Book Review – The Starless Sea – Erin Morgenstern

Book Review – The Starless Sea – Erin Morgenstern

Facts:

Book: The Starless Sea
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Fantasy
Year of Release: 2019
Read 499-page hardcover edition in March 2020

Book Description:

Zachary is a masters student at University, and although he has does have some friends including Kat on campus, he tends to be a more introverted 25 year-old, opting for reading and introspection in his dorm room.

When he finds a strange book at the library, he is shocked to find that he is a character in the book, and his story is being told. However, pages are missing from the book, and he cannot figure out what is supposed to happen next.

When he decides to try and determine the secrets behind this book, he discovers an amazing world beneath the surface, full of bizarre people and characters, cats, pirates, books, stories, secret doors and passages, and a starless sea.

He also encounters people who are mysterious and who have unknown motivations, such as the handsome Dorian and the vibrant Mirabel.

Book Review:

The second novel from Erin Morgenstern, coming 7 years after her huge bestseller The Night Circus, was long anticipated by fans. The Night Circus was a hit debut and was a great example of taking fantasy into a new space.

In The Starless Sea, Morgenstern has done it again, with an absorbing and breathtaking novel that is a celebration of literature, creativity, and imagination.

One of the greatest success of the novel is the descriptions of the settings that the characters find themselves in. Morgenstern uses all five senses to describe where we are, and we truly do feel like we are alongside the main characters for the ride. The taste of honey and wine, the feeling of sticky sugar-rimmed cocktail glasses, and the sight of amazing stacks of books and grand ballrooms, all are executed flawlessly.

The style of the novel must also be described as unique and enjoyable. The chapters are alternating, with the reader following Zachary in one chapter, and then alternating with another scene or story. Those could be a snippet from a journal of another character, a story from the book Zachary found in his story (so we learn what he was reading), or a short story from other books that are found in the main plot. Overall, the style allows us to read what Zachary and others are talking about and reading about in their story. A great way for us to connect in with the main plot.

Speaking of these stories that are read in alternating chapters, Morgenstern also does a wonderful job showing us how they connect with each other and with the main story of Zachary as well. Over time, we see how all these stories are nested in each other, and the connections become more clear over the course of the novel. The connections aren’t always fully clear, and some of the meanings of specific items and happenings are left up to the reader to sort out, but that allows the reader to utilize their own creativity and imagination to put themselves in the story as well.

The characters of Zachary and others all enjoy stories and literature, and so the reader can easily connect in with them, and start to enjoy not only this overall novel, but the other books and stories the characters are reading, especially when the novel shares pieces of those stories with us, in the alternating chapters. In particular, a beautiful short story about an innkeeper who is keeping their inn open during a horrific winter storm season is a powerful tale. Then, we see how this connects in with the bigger tale of Zachary later on in the novel.

Zachary is a likeable, interesting character. Morgenstern’s decision to make him gay, but make that really a non-issue in the novel, is a great decision. It’s a fact, and just not an issue. The other supporting characters in the world Zachary finds himself in, such as Dorian to Mirabel, are multi-faceted and hard to pin down as to motivations, providing mystery and intrigue to the story.

There are some funny lines and scenes in the novel, and some great references to other books and other things in this world, when Zachary is “above ground.” The novel is intriguing right from chapter one, and the pace picks up in the last quarter, when things start to come together amongst all the nested stories and various characters, and the reader really wants to know what is going to happen.

Overall, this is an absolutely fantastic novel, and one of the best new fantasies to come out in a long time!

Well done!

Overall: 5 stars out of 5 stars

Book Review – At Home: A Short History of Private Life – Bill Bryson

Book Review – At Home: A Short History of Private Life – Bill Bryson

Facts:

Book: At Home: A Short History of Private Life
Author: Bill Byson
Genre: Non-Fiction (History)
Year of Release: 2010
Read 453-page hardcover edition in March 2020

Book Description:

In this history book interwoven with lots of fact and humour, Bill Bryson uses his old Victorian house to provide a history of British private life. He uses each room of his old home to provide the stories, facts, and historical underpinnings of what goes on in that room.

In the bathroom, he focuses on hygiene and sanitation. In the kitchen, the focus becomes food preparation and nutrition history. He continues throughout the house, providing numerous lessons on how things have evolved in the United Kingdom, and the wider world, in the lives of people.

Book Review:

This non-fiction account of the history of private life was often a humourous, factual, and interesting account of the past, something that could be easily understood, often with a laugh in how Bryson tells it. Bryson does a wonderful job gathering facts, and figures, and sharing them in an amusing way for readers. Bryson is very skilled at bringing forward information and writing it in a way that generates laughter, but also learning at the same time. (One wonders if schools haven’t taken him up on providing lessons or writing textbooks to motivate kids to learn!)

