SLADE HOUSE by David Mitchell

5/5

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House (October 27, 2015)
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Overview

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents—an odd brother and sister—extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late. . . 

My view

Unable to put this novel down, I finished reading around two in the morning, needless to mention, sleep was hard to come.

Although only 256 pages long, David Mitchell kept me reading every page with anticipation. Slade House is by far one of the more erudite novel of this genre. You will not find bloody scenes, what you will find is exquisite paranormal activity which will entice you as it does the chosen victims, however you the reader will escape...

Every nine years, begining in 1979 you will accompany a special guest to Slade Alley, a tiny black door will open onto a majestic Manor.  You will be met by the Grayer twins, Norah and Jonah...we the reader will always escape, not so the guest.

As the novel progresses I found myself wanting to keep reading, the premise David Mitchell presents to the reader is adictive, the ending very satisfying indeed.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves this genre, Stephen King comes to mind, although Slade House seems to me more erudite, exquisitly narrated, very effective indeed.

Slade House is a little jewel.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this advance copy in return for an honest review 

October Reading 2015

Finished reading 

5/5

Personal copy

Finished/ reviewed
5/5

arc

Personal copy

EAT HIM IF YOU LIKE by Jean Teule

                                           

                                          5.5
Pages: 112
Publisher: Gallic Books
Publication Date: November 1,  2011
Copy: Publisher


Summary
A true story. Tuesday 16 August 1870, Alain de Monéys makes his way to the village fair. He plans to buy a heifer for a needy neighbour and find a roofer to repair the roof of the barn of a poor acquaintance. He arrives at two o'clock. Two hours later, the crowd has gone crazy; they have lynched, tortured, burned and eaten him. How could such a horror be possible? With frightening precision, Jean Teulé reconstructs each step of one of the most shameful stories in the history of nineteenth-century France.

My view
5 stars stand for the author, Jean Teule, an erudite, wonderful writer.
I am afraid this translation will keep many from pursuing this author any further, which would be indeed a mistake. " Eat Him If You Like " is a historical novel. Yes it is hard to read, as are many horror novels  we devour ( no pun intended ). Why does this story disgust us ? The fear that we humans are able of such attrocities? We know to well in 2015 that it is so.
The time period was a time of war, change and uprising in France. The goodhearted man found himself surrounded by an illiterate mob in a neighbouring village to his own, certainly a tragic step . In times of upheaval, what might seem right otherwise, can send an uneducated mob to do what ordinarily they would not envisage.
Perhaps the visuals we receive today, via internet do not affect us as much as the written word when such atrocities happen...

Thank you to Gallic Books and NetGalley for this copy in return for an honest review

TRISTANO DIES by Antonio Tabucchi

                                         

                                        5.5

Publication Date: September 29, 2015

Publisher: Steerforth Press

Pages: 160

Copy: Publisher

Summary:

It is a sultry August at the very end of the twentieth century, and Tristano is dying. A hero of the Italian Resistance, Tristano has called a writer to his bedside to listen to his life story, though, really, “you don’t tell a life…you live a life, and while you’re living it, it’s already lost, has slipped away.” Tristano Dies, one of Antonio Tabucchi’s major novels, is a vibrant consideration of love, war, devotion, betrayal, and the instability of the past, of storytelling, and what it means to be a hero.

My view;

This is my first novel by Antonio Tabucchi.

First, I'd like to mention a touching story at the onset of this novel, about elephants...yes...elephants. Antonio Tabucchi worked magic introducing them along with his character Tristano. Although they are not an integral part of this beautiful novel, Tristano shares their ritual. This being a Galley, I will wait until the novel is published to share said ritual.
As the novel begins, Tristano's life is coming to it's end, one last request remains.  Our protagonist summons an author he keeps in high esteem, hired to transcribe his long life by proxy.
Tristano remembers his youth, wearing the enemy's uniform, Greece, Daphne, his love, life... it's simplicity it's challenges. Morphine for his pain, color his memories.  Each memory carries subtle details, nuances unknown to the hired author, who continues to write what he hears, the soul of these words belonging to Tristano alone, not ever to be found within the finished memoir.
Such a beautiful novel for sure, to be read when one has time to reflect on life.

I received this galley from Archipelago and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORT LIST 2015

          

Tom McCarthy 5 novels

Marlon James 3 novels

Sunjeev Sahota 2 novels

Hanya Yanagihara 2 novels

Anne Tyler 20 novels

Chigozie Obioma 1 novel

I feel Anne Tyler at 73 with 20 novels, all well received, could win the Man Booker Prize. It isn't 
unusual for an artist/writer to be honored for a lifetime achievement. Why is this on my mind?Considering the
competition, it surprised me to see Anne Tyler nominated.
Her novels are are tender, and her prose beautiful. The MAN BOOKER PRIZE is awarded to an exceptional literary work.

I personally have to yet read any of these novels, the views
expressed by the ladies on the ( WO ) MAN BOOKER Challenge
encouraged me to read each novel through their excellent reviews.