Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Incidentally
This is an incidental blog post, not a review as such. I haven't been able to post reviews due to the fact that I live in Christchurch, New Zealand and on the 22nd February we suffered a horrendous earthquake. We are in the process of post-quake life, which will take some time to get used to. We have not lived in our home since. he CBD is devastated and many have lost their lives. Kia Kaha, Christchurch.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Toast | Nigel Slater
I have mixed feelings about this autobiography. I read it because it is well regarded and has won awards but for me it was an unsatisfying read.
Nigel seems to have had a sad and lonely childhood. He loses his mum at a young age and as he was really close to her, he suffers well into his teens from this loss. His Dad marries the housekeeper and life just gets worse for Nigel as he has a distant relationship with his father and a dismal one with the stepmother.
The only ray of hope in Nigel's life is food. There is a lot about chocolates and sweets, food he tried to cook himself and his mothers terrible attempts at cooking. His stepmother is far better at it but there is an inference that all the good cooking and baking caused Nigel's father 's heat attack and death. Amongst it all are the dubious sexual encounters, as a child and as a teen.
The title of each chapter is a food of some sort and the vignetter of life he describes centers around food, so we see and interpret the people in his life through a particular food group or disaster. the short chapters leave us wanting to know more and have some resolution to what he describes. It seems like we are looking at a photo album full of family photos of which we are given fleeting comments on before we rush off to the next photo.
He is now a renown chef, which I guess is the resolution of his obsession with food.
Nigel seems to have had a sad and lonely childhood. He loses his mum at a young age and as he was really close to her, he suffers well into his teens from this loss. His Dad marries the housekeeper and life just gets worse for Nigel as he has a distant relationship with his father and a dismal one with the stepmother.
The only ray of hope in Nigel's life is food. There is a lot about chocolates and sweets, food he tried to cook himself and his mothers terrible attempts at cooking. His stepmother is far better at it but there is an inference that all the good cooking and baking caused Nigel's father 's heat attack and death. Amongst it all are the dubious sexual encounters, as a child and as a teen.
The title of each chapter is a food of some sort and the vignetter of life he describes centers around food, so we see and interpret the people in his life through a particular food group or disaster. the short chapters leave us wanting to know more and have some resolution to what he describes. It seems like we are looking at a photo album full of family photos of which we are given fleeting comments on before we rush off to the next photo.
He is now a renown chef, which I guess is the resolution of his obsession with food.
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| Buy at Fishpond.co.nz |
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Started early, Took My Dog | Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson is amazing. I've read everything she's written and each story shows how she's developing her style and adding depth to the novels.
This is one in the Jackson Brodie series. He's getting older, more musing, private investigator who has a lot of baggage and is trying to improve himself. And now he has a small dog....An innocent sounding email is sent to him from New Zealand asking him to trace the blood family of an adopted child. There seems to be no clue as to her provenance, but the more he looks into it the more threats are directed at him.
Tilly the aged actress, Tracey, the retired Superintendent, an ex-con, and a small girl are all wrapped up in the mystery of the adopted child.
As always with Atkinson, it's really well written, it tells a good story and has style. Not a graphic crime CSI style, but no less striking and page turning in it's accurate portrayal of human misery, ingenuity and compassion.
Well worth reading this and all her others: "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", "Human Croquet". Emotionally Weird", One Good Turn", "Case Histories","When Will There Be Good News?"
This is one in the Jackson Brodie series. He's getting older, more musing, private investigator who has a lot of baggage and is trying to improve himself. And now he has a small dog....An innocent sounding email is sent to him from New Zealand asking him to trace the blood family of an adopted child. There seems to be no clue as to her provenance, but the more he looks into it the more threats are directed at him.
Tilly the aged actress, Tracey, the retired Superintendent, an ex-con, and a small girl are all wrapped up in the mystery of the adopted child.
As always with Atkinson, it's really well written, it tells a good story and has style. Not a graphic crime CSI style, but no less striking and page turning in it's accurate portrayal of human misery, ingenuity and compassion.
Well worth reading this and all her others: "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", "Human Croquet". Emotionally Weird", One Good Turn", "Case Histories","When Will There Be Good News?"
 |
| Buy at Fishpond.co.nz |
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