A Thousand Ships - Natalie Hayes

"

This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have
waited long enough for their turn . . .

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war. 

A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told."

Elegantly written from the narration of Calliope, the goddess of epic poetry, through the book, the reader is given a unique perspective. As Calliope answers the pleas of a poet, she provides a compilation of the many women - goddesses, Greeks, and Trojans alike - whose lives were affected by the war. Although this book isn't told in chronological order, it is rather an anthology of stories, the narrative is quite cohesive and broad.

Natalie Haynes honours the women, raising their voices to provide a broader perspective on the war and it's aftermath. She flits from one woman to the next, introducing the perspective of five different women in the first fifty pages, with additional female characters to follow. Narrative perspective shifts from first to third-person. Some chapters follow a linear path while others fade in and out of the past and present. This leaping about, narratively and through time, gives the book a quality of being slightly patchwork and frenetic, disjointed. The systematic checking off of each woman's perspective minimizes character development, and while Haynes' writing is pretty it lacks the emotional depth or rawness that I think this book and it's subject matter really needed with the realities of women's lot in war being tiptoed around, further distancing the reader.

This is also a highly personal criticism but I really didn't enjoy Hayes's portrayal of the goddess, who seemed to lack any sense of gravitas or divinity. Rather reducing such powerful figures as Athena and Hera into 1 dimensional mean girl characters. Hardly in keeping with the "feminist" themes of the book. 

I would also say that it is rather harsh to say that women's voices have been ignored in the Trojan cycle. As if all those Athenian plays built around the figures and words of the women in these stories never existed: Euripides' The Trojan Women, Hecuba, Andromache; Aeschylus' Clytemnestra; Ovid's Heroides which rewrites epic from the points of view of women such as Penelope, Helen and Laodamia,

"He is learning that in any war, the victors may be destroyed as completely as the vanquished. They still have their lives, but they have given up everything else in order to keep them. They sacrifice what they do not realize they have until they have lost it. And so the man who can win the war can only rarely survive the peace." - One of my favourite quotes. 

Age Rating 16 +. Some references to rape but never explicit. 

The Wind - Up Bird Chronicles - Murakami Haruki

"In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his
wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a tour de force."

This is a thoroughly confusing book and very difficult to review as I feel a person's experience of this book will be highly subjective. It certainly is a book to be experienced and left a deep impression on me. The book is a lonely world full of half finished stories, abrupt departures, missed connections and deep silences. A highly atmospheric novel, which I feel is more the point of the book then the confusing and meandering plot. To immerse you in this world of confusion, existential dread and urban ennui. 

While Wind-Up Bird didn't employ traditional clichés, there is the constant introduction of psychic characters who simply "know" things because they were "supposed to know" became slightly trite. Also, while half the characters were functionally omniscient, the other half did things without knowing why, claiming they were compelled by some uncontrollable, unknowable urge or force that often leaves them empty or numb of all feeling (literally, this happens with half of the characters in the novel). This started to feel old and frustrating because of the lack of character motivation that leads to characterisation. 

Some people have also argued that this 600 page book is functionally meaningless. An author can get away with a lot if ultimately the theme or message of the novel is intact. Try as I might, I can't find a coherent message Murakami was trying to express through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami did include a character that thoughtfully reflects on war crimes in World War II, but this subplot was unfocused, and by the end of the novel this story within the story fizzles and suddenly ends without reaching a climax. 

However despite my rather harsh criticism, I actually enjoyed this novel. It danced on the edge of being surreal however I personally never felt that anything that had happen was completely unbelievable just really freaking weird. I think this book is a wonderful representation of the mental space that many mentally ill people can find themselves in. A strange mix of pain, common sense, confusion and loneliness. 

I would suggest if you do decide to give this book, just give up trying to understand it from the beginning. Nothing makes sense, and I think that is actually the whole point. It reminds me slightly of the existential surrealism of Camus or Kafka. 

Age Rating 17+ Sex, murder, war, cheating, rape, concentration camps, rather explicit torture scene. 

The Betrayals - Bridget Collins

 "If everything in your life was based on a lie

Would you risk it all to tell the truth?

