When journalist Abigail Long is called to her boss's office she fears the worse - dismissal. Instead she is offered her own celebrity column in the newspaper she writes for. What could be better, attending star studded parties amd premieres and being paid to write about them? But every silver lining has a cloud, as Abigail finds out as she spirals into drug abuse after finding herself the subject of her fellow journalists' attentions.
Abigail comes across in this book as silly, self-centred and shallow, but in reality this is a prime illustration of how our society has become obssessed with fame and the famous. I'm sure many of the readers of celebrity gossip magazines and columns would set aside common sense in order to fit in with the "stars" they read about and whose lives they follow so avidly. While I found Abigail intensely irritating I can see that she is not unique, and also not unique in not seeing what is right in front of her face in her search for success. A quick read, but not a very satisfying one.
I have read this book toward the Four Month reading challeng and the Typically British reading challenge.
Monday 5 April 2010
The Ten O'Clock Horses by Laurie Graham
Ronnie Glover is not happy with his life. It is 1962, he is married with two daughters, has a steady job as a housepainter. Feeling that life has more to offer he starts dabbling in art and learning Italian. Then his younger daughter starts learning ballet leading to new opportunities for Ronnie.
Something I found difficult in this book was the lack of a female character I could feel any kind of sympathy towards. I think Eileen, Ronnie's wife, was supposed to fill that role but I found her pathetic, I find it difficult to feel any warmth toward women who show total lack of ambition or aspiration. Ronnie's mother was particularly unpleasant in her dealings with him as a child. Jack, the ballet teacher I found to be manipulative, taking advantage of other people's unhappiness to satisfy her own desires.
Ronnie's sadness and desperate longing to escape his current situation is very touching, I think most of us have at times felt the way he does, that surely there is more to life than it currently offers and wanting more for ourselves and our families . Is it wrong to aspire to greater things? Or just wrong to lose sight of why we want them?
I have read this book toward the Four month reading challenge and the Typically British reading challenge.
Something I found difficult in this book was the lack of a female character I could feel any kind of sympathy towards. I think Eileen, Ronnie's wife, was supposed to fill that role but I found her pathetic, I find it difficult to feel any warmth toward women who show total lack of ambition or aspiration. Ronnie's mother was particularly unpleasant in her dealings with him as a child. Jack, the ballet teacher I found to be manipulative, taking advantage of other people's unhappiness to satisfy her own desires.
Ronnie's sadness and desperate longing to escape his current situation is very touching, I think most of us have at times felt the way he does, that surely there is more to life than it currently offers and wanting more for ourselves and our families . Is it wrong to aspire to greater things? Or just wrong to lose sight of why we want them?
I have read this book toward the Four month reading challenge and the Typically British reading challenge.
Mary, Mary by Julie Parsons
It's been a while since I have noted my reading here, so let's see what I remember! In my defence I have been away from a computer for a while, visiting family. When I straighten out my opinion of the country I visited maybe I'll write about the trip here. Suffice to say it was a country of great contrasts.
Mary, Mary is a murder mystery set in Ireland. Margaret and her daughter Mary have returned to Ireland to live from New Zealand to care for Margaret's elderly mother. When Mary fails to return home one day margaret finds it difficult to get the police to take her concerns seriously until one day a body is found floating in the river. This book follows Margaret's pursuit of justice for her daughter, through the courts and beyond. Margaret is a very dignified character and by her own choice quite socially isolated. She rejects the offer of involvement with the detective investigating her daughter's case, perhaps wisely. When she recognises a face from the past in the courtroom things take a whole new, unexpected turn.
I have read this book towards the four month reading challenge.
Mary, Mary is a murder mystery set in Ireland. Margaret and her daughter Mary have returned to Ireland to live from New Zealand to care for Margaret's elderly mother. When Mary fails to return home one day margaret finds it difficult to get the police to take her concerns seriously until one day a body is found floating in the river. This book follows Margaret's pursuit of justice for her daughter, through the courts and beyond. Margaret is a very dignified character and by her own choice quite socially isolated. She rejects the offer of involvement with the detective investigating her daughter's case, perhaps wisely. When she recognises a face from the past in the courtroom things take a whole new, unexpected turn.
I have read this book towards the four month reading challenge.
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