things that can happen to human cadavers: from anatomy classes for students studying medicine, to investigating the efficacy of vehicle safety systems, to the various ways people ingest human remains, to their ultimate disposal.

“Mary Roach is an American author specialising in popular science and humour”, according to her Wikipedia page, and that’s exactly what you get here - a well research look at what could potentially be quite a dark subject, but treated with just the right amount of humour and occasional well-pitched irreverence.

There’s some fascinating insight here into both current and historical uses of cadavers. It’s only a shame that the book is slightly dated now, having been originally published in 2003, so some of the descriptions of “upcoming” advances in areas covered by the book are now over 20 years out of date (although I’d be fascinated to know how things have progressed).

My rating: ★★★★☆

"The Other Valley" by Scott Alexander Howard

Some stand-out moments in this unique but flawed story of time travel that deals with themes of loss, obedience, conformity, consequences and missed opportunities.

3.5 stars rounded down.  I don’t usually award half stars, but I’m so conflicted about how to rate this book that I don’t feel like I have any other option.

A brief summary from the blurb:

"West is twenty years in the past.

East is twenty years in the future.

Would you travel through time to save the one you love?

Sixteen-year-old Odile Ozanne finds herself drawn into a devastating lifelong dilemma – to preserve the town’s carefully protected timeline, or to risk everything and try to rescue her one chance at happiness."

The time travel set-up interesting, and unique in my experience: the story is set in a valley bounded by mountains to the east and west.  Beyond the mountains lie the same valley, but 20 years in the past the the west, and 20 years in the future to the east.  This is an imaginative set-up for time travel.  For me, though, it left significant questions unanswered that I found an ongoing distraction (more on that later).

A feeling of disconnection

First, let’s deal with the elephant in the room: there are no quotation marks.  Direct speech is indicated by a paragraph break (although not always) along with the reader’s intuition that someone is now speaking due to the change in flow and tone.  The story is told in the first person and there were quite a few times when I was genuinely confused about whether a sentence like “I didn’t know” was part of the first person narrative, or was being spoken by the narrator, or was being spoken by one of the other characters.  I think I mostly got it right from context, but why is the author making me work so hard?

I have no problem with an author playing with convention and form for stylistic reasons or to provide a particular feel - but I simply didn’t see the point of the lack of quotation marks.  Worse than that, not only did it get in the way of the reading experience, but it also got in the way of my engagement with the story and the characters.  For me, the lack of quotation marks added distance - as if all of the speech was either badly remembered, or was being reported third-hand.  It had the disconnected feel of a badly dubbed foreign film.

This brings me to characterisation.  I’m not sure whether the main character, Odile, was supposed to be somewhat neurodivergent - with sentences like “startled, I forgot to smile back” seeming to indicate the processing of emotions being a deliberate activity - or perhaps she was just supposed to be shy.  Either way, she is written with an emotional detachment, and seems to be on the sidelines for many of her experiences and relationships with other people.  Unfortunately for me, this also meant that I had no sense of the depth of her emotion for her best friend, Edme, whose fate is pivotal for much of the plot.  I did wonder whether this was just my own disconnection with the author - that perhaps the author wasn’t going to be able to make me feel anything for any of the characters - but this wasn’t the case: I found one of the scenes where Odile escorts an old man into an adjacent valley very moving.

The Time Travel Mechanism

I had so many problems with the time travel mechanism, where valleys to the east and west are 20 years removed…

Firstly, the entire world in which the story unfolds is only a few kilometres wide, but the society is advanced enough to have buses and cars.  This means that there needs to be a certain amount of heavy industry: mining, steel works, petrochemicals, manufacturing, etc.  This is briefly alluded to at one point (“The pavement ended and the streetlights tapered off at the gloomy remains of the brickyard and some factories. There was no more need for them to operate, the Conseil said“), but a few factories isn’t enough.  Worse than this, the valley is also bounded to the north and south - the valley is the entire world.  It’s not like there is an “industrial zone” elsewhere that would explain this.  Of course, none of this is important to the plot, but I found it very distracting.

Secondly, the “single timeline” rules of time travel in this book would result in an incredibly delicate hold on a stable reality.  Changes in the past (the west) will impact the future (the east).  In fact, this is poetically described at one point: “A person goes west, he interferes, and then new time rolls over him like a wave, leaving nothing behind. It’s as simple and ruthless as that.”  This set of timeline rules is fine in principle, and is well established in speculative fiction in general.  However, when this is combined with the “walk west and you end up 20 years in the past” mechanism in this book, then the entire world becomes very fragile.  The purpose of the “Conseil” in the book is to police movement between valleys, due to the consequences to the timeline of uncontrolled attempts to interfere with the past.  However, we’re supposed to believe that the valleys go east and west without end - that they are effectively infinite.  This means that the Conseil has to have a perfect record in every one of the infinite valleys to the west in order to prevent waves of updated time continuously crashing eastwards through the valleys.  This seems unlikely.  And what about a bird (because there are birds) flying west and, for example, causing a car accident?  This delicacy of the timeline is essential to the plot, and yet is inherently infeasible.

The Good Stuff: Plot and Character

One final negative word before the good stuff: the pace is incredibly slow, and the balance of story establishment vs payoff is too skewed towards story establishment for my liking.  For me, the payoff of all of the world building and character development kicked in at 80-90% of the way through, which represents quite a lot of slogging through world building up to that point.

However, the payoff was very satisfying.  For all that I’ve criticised the distracting elements of style and world building, I found the progression of the plot (who ends up where, and for what reasons) to be surprising and enjoyable - there were points where the plot took a sharp turn in a way that I wasn’t expecting, and I really appreciated that.

The blurb would have us believe that the book is about lost love and redemption - the chance to bring back something that’s been lost.  And while it is about that, the “something that’s been lost” runs so much deeper than a relationship with a childhood friend.  Compliance to authority for the greater good in the face of personal loss is a theme that runs throughout the story.  Coming to terms with regret and lost opportunity is also a persistent thread - and a thread that is made poignant by the tantalising prospect of being able to travel back in time and interfere, in an attempt to change outcomes.  And it’s in the main character’s self-absorbed, introspective contemplation on the direction that her life has taken in the face of all of this that the author’s characterisation really shines.  Odile’s combination of regret, resignation, and conflict later in the story ultimately gave her the sense of depth and reality that I was hoping for - and that’s what will stay with me from this book.

Thank you #NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the free review copy of #TheOtherValley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

NetGalley review