it does feel like quite some time since i did a post on books what i have gone done read. quite likely that it has been several months as i have for whatever reason fallen out of the habit of reading. nothing dramatic about this, look you see, just one of those things.
so, anyway, i have read a further two (2) books since i last gone done one of these sort of posts. one of them, the first to feature below, was read over the course of a few months, now i think. odd, as i started, or if you will commenced, reading it before my Aotearoa odyssey and only picked it up again quite some time after my (increasingly reluctant and unwise seeming) return.
moving on, and as usual, a picture (if you please) of the 2 (two) books read, followed by a brief overview. once that is all good and done, you really, really want to consider it so that one of those curious sort of *** SPOILER WARNING *** things is very much in place.
you all saw that spoiler warning thing, yeah? i am not typing it up again as for some reason this computer, or keyboard, are not letting me highlight text and change colour of it. likely i have pressed the wrong (or incorrect) button somewhere. not that you touchscreen generation types would know.
should a wish for provenance still be a thing it is so that i by chance saw this copy of The Death of Bunny Munro for sale in a charity shop. price was £1 as you can more or less see on the sticker. no, i was unaware the novel existed before seeing it there, and purchased immediately.
whilst i have a dozen (or so) novels sat at my lodgings in my place of exile to read, i happened to notice the unexpected thing of a new Tom Rob Smith novel on the shelf. this was a shelf in Tesco, where i was on a break from verk purchasing some dinner, or lunch if you are posh. so yes i bought this as well as the dinner i was there for, and opted to commence reading it straight away. apologies to the books waiting to be read, which i think includes a couple of John Grisham ones.
up to now my experiences of people famous for things that are not writing deciding to do a novel has not been good. the only real exception (prior to this) has been them books off of him, the former Sonia backing dancer, also known as The Tall One Formerly Out of Pointless and The Tall Brother Of The Most Excellent Bass Player Out Of Suede. it is so that those novels have (thus far, only read three) have been excellent. no doubt entered my mind giving this one a try.
plot? again, spoiler warning. a despicable, sleazy lothario door to door salesman called (as you may have guessed) Bunny Munro unexpectedly yet not surprisingly finds himself both a widow and thus the sole parent for their child, also named Bunny. rather than ditch a lifestyle he knows, he simply takes his son on the road with him. whilst doing so he also becomes partially obsessed with the story of a killer who(m) appears to dress as the devil, convinced this person is making his way from the north down to his (and Nick Cave's adopted) home town of Brighton.
one of the blurbs, or review quote advertising things, somewhere on the cover or inner pages states that you are "going to hate yourself for how much you like the protagonist". this is true. as in, and again, spoiler warnings, Bunny Munro sneaks off to relieve himself with a quick one off the wrist during the funeral service for his wife. depending on how you feel about that (and the way it is superbly written makes it one of the many darkly hilarious episodes in the book) it's not like his behaviour improves any going further and further on.
it is my understanding that, as i write, this novel is being turned into a TV series with him, the one out of Doctor Who and now Dragon House Games 2 (or whatever), playing the protagonist. should you have googled for that and got here, certainly, yes, this is absolutely a novel worth reading.
the novel The Death Of Bunny Munro is just as lyrically beautiful as you would expect from Nick Cave. it also takes you, as does his music, to some strange, dark, uncomfortable places. if it were so that they put them age restriction certificates on novels like they do films (and computer game things) i would imagine the censor would like quite a few cuts before awarding it an 18. so no, this is not for everyone, and, as you have likely worked out from the one part highlighted, is most certainly not for sensitive or squeamish people. let's, or i, hope that the television adaptation does it justice.
in respect of the plot, kind of a "been there done that" one with the main premise being 'alien invasion'. where Cold People differs, though, is that it doesn't show or "dwell" on the what of that, it focuses on people caught up in it, and their attempts to meet the (odd and never explained) demand of the now in control alien conquerors to "move to Antarctica within 30 days or die". for this, the writing and story is breathtakingly brilliant, as one follows the ostensible main characters but encounters others on the ferocious fight for life, the sheer determination to get to a land where no one on arrival really expects to be able to live all that long.
again, then, i draw your attention to that spoiler warning. it is so that the prose, the writing style, is so wonderfully flowing and constructed that you very nearly don't mind that the novel simply does not live up to the premise, or the inventive way of (if you like yet another) retelling a story told many times since War Of The Worlds came along. even if you embrace the principle of "suspension of disbelief" to delve into the fiction, the way in which the survivors behave just isn't credible or something that makes sense in the realm of the "reality" created.
once again, spoiler warning given earlier. in regards of the world of the novel, it just doesn't seem plausible that what scant resources the survivors made it to Antarctica with would be used towards breeding (or creating) "mutant" humans capable of surviving in the conditions. there's also the stretch of whether genetic engineering laboratory equipment would have been a priority to ship over there within that alien 30 day time limit. at the risk of it being all The Martian on earth, surely such resources would have been used to make the environment more hospitable? perhaps it is all as basic as the author saying yes, we the human species probably would be stupid enough to do what he depicts in the novel.
endings are not really a think Tom Rob Smith does well, in truth. many years later i am still annoyed at how The Farm was left so open ended, and he's not returned to that. i recall getting to about 100 pages left of Cold People and thinking "oh dear, however this ends it's not going to be good". not sure if the finale is story complete or slightly open for more to follow. should he follow this one up with a sequel it is likely i would get it, but ultimately i crave no continuance.
hard to understand who(m), exactly, the target market is for this one. most, i would suspect, would get a trifle frustrated with the lack of detail of the invasion, especially the why and what for stuff. yet i still very much recommend this one. should you for some reason want an example of fine, outstanding, truly brilliant writing is like, then this is it. as mentioned, the writing style virtually covers up the lack of any well or properly constructed story.
so there we are. or were. two novels that i was very glad to have read, as it turns out, even if the second of them, Cold Mountain, has left me somewhat confused as to whether or not i liked it.
yes, i think that i am kind of quasi back in the mood for reading. every chance exists that i shall finish off the now traditional two (2) further novels in a month or so. undoubtedly as and when i do there will be that compulsive sense of feeling a need to document thoughts on them here.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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