Book #19

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

When two seven-year-old girls go missing, all are under suspicion. Calli Clark is a dreamer. A sweet, gentle girl, Callie suffers from selective mutism, brought on by a tragedy she experienced as a toddler. Her mother Antonia tries her best to help, but is confined by marriage to a violent husband. Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli have been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Now Calli and Petra's families are bound by the question of what has happened to their children. As support turns to suspicion, it seems the answers lie trapped in the silence of unspoken secrets.

I liked this book. I normally go for something a bit more thought-provoking, but sometimes I like to settle down with an all-consuming easy read like this one.

For a first novel, I thought the suspense was well crafted, and the characters all had some lovely backgrounds for us to sink our teeth into. The pace was perfect; there was always something happening, and pieces of the puzzle were thrown at us rapidly. There wasn't much of a twist, however, and it was pretty predictable throughout.

Gudenkauf uses a multiple voice narrative to give us the plot from different points of view. I usually love this type of prose, and it worked well here. I particularly liked that everyone's voice apart from Calli's was written in first person narrative, subtly emphasising Calli's selective mutism. The different voices, although telling different parts of the story, didn't differ much in the way they were written. I love books (such as Trainspotting) where you can tell which character is speaking to you, simply by the way the prose is written, but here the voices were practically the same. I would have expected a seven year old girl and a well-educated fifty-seven year old father, for example, to have different narrative styles.

Having said that, the plot was gripping, the characters believable, and I found myself tearing through this in only a couple of days. Definitely a quick read, not for the literary hardcore and more something for those who like a book to sweep them along in a completely engaging story.

Book #18

To Hell and Back: An Autobiography by Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf's bizarre and spectacular life story is scarcely credible. After surviving an abusive childhood, during which he was almost murdered by his alcoholic father, he starred in one of the biggest stage and film musicals ever, then went on to record the third best-selling album of all time.

I'm not usually one for non-fiction, and particularly not celebrity autobiographies.  I find them to be generally full of name-dropping, exaggerated anecdotes, and a confused timeline. I picked up this one because I've always been a fan of Meat Loaf, but unfortunately found it to be no exception to the rule.

The book is easy to read, and the writing is nothing miraculous. The chapters are nice and bite-sized, and can stand alone as small tales on their own. The trouble was, I was never sure where we were in time; most of them were entirely devoted (understandably) to the ins and outs of Meat Loaf's experiences in the music business, but this isn't something I have an interest in. The names dropped here were insane, and most of the stories added nothing apart from the fact Meat had met these people.

I suppose I was looking for sex, drugs, stage-diving, fights and nonsense like that, but it seems Mr Loaf has left a lot of these scenarios out of the book for dignity purposes. There was a feeling of something missing, a secret being kept, and it was rubbish.

This would probably be more amusing for a die-hard Meat Loaf fan, or someone interested in the music business. Apart from the episode with his dad trying to kill him with a knife (which, unsurprising, is what made me buy the book), there isn't anything too meaty (I am hilarious) for anyone else to sink their teeth into.

Note to self: no more autobiographies for a while.

Book #17

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annexe" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death.

I feel strange reviewing this. Although Anne makes it clear that she'd like her diary published, and does her best to make it a work of fiction by changing names, this is still a diary. This is Anne's personal account of her struggles, and the struggles of the seven other people living in the Secret Annexe. This is a collection of memories. Every page is full of her personal opinions on the others, her views on their behaviours and quirks, and every page is filled with an air of secrecy. These words are poured from the heart of a fourteen year old girl in hiding from the Nazis. For these reasons, this is not a book review.

Anne's entries are surprising in various ways. To begin with, the general reader will think the diary to be a depressing read, and of course it is. But what surprised me was Anne's humourous anecdotes, her records of jokes told in the annexe, amusing things that happened, and beautiful relationships forming. The essence of family, and humanity, really shine through the pages, and although Anne often complains about her housemates, you really can read between the lines and see them pulling each other through this horrible time. I was particularly touched when Anne documented birthdays; the presents, the meals, the conversations. The presents get more frugal as time goes on, but the boarders always do their best for each other, despite the arguments they frequently have.

What struck me most as Anne's diary progressed was her maturity, intelligence, and sheer wisdom; indescribable for a fourteen year old. Her views and opinions on the world were so clever and respectable, and I couldn't help but feel we have lost someone very very special; a great mind.

