Our Mutual Friend - the destructive forces of wealth

Our Mutual Friend is a bit of a hard-hitting novel, which was published in episodes from May 1864 to November 1865. It may never had been finished at all if Charles Dickens hadn't survived a rail crash, going back into his carriage afterwards to rescue his manuscript. The central theme of the novel for me is the corrupting power of money ... both for those who have too much, and those who have too little. The main action takes place around John Harmon, who is returning to Britain following the death of his father, to claim his inheritance. However, in order to do so, his father's will has stipulated that he must marry the lowly Bella Wilfer, who just might be nothing more than a gold digger. When a body washed up in the Thames is identified as John Harmon, it means that Mr and Mrs Boffin, Mr Harmon's servants, come into the money instead. They initially try to do good with this unexpected wealth, taking Bella under their wing, and accepting the help of John Rokesmith, who acts as their secretary. But sure enough, the money starts to affect Mr Boffin, who thinks people are out to cheat him ... and indeed some are, including the gloriously slimy Silas Wegg. Bella and Rokesmith become close, but when Mr Boffin finds out about this, he turfs out Rokesmith and Bella leaves, disgusted with the change in Mr Boffin. At the same time, a lawyer falls for a poverty stricken girl, only to be confronted by a dangerous suitor who he is in competition with for her affection. Full of social comment on those who think that social status is the be all and end all of things, and including shocking details of how the poor were treated and kept "in their place" as well as a good smattering of anti-semitism, this is a truly epic novel. Despite the grim scenes, it is also a book about love and hope and that there can be rewards for those who keep their moral compass on the right path. There is much to admire in this book, and whilst there are some overly long and indulgent passages that rammed the point home a little too often, it is a book that is worth perservering with. I especially enjoyed the narration in the audio edition I read, which was delivered for over 30 hours by the glorious Simon Vance.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 832 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Dark Side of the Sun - what the heck ...?

I almost cannot bear to write this post, but here goes ... I am a massive fan of Terry Pratchett, and have read much of his work. It usually makes me laugh out loud and fills me with joy. However, The Dark Side of the Sun failed to do either of those things. Instead, it filled me with irritation and confusion. This is an early work, and sits in the science fiction rather than fantasy fiction camp. Our hero, Dom Sabalos is about to come of age, and become the chairman of an entire planet. However, he feels compelled to find the "Jokers World", the home world of the creators of the Universe. It seems that not everyone is happy with this quest and numerous attempts are made on his life. He miraculously escapes death time and again, and it becomes obvious that something extraordinary is going on. Is it fate, probability maths or the gods? The basic plot is sound, but the execution is too complex - yes, I know discussing the origin of the Universe is not exactly simple, but the characters and ideas are too plentiful and come so thick and fast that it is hard to keep up. There were odd flashes of the incredible writer Pratchett was to become when he hit his stride in the Discworld novels, but this foray felt unfocused and disconnected. I loved Isaac, one of the robots, but apart from that, it was a bit of a slog. A real disappointment for me, but maybe some will find it useful to read this work, with the view that it is interesting to see how the writer developed from this book to produce the great things that were to come.

My STAR rating: TWO.

Length: 235 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.00 charity shop.
Formats available: print; MP3 CD; ebook.

The Alchemist's Secret - surprisingly enjoyable hokum!

