Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 January 2006 18:12:47
Well the Chrimbo book vouchers have been spent and the books read and so here comes a review. As usual I don't pretend to be cutting edge, or particularly up to date, but rather to reccommend something I've enjoyed and so others might decide if they want to try it to.
The Rotters Club and The Closed Circle (the sequal) are not easy to read books that you can use to switch off. With the themes of political protest, racism, unreturned love, redundancy and terrorism running through this account of the mid 1970's and late 90's / millenium they are both dark books in many ways, and in places they are quite explicit, about the effects of violence; and in terms of the level of intimacy they describe. which address humanity v. much from a warts and all point of view.
That said they both contain powerful narrative which draws you into the lives and events being described. It could be argued that they contain too many lives, which are closely connected and they flit between but I found this maintained interest. The ending of the first book is such that I felt so unsatisfied about the way the story of the main character, Benjamin, had been left and I had to get my hands on The Closed Circle the next day, because at the end of The Rotters Club I really did feel cheated. By the end of the second book I felt satisfied, although I was disappointed that the slight change in style which occurs meant that whilst it was easier to keep up with what's happening in the characters lives, the book somehow lacked the substance of the first one.