#Blogtour Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes.

About the Author

Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and three books of non-fiction, including the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life and Nothing To Be Frightened Of, which won the 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize in Russia. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.

About the book

She will change the way you see the world . . .  Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration. Neil is just one of many who fell under her spell during his time in her class. Tasked with unpacking her notebooks after her death, Neil encounters once again Elizabeth's astonishing ideas on the past and on how to make sense of the present.

But Elizabeth was much more than a scholar. Her secrets are waiting to be revealed . . . and will change Neil's view of the world forever.

Review

Isn't Finch the core of what Barnes purports to be the core of his supposition. Where does the character begin and end, and the idea that history is always merely an interpretation. A narrative filtered through privilege, frame of reference, and of course the winner writes the script for future readers.

Also implicitly suggesting that the people interpret and yet despite the knowledge are set in a loop that always end in destruction. - Probably explains why no civilisation ever learns from history. Let's turn that around though and go back to the interpretation, which is always written by the above and interpreted in a way that suits the narrative.

It would be easy to let this become a four page essay or word by word deconstruction of this novella length read - under 200 pages. I think perhaps I'll take a page from the ideas the author presents, the interpretation of the work through individual filters destined to arrive at similar destinations and results, but surely the logical fallacy there is the assumption that the repetition is reliant on a similar set of fixed constructs - over and over again - with same or similar results.

What I would like to draw out of the story, is the role Finch plays in the lives of those she teaches, in this case especially Neil. Any person capable of opening students up to the ability to examine, question and re-evaluate what we think we know and teach them to be independent thinkers - is someone worthy of a place in our own history.

It's a complex and compelling piece of literature.

Buy Elizabeth Finch at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Vintage Books; pub date 23 February 2023 - A Vintage paperback £9.99 | Hardback | ebook. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Lessons by Ian McEwan

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Lessons by Ian McEwan.

About the Author

Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen novels and two short story collections. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; and Machines Like Me, which was a number-one bestseller. 

Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach have all been adapted for the big screen.

About the book

When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines’s life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother’s protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.

Twenty-five years later Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes, leaving him alone with their baby son. He is forced to confront the reality of his rootless existence. As the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster spreads across Europe he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.

From the Suez and Cuban Missile crises, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Covid pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means - literature, travel, friendship, drugs, sex and politics. A profound love is cut tragically short. Then, in his final years, he finds love again in another form. His journey raises important questions. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we learn from the traumas of the past?

Review

Imagine a cut being made at an early age - a slight incision, but one that leaves small indiscernible traces from that point forward. Switch the incision for the interaction with Miriam and the result is the way abuse becomes a part of the fabric of Roland's life, being, memories and soul. There is no event or interaction after the fact that isn't in some way tainted by that time in his life.

I really enjoyed the way the author dissects the myriad of confusing emotions Roland experiences throughout his life. There is no closure, because he feels both guilt and the elephant in the room telling him what it really was. Such is the nature of beast called grooming, that the victim is persuaded to feel and believe that they enjoyed, asked for or initiated it.

It's both interesting and tragic that when the abuse victim is a young boy or man and the abuser a woman, that there is this narrative of applause for the big man who has managed to 'seduce' the older woman. Instead of seeing the female predator for what she is of course.

It's pensive and raw, especially when the world around Roland always seems to return to the inner child. His relationships with everyone in his circle, his work and goals in life. Never quite at peace. It's an excellent read.

Buy Lessons at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: ‎Jonathan Cape - Vintage; pub date 13 Sept. 2022 - £20.00 | Hardback | ebook. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour I Found My Tribe by Ruth Fitzmaurice

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour for I Found My Tribe by Ruth Fitzmaurice. It's an exceptionally private insight into the soul, life and emotions of the author. It truly is a remarkable read.

About the Author
Ruth Fitzmaurice was born in 1976 and grew up in Co. Louth, Ireland. She was a radio researcher and producer when she married film director and writer, Simon, in 2004 and had three children. In 2008, Simon was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and given three years to live. Simon went into respiratory failure in 2010 and was accidentally placed on a ventilator during an emergency procedure. He decided, against medical advice, to keep the ventilator; Ruth and Simon went on to have twins in 2012.

In January 2016, Ruth wrote her first piece for the Irish Times about family life and a new passion, sea swimming. She lives in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, with her five children Jack, Raife, Arden, Sadie, Hunter, a dog and a cat.  Simon passed away in October 2017.

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Buy I Found My Tribe

About the book
Ruth Fitzmaurice has two extraordinary families.
She has her husband Simon, a filmmaker with advanced Motor Neurone Disease who can only communicate with his eyes via a computer. Together they have five children under the age of 10, as well as Pappy, a cantankerous Basset Hound. They are kept afloat by relentless army of nurses and carers that flows through their house in Greystones, on the East Coast of Ireland.

And then there is Ruth’s other family - her Tribe of amazing women. Amidst the chaos and the pain that rules their lives, The Tragic Wives Swimming Club congregate together - in summer and winter, on golden afternoons and by the light of the moon - on the sea steps at Women’s Cove. Day after day, they throw themselves into the freezing Irish sea. In that moment, they are free. Later, they will share a thermos of tea, teeth chattering, hands shaking, ready to take on the world once more.

An invocation to all of us to love as hard as we can, and live even harder, I Found My Tribe is an urgent and uplifting letter to a husband, family, friends, the natural world and the brightness of life.

