Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! Given how many great books I’ve whizzed through this year, I thought it was time to move the site to its own domain.
You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
Max Barry’s Company is his third novel, and it’s one that helps position him as one of the more prominent Australian satirists working today. Barry is known for his previous books Syrup and Jennifer Government, both touching on themes of consumerism and corporate greed, and Company continues in this vein.
The context of Company should be instantly recognisable to virtually anyone who’s ever, well, been employed. Barry’s insider research was apparently conducted whilst working at global computer company Hewlett Packard, while my own painful and extended brushes with bureaucracy were courtesy of a global publishing company that will remain nameless. The book is absurd, of course, and it relishes in its over-the-top depiction of company culture, but perhaps the most disturbing thing about it is that it’s so easily recognisable. The drawn-out battles and line-drawing over a missing doughnut, whose numbers are carefully rationed by catering; the rabid attention to which coat hook or car parking space belongs to whom purely out of convention and I-was-there-firstness; the complete bewilderment of the employees when asked to explain exactly what their role is without relying on a tautology or circular logic; the ‘just because’ acceptance of bizarre and ever-changing policies from above. I’ve been there. We all have.
Company follows the stellar rise of new graduate Jones, Zephyr Inc’s newest staff member. Jones is not especially slow off the mark, and it doesn’t take him long to realise that things at Zephyr are atypical even for a large business. The always-absent receptionist drives a sports car that seems well beyond her salary range; the lift buttons are numbered in reverse order to encourage staff to aspire towards a position on level 1; and due to some creative accounting, Jones’s salary has been written off as a stationery purchase. However, unlike most employees at Zephyr (as well as those in the real world), rather than accepting the status quo, Jones is determined to find out exactly what’s going on at the company, and while he’s at it, find out exactly what it is that the company does.
Barry is most at home when he’s digging his claws into corporate life and sending up much-ridiculed IT and HR personnel, and readers will find that it’s these areas of the book that are strongest. Characterisation is generally pretty weak, with most characters existing largely to be tormented and mocked, and even main character Jones being fairly flat and having, it should be said, a fairly easy time of it in terms of the plot challenges thrown at him. However, if you can forgive this, and the somewhat weak conclusion to the book, you’ll find that there’s much in Company to love—or at least with which you can identify. I’m tempted to leave a copy at reception, myself!
Purchase Company
Other books by Max Barry you might like: Syrup, Jennifer Government
Forthcoming reviews: That Other Lifetime, Under the Tuscan Sun
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
House of Night week givewaway at Book Chick City
Reviewing the Evidence giveaway (US only)
Book Hugger Orange Prize shortlist giveaway (UK only)
The Bridegrooms by Allison Pittman giveaway (US only)
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine giveaway (Canada only)
April release giveaway at Paper Cut Reviews
Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina giveaway (North America only)
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker giveaway (US only)
Laura Rider’s Masterpiece giveaway
Currently reading:
Company by Max Barry
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
As you might have realised, I’ve developed a certain love of cosy mysteries. I’ve been devouring a wide range of them, opting for those with a wide range of different protagonists and themes, and enjoying the way that they offer an insight into a variety of strange an esoteric habits and hobbies.
Brush with Death is a welcome addition to my quickly growing collection. Its opening pages immediately show that the author has significant familiarity and confidence with both art and history, which is no surprise given that Hailey Lind is actually the nom de plume of two sisters, one of whom is an artist, and one of whom is an historian. Well, that’s one mystery solved.
Brush with Death is the third in a series about hilarious protagonist Annie Kincaid, an erstwhile forger turned art restorer who seems to specialise in getting herself into a variety of difficult situations, apparently often involving murder, stolen art, and of course, men.
The novel has a slightly old-fashioned, shabby-chic-meets-Scooby-Do feel to it, which I really enjoyed. It’s full of rubber mask-wearing hooligans, complex love dodecahedra (or other similarly complicated shapes), and a variety of raucous characters, all of whom are larger than life. Annie is a smart-mouthed heroine, but not in the obnoxious way that seems to dominate many other cosy or chicklit novels. She’s sassy but fallible, and she’s fully aware of her foibles–not that this awareness helps mitigate them in any way.
