Guest Book Review - Raptors by Toon Tellegen (Translated by Judith Wilkinson)

Each year I have the pleasure of working with a group of readers to collectively select the books that will feature in a reading programme, Summer Reads. Between August 2013 and January 2014, the Readers' Circle will work through a longlist of more than 150 books to find the 6 titles that we fall in love with and want to recommend to other readers. And throughout that period I'll be posting some of the reviews here on Books, Time and Silence. 
*Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of this book.

Guest review by Julia Webb

Raptors is the work of Dutch author Toon Tellegen. Tellegen is one of Holland’s most well-loved authors and has written a series of award winning children’s novels, as well as adult fiction, plays, and over twenty collections of poetry, although Raptors is only the second collection that has been translated into English. Until recently he was also a GP. 

I read this book earlier this year after it was recommended to me by a friend who had heard the translator read from it at Poetry-next-the-sea festival in Wells. I knew I would love it as soon as I read the author’s preface – it is without doubt one of the best prefaces that I have ever read. It begins:

'Years ago I invented someone whom I called my father.
    It was morning, very early, I couldn’t sleep any more, I remember it quite clearly.
My father didn’t seem surprised at having suddenly appeared out of nowhere and, in his turn, invented my mother, my brothers and myself. He even, that very same morning, invented the life we should lead…'

With an opening like that I knew I was in for something unusual and special and I was not disappointed. 

Raptors is one long poem made up of a sequence of poems, each of which can also stand alone. Each poem begins with the words “my father" and each poem also starts off with a statement – like a small proverb, about the father, often using common sayings from popular culture: e.g. “My father did not let sleeping dogs lie…” Each poem is like a miniature portrait or a small scene in which the father is the pivotal character. It quickly becomes clear that this fictional father is a tyrant, but that he is also a complex and multi-faceted character. Individually the poems might be short but each has many layers, and as a whole they build into a kind of verbal crescendo. I found I needed to read just a few of them at a time, and then digest them for a little while before coming back for more. 

Tellegen is a master of language and plays with the reader in a very clever way. The poems work on our psyche on many levels. Tellegen uses the idea of the family as a framework and constructs and deconstructs it. He tells us stories, and those stories often conflict with one another. In effect each poem in the sequence is recreating the family stories of the narrator in the same way that we recreate stories of our own families in real life. Speak to ten members of any family and they will all have different memories and opinions of particular family events, or of family members − and who can say which, if any, version is true?  Perhaps there is an element of truth and fiction in all of them. Or like with most families there might be different layers of truth. Tellegen uses this premise to take us on an exciting and surreal journey, and one that often left me, the reader, with conflicting emotions. Sometimes I detested the Father, but at other times I felt sorry for him. It certainly made me think a lot about family dynamics – and, coming from a somewhat dysfunctional family myself, I could definitely relate to some of it. 

Tellegen has managed to make the language both emotionally loaded and playful, which is quite a feat to pull off. He also juxtaposes the everyday with the surreal to marvellous effect:

'My father,
there was a gaping hole in him
in which my mother and my brothers
entertained themselves

they sat at a table,
they laughed, played dice
and cheated

and the hole in my father grew bigger
and bigger,
and shots were fired in my father,
people screamed
and were arrested

a car stopped on the edge 
of my father,
my mother and brothers got in…'

The playfulness and surrealism of the imagery put me a little in mind of poems in Homage to the Lame Wolf  by Serbian poet Vasko Popa or the work of Charles Simic, but there is something almost Biblical about this collection too. This is also a very masterly translation. I imagine it would not have been an easy book to translate and Judith Wilkinson has done a great job. I found this book moving, disturbing and inspiring all at once. It was a joy to read and it reconnected me with my love for language. Reviewer George Messo said “It takes a book like this, seemingly hurled through the ether, to crack us on the head and wake us.” I couldn’t agree more − I imagine this is a book I will come back to again and again.

Raptors was first published in the UK by Carcanet in 2011. ISBN: 9781847770837; 96pp

Julia Webb is graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at The University of East Anglia. She is a poetry editor for Lighthouse literary journal, has had poetry and reviews published in journals and online, and in 2011 she won the Poetry Socity's Stanza competition. She lives in Norwich and teaches creative writing.

Guest Book Review - The Dinner by Herman Koch (Translated by Sam Garrett)

Each year I have the pleasure of working with a group of readers to collectively select the books that will feature in a reading programme, Summer Reads. Between August 2013 and January 2014, the Readers' Circle will work through a longlist of more than 150 books to find the 6 titles that we fall in love with and want to recommend to other readers. And throughout that period I'll be posting some of the reviews here on Books, Time and Silence. 
*Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of this book.

Guest review by Lara Narkiewicz


The Dinner describes an evening meal between two couples, bound together by the two men who are brothers. It initially seems like a dark tale of a brother’s resentment towards his sibling. But soon it becomes clear that the couples have not come together to discuss themselves, but instead to attempt to agree on how to deal with the fallout of a horrific act committed by their two sons.

I read this book a year ago and, at the time, felt that my enjoyment of the novel was overshadowed by my shock at the harrowing description of the actions of the two boys. Indeed, this isn’t a novel to be enjoyed, but one that asks difficult questions of the reader. How far would you go to protect your child, no matter what he or she had done? Would you betray your partner rather than your child? How well do you know those you feel closest to?

These are questions that have stayed with me every time that I have thought back to this story. They, and the quality of Koch’s humour (at times wholly dark), have rendered this tale as vivid in my memory as when I turned the last page. And it is very much a page turner. I felt compelled to find out what the boys had done and then exactly how their parents were to deal with it- or whether that was the real issue at hand.

Those who might compare The Dinner to We Need To Talk About Kevin are not highlighting the very different relationships between the characters. This is a novel that examines why people are compelled to do what they do, rather than Shriver’s examination of the nature versus nurture question. 


This is not a story for the faint hearted but for those who persevere, there is plenty within these pages to consider and discuss. And despite it having been a best seller in the author’s native Netherlands, and its imminent development into a major film, I wouldn’t let this deter a more adventurous reader. It is a hugely rewarding novel. 

The Dinner was first published in the UK by Atlantic Books in 2012. Edition shown is the paperback edition, published 2013. ISBN: 9781848873834; 311pp

Lara Narkiewicz
As a young girl, my dream was to move into my local library or bookshop and live amongst all the books. Although this dream never came to fruition (much to my disappointment), I am in the very lucky position to work in the literature sector. I co-produce Summer Reads, Writers’ Centre Norwich’s reader development programme and love the winter months when readers help us to select the books to be promoted over the summer. With an undergraduate degree in languages, my passion lies in translated fiction and short stories. I know that my understanding of others and of the world around us has been helped immensely by my love of reading and I always try to read new books that will challenge me. This is what Summer Reads is all about- encouraging readers to try something new. I’m really proud to be a part of it.

Guest Book Review - The Crumb Road by Maitreyabandhu

Each year I have the pleasure of working with a group of readers to collectively select the books that will feature in a reading programme, Summer Reads. Between August 2013 and January 2014, the Readers' Circle will work through a longlist of more than 150 books to find the 6 titles that we fall in love with and want to recommend to other readers. And throughout that period I'll be posting some of the reviews here on Books, Time and Silence. 
*Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of this book.

Guest review by Sue Badger

This is a collection of poems and prose-poems set in 3 distinct parts, lyrical reflections on existence and connections: the minutia of memories of childhood (part 1), observations of the wider world in relation to self perception (part 2), and emerging sexuality (part 3).  

The tone is set in the preface poem ‘This’, where the strident beauty of the thrush’s song is juxtaposed with the ‘common hell’ built by Man: “Whatever else there is, there’s this as well.”  Existence, and the memory of past resonate through most of the poems:  Maitreyabandhu, always modest and self-effacing, emphasises that while memories are imperfect or incomplete, it is the emotions evoked that are important.  In Burial the strong recollections of his father unearthing skulls and bones are immediately tempered by “But that isn’t right, / .... I’ve mistaken/ my father’s story for the thing itself.”  Both the pleasure and pain of childhood memories are explored  in closely observed detail; occasionally in the observer’s 2nd person narrative, as in The Coat Cupboard, where the discovery of a keyring and grandma’s lipstick is far more profound than the emergence of a magical land such as Narnia; or the excellent prose-poetry of Copper Wire, where the evocative language describes a family outing to the seaside, and in which each parent and sibling discover delights personal to their desires: the mother a sunset, the father some buried copper wire...  Suffering and embarrassment are recollected in Potato – a school child’s fear and humiliation, (sentiments alluded to over 200 years ago in William Blake’s ‘Songs of Experience’) : “Each little word got harder as the big word came along ...” culminating in the worst of punishments: “You’ll stand in front of class until you say it!” , or the cutting shame felt with the father expressing his disappointment in his son’s decision in Bottle Digging: “We drove in silence home.... And I’m still ashamed of what I did.”

In the 2nd part the poet explores the poignant acceptance of life’s existence in its simplest form, as in ‘Rangiatea’, (Maori for ‘the place out there’), but again recollection is obscured by confused memories: “He couldn’t decide if the island was real/ or just the interval between sleeping/ and waking, known only from the corner/ of your eye...”, and accepting that life cannot be measured by events that have occurred.  Many of these central poems express an essentially Buddhist spirituality, as in ‘Letters on Cezanne’, where connections are observed, sometimes precise, sometimes obscure.  

Particularly eloquent is the acutely observed relationship between him and Stephen in the final poems: emotional realisation is explored through gentle inference, where the need for secrecy and discretion is paramount and heightens awareness.   An overwhelming sense of guilt pervades the poems, yet the yearning to connect – a look, a touch, a mutual recognition of urgency – drives the uncertain alliance on until Stephen’s early death lays realisation bare, and memories – always tempered by the ambivalence of truth and desire, are revealed to be as transient as Hansel’s crumb road.

The Crumb Road was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2013. ISBN: 9781852249748; 79pp

Sue Badger is a retired English teacher who has always enjoyed reading. She regards herself as a discriminatory (some may say intolerant) reader : with so many good authors out there, across the genres, why aim low?

Guest Book Review: Archipelago by Monique Roffey

Each year I have the pleasure of working with a group of readers to collectively select the books that will feature in a reading programme, Summer Reads. Between August 2013 and January 2014, the Readers' Circle will work through a longlist of more than 150 books to find the 6 titles that we fall in love with and want to recommend to other readers. And throughout that period I'll be posting some of the reviews here on Books, Time and Silence. 
*Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of this book.

Guest review by Judith Lal


At first, I was unsure about Archipelago. A few pages in there is a mundane description of  a father preparing some instant macaroni cheese for his young daughter and I thought it was all a bit tedious. But then suddenly it picks up and takes you on an amazing sea-faring adventure. In the process, it explores modern day piracy, politics and race, sex and grief, climate change and environmental degradation, and our complex currant relationship with nature. We also see a wonderfully moving portrait of father daughter relationships, often lacking in literature lately. I loved the girl child Océan who has all the resilience, vulnerability and charm of a six-year-old, and the nice descriptions of her various facial expressions and moods really animated her character. The rhythm of the prose seems influenced by Trinidad and is like the sea itself. The repetitions and easy rhythm seem deceptively simple and quick to read. The only thing that did stand out was the rather over used cliché of the sea as metaphor for woman with malevolent siren powers, but this small thing I could overlook.

The novel reminds me of Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver which I also loved, both coming in the new genre of clim-fiction. But reading this may encourage readers to try Moby Dick which is referred to a lot and also Old man and the Sea. Lots to talk about with this book, there is one erotically charged scene that could make uncomfortable literal reading as a post-colonial metaphor, the subject being large white man visits beautiful and available black sex workers on the island, but the scene has more to do with human emotions of joy and grief than with commercial exchange. Having read Roffey's other work, With the Kisses of his Mouth, I feel comfortable that the scene that is not out of place in the narrative and the portrayal of hollowing grief afterwards puts it into context. I'm interested in the way the author researched the material by sailing herself around the islands, there seems to be a real sense of environmental concern for this fragile network of islands. Nature is wondrous and scary, appropriate that the story of evolution is connected to the Galapagos. Just as we are connected to paradise so we have a responsibility towards it. Paradise is not isolated, nor unaffected by us. A prefect and appropriate summer read that is not afraid to deal with big contemporary issues. Archipelago is a book I shall definitely remember reading in a couple of years time. 

Archipelago was published in the UK by Simon and Schuster in 2012. Edition shown is the paperback edition, ISBN: 9780857203113, 358pp

Judith Lal works in the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium library. Her pamphlet Flageolets at the Bazaar was chosen as a poetry book society recommendation. Her poems have been published in various magazines including Poetry London, Poetry News, The Rialto, Ambit, Magma, Mslexia, The North, and Aesthetica. They have also been published in the Indian anthology The Harpercollins book of English poetry.

Guest Book Review: Maggot Moon by Sally Gardener

Each year I have the pleasure of working with a group of readers to collectively select the books that will feature in a reading programme, Summer Reads. Between August 2013 and January 2014, the Readers' Circle will work through a longlist of more than 150 books to find the 6 titles that we fall in love with and want to recommend to other readers. And throughout that period I'll be posting some of the reviews here on Books, Time and Silence. 
*Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of this book.

Guest Review by Pearl Crossfield

Maggot Moon is a young adult novel that has the potential to appeal to a wide range of ages. Sally Gardner dedicates her book to 'the dreamers / Overlooked at school /  Never won prizes - you who will own tomorrow'  and this pretty well sums up both the protagonist of the story and the plot line.  Standish Treadwell is a teenager who appears to suffer from dyslexia, who  'can’t read / can’t write' and is bullied at school.  For him the words on the blackboard are 'just circus horses dancing up and down', they mean nothing and he prefers his daydreaming life because it’s better than being 'worried sick' all the time. Yet  Standish is clever, has imagination and courage and eventually achieves a great victory, albeit a bitter-sweet one.