At Montverre, an exclusive academy tucked away in the mountains, the best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu: an arcane and mysterious contest. Léo Martin was once a student there, but lost his passion for the grand jeu following a violent tragedy. Now he returns in disgrace, exiled to his old place of learning with his political career in tatters.

Montverre has changed since he studied there, even allowing a woman, Claire Dryden, to serve in the grand jeu’s highest office of Magister Ludi. When Léo first sees Claire he senses an odd connection with her, though he’s sure they have never met before.

Both Léo and Claire have built their lives on lies. And as the legendary Midsummer Game, the climax of the year, draws closer, secrets are whispering in the walls…"

This is an extremely atmospheric novel, with the abstract concept of the grand jeu, a tragic death, a nefarious government party, and elusive characters all vying for interest. There is a mysterious feeling to everything and Collin's prose is deeply beautiful and highly readable. The books main focus seems to be on the characters, which I'm not quite sure was the best decision, as this leaves the multiple outside forces not fully explored, and the story was hindered because of it.

The 'grand game' is a complex mix of music and math, philosophy, religion, and life itself, understood by the reader only in the abstract. Unlike us, the students and teachers at Montverre feel the power of the game, working to create the most intricate or clever version in competition with each other. So central is this process of creation that the game becomes more important than any character in the novel.

But its inherent emptiness and incomprehensibility is alienating, and while that's a perfectly apt metaphor for the themes in the book, it's going to leave a lot of readers dissatisfied. There's so much mystery shovelled into this book that it seems to burns all, or at least much, of the emotion out. The Grand Jeu (no real explanation given), the Rat (evidence of a past mystery and a mystery in itself), the Party (some kind of fascist government who want something abstract from the game, the school, and apparently to persecute Christians.)All of these mysteries are left unexplored or only very lightly touched on. 

The romantic element was disappointingly resolved, a beautifully depicted and unconventional relationship developed in the first half of the book turned quite mundane by the end. I did like the mystery's conclusion and the small amount of bi representation that it afforded us. 

That being said, I just could not put this book down. Something about it sucked me in and kept me engaged. I think the writing has such a charming and enveloping nature to it, that I didn't want to stop reading it.

Definitely not as good as BCs debut novel, in my opinion, but still worth reading.

Age Rating 17+ Sex, abuse, suicide, mental illness, prejudice. 

Golden Son - Peirce Brown

"As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface
of Mars, enduring backbreaking labour while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people. He must live for more."

I find that this book is a huge improvement on Red Rising. The first book was very firmly in the realm of basic YA Sci-fi tropes with a more brutal twist. In Golden Son however, the stakes are raised, the world is further fleshed out and Darrow has to really flex his subterfuge skills. 

Darrow was a Gary Stu in every possible way in Red Rising. He's The One. The Only One who can bring down the Golds and help the Reds rise. He can overcome any situation, no matter how horrible or impossible. I can completely see why this bothers some readers even if the novel contains intense fight scenes and dramatic rescues. It certainly bothers me. It just gets to a point where you start to say, "COME ON ALREADY."

Golden Son completely crushes that. Right from the first scene in the book, we see Darrow failing at something important and no one wants anything to do with him besides Roque. I enjoyed that Darrow was humanised in this way. It also made the stakes so much higher as you knew bad things could actually happen now. 

Golden Son is focused on war and politics, plots and treason that put you on constant alert. Pierce Brown imagined and brought to life vivid, heart pounding space battles and massacres, he crafted high-tech spaceships and luscious palaces brimming with poisonous snakes. He introduced radiant new characters -let's take a moment to appreciate Victra, the glorious House Telemanus and wonderfully Stoic Ragnar - and explored old ones, giving them voices and backgrounds and motives and actions that increased your understanding of their humanity. The death toll was extremely high. The nameless lives lost unimaginable. But this battle song of deviousness and blood was injected with moments of jolly laughter and camaraderie that made the book fun and enjoyable. There were also a couple of scenes that where powerful and raw, in their simple gestures and scarce dialogues. 

All around a wonderful book. I mean, will it win any awards, no, does Darrow still speak like an inspiring Knight occasionally, yes, however it worked. The book gripped me and I desperately want to read the next book. The ending, oh goodness, that was a cliff hanger and a half. 