Hooray ... after what has felt like a bit of time floating around in the doldrums, I have actually read a book which has managed to keep me gripped throughout and also took me out of myself for a while. The Alchemist's Secret, by Scott Mariani is fast-paced, action-packed and incredibly silly ... but I really enjoyed it. Ben Hope's SAS training and tragic past have led him to a life dedicated to rescuing kidnapped children around the world. It is a tough, lonely life, full of danger and with no room for personal attachments. He is contacted by a prospective client with an unusual proposition ... to find the fabled manuscript written by famed alchemist Fulcanelli, which holds the secret to the "elixir of life" in order to save a dying child. Despite some major reservations, Hope takes the job on. This takes him to France and into the path of American scientist, Dr Roberta Ryder, who, unlike the rest of the scientific community, believes that the study of alchemy is a worthwhile endeavour. Their investigations start to attract some unwanted attention, and the bodies start mounting up. It seems that there are powerful agencies out there who also want to find the secret to eternal life. So the chase is on ... who will be first to find the manuscript, and what will it reveal? Yes, our hero is troubled, and yes, there are some predictable scenarios, and yes, some totally unbelievable baddies (one group of which really irritated me). However, despite all of these flaws, The Alchemist's Secret is a great read. Sharp, taut and full of vim, I found myself going along for the ride once I had well and truly suspended my disbelief! This is the first in a series of books featuring Ben Hope, and if you like things like The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, then this will be right up your street.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 496 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.48 (several years ago on Kindle)
Formats available: print; ebook.

A Possible Life - as long as it's a grim one!

It is a long time since I read a book of short stories, and I started A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks,  whose previous work I have enjoyed, with eager anticipation. However I have been left a little dissatisfied. I somehow found it hard to connect with the characters in each of the five different stories. Each is set in a different time and place, from World War II, to Victorian England, Italy in 2029, nineteenth century France and 1970's California. The main character in each is not at ease with their life, and are striving to make the best of things, or at least endure what's being thrown at them, in the hope that a better future is coming. Sometimes this seems attainable, but more often, it is not. I felt that it was a book about the hard slog that life can be, which I suppose is true for almost everyone on the planet ... it's just that I like books to take me away from the slog, not stick the boot in with such relentless determination. Some have said that each story is linked, but I couldn't see it ... except maybe for the undercurrent of melancholy, which I'm not sure the author was going for. Whilst the writing, as you would expect from Faulks, is beautifully done, I was left feeling a bit down in the dumps. There is very little to lighten the load of the characters and scant  hope on offer. It's a short book, but it took me a ridiculously long time to read, which tells me something! Now, off I go to find something to lift my spirits.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 294 print pages.
Price I paid: zero, borrowed from my husband.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Mansfield Park - a little underwhelmed

So, a Jane Austen novel, on audio format, read by the delicious Juliet Stephenson ... I couldn't have been happier ... unfortunately, this feeling didn't last. Mansfield Park is the story of a family in crisis. We start with three sisters, one of whom marries the wealthy Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, the second is widowed young and attaches herself to her well-heeled sister, and one marries the lowly Mr Price and produces nine children. The Price's are struggling, and Sir Thomas agrees to help by taking on one of the daughters, Fanny, as a companion for his own children and sets up her brother in the navy. Time moves on, and after a shaky start, Fanny finds her feet, forming a particularly close bond with her cousin Edmund. When worldly wise siblings, Henry and Mary Crawford move into the neighbourhood, things get complicated. Henry is an outrageous flirt and toys with the affections of both Bertram sisters, and Mary makes a play for Edmund, though is less enthusiastic when she discovers he is intending to become a clergyman. Fanny Price observes all the goings on, but cannot intervene. When the Crawfords take their leave, Fanny hopes things will go back to normal, despite Edmund pining for Mary. However, the Crawfords just will not stay away from the Bertrams and a scandal is inevitable. I have really enjoyed Jane Austen novels, particularly in audio format, but Mansfield Park just didn't do it for me. I found Fanny to be an insipid heroine, without much spark, and I found it hard to like any of the characters much. I felt the story to be overly long, taking an absolute age for anything to happen. Too many scenes are pretty much the same scene regurgitated again and again. There are moments when I thought, at last, here we go, but then things would just dither about again and left me frustrated. And then, at the end, everything was wrapped up so quickly it felt like the author had got so bored that she just dashed off an ending just to get it finished! I expect I wasn't in the right frame of mind for this book, and if I had read it at another time, my reaction may well have been more generous. It certainly won't put me off Austen, whose writing I hugely admire, but I would not recommend that this would be the first of her work to read.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 400 print pages.
Price I paid: £4.95.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, dramatised audio CD, ebook., CD-ROM.