Review
I knew this would be very personal and emotional, but I don't think I was expecting nor prepared for how honest the author would be about her life, her feelings and the state of her soul. Even right down to her brutal honesty about being overwhelmed and having suicidal thoughts. The only thing stopping her from swimming out and never coming back being the children. Five anchors in a seemingly never-ending storm.

I thought it was eye-opening how she speaks about the 24/7 medical care and attention Simon needed, well actually let me be more specific, about the intrusion into her life. I don't think people who aren't in that kind of situation, can imagine how difficult it is to deal with the constant presence of strangers in the house. I in no way want to minimise the support the nurses and carers give to the patient and their families, but it must be extremely hard to have no privacy at all. Having to deal with the strange smells, habits and personalities of strangers in a place where a person can usually find solace and solitude.

Perhaps that is why Ruth is drawn to the sea. The enormous space, the feeling of being completely alone, and possibly the instinctual draw to the feeling of freedom, peace and tranquillity the water gives her.

I do believe her frank admissions, even if they may be perceived as odd, such as talking to a tree for instance, will help others in similar situations. There are probably plenty of us who speak out loud to the world, not necessarily because they think some higher power is listening, but perhaps in an attempt to hear our own thoughts. It makes them more solid, more tangible and less scary.

Finding her tribe becomes that one small thing that keeps her motor running. Getting in the water, no matter what day or season makes the situation at home seem easier to deal with. If you can conquer Goliath every day then everything else is just peanuts, right?

It's an exceptionally private insight into the soul, life and emotions of the author. What I will take from it is her strength and her unabashed way of cutting a window into her chest so everyone can see the scars on her heart and her soul full of ragged holes.

I am glad she found her tribe. Some people spend a lifetime searching for connections like that and come up empty-handed. I hope her family, her tribe and the sea in her cove help to heal her wounds and soften the memories.

It's a beautiful and in equal measures a tragic story. I just want to thank Ruth for sharing it with her readers.

Buy I Found My Tribe at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Kindle edition Hardcover
Publisher: Vintage, pub date Paperback 28 June 2018

If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch

What's interesting about the way the author has planned the story out is the way the intent is within reach, however it doesn't become really clear until closer to the end.

Alex likes the thrill of climbing and is perhaps guilty of becoming complacent with his safety, which is probably how he ends up in a coma after a serious fall. His head injury leaves him in a terrifying situation. Alex can hear and feel everything around him, but is unable to respond to anyone or anything. A nightmare scenario.

The medical condition is based on a pseudocoma also known as Locked-in syndrome, minus the blinking and vertical eye movements, although Alex is often able to see through the slits of his slightly opened eyes. Koch has clearly done a lot of research on the subject, which is reflected in the story.

The story is narrated by Alex himself via his inner dialogue and thought processes, and the one-sided conversations he has with his family, friends and the medical staff.

He has no memory of how he fell, and as the story progresses questions arise about the details of the accident. Was it more than just a careless incident? Did someone help Alex fall, and why?

The perspective of the possible victim is what gives this story a high level of suspense. The reader knows that Alex can't help himself in any way, regardless of what he remembers or discovers about his accident.

Kudos to Koch for the ending, and for not feeling the need to bow down to the candy floss brigade of happy endings. It's poetic injustice in a screwed up fictional kind of way.

Buy If I Die Before I Wake at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

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The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

Fair warning, this is fair bit of a slog at over 780 pages, however it helps to know that originally this was published as a trilogy. So The Crow Girl (2010), Hunger Fire (2011) and Pythia's Instructions (2012) have now been republished as one volume called The Crow Girl.

Interesting tidbit of info, Erik Axl Sund is a nom de plume used by writer duo Hakan Sundquist and Jerker Eriksson.

I think banging it together as one volume, as opposed to the trilogy it was before, was perhaps detrimental to the plot and original intention of the writers. It is quite simply so long that it often appears disjointed and without focus. I can however see how it worked as a trilogy.

There is so much going on, during which the reader is pulled in a multitude of directions. So many in fact that there are just too many cooks in the kitchen trying to create the perfect dish. The end result is a lack of structure and a lack of a definitive voice.

It is dark. Actually don't expect any lightness whatsoever. Erik Axl Sund pulls the reader into a bottomless pit of depravity, which includes some of the truly inhumane moments of the 20th century and quite a few equally deplorable 21st century crimes.

We are talking child and sex trafficking, paedophilia, child abuse, bestiality, child pornography, corruption and torture. There is no fluffy unicorn to balance this out, instead the rest of the time the authors venture into the world of mental health problems and psychological disorders. I admit there are a few tender moments, however they are overpowered by the fact the reader knows what is really going on with the characters.

The real question throughout is who Sofia really is, and what is she guilty of.or rather what does she think she is guilty of? In a story full of death and pain how much of the narrative, in regards to Sofia, is a reaction to the trauma and just her imagination, and how much of it is based in reality?

The Crow Girl is, despite its bleakness and the harsh reality of the crimes within, an attempt to show the devastation and implications of deep-set trauma, especially when experienced in childhood. It is also an attempt to shine a light on the exploitation of children, the corruption and general apathy towards crimes against children, which in turn has led to neglect and a burying of heads in sand on a major scale.

Buy The Crow Girl at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

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