The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan

This book was hugely popular in certain circles on BookTube. Usually I get a kick out of reading those, but either my expectations were far too high, or else my taste and some other folks' don't quite match up.

North is a circus girl, who lives on a circus boat, and who performs with a bear. She is required to marry a young man she doesn't even like. Callanish is a girl with secrets who is left repenting for something as a Gracekeeper, a water-world version of an undertaker. She was originally from the land. This book covers their lives.

I appreciated the world building. What with global warming (I come from Africa - we still believe in science here), one could see an earth covered mostly in water, land being extremely scarce, and as a result, religions changing as people either had to live on water, or cling onto their land and pray for harvests etc.. So no real stretch there. I actually enjoyed the idea.

But the pacing was so slow. Man, this book was a one way ticket to Slumberland. Not even the pretty writing could keep my eyes open. Not even the 'question' of what would happen or what had happened, could stop it. I was bored. There, I said it. I now feel tainted.

I also found the characters very distant. While I read their thought processes and read about their feelings, at no point did I feel anything for them. Which is a bit disappointing and probably explains the boredom. (There is that bad word again.)

2 stars. it was OK. Nothing to write home about.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Who hasn't heard of Donna Tartt? I think that is enough reason for picking up this book.

 The novel is circular, starting at the end, with Theo in a hotel room as an adult, trying to comes to terms with a murder. The book then heads straight to his childhood, showing us how he got there. He is thirteen when he looses his mother. His life is then knocked around as he journeys from one home to the next, meeting an array of interesting (and by 'interesting', I don't necessarily mean nice) people who have a long term affect on who he eventually becomes.

“But sometimes, unexpectedly, grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping; and when the waves washed back, I found myself looking out over a brackish wreck which was illumined in a light so lucid, so heartsick and empty, that I could hardly remember that the world had ever been anything but dead.”

― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

I had really high expectation for The Goldfinch. I was expecting to be wowed, amazed, shocked... You know, all those nice feelings one has while reading. And I suppose I was. I will give Donna Tartt one thing: she can definitely create characters that walk off the page and into one's head. I lived and breathed this while I was reading it. But having said that, it wasn't the easiest book to pick up. (Being the massive tome it is, does account for some of that.)

I must confess that while I could see how all the little titbits of information along the way really added to the life of the characters, there were places where I felt that huge chunks could really have been removed. Heading off to buy flowers etc. was one of those places. It was unnecessary and only added to the page count, and not the story or characters. There were quite a few of those.

But the masterful way Tartt got me to like Theo, even when I would have eventually shunned him in real life, was quite something. In fact, let's forget Theo and look at Boris. Boris was the kid you don't want your kid to play with. Boris is the adult that makes you avoid dark streets and flashing money around. And yet... and yet I liked him. Tartt got me to see past the external view and to see someone real and human and hurt and trying to survive underneath that tough exterior.

While I think this really deserves the 4 star rating I gave it, I would only really recommend it to those who don't need a rapid pace in their books. Oh. And please only venture this if you have really strong wrists.

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

What an interesting read.

I picked this up without knowing anything about it (it was skinny, and The Goldfinch was killing me and my stats slowly). The first act had my expectations a bit low. We see a high class family celebrating privately - a hoity-toity scenario that does not quite go with my excessively casual manner. An inspector arrives to discuss a suicide. Naturally, everyone claims to have had nothing to do with the deceased's decision.

"We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night.”

― J.B. Priestley, An Inspector Calls

I was not expecting to be as engrossed in the story as I was. This play shows one accountability; Accountability for one's indirect actions, as well as the direct. I really thought the way it was done was effective. What really slammed the message home was the end - not the last page - that is another discussion all on its own. I have seen people do this; find a flaw in something and lose the entire lesson. And that ending! It came like a sledgehammer.

It is a pity that I will no longer be able to choose my own literature to teach, because this would have actually worked quite nicely for the drama section. I gave this 4 stars, although, looking back, I wonder why I didn't give it 5.

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (2016 review catch ups)

 This was an impulse buy. Had I given it much thought, I would have left the book in the shop. But I had heard of it on Booktube. The fact that I have no interest in birds, no wish to dig up my feelings of my own father's passing, nor any massive interest in reading a memoir of a woman I had never heard of, didn't quite realise themselves until I got the book home, looked at the cover again, and then realised that I now had to read the damned thing (it cost a fortune). It came as quite the surprise then when I discovered that I really enjoyed it!

One cannot say that this is nature book. Nor is it a literary review, nor is it a book about overcoming bereavement. It is a bit of everything with a side order of some interesting psychology.

“Here’s a word. Bereavement. Or, Bereaved. Bereft. It’s from the Old English bereafian, meaning ‘to deprive of, take away, seize, rob’. Robbed. Seized. It happens to everyone. But you feel it alone. Shocking loss isn’t to be shared, no matter how hard you try.”

― Helen Macdonald, H Is for Hawk

There were parts that really spoke to me. Especially when it came to her struggles with Mable (the hawk). How she internalised the problem and found fault with herself instead of looking at the more practical aspects of all that could be wrong. I know I do that too, and seeing her realise that made me more aware of the times I blame myself for things going wrong when they are completely out of my control.

I did find it difficult empathising with her for her grief over her dad. I too have lost my dad (4 years ago), and although I was also a daddy's girl, I didn't lose complete grip on myself and my identity - and definitely not my humanity. But then I don't have other issues and I had to be the support so I wasn't afforded the luxury of coming apart completely. I was sad for her though.

Mabel was brilliantly depicted. I felt she was alive and could so easily visualise her ducking and weaving and crouching and bating. Yes, I learnt more words reading this too. I don't know if I will ever need to talk about hawkish actions in the right terminology, but it is nice knowing that I could.

This book also spends a lot of time discussing T.H. White's book, The Goshawk. In the beginning, I found this commentary very interesting, especially as she was telling us about White, in preparation for the process he took with his own Goshawk, Gos. Unfortunately, I will have to say I ended up skim reading a lot of this towards the end. I felt disturbed more than anything else, as to how White treated his hawk.

Helen does write well, and her knowledge extends far beyond that for hawking. I liked the lyrical style she used. And just to say it again, she must have loved Mabel a lot, because she captured the hawk and her gestures so well on the page.

I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads.