The Fishermen - deeply moving

Shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, The Fishermen, by Chigozie Obioma, is the story of four brothers living in a small town in Nigeria. When their father leaves home for work, the four boys start to skip school and go to the local river to fish, despite the river being forbidden territory. On one occasion, they encounter a madman who predicts that the oldest brother will be killed by one of his siblings. This affects the eldest brother enormously, and he starts to retreat into himself, isolating himself from the perceived danger of his once inseparable siblings. Despite everyone's efforts to dissuade him, he firmly believes that his destiny is set and that it is only a matter of time before the inevitable happens. What follows is a litany of tragedy for the family involving death, revenge, imprisonment and breakdowns, all of which is set against the backdrop of political upheaval in the country. Told from the point of view of nine-year-old Benjamin, this is a tour-de-force of story telling. Yes, there aren't many laughs, but it is gripping and has an almost fairy tale quality at times. The relationship between the four brothers is beautiful to begin with, but falls apart in a way that is desperately sad but also very relatable. The language is both dreamlike and childlike, and carries the reader along to inevitable ending. It's like a ride that you want to get off all the time you are on it, but once it's over, you can't wait to get back on board. Memorable for the writing, but also, in my case the expressive narration of Chukwudi Iwuji, I can heartily recommend the audio edition. NB: Tissues not included! 

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 304 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.98

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.

The Garden of Angels - A Family Secret

The Garden of Angels, by David Hewson, is set in Venice and begins during the summer of 1999, where 15-year-old Nico is suspended from school for a week after he fails to come to the rescue of a Jewish classmate being attacked by bullies. He seeks solace with his beloved grandfather Paolo, who is dying. When Paolo presents him with a yellowing manuscript, and tells Nico that it's a history lesson that he must keep secret from his father, the teenager is intrigued. But as he starts to read, he sees Paolo's story unfold during the Nazi occupation of Venice in 1943, Nico begins to wonder if he ever really knew his grandfather at all. Part of the renowned weaving family of "House of Uccello", Paolo's parents are killed in a bombing raid and he is trying, with the only employee left, to complete the final order his father had obtained - even though it is from someone he despises. When he is approached to help hide a Jewish brother and sister, he agrees, but it is a decision that brings life-changing consequences. This is a powerful and moving story of family, love and desperation during a dark period in Italian history where survival of the body often went hand in hand with a battle for the soul. Filled with drama, twists and turns and, as time goes on, a sense of foreboding, this is a gripping thriller as well as a family drama. It is also thought provoking and brings a new (to me) perspective of life in Italy during the second world war. Beautifully narrated by Richard Armitage, I felt completely immersed in the lives of each character and didn't want the book to end. But, of course, it did! Highly recommended.

My STAR rating: FIVE

Length: 320 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.98.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Girl, Woman, Other - Stick With it!

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo won the Man Booker Prize (jointly with Margaret Atwood's The Testaments) in 2019. It is an unconventional novel, in that it has the feel of a series of short stories written in a poetical manner, each focusing on different characters. At first it's a bit of shock when you move on to the next story, as you are kind of left hanging! But then the more you read on, the more links you see between the various characters until finally, it is all brought together at the very end in what could possibly be seen as a conveniently neat bow. The book follows several generations of mainly black, British women, all navigating the challenges of family, love, loss and how that moulds their personal identity, in terms of race, sexuality and economic standing. There are so many characters that I don't feel able to outline them all. I struggled to get into this book, as I found it hard to relate to almost everyone and found myself having to really try hard to like any of them. However, as time went on, I did start to get into some kind of rhythm (and Hattie helped massively with that), and really wanted to know how things would turn out with all of the mothers, daughters, friends and creative partners featured. At times, some of the characters may be being used as political mouthpieces which led, in my opinion, to some unbelievable dialogue, but to hear such viewpoints in a novel is no bad thing. This book challenges preconceptions, and shines a light on the lives of people from a range of backgrounds and experiences that are not often visible in literature. I think it's definitely one that would split the audience, but I'm so pleased that, after a shaky start, I stuck with it.

My STAR thing: FOUR.

Length: 464 print pages.

Price I paid: Free, borrowed from library as an audiobook.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook