Black Swan Green by David Mitchell>

I enjoyed Cloud Atlas, and this was just as good, in a totally different way. It's quite reminiscent and influenced by The Catcher in The Rye, but this book is set in the Malverns, in the 1980s. Anyone who grew up during the 80s will recognise the references (actually, you get the impression that some are put in because Mitchell's done the research, so he's gonna use it: but nowhere near as intrusively as Maria McCann and her ilk), and anyone who's read Cloud Atlas has a little treat in store (I'll say no more, don't wanna spoil the surprise).

It's an easy read, a page-turner, that has you hooked, and Mitchell's real skill is that the story is so thoroughly told from Jason's point of view that you don't see the end coming, because he doesn't. The indications are there from the start, but you are so caught up in Jason's life and problems (his stammer, his struggles to be cool, his family concerns etc) that you forget them as you go along. So for once I was surprised at the 'twist' that really isn't a twist, the total reverse of my usual situation (I truly didn't notice there was a twist in Sixth Sense!)
(90/100)

The Other Side of You by Sally Vickers

This is another author I'd previously enjoyed, having read Mr Golightly's Holiday, which was my second-favourite fiction book of 1996. This book surpasses that one to become one of my favourite books of all time. I would have loved to read it again straight away, there were so many little strands going on. A psychiatrist becomes involved with one of his patients, who herself had an affair which ultimately resulted in her attempted suicide.

Vickers' descriptions of unhappy relationships ring utterly true, as do her descriptions of psychotherapy and psychiatric patients, which has to be a first in my experience. The book is beautifully written, moving, but not sentimental. If anyone is ever tempted to read chick-lit, don't bother and read this instead. It's just as easy to read, far more enthralling, and a hundred times more worthy of your time and money.
(96/100)

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

This doesn't quite live up to The Secret Life of Bees, but it's worth a read anyway. Jessie Sullivan has an affair with a monk when she has to return to an isolated island to care for her mother, who is acting a bit weird. Eventually we find out why, and it's no big surprise. I really liked the central storyline of Jessie and the monk, I loved the little insight from her psychiatrist husband half way through, but the book feels over-written, and unsatisfying at the end. And what is it with US women writers that they are only satified if they've introduced some sort of 'ethnic' feel? I also don't like the way she hits me over the head with how clever she is: 'oooh look, you probably missed what I was alluding to there, so I'd better tell you in black and white, thicko'. I hate that!!
(86/100)

Falling by Olivia Liberty

An interesting first novel. Excellent in the beginning, one third too long. Once you realise why Toby Doubt's girlfriend has left, it really feels like we need to speed to the conclusion, as the driving force of the novel is lost. The characters, previously comic, at times touching, become caricatures. What was an interesting look at a disturbed mind becomes cruel farce. And there is some really weird punctuation and phrasing going on, which I initially thought was meant to somehow be indicative of Toby's state of mind, until I came to a really tortuous attempt at avoiding the so-called split infinitive that made me realise what was really needed here was a decent editor. I'll read her next book though
(70/100)