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Showing posts from January, 2010

Yama (The Pit) - Alexander Kuprin

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Written between 1909 and 1915 in three parts by the enfant terrible of Russian literature, Alexander Kuprin's Yama is an extraordinarily frank and in-depth look at the nature of prostitution that must certainly have been revolutionary for its time as it is no less powerful and relevant today. The novel recounts the lives of the prostitutes of a run-down outlying district of a large southern Russian town of Odessa, the district known as Yamaskaya, or, more commonly, Yama - The Pit. Inevitably, the depiction of the impoverished circumstances of the lifestyle of the girls at Anna Markovna's house of ill repute – a lower quality 2-rouble establishment on Little Yamaskaya (the more upmarket brothels operating in Greater Yamaskaya) – is grim, sordid and degrading, but the novel looks realistically at the outlook maintained by the women and the lives that they have escaped from that permits them to endure the hardships of their profession. Some of the clients are indeed foul and the ...

Solanin - Inio Asano

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Solanin has a rating for Older Teens and I’d say that’s probably about right for the subject, the themes and the manner in which they are handled in Inio Asano’s pleasant - perhaps even just a little too nice - manga story, but that’s not to say that the book doesn’t have attractions for a wider audience. There’s a fair bit of soul-searching here, the story built around a young couple who have met in college and have ended up living together without really planning where they are going. Now 24 years of age, both of them wonder whether they have simply let their lives drift and lost sight of what it is they really want. Meiko realises that she isn’t cut out for mundane office work and suddenly quits her job, while her boyfriend Taneda who has been working as a freelance illustrator decides that it’s time to make a go of his dream to be a famous musician in a band. Deciding to shake-up their lives means however that Meiko and Taneda also have to consider whether they even should remain ...

The Bookman - Lavie Tidhar

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The delights of The Bookman are by and large the same as those of any Steampunk novel - the depiction of an alternate Britain where the technological advances of Charles Babbage have propelled it into an exciting, dark and dangerous new world that Victorian society is perhaps not yet ready to embrace - a society where fictional and real-life characters co-exist, Sherlock Holmes rubbing shoulders not only with Moriarty and Irene Adler, but also Jack the Ripper, Oscar Wilde and Jules Verne. Lavie Tidhar clearly revels in the opportunities afforded the richness of such a setting, bringing in a few additional references from The Phantom of the Opera (although that's been done by Nicholas Meyer's Sherlock Holmes adventure The Canary Trainer ) through to Philip K. Dick and Blade Runner .  Here we have a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen drawn from as diverse a bunch as Karl Marx, Mrs Beeton, Nevil Maskelyne, Tom Thumb and a book-seller named Jack who operate from his shop off St. ...

The Blasphemer - Nigel Farndale

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The initial impression given by The Blasphemer is that of a novelist trying to tie together rather too many elements that appear to be scarcely connected or peripheral to the main story, but in reality the purpose gradually becomes clear and it's precisely to show that everything is connected, that there is underlying meaning and connections between the past and the present, defining who we are and the actions we take. The essential question however is whether this structure is created by natural design or demonstrates the will of God. For the most part this intriguing question is intelligently presented, although by the time it comes to the conclusion there's the suspicion that there's also a bit of an authorial hand at play. The story takes in several generations of the Kennedy family, but principally alternates between Daniel Kennedy - a lecturer, zoologist, TV presenter, Darwinist and committed atheist, and the actions of his great-grandfather Andrew who would die whil...

Charles Stross - Wireless

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A collection of the author’s short stories, there’s nothing if not plenty of variety and imagination in the collection, which is reflective of Stross’s range in his varied science-fiction novels and series. If there’s any commonality it’s in the longer stories allow the author more room to explore Cold War themes in a futuristic context, but if there’s one thing that unites them it is the uniqueness of the imagination at play, the stories fresh, humorous, unpredictable, often surprising.

The Created Legend - Fyodor Sologub

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Written in three parts between 1905 and 1913 by the Symbolist poet and author Fyodor Sologub, The Created Legend looks at the state of the world, and in particular at Russia during this significant period following the 1905 Revolution, with a very poetic viewpoint. Written in Symbolist style, the intention is not however to disguise or hide meaning and unpopular political viewpoints, but rather it is integral to the whole purpose of the novel, since it is the contention that it is perspective that makes the world what it is. In contrast to The Little Demon then, where the world, since it is neither inherently good or evil, is rendered evil through the perspective imposed on it, The Created Legend seeks to provide a corrective and show that the world can be made better through a more positive outlook, and a sense of order can be created out of the chaos. It is impossible, particularly during this period of Russian history, to deny the sense of wrongness of thought and action where th...