Poor Annie is doing her best to make ends meet on the legitimate side of the art world, but trouble seems to follow her. During a late-night fresco restoration session at a San Francisco cemetery, she meets graduate student Cindy Tanaka, but the introductions are set a little awry as the two are knocked down by a masked thief. To complicated matters further, Cindy mentions to Annie that she feels something might be amiss with the cemetery’s copy of Raphael’s famous La Fornarina–she has her suspicions that what is thought to be a copy might not be after all.
A curious Annie begins asking around to see whether Cindy’s suspicions might be correct, but as usual, things begin to get complicated. Particularly Cindy winds up dead and Annie finds herself stuck in the middle of some complicated relationships and some wealthy and influential individuals.
Brush With Death is a great read. It’s fun and witty, and feels well-rounded and well-researched. Each of the characters is nicely drawn, and Annie in particular is realistic and easy to empathise with. While the mystery is a little thin in places, the book offers a nice insight into the art world, and a great escape from the real one. I certainly whipped through this one in a single sitting!
Purchase Brush with Death
Other books by Hailey Lind you might enjoy: Shooting Gallery; Feint of Art
Forthcoming reviews: Company by Max Barry (mainstream)
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
Simon Levack’s debut novel, Demon of the Air, the first in his Aztec series, earned him a number of accolades and awards, and having spent much of Sunday firmly ensconced in the Levack’s recreation of Aztec Mexico, I can see why.
Demon of the Air is set a mere two years before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, and already there is a quiet murmur amongst the Aztecs in relation to various sightings of these strange pale-skinned people. This particular temporality proves essential to the mystery that follows, and also sets up Levack’s following novels in a clever manner—after all, this is certainly not a context that could be considered benign or dull.
In fact, this is where much of Demon of the Air’s readability stems from. Levack does an admirable job of setting up the Aztec culture and environment, doing so in a fairly seamless manner given the amount of information to be introduced. The book is smattered throughout with various tidbits about Aztec life, and these glimpses into the culture are fascinating (although given that many of them discuss matters of sacrifice and self-harm, they are also sometimes rather gruesome). There are a few moments, though, where the sheer amount of information the reader needs to digest becomes overwhelming, and unfortunately one of these is the opening of the book. Fortunately, after a bit of initial floundering, it’s possible to get into the swing of things, and it only picks up from there.
Demon of the Air opens in media res with main character Yoatl, at his master’s behest, helping commoner Handy carry a bathed slave off to his sacrificial death. There are a few issues with the sacrifice, however, the first being that the bathed slave is a rather sorry looking thing, which is most unusual for a sacrificial victim. The second is that the slave is already dead after leapt to his death whilst making a proclamation about “the big boat”—and having a dead victim never bodes especially well for sacrifices.
Unsurprisingly, the deceased status of Yoatl and Handy’s sacrifice is found out, and Yoatl is called before none other than the Emperor Montezuma to solve both the mystery of the victim’s somewhat untimely death, as well as what the victim was on about when he mentioned the big boat. Montezuma, of course, had been privy to the growing rumours about the arrival of a group of light-skinned men, and is determined to see if these events are related.
Yoatl finds himself swept up in a strange array of events that loop about each other in as fun and as intricate a manner as a three-year-old’s first attempt at tying a shoelace. People are double-crossed, then double-knotted (if you’ll forgive the extension of the simile), and all sorts of mysterious events, both past and present, come to the fore. Interesting, much of Demon of the Air does not hinge around what is ostensibly the major mystery of the bathed slave’s death, but rather around the various events of Yaotl’s life that have led to him falling from priestly status to that of a slave. For me, it was this element, as well as some of the highly entertaining dash-and-grab scenes that carried the book.
While it does run a little long in places, Demon of the Air is a great read that will keep you up all night reading—if only to find out about Aztec fashion and chocolatey delights. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the next in the series.
Purchase Demon of the Air.
Other books by Simon Levack you might like: City of Spies; Shadow of the Lords; Tribute of Death
Forthcoming review: A Brush with Death by Hailey Lind (mystery).
