Book Review: Perfect People by Peter James

Perfect People: What it is about

The publisher says: “John and Naomi Klaesson are grieving the death of their four-year-old son from a rare genetic disorder. They desperately want another child, but when they find out they are both carriers of a rogue gene, they realize the odds of their next child contracting the disease are high.

Then they hear about geneticist Doctor Leo Dettore. He has methods that can spare them the heartache of ever losing another child to any disease – even if his methods cost more than they can afford.

His clinic is where their nightmare begins.

They should have realized that something was wrong when they saw the list. Choices of eye colour, hair, sporting abilities. They can literally design their child. Now it’s too late to turn back. Naomi is pregnant, and already something is badly wrong . . .“

Perfect People: What I thought

This is a creepy story about parents who want to avoid having another child with a genetic disease (their first son died of it). They get into contact wit Professor Dettori who can do much more than take out just one faulty gene. But is that what they want?

At some point, they are targeted by a religious group opposing the use of genetic selection. The book becomes a kind of thriller.

For a long time, it’s unclear what Dettori’s reasons are for the business he set up. Is there a secret agenda? When other couples, clients of Dettori, are targeted by the religious group, it’s only a matter of time before the parents, John and Naomi, will be traced and assaulted.

And the result of the genetic manipulation isn’t quite what the parents expected.

A lot of mysterious things are going on in this book. I read it on holiday and kept wondering how the story would continue, tried to think of answers where the book didn’t give them yet.

I loved loved reading this book.

---

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (good to very good)

Number of pages: 400

First published: 2011

I got this: free download (Dutch ebook edition)

Genre: science fiction

Book Review: Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

Big Brother: What it is about

The publishers say: “For Pandora, cooking is a form of love. Alas, her husband, Fletcher, a self-employed high-end cabinetmaker, now spurns the “toxic” dishes that he’d savored through their courtship, and spends hours each day to manic cycling.

Then, when Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at the airport, she doesn’t recognize him. In the years since they’ve seen one another, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened? After Edison has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: It’s him or me.

Rich with Shriver’s distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat: an issue both social and excruciatingly personal. It asks just how much sacrifice we’ll make to save single members of our families, and whether it’s ever possible to save loved ones from themselves.“

Big Brother: What I thought

A book about family ties (loyalty of sister/brother), about food and hunger, about regret. Pandora feels loyal to her oversized brother but her husband Fletcher finds him a fat layabout who is abusing his sister’s generosity.

It took me a while to get into Shriver’s writing style, as there is a lot of looking back in the beginning of the book, which interrupted the main story a little too often. But once the story was well under way, it was a well thought-out and fluid rendition of Pandora’s attempts to help her brother with his weight (and other) issues.

There is quite a lot of reflection by Pandora on food and dieting, and at one point it seemed I was reading an essay rather than a novel.

The story zooms in on particular moments, then pans over several weeks (or more). I liked the way this was done. It didn’t become too tedious to read but still the reader could pick up how tedious some of Pandora’s experiences.

The ending was… odd, but Pandora explains in (too much?) detail why she did what she did. It took me by surprise but I did eventually see how it made sense.

An unusual novel that I enjoyed very much.

---

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 384

First published: 2013

I got this: from Harper for review (advance copy)

Genre: contemporary fiction

Book Review: The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs

The Apple Orchard: What it is about

From the publishers: “Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother’s beloved necklace—despite Tess’s advice. To Annelise, the jewel’s value is in its memories.

But Tess’s own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a hundred-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel.

The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half sister she’s never heard of.

Against the rich landscape of Bella Vista, Tess begins to discover a world filled with the simple pleasures of food and family, of the warm earth beneath her bare feet. A world where family comes first and the roots of history run deep. A place where falling in love is not only possible, but inevitable.

And in a season filled with new experiences, Tess begins to see the truth in something Annelise once told her: if you don’t believe memories are worth more than money, then perhaps you’ve not made the right kind of memories.“

The Apple Orchard: What I thought

Tess, a woman without a family, discovers that she has more family than she thought. And before she knows it, she starts to care about them. And about the boy-next-door, who happens to be very handsome.

This was a nice story in which Tess’ new world with her new family and their apple orchard connects up with her old world and her work at the auction house. Why the love interest had to be so terribly handsome, I really don’t know, though. A nice-looking guy with a twinkle in his eye would be just as good, if you ask me. Anyway, other than that this was fun to read.

