So many books . . .

On Chesil Beach is a short story about one young couple’s disastrous wedding night. It is the 1960s in England, and Edward and Florence have just tied the knot. In their honeymoon hotel room they’re both nervous, but for very different reasons.

I didn’t find the story entirely believable, especially for the time period. I couldn’t imagine a young couple not talking about any of these things, or even recognizing that there might be a problem! They also didn’t seem to really know each other as intimately as a couple in such a situation should. I had a hard time sympathizing as I was kind of irritated with the absurd level of non-communication.

Rating: 3/5 Further reading: McEwan's homepage Ian McEwan (wiki)

The Original Sin is an amazing family saga spanning three generations of women, beginning in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and climaxing in 1970s Arizona. It is a tale of family secrets, tragedy, war, passion, obsession, addiction, kidnapping, love, money, shame and redemption. This is the book that made me a Marius Gabriel fan. The first time I read it, in my late teens 10+ years ago, it utterly blew me away. This time around, too, I didn’t want it to end. It’s a shame that Mr. Gabriel is no longer writing novels.

Rating: 5/5 Further reading: Marius Gabriel (wiki)

 

The Things They Carried is the 2007 selection for the Eden Prairie Reads initiative (epreads.org). I was a little hesitant at first, unsure of how well I’d enjoy a collection of Vietnam War stories. However, the book is less about gunfire and battles won or lost, and more of a peek inside the head of the men involved – doubt, terror, obsession, camaraderie, death, survival instinct, the psychological turmoil of going home, and ultimately, for some, closure.

Although considered a work of fiction, one gets the feeling that all of the stories have some basis in reality. In fact, several times the author refers to himself as being present in the stories. As a reader, I felt some frustration in not being able to determine what was true.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Tim O'Brien (wiki)

Green Darkness was a best-seller back in the early 1970s when it was first published, and it's just as good a read today. It is the story of Celia, a young American woman in England who suddenly suffers a mental and emotional breakdown triggered by a visit to an old manor, where she had been murdered in a previous lifetime. In order to bring her back to the present, the physician attending her takes her back 400 years to relive this tragic life.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Anya Seton (wiki)