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
Here’s a quick round up of a few book giveaways I’ve seen online recently:
Bookhugger: The April Competition. (UK only)
Tor Heavy Metal Pulp Giveaway (US only)
Alexey Pehov Shadow Prowler Giveaway (US only)
Ian Tregillis Bitter Seeds Giveaway
Louise Bagshawe Desire Giveaway
If you’re running a giveaway, and you’d like me to post it here, just drop me an e-mail or leave a comment.
My current wish-list:
Ooh, and these:
I’m working on a review of Demon of the Air (which is a great historical mystery), and am finishing up reading A Brush With Death, so I’ll have a review of that ready for you shortly, too.
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
The Shadow of Malabron is the first in a trilogy by new-ish author Thomas Warton (not to be confused with the Nobel Laureate of the same name). It’s an uneven offering, and one about which I’m a little ambivalent.
The book starts with an interesting prologue of sorts that hints at something fable-like to come, and sets up what seems as to be an intriguing and novel idea. Unfortunately, as is often the case with prologues, the book turns its attention elsewhere, and the reader is soon looking on as young teen Will Lightfoot bickers with his widower father and young sister as they embark upon a camping trip.
The notion of setting up camp in a new and unknown place, of course, is a harbinger of things to come, and soon Will finds himself in a motorcycle accident that lands him in what is apparently known as the Perilous Realm, a sort of parallel story-world. The name of the place is apt, as Will finds himself being hunted down by the Night King. As is frequently the case in this sort of quest-based epic fantasy, Will is befriended by a motley assortment of allies, and with them, he sets out to find his way home.
There are a few good moments in The Shadow of Malabron that point to Warton as a writer to watch. There are some neat turns of phrase scattered here and there throughout the novel, as well as some great moments such as the library that is physically constructed from books. As a whole, though, the novel is competent but nothing notable: it goes through the motion of a standard epic fantasy without daring to step off this oft-travelled path in search of something new for readers to enjoy. This is a shame, as Warton clearly has some talent as an author, and a more creative take on the premise could have resulted in something quite interesting.
As it is, The Shadow of Malabron is a fast read that many young readers will likely enjoy, but that many adults will find themselves comparing with classics such as The Lord of the Rings and other well-known quest-based novels.
Purchase The Shadow of Malabron.
Other books by Thomas Warton you might enjoy: Salamander; Icefields
(I’m not sure if this book is by the same Thomas Warton, but it sounds fabulous, and I’d love to get my hands on it)
Forthcoming reviews: Demon of the Air by Simon Levack (mystery); A Brush with Death by Hailey Lind (mystery).
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
Okay, so I have just a wee bit of reading ahead of me. Any suggestions as to which one you’d like me to read first?
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
13 Reasons Why opens with main character Clay receiving a box of cassette tapes. It seems innocuous enough, although it does bring to mind scenes from German novel The Reader by XX, as well as the connotations associated with chain letters. However, Clay soon finds out that what is on the tapes is far from innocent.
The tapes have been sent through an as-yet anonymous chain of Clay’s classmates, having originated with Hannah Baker, a young girl and, as we find out, an almost-girlfriend of Clay’s, who has recently committed suicide. The tapes detail, over 13 sides, the people, and their actions, who have contributed to Hannah’s death.
It’s a chilling premise, and one that author Jay Asher says was inspired by a visit to a museum, where he was given an audio device that would tell the story of each of the exhibits. The result was, of course, a fragmented series of notes and stories that were nevertheless interrelated, and it is this mood that characterises 13 Reasons Why. In the book, Hannah has recorded a tape for each of the individuals she sees as culpable, but because they are narrated as though for that person’s ears only, the story is painfully fragmented and inchoate to begin with.
We watch as Clay feverishly plays through the tapes, desperately trying to figure out the role he has played in Hannah’s death. It’s almost frustrating to find out that Hannah holds him up in high regard, and as largely blame free. Similarly, Clay spends relatively little time reflecting on whether this is truly the case, and as he considers the instances where he could have stepped in, he puts any blame back on Hannah, thinking that he would have helped if he had known—an approach that is itself problematic.
