Reviews by Jenny (39)

Jenny 2024-09-04 The House of Doors

Tender and Complex

The House of Doors

This is a beautifully written story of historical fiction set in the 1920’s in colonial Malaysia. Lesley is married to a lawyer and they live a privileged life in the ‘Settlement Straits’ on the island of Penang. They are visited by W Somerset Maugham, and have been involved with a Chinese revolutionary and his team of supporters. There is also a thread of the story that refers to an Englishwoman convicted of murder at that time which is based on truth. Lesley’s transformation through her very unusual circumstances is related with breathtaking sensitivity. A joy to read- highly recommended.

Jenny 2024-09-04 The Creative Act

Sorry Rick

The Creative Act

After trying 3 or 4 time, I have given up on this book. I’m sure Rick Rubin is a very interesting and creative person and he has achieved great success in his musical career. But I find I cannot concentrate on his writing beyond a paragraph or two – it all seems quite trite and cliched and doesn’t really say anything so that I get bored and forget what I have just read. I hope someone else can prove me wrong on this one.

Jenny 2024-09-04 Faraway Nearby

Full of fresh ideas

Faraway Nearby

Discovering a new writer like Rebecca Solnit is one of the reasons I love our book club. (The company is another!). This is a collection of essays on a wide variety of subjects varying from Icelandic art to Frankenstein to Che Guevara. They defy categorisation but are loosely held together by the story of a time in her life that include a disappearing boyfriend, a cancer diagnosis and losing her difficult mother to Alzheimer's. She writes beautifully, honestly and insightfully. Looking forward to reading more of her.

Jenny 2024-07-03 Water

Cleansing power of water

Water

Boyne's writing is taut and careful. This is an intense story of a woman whose privileged life is overturned when her husband is imprisoned for monstrous crimes. To escape the media attention, she changes her name, cuts her hair, and retreats to a solitary life on a remote Irish Island. Here, surrounded by water where it also rains constantly, she is able to process her own complicity in what happened in the past including the loss of a daughter to drowning. Ultimately she experiences a catharsis and is able to move on. I loved this and cannot wait to read the second in the series 'Earth' which has just come out.

Jenny 2024-07-03 Hello Beautiful

Rich Characterisation

Hello Beautiful

I became completely immersed in this story, largely because of how cleverly the characters are developed. It pays homage to 'Little woman' in that it describes the lives of 4 very close sisters, brought up Italian Catholic in small town America. In the interplay of their loves and lives, their very different characters all become so believable that the reader almost becomes part of the family. This in enhanced by the fact the the timeframe of their lives is the same as mine since they are born in the early sixties.

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