The story had a few plot twists and I never was sure where the story would go next, which I liked. The story wasn’t so much a romance story as a family story. Parts of the book took part in the past, in war-torn Denmark. This was very believable and gave the book a more serious atmosphere. It was interesting to see how this connected up with the modern time.

I loved all the cooking that was being done, and each chapter begins with one or two recipes. This is the first book in a series, but it was definitely also a stand-alone book.

---

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 434

First published: 2013

I got this: for review from Harlquin MIRA via Netgalley (ebook)

Genre: contemporary fiction, romance

Book Review: The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend

Some title, isn’t it? This looks and is a fun novel, about a woman who went to bed, and yes, stayed there for a year. It’s my first Sue Townsend novel, she of Adrian Mole fame. It seemed really good fun and indeed it was. A quick and entertaining read.

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year: What it is about

From the back of the book: “The day her twins leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For seventeen years she’s wanted to yell at the world, ‘Stop! I want to get off’. Finally, this is her chance.

Her husband Brian, an astronomer having an unsatisfactory affair, is upset. Who will cook his dinner? Eva, he complains, is attention-seeking. But word of Eva’s defiance spreads.

Legions of fans, believing she is protesting, gather in the street, while her new friend Alexander, the white-van man brings tea, toast and an unexpected sympathy. And from this odd but comforting place, Eva begins to see both herself and the world very, very differently.”

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year: What I thought

Eva never enjoyed looking after her twins, and now that they’re leaving for university, she finally has the chance to do what she’s wanted to do for the last seventeen years: have a quiet time in bed. People come and help Brian with the housework and to keep Eva company. Brian discovers it’s hard work, running a household. And when he asks about Christmas preparations, he gets a long monologue (taking up several pages in the book) after which he realises how much work Eva has been carrying out without him knowing it. Eva exclaims that she’ll never do Christmas again. Many British women claim this every year, but with Eva you know she speaks the truth.

The book is very funny, has some laugh-out-loud moments. It was never over the top, except for the one occasion where Brian’s sex life is discussed during a meeting at work, in detail. This seemed very unlikely. Not that the rest of the story was all that likely, but it was within a sort of acceptable boundary of likeliness.

Eva runs into some practical problems (toilet, food). The author doesn’t shrink back in making this difficult for Eva, she’s not getting an easy time of it. And before you think this book is all fun and games: no, it’s not. But over all, it’s quirky and funny.

It’s also a fast read. It reminded me a bit of The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Rachel Joyce), because of the group of people that start to worship Eva. The Woman Who Went to Bed… is less serious, though. I loved it!

---

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 438

First published: 2012

I got this: borrowed from the library

Genre: contemporary fiction, humor

Book Review: My Soul To Take by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir

I took this book with me on my Icelandic holiday, except the holiday didn’t happen. So, having unpacked my suitcase again, I wasn’t sure whether I still wanted to read it. Would it be sad to read about a country where I was going to go and then didn’t? Even worse, the exact region where the story takes place, Snæfellsnes, was one that we were planning to visit on a day out with a 4-by-4.

As it happened, I was glad I did read the book, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My Soul To Take: What it is about

What the publishers say: “In the mystical Snæfellsnes region on Iceland’s west coast—at a New Age health resort in a renovated farmhouse—the body of a young woman is discovered, savagely beaten, with pins inserted into her feet. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, lawyer and single mother of two, has been retained to represent the resort’s owner and prime suspect. But a fresh corpse is not the only abomination Thóra encounters here—for local legend says this place is haunted . . . and a bizarre series of inexplicable occurrences soon suggests it is so.

As Thóra digs deeply into the farm’s past, she unearths a shocking history of evil and depravity—and her once-solid view of reality begins to waver. But a second murder, shockingly similar to the first, pulls Thóra back to earth by making two inescapable truths abundantly clear: the killer she seeks is very real . . . and is not finished yet.“

My Soul To Take: What I thought

I loved this book! This was such a good mystery. There is an strong element of the mystical, with ghosts and superstition present in much of the investigation. I loved that, because I know many Icelandic people believe in otherworldly beings – and not only the old people.

Thóra doesn’t believe in ghosts (in particular, the sound of a baby crying at night is heard, in places where there are no babies anywhere in the surroundings), but people around her insist that they are there.

I thought this book gave an interesting insight in Icelandic people and culture and the absolute remoteness of some of the places there.

Thóra is being aided by a German friend, Matthew, in her investigation into the murder. I’m not really sure what he was doing there, but he added a foreigner’s view to the whole setting, which in a way allowed for observations that a native Icelander would not be able to give.