13 Reasons Why is a challenging examination of agency and avoidance. Hannah picks out situations where others intervened or acted in ways that fundamentally affected her. Some feel far more significant than others, but the effect is one of a snowball, with the cumulative effect of these actions resulting in Hannah’s final cry for help, which goes unheeded. What is most challenging, though, as well as ultimately supremely frustrating, is that Hannah appears to be looking for a way out from the outset. She assigns the others agency, but at the same time sees herself as having no agency of her own, describing her death as the result of their actions, and therefore unavoidable. She puts herself in the hands of others, relying on them to see the signs that she is struggling, and then terrorising them with blame for her death when they do not. While I don’t want to imply that those Hannah accuses of atrocious behaviour are innocent, for in many cases they’re far from it, there are instances where she seems to be deliberately misreading a situation to enhance her own suffering, and these sections are difficult to read.
While undeniably a challenging and painful read, the book teeters on the precipice of melodrama, and unfortunately often stumbles, resulting in scenes that don’t quite ring true, particularly given that they’re meant to be the spoken diaries of a teenage girl. The book does, however, offer a thoughtful examination of the snowball effect of others’ behaviour, and how even the smallest action—or inaction—can have a profound effect on someone’s life, particularly when they have opened themselves to being influenced in such a way. It addresses issues of agency and vulnerability, of cruelly plotted revenge, and of risk avoidance achieved through passing on blame and fault to unwitting participants. It’s a gruelling read, and one that leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but certainly one that you’ll find yourself wanting to discuss and reflect upon once you’re done.
Purchase 13 Reasons Why.
Visit the official 13 Reasons Why website.
Forthcoming reviews: The Shadow of Malabron by Thomas Wharton (young adult); Demon of the Air by Simon Levack (mystery)
Read in a Single Sitting is moving up in the world! You can find all new reviews, as well as the current archive, at our new website at www.readinasinglesitting.com. Update your bookmarks, or follow us on Twitter (@readinasitting) to keep up to date on our new content.
I’m probably one of many who have picked up The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living based on a combination of its title and its Joycean cover art. And I’m glad to say that, once again, my sense of aesthetics was right on the ball. The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living is Martin Clark‘s first novel, and it’s no surprise that it picked up a recommendation as a NYT notable book when it was first published in 2000.
What did surprise me somewhat was the book itself. While the title should have been somewhat of a giveaway, I have to admit that I was not prepared for the strange and lovely Dadaist romp to which I was subjected upon diving into this odd little volume. Perhaps it’s something to do with my years of inbuilt cynicism towards anyone in the legal profession (while at university I had to endure my fair share of ‘oh, so you didn’t apply for law?’ comments), but given Clark’s spot in the legal profession, and the the fact that this book is, arguably (pardon the pun), a legal thriller of sorts, I was expecting something a little more Grisham-esque and a little less, well, fabulous.
The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living opens with our pot-smoking, doughnut-devouring, work-skipping small court judge hero Evers engaged in a strange encounter with an albino woman who ushers him into the bathroom with a proposal. And it is here that the flights of fancy begin. Evers’ new albino acquaintance turns out to be a woman called Ruth Esther, who offers him cash and an adventure if he finds her brother innocent in a forthcoming case. While this all seems a bit run of the mill, things suddenly veer away with surprising force, and Evers is caught up in a bizarre series of events involving chasing down millions of dollars, a set of antique postage stamps, an uncomfortable affair with an up-and-coming female lawyer who challenges his backwards ideals, the revelation that Ruth Esther’s tears may be magical and have the capability of granting wishes, and, subsequently, the suicide of his wife.
The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living is certainly not for those who like to toe the line of narrative restraint. It gads about like a young filly in a spring paddock, darting about all over the place, and problematises just about everything you could expect in terms of plot, character, and theme. Evers is both the hero and the Greek chorus as he discusses how “confusion makes things confusing”. He’s right, but it doesn’t stop this book from being a lot of fun. While it does lag here and there, with certain plot points overwhelming the narrative with no real effect, and the wild goose chase for the missing millions being a tad unnecessary, particularly given that it necessitates a change of setting, The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living is an accomplished, and gloriously insouciant, first novel. Only don’t do what I did and read it on the plane–you’ll disembark feeling even more disoriented than usual.
Purchase The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living
Other books by Martin Clark you might like: The Legal Limit; Plain Heathen Mischief
Forthcoming Reviews: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher (young adult); The Shadow of Malabron by Thomas Wharton (young adult)
