Welcome to my Blog for reviews of poetry and fiction.
Welcome to my Blog for reviews of poetry and fiction. In addition, there will be postings of my own poetry and short fiction.
Welcome to my Blog for reviews of poetry and fiction. Read More »
Review of Nights on the Line by M. S. Evans
This first collection by Seattle-born MS Evans, deals with the ordinariness of getting by, of scraping a living and so fittingly, the poems are sparse. The white-space-to-words ratio is heavily in the white-space’s favour which in turn conveys a sense of the poet being alone in the vast spaces of Northern America. The publishers are
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Review of Manorism by Yomi Sode
If the measure of a work of art or literature is the level of insight the reader gains into the artist’s world, then ‘Manorism’ succeeds supremely well. It does this because of the inventive use of language and the ability to show us the world of the writer. In this first collection by Yomi Sode,
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Review of Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
(spoiler-free review) At a glance, this novel seems to tread in the footsteps of a current favourite of UK TV drama – that of a police procedural investigation of a cold case from decades ago. But this initial impression is rapidly dispelled. Sebastian Barry shows us a retired police sergeant, Tom Kettle, alone in his
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Review of ‘The Romantic’ by William Boyd
Enjoyable read but take it slowly William Boyd has a strong record of writing lengthy novels featuring the life journey of a singular individual. There is Brodie Moncur in ‘Love is Blind’, Amory Clay in ‘Sweet Caress’ and Logan Mountstuart in ‘Any Human Heart.’ Here we have another unique individual, Cashel Ross in ‘The Romantic‘,
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Review of Flatlands by Sue Hubbard
Philip and Freda are outsiders, one by his choice of pacifism and the other by her circumstances, who struggle to survive as WW2 breaks out in Europe. Philip is a young man conflicted with anxieties and doubts about his relationships with Jess and her brother Peter. He struggles with making his way in the world,
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Review of The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
The lockdown during the pandemic of 2020/21 produced a good deal of writing from people forced to be alone in a room. Celebrity and established authors produced memoirs, novels, children’s books. The L word might be a turn-off for many people – after all, why write about something we all experienced and are happy to
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Review of Strange Sally Diamond
This is a novel about families. But these families are the polar opposites of ‘cereal box families’ where Mom bakes good wholesome apple pies. These families are psychotic, cruel and dysfunctional in the extreme. They are dominated by Conor Geary, an extreme misogynist, despising and loathing women. This is a deeply uncomfortable story of his
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Review of Lessons by Ian McEwan
Inside these 496 pages, there is a great 300 page novel trying to get out. Ironically, Ian McEwan (IM) himself said in 2014 ‘very few long novels earn their length’ and went on to say ‘my fingers are always itching for a blue pencil’. There’s no doubt that IM is still writing phenomenally well with
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Review of Trio by William Boyd
I wanted to write a good review of Trio by William Boyd but regretfully this novel is quite a disappointment. It’s as if he had a tidy-up in his study, found some drafts of bits and pieces, decided they were too good to throw out and combined them into a novel. There’s an interesting structure
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Review of The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
This is a novel about two nine-year-olds, Mayken and Gil. Mayken lives in 1629 and Gil in 1989. Both live in enclosed worlds. Mayken sis on the newly built ship Batavia, is journeying half way round the world to the Dutch East Indies to be reunited with her wealthy father now that her mother has
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