This diary holds a lot of truth, and it belongs perfectly in that group of books everyone should have read at least once. It's important people continue to read this diary. We are so lucky that this special girl decided to take pen to paper and tell us about her time in hiding; no one else could have captivated us in this way. Without Anne, we wouldn't know how it felt to hide behind a bookcase, to live on mean food rations, and to dream of being out in the open air again. 

Anne passed away in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, but she hasn't died yet.

"To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time." - Elie Wiesel

Book #16

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

This book was wonderful when I first read it ten years ago, but it's even more wonderful now. It's amazing what growing up does to your views and opinions; my first read at fifteen left me mainly just scandalised at the injustice of it all, but this time I feel and understand so much more. It's gorgeous, because one part of this is Lee's portrayal of Jem and Scout maturing and having a more adult view of their world. This has also happened to me with a ten year gap between readings of the book; it's incredible. 

To Kill a Mockingbird is perfect. It isn't overly preachy with its message, but gets it across nonetheless. The court scene is particularly great at giving an impression of social inequity, and a feeling of impending sorrow and doom. The study of prejudice is flawless; we are shown lots of definitions of what it is to be black, white, male, female, rich, poor, educated and uneducated, but none of these are correct. It is what it is, and it is what you make it.

Lee writes Atticus Finch as the ultimate father. He teaches his children to look beyond skin colour, age, and wealth. He completely believed that the most important thing was to ensure his children respected him, and the only way they could do so was by always seeing him doing the right thing.  The worst thing for the children would have been to hurt their father, so his teaching methods worked perfectly.

I love Scout. I love how inquisitive she is, I love that although she's been brought up incredibly well, and that she still has a beautiful childish innocence, but most of all I love that she isn't a standard little girl. She isn't written in frilly dresses, she fights boy, she wears overalls, she doesn't want to be a girl; she wants to be a person first. 

Harper Lee puts fire into our hearts with this story. She isn't telling us to riot against injustice, she is  showing us Atticus Finch's vow to always do right, and subtly suggesting that this might be a good way to live our lives. She gives us the mentality to never give up, and to fight the unwinnable fight: “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

This book fits perfectly on the 'everyone must read' list. It's one of those books I hate to review, because it's so wonderful and I can never do it justice (no pun intended). Although I realise many have read this in school, read it again whether you loved it or hated it. It's so worthwhile, you won't regret it. 

Book #15

Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth by Chris Priestley

A boy is put on a train by his stepmother to make his first journey on his own. But soon that journey turns out to be more of a challenge than anyone could have imagined as the train stalls at the mouth of a tunnel and a mysterious woman in white helps the boy while away the hours by telling him stories - stories with a difference.

This is the third installment of Priestley's chilling trilogy, and it has to be the most terrifying yet. It's even more captivating, and even more closely weaved than its predecessors.

Priestley doesn't allow you any respite. You are never settled into the story, you aren't nicely carried along. You are reading in a perpetual state of unease, your shoulders are at your ears, and your disconcerted body throws goosebumps up all over your skin. These stories are so strange, so unnerving, that it's impossible to relax when reading them. It's wonderful.

The format is the same as the previous two novels; stories are told to our protagonist, and we glimpse both the storyteller and listener interacting between tales. We know something isn't quite right, but it isn't until the end that the twist is revealed. Despite Priestley's delicious little hints, I wasn't able to work out the storyteller's secret this time, and I loved the book even more for this. The tension was unbearable, and the trilogy is tied up nicely with an incredibly frightening nod towards the first novel.

My favourite story was The New Governess, a gorgeous twist on The Turn of the Screw, which I've only just recently read. I wasn't able to look under my dinner table for a few nights afterwards.

These aren't your usual kid's tales where the bad guy gets his comeuppance at the end. Priestley will kill off the good guys, the innocent, and more often than not, the kids. I love this about his novels. He shows that these terrible, frightening scenes can happen to anyone, and that's what makes it all the more terrifying.

Once again, I found the stories bloody terrifying, and once again I will add that I am very easily scared, particularly by the supernatural. I did find this round a bit more macabre than the previous two novels, and again I wonder how children can get through them without turning into a gibbering wreck. Perhaps they are just made of sterner stuff than this whimpering (almost) twenty-six year old. Despite my lack of nerve, I'd challenge anyone to get through this book without at least one chill racing down their spine.

Priestley is absolutely fantastic, and I would encourage anyone to read this trilogy. The short stories are entirely timeless and remarkable. I'd encourage anyone to give these a try, and if you say you aren't frightened by at least one of the stories, I absolutely will not believe you.