Thurmaston Reading Group Book Reviews 2009
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
This crime story is set in the world of nursery rhymes where they are tring to discover who killed Humpty Dumpty.
This was a very strange story which didn’t capture those in our reading group. The author’s sense of humour seemed to be an acquired taste and we are sure some people with similar tastes in humour would really enjoy this book. However this is not a book we would recommend to most people.
This crime story is set in the world of nursery rhymes where they are tring to discover who killed Humpty Dumpty.
This was a very strange story which didn’t capture those in our reading group. The author’s sense of humour seemed to be an acquired taste and we are sure some people with similar tastes in humour would really enjoy this book. However this is not a book we would recommend to most people.
Mosquito by Roma Tearne
The book is the love story of a middle-aged author, Theo Saramanjeeva, and a young, budding artist, Nulani. But it is set in the midst of a civil war, with Tamils fighting for land of their own in Sri Lanka. The scene, beautifully described in the first part of the book, rapidly descends into bombings, murder, torture and kidnap, all graphically described. Theo, kidnapped and tortured, is eventually released, while Nulani is bundled out of the chaos by Theo’s devoted servant, Sugi, and Theo’s artist friend Rohan and his wife Guilia.
The last part of this astonishing book concerns their meeting again in the west after their escape when, many years later, the aged and physically destroyed Theo meets Nulani, now a recognized and talented artist. You are left to draw your own conclusion as to the outcome of their meeting.
I couldn’t put this book down, but it certainly isn’t bed-time reading. Reading it at the present time, when Tamil Tigers have just been fighting for their lives in northern Sri Lanka gave me an insight into their rights in that island. I had no idea that Tamils had originally been shipped to Sri Lanka from India. Encapsulated in this book is a piece of very modern history.
The book is the love story of a middle-aged author, Theo Saramanjeeva, and a young, budding artist, Nulani. But it is set in the midst of a civil war, with Tamils fighting for land of their own in Sri Lanka. The scene, beautifully described in the first part of the book, rapidly descends into bombings, murder, torture and kidnap, all graphically described. Theo, kidnapped and tortured, is eventually released, while Nulani is bundled out of the chaos by Theo’s devoted servant, Sugi, and Theo’s artist friend Rohan and his wife Guilia.
The last part of this astonishing book concerns their meeting again in the west after their escape when, many years later, the aged and physically destroyed Theo meets Nulani, now a recognized and talented artist. You are left to draw your own conclusion as to the outcome of their meeting.
I couldn’t put this book down, but it certainly isn’t bed-time reading. Reading it at the present time, when Tamil Tigers have just been fighting for their lives in northern Sri Lanka gave me an insight into their rights in that island. I had no idea that Tamils had originally been shipped to Sri Lanka from India. Encapsulated in this book is a piece of very modern history.
Page Last Updated: 15 November 2011
