Couples by John Updike

I couldn’t get into this book at first, and I’m still not sure of the reason for the first section, except for introducing us to Piet Hanema, the horrible main character of this novel, a colourless and motiveless man. But I’m glad I stuck with it.

With the second section we get to know more about the other four Tarbox couples, who socialise and commit adultery in a seemingly endless round. The other characters are far more engaging than Piet, and the most interesting of all is Foxy, who has just moved to Tarbox with her husband Ken.

Whilst Piet would seem to be the character we are meant to sympathise with, Foxy is far more complex and becomes the prime mover in the novel. Where Piet is passive, she is proactive.

The relationships between all the couples are complex, and the story is captivating once you are fully in it. Updike likes his descriptions, of weather, scenery, houses, interiors even. The scenic and weather descriptions are effective, they draw you in further, but I found myself becoming annoyed to read yet more about someone else’s wallpaper and sofa when I want to know who’s going to flirt with who, and who’s going to find out. But on the whole a really worthwhile read, and this is a writer who at least credits his readers with being able to see what he’s getting at without spelling it out.
(81/100)

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Kim Edwards would seem to be the wordier sister of Sue Monk Kidd, and that’s saying something. It’s an interesting story of an panicky decision taken by a doctor that affects him and his family for the rest of his life. But it’s ruined by unsympathetic characterisation, over explanation and being dragged out too long. It’s also annoying when phrases that are initially strikingly beautiful are repeated throughout the novel until the become cliché; for instance ‘the silverfish’ of vision when someone is feeling faint.
(68/100)

The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill

I’d read ‘Air and Angels’ by Susan Hill many years ago, and remembered it as being a thought provoking, well-written novel. I picked this up in the ‘crime’ section of the library whilst checking for some Ian Rankin, and wondered if it was the same author. According to the list at the front of the book, it was. You’d never guess from the writing.

It is written in the style of a workmanlike crime thriller. But the crime is incidental, and the thrills are pretty few and far between. Apparently (according to Susan Hill’s fans), this isn’t meant to be a crime thriller at all, but some kind of family saga, centring around Simon Serrailler, who happens to be a detective. Yet the characters are made of cardboard, and though the family is the only link between the two main strands of the book, I didn’t care enough about any of them for it to make a difference. So in effect, the storylines were disparate and not interesting enough in themselves to make reading the book worthwhile.

There was one interesting and surprising twist, but where we could have had an interesting insight into the mind of a serial killer, or the policeman in charge of the case, or the effect on the families and friends of any of these, or even some kind of examination into the nature of death, we just have a pointless meandering pair of tales, haphazardly dragging in multiple poorly-delineated characters.

I never did find out the relevance of the woman who died of CJD, her husband, and the whole of that storyline, except to give Hill something to do with Simon’s tediously virtuous sister.

The serial killer is found due to chance and the bodies needed for a successful prosecution are discovered by (cliché alert) a dog. Simon Serrailler might as well not have bothered to go to work for the whole of the book. I really wish I hadn’t bothered reading it.
(35/100)

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

More philosophy than sci-fi in a way, especially as the technology is pretty 50s-inspired. Although it’s set way in the future, in a time when the origins of the human race are forgotten, it’s actually an examination of the nature of empires, and what happens when they decay. It introduces the concept of psychohistory, and looks at how one man used this to shape the future. We witness, over the span of almost a thousand years, several crises of the Foundation he creates, and how these are resolved. On the way, the book examines the role of religion, trade, heredity, science and politics on shaping society. Each section takes the form of a short story, interlinked with the others. Really interesting, even if you’re not into sci-fi usually.
(79/100)