Library Corner

Set in the 1920′s of Barcelona, this is the story of a young writer (David Martin) who fears that he has sold his soul to the devil, or at the very least, has made a pact with him. The story is wonderfully descriptive and flows well, and even though it is translated from Spanish, there doesn’t seem to be much lost in the translation process.  There are links in the book to the Shadow of the Wind, also written by the same author; the Sempere and Sons book shop and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for example.  David is a lost soul himself, in love with Christina who can never be his, and living in a derelict house which carries many secrets of the plot that unfolds.  I found this dark, thrilling novel hard to put down.  I was intrigued about whether the darkness of this book was in fact within David’s head and then how one goes about trying to overcome such a complex existence.

This is a story of a fifteen year old autistic boy, told from his own perpective. He has Asperger Syndrome which means that while he has amazing logic and intelligence, he lacks basic social skills and finds it difficult to have, and understand, human relationships.

The narrator (Christopher) travels from Swindon to North London to find his mother and encounters danger on his journey which he is often oblivious too. His autism makes him very advanced in terms of logical thinking, mathematics and problem solving and he loves lists and facts. He strongly dislikes strangers and has real difficulty in reading people’s facial expressions. He is also sensitive to noise which can send him into retreat, and he has colours to determine whether or not it will be a good day or not.

Siobhan is one of the main characters in the book. She is his Psychiatrist and friend and helps Chistopher to understand human social interaction. She proves to be good support for him.

Judy, Christopher’s mother, was a character that I really did not like. My dislike for her was possibly due to her neglect of her son. I felt his father tried hard and I could not help but feel sorry for him.
Another interesting element of the book is the death of Wellington, a black dog found dead at the beginning of the book, and Christopher’s determination to find out how he died.

The writing style, as written from Christopher’s persective is fascinating. The chapters are laid out as Prime Numbers-a truly interesting idea.

Reading this book made me question whether the way we do things is in fact ‘the right way’. This book illustrates how ordinary people lack logic. For example, at one point Christopher tries to understand human beings but is confused when he is told to “be quiet”. His head presents a very logical question, ‘for how long should I be quiet?’ illustrating how we can easily confuse, especially young children, with our assumptions that they know what we mean. Such excellent thinking, I loved him for it.

I was very interested in this huge challenge that put upon himself, travelling from Swindon to North London and the suspense of whether or not he would make it through this jouney, given his limitations.

It was also personally significant since I was brought up in North London (around the corner from Chapter road in fact).

Overall, this book fascinated me, each character with their remarkable lives.

This novel reminded me of another version of the biblical story of Joseph/Yousef. The story is of a young boy who is ‘given’ to uncle Aziz, a merchant, to work in his shop, along with another, slightly older boy Khalil, who is also with uncle Aziz as a debt repayment. It is a story set in Africa and incorpoates different elements of African history such as slavery, trade, and colonialism.

I was hard pressed to find the ‘horror’ that reveiws had suggested existed in this book. In some respects, it was a good life for the boys with lots happening, including a very eventful journey. The mystery of the garden was interesting and the mistress somewhat disturbing. Kalasinger, one of the characters in the book took blasphemy in good humour. I thought Khalil was an interesting but sad character and uncle Aziz was not as sinister as my imagination had thought he would be. I was cautious about Mohammad Abdulla who turned out to be quite harmless.

This was an interesting read though it did not rock my world.

This is a story of China over the last 100 years, providing both a political and personal history. It is a chronology of Japanese occupation and civil war which took Mao to power with a cultural revolution in which teachers, writers and artists are all vilified by Mao and the Red Guards. For me, the interesting points of the book included the sheer courage of the women. The whole customary ‘foot-binding’ to be more attractive to men illustrated violence and endurance of that violence. Also, women’s roles and the differences attributed to wives and concubines. Striking was the notion of a wife ruling the concubine after the death of the husband, for example. This illustrated much control and power of women while simultaneously showing power and control over them. Among the characters, it was evident that the men suffered too. For example, the narrator’s father suffered more under Communism even though he was more of a Communist than the wife. His loyalty was first to the party, and then to his family, though this did not count for much with his 6 year prison sentence for supposed-political crimes against the party. The three ‘wild swans’ themselves each showed courage in different yet equal ways, from facing firing squads to risking their lives for freedom. Was one more courageous than the other? I could not decide. It was not an easy read, with the dreary political baggage and philosophies of ‘suffering will make you a better communist’. The notion of self-criticism was somewhat new to me, and strengthened my views on how people can be controlled through manipulation and intense power. Familial love was scrutinised and controlled by the governement despite the historical importance of the family in Chinese tradition. The Communist regime metted out harsh penalties for putting your family first. The story illustrated the plight of three women caught between concern for loved ones and social and political demands put upon them. I was left with the question, how did they juggle these? There was much violence and some shocking scenes, particularly the beating of the philosophy teacher by the students-it sent cold shudders down my spine, perhaps it felt a little too real for me, as a teacher myself. It reminded me how very fortunate we are to have our liberties and to be able to share our views with others, without fear for our lives, or the lives of our loved ones (incidently, this book is still banned in china). This is a challenging book. Three generations of memoirs and also a history of China in one. It made me question whether or not individual sacrifice is justified for the good of the people. A lengthy, somewhat difficult read, but insightful nonetheless.