I loved the whole story. It was set up perfectly, with one murder, followed by an introduction to a number of characters, another murder, more characters, and more information about the characters of interest. Slowly, Thóra and the reader get some idea of who could be responsible for the crimes. Unfortunately, Thóra missed a piece of information that the reader got from the police. Because of that, I kept in the back of my mind another (partial) solution. It was a little annoying to see Thóra try to solve a crime without all the information. Maybe it would have been better if the reader didn’t know about this particular issue either.

Other than that, I had good fun reading this book and consider it one of the better mysteries that I’ve read in the last few years.

---

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 416 (my Dutch copy: Neem mijn ziel)

First published: 2006 (this Dutch edition: 2011)

I got this: from the library

Genre: mystery

Book Review: The Pearl Savage by Tamara Rose Blodgett

The Pearl Savage: What it is about

What amazon.com says: “Seventeen-year old princess, Clara Williamson, lives an old-fashioned existence in a biosphere of the future. When her sadistic mother, Queen Ada, betroths her to an abusive prince of a neighboring sphere, Clara determines to escape Outside where savages roam free.

Clara escapes tyranny only to discover the savages are not the only people who survived the cataclysmic events of one hundred forty years prior. Once Outside, Clara finds herself trapped, unable to return to the abusive life of the sphere while facing certain danger Outside.

Can Clara find love and freedom with the peril that threatens to consume her?“

The Pearl Savage: What I thought

I loved the beginning of the book. It started all with princess Clara living in a dome with her friends, her awful mother, and an (unknown) number of other people. She’s bound to marry a really unpleasant and violent prince from a different kingdom.

I really felt for poor Clara who had to suffer abuse from both her mother and her fiancé. It wasn’t over the top, it was believable for the most part. It was clear that Clara couldn’t go on like this and had to escape, although she knew that outside the dome, there were savages and the air wasn’t good enough to breathe.

Together with her friends, she plans an escape. I loved the book until a little after she tried to escape. Thereafter, the book didn’t seem so special any more, as it became more a kind of romance novel, with two candidates to become Clara’s boyfriend (not counting the prince). I started to get a bit bored of the story.

Whereas I liked the idea of the book and the setting, I was more interested in “seeing” some more of the world they lived in, rather than getting a romance story. There was also some steampunk which I found totally redundant.

---

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 272

First published: 2011

I got this: free download from Amazon

Genre: fantasy, post-apocalyptic, steampunk

Book Review: A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge

A Trick I Learned From Dead Men: What it is about

From the publishers: “Longlisted for the Womens Prize for Fiction 2013.

After the disappearance of their father and the sudden death of their mother, Lee Hart and his deaf brother, Ned, imagine all is lost until Lee starts an apprenticeship at the local funeral home. Here, in the company of a crooning ex-publican, a closet pole vaulter, a terminally-ill hearse driver, and the dead of their local town, old wounds begin to heal and love arrives as a beautiful florist aboard a ‘Fleurtations’ delivery van, and Lee discovers there is life after death after all.”

A Trick I Learned From Dead Men: What I thought

I loved this book! It’s written rather quirkily and I really felt I got to know Lee, the main character, rather well. He’s a 25 year old man who takes pride in his job as an assistant in a funeral home. All is very well organised and he keeps carefully to the rules. How different life is at home, where both his step-father and his deaf brother do very little at all, and Lee takes it upon him to keep some kind of normality going.

Lee doesn’t always finish his sentences. Sometimes it’s just obvious what he means, so why bother? So he says “Derek wouldn’t ask that in a million.” (of course meaning, “a million years”). The book is full of these unfinished sentences. Instead of being irritating, it’s fun and it somehow makes Lee into a more tangible character.

Lee has a stiff-upper-lip attitude: whatever goes wrong, you don’t break down, you just keep going. He’s in love (or at least, like) with the delivery woman from the florist’s, Lorelle. At one point she tries to get him to take her out for dinner, in a very subtle way. I thought he didn’t understand, but later on, it becomes clear he just doesn’t have the money (yet- he’s saving up!).

Poor Lee is stuck in difficult circumstances with nothing going for him but at least a job that he loves. Sometimes Lee describes some of his work in the funeral home in too much detail to be comfortable (for the reader), but it shows how he has adapted to the routines of the funeral home.

There isn’t a lot of plot development in the story, but that is not necessary – Lee’s way of narrating the story almost is enough by itself to enjoy this lovely short novel.

---

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 224

First published: 2012 (July 2013: UK Paperback edition)

I got this: from the publishers via Netgalley (ebook)

Genre: contemporary fiction