Age Rating 14+. If you have read the Hunger Games, you can read this. 

Girl - Edna O'Brian

"I was a girl once, but not anymore. So begins Girl, Edna O'Brien's
harrowing portrayal of the young women abducted by Boko Haram. Set in the deep countryside of northeast Nigeria, this is a brutal story of incarceration, horror, and hunger; a hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest; and a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood."

This was a disappointing book. One that I really wanted to learn from and was expecting to enjoy due to the large amount of critical attention that this book has garnered. I really need to stop trusting Literary awards. 

One struggle I was not expecting to have with this book was with O'Brien's prose, but that actually ended up being one of the main issues for me. Structurally it left a lot to be desired; every time a new character was introduced, Maryam's first-person narration would be interrupted, and we would switch to an italicized segment, also first-person, where the character would narrate their life story for several pages. It felt like the linguistic equivalent of flashbacks. 

This is a pretty petty way to say that I was baffled by how bad the prose was. While I do kind of see why she chose to switch between tenses (it does add to the feeling of a fractured state of mind her protagonist has), overall I found this choice clumsy and the writing lacking.

There's a lot more that didn't work for me: the pace of the first half of the novel hurtled by at breakneck speed as if it were running through a checklist of every horror imaginable, and the second half slowed to such a standstill that all potential momentum was lost. I felt absolutely emotionally numb and disconnected reading this, which is particularly noteworthy given how graphic it is (trigger warnings for everything imaginable apply). The exploration of trauma only ever felt surface-level; all I ever really learned about Maryam was about her identity as a mother.  The more I read the less I understood O'Brien's aims with this book. Thus I am left having reading about the worse of human experience, yet I didn't feel anything. I didn't learn anything new and I was never drawn into the story emotionally. Disappointing to say the least. 

Age Rating 18+. Rape, stoning, involuntary pregnancy, horrifying birthing scene, humiliation, exorcism and pretty much everything you can imagine.

Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood

"Cat's Eye is the story of Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who
returns to Toronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art. Engulfed by vivid images of the past, she reminisces about a trio of girls who initiated her into the fierce politics of childhood and its secret world of friendship, longing, and betrayal. Elaine must come to terms with her own identity as a daughter, a lover, and artist, and woman—but above all she must seek release from her haunting memories. Disturbing, hilarious, and compassionate." 

I loved this novel to bits, and it scared me way out of my comfort zone. It was one of the most intensely revealing reflections on childhood and its impact on grown-up life I have ever encountered, simply because the story is so common, and so universal, and so typical. The idea of confronting a childhood bully with one's memories is terrifying, especially as one can never trust the mind to behave as a grown-up when confronted with deeply hidden childhood fears and wishes. 

It touched on a deeply personal aspect of my life. The desperation of trying to understand culture and social realities. The complexity of relationships between women of nearly all ages is often a difficult thing to fully comprehend let alone commit to paper. Generally, we find it easier to communicate with men. While with other women you are forever grasping at straws, unable to determine which layer of superficiality you are dealing with and which of your layers of feigned cordiality or fabricated fellow feeling may win their favour. But Atwood, the mistress of the craft that she is, has brought the private, secretive world of female bonding's alive and demolished one of the greatest pop culture stereotypes ever - that of the mean girl. 

Elaine isn't a very likable character, she does terrible things and becomes a bully in her own right but you can't help but relate to her. She is such a viscerally real person that could be any one of us. She acts believably in every situation, even if it didn't shown her in the best light.  

But Atwood, in her typical style doesn't keep to one theme. While exploring the effects of bullying, Atwood also explores the themes of womanhood and the terrible ways the girls assert dominance and how this snide womanhood follows us into adulthood. This is an exceptional novel and one that I had a difficult time setting aside. The writing is razor-sharp. Based on what I’ve read so far, it seems Atwood doesn’t gravitate towards sentimentality. It works especially well here. There’s much more than what I’ve relayed in this review – you’ll find dry humor, thoughts on marriage, feminism, aging, as well as a child’s exploration of religion. This one, along with Alias Grace, is definitely a clear favourite.

Age Rating 15+. Sex, sexuality, bullying, Adult Topics.