Winter Song - Colin Harvey

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Although bookended with science-fiction themes of interstellar travel and terraforming planets, when spaceman Karl Allman crash lands on the frozen planet of Isheimur the majority of Winter Song involves a Lord of the Rings fantasy style quest across the planet's frozen wastes, deserts and mountainous terrain populated by trolls, dragons and other dangerous creatures.  There's even a Gollum-like character that joins Karl and Bera (one of the planet's settlers, an outcast from her own society) as they make their way across the land in search of an ancient holy object fallen from the skies that could provide Karl with a way back to civilised society. The Lord of the Rings comparisons however shouldn't worry anyone unduly, as Colin Harvey is more interested in the area where mythology runs up against science and he approaches it in an authentic and intelligent manner in Winter Song , making it highly readable and entertaining at the same time.  A terraformed planet with...

The Left Hand of God - Paul Hoffman

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Thomas Cale is one of a number of young acolytes who have been inducted into the ascetic lifestyle of the Redeemers from the age of seven, knowing little of the world outside other than that which has been revealed to them and beaten into them by the brutal religious sect who represent the One True Faith and uphold it against the heathen Antagonists in the East. All is not as it seems however. Cale knows he has special intelligence and fighting skills and is consequently being treated differently from the others, as if groomed for a role in what appears to be a looming grand battle against the Antagonists, but he knows what he is being told cannot be trusted.  The discovery of women in a secret part of the Sanctuary, used for unknown purposes - certainly unknown to the boys who have never seen a woman before - and put to use in disturbing practices convinces Cale to make his escape with two of the other boys and the young girl they have rescued. What lies outside the Sanctuary - a ...

La Princesse de Clèves - Madame de Lafayette

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From the moment of her arrival into the court of Henry II, the Prince of Clèves is stricken by the extraordinary beauty of the young Mademoiselle de Chartres. The desire to marry the young woman is not entirely within his control, but the various social considerations, alliances and protocol of position are eventually overcome. They are married, but the Prince fears that his new wife isn't capable of demonstrating the same depth of feeling that he has for her. To her surprise however, the new Princess de Clèves discovers that those feelings do eventually arise within her, but they are not for her husband, but a fervent and persistent admirer, the Duc de Nemours. Thereafter there follows an elaborate game of dissemblance between the Princess and the Duc, each of them longing to explore these feelings and know what the other is feeling while keeping their emotions controlled within the accepted rules of Court etiquette, protocol and propriety. To fail to do so and have their secret k...

When We Dead Awaken - Henrik Ibsen

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When We Dead Awaken (1899), Ibsen’s final play and “Dramatic Epilogue”, is one of a series of reflective works on the nature of the artist, his work and the price that must be paid for it. Professor Rubek is a sculptor who, disillusioned by the reception to his masterpiece - The Resurrection Day - which he believes no-one has truly understood, has abandoned his art for meaningless commercial work. His disillusionment with his work and its reception has however come at some cost to his humanity and at the expense of the people around him. At a mountain spa, the professor’s aloofness consequently causes a certain bitterness, restlessness and detachment to creep into his marriage to Maia. The distance between them is measured in two other figures who “haunt” the spa. One is a woman, Irene, an old acquaintance who inspired Rubek’s masterpiece. She believes that her soul has been destroyed since her time with the professor - she blames the professor for sucking the life out of her for his ...

John Gabriel Borkman - Henrik Ibsen

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The subject of John Gabriel Borkman (1896) makes it seem like a companion piece to Ibsen's earlier dramas The Pillars of Society or Enemy of the People , dealing with the subject of corruption, or at least an act of guilt in the past on the part of an individual that is to have a profound effect on the wider community, but viewed here in aftermath. As one of Ibsen’s latter plays, the subtext of John Gabriel Borkman however is that of an act of corruption by an artist, who has forsaken the truth and love for more material gains, a theme that is borne out by Ibsen’s next and final drama, When We Dead Awaken (1899), where the subject is made more explicit. In the case of John Gabriel Borkman , the figure at the centre of the intrigue is a disgraced bank manager who has served five years in prison for financial irregularities that brought about the collapse of the bank and the savings of many people in the community. Borkman has served a further three years locked in the upstairs a...