Write Now How?: January 2014

Goodreads Reviews

Breath by Tim Winton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This coming-of-age story struck a chord with me.

I could relate to the middle aged Bruce Pike reflecting on his wild youth, and on the experiences he had and relationships he formed during that time and the ongoing influence they had on him.

I enjoyed the circular story structure (which Winton also uses in Cloudstreet) and the well constructed and believable characters, particularly Eva Sanderson and Ivan Loon.

While there were dark themes dealing with death and other issues we might find uncomfortable (such as sexual asphyxiation), they were, I thought, well balanced by the novel’s overall celebration of life, which the reader experiences through the eyes of a teenager living it to the full, and in the process thumbing his nose at a small town’s social norms.

But what stood out most for me, was the novel’s depiction of the power of the ocean to impress itself on our psyche. To affect our thinking, shape our experiences and imbue our memories with passion and the thrill of living. A thrill it is hard to recapture when we are confined to our carpentered and concrete world.

An enjoyable read!

The Girl on Paper by Guillaume Musso
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked facets of this novel; the ending was touching (if a bit melodramatic), I enjoyed the quotations at the beginning of each chapter, and following the main character's ups and downs as an author. I also enjoyed the writing insights.

However, I found it hard to suspend my disbelief about certain aspects of the story — and not the aspects you might expect — such as Tom's success as a writer being coupled with an addiction to crack (and a propensity to take any other drug he came across), and the gangland background he came from; it just didn't ring true for me, nor fit with the sort of character Tom was in other ways i.e. delicate sensibilities, sensitive, and so on.

Even though I enjoyed the ending in one sense, I was a bit disappointed with it in another. Billie turning out to be an actress Milo paid fell flat, especially after all the suspended reality stuff about ink for blood and paper pulp for bone marrow (or what ever it was). I didn’t buy Tom buying this either.

Also, Milo's character didn't fit with my conception of a successful literary agent. I think his background would have come through in more ways than just the tattoos on his arms, and I believe that would have put off many (if not most) potential contacts in the traditional publishing world.

Despite all the negatives, I felt the novel was worth reading, in large part because of all the insights the author provides into human relationships and the imperfect nature of human beings, as individuals and as a species. I think the pervasive theme of love overcoming fear was particularly resonant, and to a large extent made up for a lot of the other imperfections in the novel.

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