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Book Review: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
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Please note: This is the new book cover. I couldn’t find a high resolution image of the old cover, which I bought and much prefer.

 State of Wonder is a masterpiece novel, written by true wordsmith Ann Patchett. Patchett is unbelievably talented and this book left me with a feeling of Wow.

State of Wonder starts with the death of Anders Eckman, a Research Doctor for pharmaceutical company Vogel. He was in the Amazon searching for Dr. Swenson, who had gone AWOL.

Marina Singh, Anders’ colleague, goes on a journey to the Amazon to uncover the mystery surrounding his death. On this journey, Marina will have to confront her past, learn the progress of Dr. Swenson’s research in the present, with the hopes that the life-long fertility drug will save Vogel’s future.

But what she finds is so much more than what she expected. Marina goes on a journey that transforms her from within.

State of Wonder readers will forget to eat, go to bed later than normal and completely lose track of time. Purely because they are driven to read on by all aspects of this brilliant story: the plot, the description and the characters.

The complexity of the plot is utterly captivating, completely compelling and has some great twists. Every aspect of this book’s plot is strong: the beginning, middle and end. Patchett’s superb description in State of Wonder sent my imagination into overdrive and immersed me fully into that beautiful but deadly part of the world.

Patchett’s characters are brilliantly crafted. Patchett explores a range ethical issues through her characters perspectives and gives some interesting points of view. These points of view are consistent with her characters and leave the reader plenty to think over, long after they have finished reading the book. State of Wonder is one of those rare books that leaves the reader feeling somehow changed inside.

State of Wonder is beyond marvellous. It is probably the best work of fiction that I’ve read in years. If I had to rate it out of 5 stars, I’d give it 6 stars.

State of Wonder far exceeded any expectations I had for it. My copy of the book had the old book cover which was both fantastic and appealing. I don’t know what the publishers were thinking with the new book cover (pictured above). It looks cheap and does nothing to attract a potential reader. If you’re thinking about picking up this novel, ignore any feelings about the cover and do. It is an essential read for any lover of fiction.

I cannot heap enough praise on Patchett for this novel. State of Wonder will leave readers in a State of Wonder. See what I did there? Despite this play on words, that is actually how a reader will feel when he or she finishes the book.

State of Wonder is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 16 October 2016

Book Review: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
commonwealth-ann-patchett-book-cover Commonwealth is a story about two families whose lives all change following a kiss. Every element of family life is covered in this compelling novel, including:

  • Life and death.
  • Childhood.
  • Trauma and secrets.
  • Relationship beginnings, middles and ends.
  • Love and tenderness.
  • Anger and regret.

In Commonwealth, Patchett’s writing style is wonderfully neutral and her perspective is perfect. Each of the characters are completely believable and develop, grow and change over the lifetime that the story is set over.

The plot is detailed and well thought out. Commonwealth is captivating, clever and intimate. It was totally absorbing from the very first word to the very last. I read Commonwealth literally in a few days, metaphorically eating and digesting the book.

In Commonwealth the chapters are overly long. Whilst the reader will understand the reason why Patchett has structured the chapters in this way, shorter chapters would have been more preferable.

Personally I was disappointed with Commonwealth’s UK book cover (pictured above). As I felt it did more to make the potential reader put the book down, rather than pick it up. So please don’t judge this brilliant story by it’s cover.

Commonwealth is a must read for anyone who likes stories about life and family life. It is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Sunday 16 October 2016

Book Review: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
neil-gaiman-smoke-and-mirrors-book-cover Smoke and Mirrors is an eclectic collection of short stories written by Neil Gaiman.

These stories were written for various anthologies or to amuse himself. Some of the stories are brilliant, others are bizarre and a few are just plain bad. But each story is unique and imaginative.

Smoke and Mirrors begins with an introduction from Gaiman himself. He explains the background for each story and even tells a tale entitled The Wedding Present within the introduction.

The Wedding Present story is great and sets the reader with high expectations for the other stories in the book.

My four of my favourite stories were:

  • 1. The Price – Is about a stray black cat that fights with the devil at night, to protect his adopted family.
  • 2. Changes – A Scientist creates a drug, a side effect of which is the ability to easily switch gender. The story shows the impact of this side effect on society, over the lifetime of the Scientist, through his perspective.
  • 3. Virus – A story about a totally addictive computer game. Everyone that plays it gets addicted. When they can’t play it on the computers, they play it in their head. And so do their friends.
  • 4. Mouse – This is a story all about subtext and reading in between the lines. The story is told through what isn’t written, rather than what is. A refreshing change and ultimately very clever.

Both Changes and Virus were great ideas for stories, but were too short and lacked the scope to explore each idea fully.

The exclusive content in Smoke and Mirrors is a short interview with Gaiman.

Overall Smoke and Mirrors was disappointing. Probably because the brilliant short stories were too short and the more lengthly short stories were either bizarre or bad.

Smoke and Mirrors is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Sunday 11 September 2016

Book Review: The Stand by Stephen King

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews2 Comments
stephen-king-the-stand-book-cover The Stand was originally published in 1979. I’m reviewing an extended version with approximately four hundred additional pages. The original was cut by four hundred pages to save on printing costs.

Stephen King decided to release this extended version as Readers have asked for it.

The Stand starts with an infected Solider escaping a chemical lab in a military base. He’s infected with Project Blue, a pathogen which has a 99.4% kill rate and that spreads alarmingly quick through the US and rest of the world.

King starts to introduce characters as the world disaster plot begins. With just a few sentences, King gives each character a believable backstory and makes them feel completely real.

We watch each of these characters deal with the loss of their loved ones, seek out other survivors, attempt to make connections with them and adapt to this new world.

It’s then that the dreams start. A dream about a Dark Man that strikes fear into the heart. A dream about a kind old woman named Mother Abagail.

The different characters have now mostly come together and formed groups. They start their journeys towards the Dark Man or away from him – travelling in the direction of Mother Abagail.

Mother Abagail’s group set up Free Zone in Boulder, Colorado. It’s a democratic community, that grows day by day.

The Dark Man (known as Randall Flagg)’s group set up in Las Vegas. His community is a dictatorship, with severe punishments for minor rule violations. It grows day by day, but not as quickly the Free Zone. The Dark Man is intent on waging war on the Free Zone.

The first two thirds of The Stand are beyond brilliant. The plot is fast-paced and the characters are captivating. But the last third of The Stand felt like King didn’t know where the plot was going. The ending did satisfy somewhat, but had a tinge of disappointment as only two of the numerous main characters had a good conclusion.

The Stand is a large book, totalling 1,325 pages. I read it in about three weeks – which isn’t bad considering my other commitments. There were many times when I simply couldn’t stop reading The Stand.

There were two minor aesthetic annoyances with my copy of The Stand. Firstly, the cover has started peeling. Anyone who knows me, knows I look after my books. So I can only put this down to the cheap production. Secondly, the black and white illustrations randomly dotted throughout book were pointless and of a poor quality.

The Stand is an enjoyable read. It’s a great book that will entertain the reader. It will absorb the reader into an apocalyptic world where good and evil are engaged in their a final battle. The Stand is available to buy on Amazon and at all good bookshops.

Review soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Friday 9 September 2016
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