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This latest batch of micro reviews – the fifth and final one for this year – relates to novels about a Nigerian victim of child marriage and domestic slavery; white people’s funerals in post-apartheid South Africa; adolescence by the sea in North Yorkshire and Greece; pimps and drug pushers in the City of London; uses and abuses of mental health services in England; the residents and staff of a Canadian assisted living scheme for older adults; life and love in ancient Greece; a suspicious death and the boy’s disappearance in London; and a law-enforcer in a besieged futuristic city with no natural light.
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The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi DaréMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Gives an enchanting narrative voice to a Nigerian victim of child marriage and domestic slavery. Such an important issue, but I couldn't help thinking that a real-life Adunni would have had it even tougher.
The Promise by Damon GalgutMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Is there Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa? Seemingly not if the family we meet at four funerals across three decades is a fair reflection of the white community. Complicit in the oppression, yet perceiving themselves as victims, they're an unattractive lot, fortunately portrayed through beautiful language and wry humour. Although I can appreciate why the author has chosen to make Amor, the moral centre of the novel, almost as shadowy to the reader as she is to her siblings, I'd have liked to have spent more time in her company. As a collector of fictional therapists and fictional toilets, a bonus for me to find both in the same book!
Fictional toilet (Damon Galgut The Promise p200)
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Fictional therapist (Damon Galgut The Promise p204)
Beautiful descriptions (Damon Galgut The Promise p248)
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All Our Squandered Beauty by Amanda HugginsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The girl, her grief, her dad and her lovers: a lyrical coming-of-age story set by the sea in North Yorkshire and Greece.
Salisbury Square by Geoff Le PardMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first time Jerzy acts to protect a woman from a violent man, he alienates his sister, almost kills his father and is forced to flee his homeland. The second time, he's plunged into the murky world of pimps and drug pushers in the heart of London. Powerful thriller about life on the edge.
Ship of Fools: Short Stories from the Mental Health Front Line. Rod Madocks by Rod MadocksMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hard-hitting auto fiction based on two decades at the sharp end of mental health provision. Tragic and brutal events balanced by some fine phrasing.
Flying the Nest by Joy NorstromMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
There's a moving narrative of loneliness, masculinity and ageing buried between these pages for those with the patience to set aside the unconvincing setup to find it. I struggled with the gimmicky opening of a young man sent to buy condoms for an elderly uncle who was perfectly capable of doing his own shopping, followed by a woman receiving a government subsidy for residential care when she's independent enough to travel alone by bus to her part-time job in a dodgy part of the city. I'd have liked more to have been made of the dilemma faced by an older woman wondering if she has a right to romance/sex when still married to a man who is severely mentally and physically disabled and unresponsive. I liked how this senior triangle was echoed by the young man's relationship with a young woman whose primary loyalty is to her parents and daughter. Although I enjoy older characters, I found the youngest – the little girl, Quinn, struggling for acceptance within her peer group – the most convincing.
The Last of the Wine by Mary RenaultMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
A long book with too many wars and characters to keep track of, punctuated by interesting glimpses of life in ancient Greece with the childhood and early adulthood of a man holding it shakily together.
Know Your Own Darkness by Howard RobinsonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Thirty years after a boy drowned, those who were present at the time receive messages from someone purporting to be him. Initially, this seems less serious than the death of a young woman of eastern European origins in a London hotel. Jack Munday and his colleagues investigate both. After a slow start, the tension ratchets when a schoolboy disappears.
Under The Shell by David WilkinsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Page-turning dystopian thriller set in a besieged city patrolled by a gun-slinging drug-dependent cash-strapped agent intent on discovering the killer of a seemingly anonymous husband and father. Not my usual fictional territory, but expert plotting, convincing world-building and fine writing kept me on the edge of my seat.
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