The drawings scattered throughout the pages feature the life cycle of the fly and the death of a rat.  The drawings are cartoon-like and offer a skillful way of holding a distracted children’s attention. The images tell a story of death and regeneration, a life cycle explored through decaying matter and the food chain. Sally Gardner and illustrator Julian Crouch cleverly draw a parallel with an infestation of maggots both in the natural world and in the society the characters are living in, and alludes to the title and the somber themes of the book.

Any reader no matter what age could appreciate this book on several different levels.  It is imaginative, with a clever use of language, Standish may not be able to read and write but he has a broad vocabulary, saying 'I collect words - they are sweets in the mouth of sound'.  He can use words in a humorous way too, when describing a teacher he says, 'Never would I have thought that the hard boiled Miss Philips had such a soft, sweet centre'.  Despite the short, tight chapters (some only a paragraph), and the humour, it is not a light read at all.  It is a fable, but a rather bleak and grim one. We never quite get a sense of the setting and I found myself wondering whether the characters were perhaps living in an alternative history, a kind of post World War Two totalitarian regime. There could also be historical parallels drawn here with the deception of the moon landing, since there have been conspiracy theories about moon landings, hoaxes supposedly staged by NASA. I’m sure that each reader will create their own idea of this world but you probably need to be older to appreciate the historical realism, and to see what Standish, as first person narrator, does not see at first, the gap between the appearance and the reality.  The characterization is good, particularly Standish, and despite his oddness and the weirdness surrounding him he becomes a rounded, real person, a “crazy brave muddle” who we want to find freedom for himself and his friends and family.

This is an unusual book, a quick read but a thought provoking one.

Maggot Moon was published by Hot Key Books in 2013. Edition shown is paperback edition, ISBN 9781471400445, 279pp

Pearl Crossfield has recently retired after a career working for an Insurance Company and Local Government.  She can’t remember a time when she did not enjoy reading and recently studied Literature part-time with the Open University.  After all, there's little better than being able to discuss books with other like-minded people!

Guest Book Review: Fallen Land by Patrick Flanery

Each year I have the pleasure of working with a group of readers to collectively select the books that will feature in a reading programme, Summer Reads. Between August 2013 and January 2014, the Readers' Circle will work through a longlist of more than 150 books to find the 6 titles that we fall in love with and want to recommend to other readers. And throughout that period I'll be posting some of the reviews here on Books, Time and Silence. 
*Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of this book.

Guest Review by Ann Browne

Fallen Land is probably the best novel I have read this year. It is set in the present, in the shadow of the global financial crisis, but there is a feeling of the not too distant future about the events. This allows the book to work both at the level of realism and of parable, a device which enables Flanery to present an extreme and powerful vision of a failing society. 

The Fallen Land is America but it could be almost any developed society that is disintegrating or suffering economic, moral and social collapse. Its citizens have been cast out of what could have been a paradise. The American dream has become a nightmare. Built on the misery of others, the land and its people are rotting. This is a haunting and bleak picture of a society in which no one trusts anyone and where greed and fear have become its guiding principles. 

Patrick Krovik, the character at the centre of the novel, is an almost archetypical tragic hero. He is a hard-working, self-made man, devoted to his family, determined to make a good and secure future for his children but with an obsessive, unthinking belief in the fulfilment of his American dream. Instead of succeeding he loses everything - his family, his business, his ambition and his pride. He is reduced to living without dignity like a trapped and wounded animal that must be put down. 

Louise Washington, the other central figure, acts as a foil to Krovik. But there is no place for her memories or dreams in this society. In this world even social enterprises such as prisons and schools are run for profit and their regimes are organised in ways that are intended to produce unreflective automata rather than civilised citizens. 

Krovik is destroyed and Louise cannot survive so what is the future for developed societies? Does it lie in the hands of those who create obedient robots without individuality, personal hopes or a sense of community? And will the inhabitants continue to trample on the past rather than learn from it, pursuing returns and revenue at the expense of civilised and humane values?  

Fallen Land is an ambitious novel on a grand scale.  It presents big ideas and asks big questions about society and the direction it might take. It has and will, I am sure, continue to stay with me.

Fallen Land was published by Atlantic Books in May 2013. ISBN: 9780857898777, 422pp

Ann Browne
I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I was fortunate to be able to share my passion for reading, writing and language first, as a teacher of young children and later as a lecturer. Now that I am retired, I can immerse myself in books even more. Being part of the 2013 Summer Reads readers’ circle was an absolute joy. I discovered new authors and enjoyed discussing the books with others. I am sure that the 2014 readers’ circle will be just as rewarding and exciting.