It's almost holiday time again, and once more I am almost as excited to be choosing books for my trip as for the trip itself. Since I'm only going for five days, I'm trying to hold back on taking too many. So far, I've bought a couple of books from charity shops, including Eat, pray, love - which everyone says is much like the film i.e. not that great, but I thought if there's ever a time to read a find-yourself novel, it's on your first trip abroad by yourself. I've also got Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson. I decided it's time to try another one of her books, even though I love The Stone Gods almost so much I can't believe anyone who wrote it could write anything else that compares. It seems a bit illogical, as most people I'm sure would take that to mean that anything the writer has done must also be phenomenal, and so set out to read all their work. I've also reserved The Perks of being a Wallflower, since I saw the film and was incredibly impressed. Perhaps because I wasn't expecting much, but it was so moving, and realistic - even though all sorts of crazy things happened to a small group of people. I've been trying to figure out whether that is a good reflection of real life. I think maybe more people have strange and crazy things happen to them than we often believe, but less than what you see in soap operas, which cannot survive without the drama.
Anyway, I'm also really looking forward to having some time in a different place, on my own, to try and write a lot. I still want to write a book - actually more so now than ever before - but first I feel like I've got so many observations and ideas that I want to get down on the page first. My friend sent me a really helpful guide from the Guardian (How to write a book in 30 days) which I've been mulling over. It offers a lot more structure, which is possibly the less glamorous, but no less vital part of writing.
One last note about my holiday books - because I'm going to a very cold place, and it will be November, I think I've been unconsciously looking for books that incorporate that. Examples include: The Snow Child and Steel and Snow (Game of Thrones book 3). Notice a theme??
Saturday 27 October 2012
Wednesday 3 October 2012
We need to talk about Kevin
Although I recently finished a book which I quite enjoyed, it's not really worth writing home about, so I thought I'd write instead about We need to talk about Kevin, despite having read it ages ago.
Warning! Spoiler alert.
I really liked this book - I thought it was incredibly intelligent and posed an uncomfortable question to its many readers. But apart from the concept, I really liked the main character, Eva. She is a very interesting character, who is made more realistic by the fact that she is so nasty. She is a mother who is very far from perfect, but not a monster of abuse, which appear to be the only two models of motherhood we are offered in fiction. She is not loving towards her son, but it's not because there is anything inherently wrong with her. She is simply, humanly flawed, and I love the way you can see aspects of her personality coming through in Kevin. Out of the whole family, they are the most alike, though Eva would not like to believe it. To do so would be to accept she is capable of a similar mentality.
My absolutely favourite part of the book (or the film for that matter) is when Kevin is sick, and Eva finally finally feels like a real mother, able to offer him comfort and protection. At this point, he drops the act and shuns the father who cannot see beyond his innocent facade and reaches out to the one person who understands him, even if he knows she does not love him in the same way.
But then you could argue that true love is the kind that knows exactly who you are and continues to love, sometimes grudgingly, sometimes in fear, but in an underlying, fundamental sort of way.
It is more like the mother and son are equals rather than a traditional parent-child relationship.
And I think it is her husband's incapacity to see the truth which makes me like Eva so much more, even though she is so very unlikeable. Shriver writes so that we understand her perspective perfectly, and can appreciate why she acts in such an unpleasant manner. She feels driven to it.
I also really like the fact that it is this narration through the eyes of Eva which suggests we are not getting the whole picture. If Franklin sees things so differently, it cannot be as simple as she is right and he is wrong. The truth must lie somewhere between her biased view of events, and his, in which Kevin is just a boy.
Warning! Spoiler alert.
I really liked this book - I thought it was incredibly intelligent and posed an uncomfortable question to its many readers. But apart from the concept, I really liked the main character, Eva. She is a very interesting character, who is made more realistic by the fact that she is so nasty. She is a mother who is very far from perfect, but not a monster of abuse, which appear to be the only two models of motherhood we are offered in fiction. She is not loving towards her son, but it's not because there is anything inherently wrong with her. She is simply, humanly flawed, and I love the way you can see aspects of her personality coming through in Kevin. Out of the whole family, they are the most alike, though Eva would not like to believe it. To do so would be to accept she is capable of a similar mentality.
My absolutely favourite part of the book (or the film for that matter) is when Kevin is sick, and Eva finally finally feels like a real mother, able to offer him comfort and protection. At this point, he drops the act and shuns the father who cannot see beyond his innocent facade and reaches out to the one person who understands him, even if he knows she does not love him in the same way.
But then you could argue that true love is the kind that knows exactly who you are and continues to love, sometimes grudgingly, sometimes in fear, but in an underlying, fundamental sort of way.
It is more like the mother and son are equals rather than a traditional parent-child relationship.
And I think it is her husband's incapacity to see the truth which makes me like Eva so much more, even though she is so very unlikeable. Shriver writes so that we understand her perspective perfectly, and can appreciate why she acts in such an unpleasant manner. She feels driven to it.
I also really like the fact that it is this narration through the eyes of Eva which suggests we are not getting the whole picture. If Franklin sees things so differently, it cannot be as simple as she is right and he is wrong. The truth must lie somewhere between her biased view of events, and his, in which Kevin is just a boy.
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