That all being said, despite some of the positives in terms of amusing language and the storyteller approach, there are some challenges with this book. Bryson structures it in a way that we move from room to room, and the focus of each chapter is based on that room. Although that often works, at times the reader begins to feel like this is one grand data dump, as we move from fact and story to the next. A feeling of overload can often set in, and in some ways maybe that means taking this book in small chunks over a longer period of time might be the best approach.

Bryson sometimes doubles back on topics again, for example focusing one chapter on architecture, and then several chapters later speaking about it again at length, leaving the reader wondering, “haven’t we covered similar content already?” Despite the humour in the language, and the material often being interesting, it does sometimes feel like too much.

The last several pages sees Bryson look at the material he has covered, and look at it on a broader context, across the landscape of England that he lives on. This was a great section, and one wishes he had made these observations into a more fleshed out chapter, as he has some interesting comments to make about how history impacts the present, and how the landscape in rural England where he lives may not have changed much over the centuries, but with climate change it is starting to change a lot quicker.

Overall, this was a fascinating book, no question. However, at times it felt like a collection of facts that risked overwhelming the reader.

Overall: 2.5 stars out of 5 stars

Book Review – The Furthest Station – Ben Aaronovitch

Book Review – The Furthest Station – Ben Aaronovitch

Facts:

Book: The Furthest Station
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: Fantasy / Mystery
Year of Release: 2017
Read 118-page paperback edition in February 2020

Book Description:

In this novella taking place in the Rivers of London series, Detective Constable Peter Grant is back, this time investigating a case of ghosts who are appearing to commuters on he metropolitan line, specifically near the end of the line, furthest from Central London.

Peter teams up with friend and colleague Jaget Kumar from the Transit Police to try and determine what is going on. He also brings along his younger cousin Abigail, now working with him and Nightingale in the “Magic Division” of the police forces, otherwise called “The Folly.”

Book Review:

The idea of a novella for this series actually makes perfect sense. Now that the series is at eight books and going strong (as of 2019), having a short story or novella on some quick investigations of supernatural activity seems like a great idea for the series to add more content and plot.

As with longer novels in the series, Aaronovitch does a great job with his humour and with creating plots that move quickly and have a great balance of fantasy and crime/mystery elements to them. His balancing of the two genres is spot-on and creates enjoyment for fans of both.

This particular story is interesting, serves to build on some character development of Abigail and Peter, and gives us a ghost story to chew on.

At times, the dialogue and plot do feel a little bit flat – for a novella, one would have felt that the pacing would feel faster and more exciting. But for some reason, it doesn’t move that way, and feels slow at times. This drags the story down.

However, overall, it is still an enjoyable and great addition to this expanding series.

Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars

Book Review – Hag-Seed – Margaret Atwood

Book Review – Hag-Seed – Margaret Atwood

Facts:

Book: Hag-Seed
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction
Year of Release: 2016
Read 303-page paperback edition in February 2020

Book Description:

Based on the Shakespeare play “Tempest,” and one of the Hogarth Shakespeare re-tellings of works by the great William Shakespeare, Margaret Atwood has set a playwright within a novel, to tell a creative story in the themes of the classic play.

Felix is the artistic director of a theatre festival that is known for it’s creative approaches to the shows and plays they put on. He has decided to stage a showing of Tempest, in part as a way to pay homage to his daughter, who past away at a young age.

However, when he is thrown out of his job by his younger assistant, he decides he needs to run away for a time, get away from it all, and plot revenge. Even if it takes years, he will wait for an opportunity to get back at those who wronged him. And the opportunity comes alone, when he has a chance to put on a version of Tempest at a local prison facility. It will be a production like no other, that achieves a great many things.

Book Review:

This novel by award-winning Margaret Atwood is a fun and enjoyable one, with lots of comedy embedded throughout. At the same time, the plot of the novel also has a couple of very tender moments as well, and some great thoughts on grief and remembrance, which added additional weight to the otherwise quite comedic plot. Atwood does a nice job connecting her plot and some thematic points in with Shakespeare’s original play.

The main character, Felix, is an amusing man, one who takes a lot of pride in his own skills and understanding of what “the arts” really is. His reactions and plans are often bizarre and surprising, but it helps propel the plot into unusual directions. At times it may be slightly unbelievable, but it’s a novel, and we’re having fun, so we let Atwood take us there!

The plot line of the play in the prison is a wonderful idea, and one of the most enjoyable things to read about in this story. The characters in the prison are complex, and Atwood does a nice job of not simplifying them or creating one-dimensional characters.

The ending of the novel is fantastic, especially given all the lead-up, and the fact we are now cheering for the Tempest production team! The closing may have been a little too convenient and not necessarily believable, but again that may be okay given the structure of this comedy.

An enjoyable novel well worth the reading!

Overall: 4 stars out of 5 stars