This Week in Books!
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
Review:
One of the best debut novels I've come across in a long time. This novel is like a new-age fairy tale: enchantingly beautiful, captivating, and ensnaring. Centering around Meridia, a girl whose parents are disinterested in her existence, it follows her through adulthood - and chronicles her relationship with Daniel, a middle class boy whose fated to go into the family business. It is a wonderful critique on love, family-structures, and the evolution of relationships. When reading this novel I felt like I was exploring another world completely, and to be honest I'm still not sure if the setting of this novel was during the Victorian era, 1950s, or modern day... all of those details were discarded and the focus placed solely on human relations.
I found the novel structure interesting - it is more than just a coming-of-age novel: you journey through her entire life, and through her eyes explore the lives of the people around her - watching as they grow, change, learning who they are and why they became that way. While it is a love story, it is an accurate depiction of love - happily ever after does not exist. It tackles the trials and tribulations of marriage, the disenchantment that can accompany it, infidelity, and how in-laws really can be the devil incarnate.
Despite its realistic narrative, Of Bees and Mist never overwhelms you or feels heavy and this is largely in part to the author's wry wit. Reminiscent of Oscar Wilde, his tone brings to the table a light-hearted sarcasm that aids to balance the novel. I highly suggest this to anyone who enjoys a well-written romance, coming-of-age scenarios, or is just looking for an excellent work of fiction.
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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Review:
A fun, if somewhat simple, novel. It centers around Flavia - an 11 year old with an adeptness for Chemistry, and particularly poisons (I think I actually learned more about chemistry reading this book than I did in school :X). After a puzzling bird is left on their doorstep with its beak through a stamp, a murder occurs on her family estate, and the police, having no other leads, arrest her father. Considering her two older sisters worthless, the cook too simple, and the butler/handyman too mentally unstable from war, she goes solo and starts her determined investigation to clear his name. Set in the 1950's, it is entertaining to watch as she sneaks about, lies, and gets into - and out of - all types of shenanigans.
The only critique I have to offer is that the novel felt very forced in some places. For instance, the stamp plays a large part in Flavia sorting out the murder, and exposition into the world of stamp-collecting was given, but it felt more like a plug of the author's own interest and managed to break the flow of the chapter rather than add meaning to it. The same thing occurred with other subjects - it just felt very disjointed. I also thought the plot was a little simplistic - I correctly guessed who the murderer was 150 pages before the main character did which made me feel like I was waiting for the plot to catch up with me. Perhaps this was done on purpose to open the book up to a wider range of readers, I'm not sure. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the novel. It was certainly charming, and in some instances I felt like I was gazing into a looking glass at my own childhood, but this is not the novel to pick up if you're looking for mental stimulation, or a real brain-teasing mystery.
I made it through the entire book in two days, reading only before bed. I would suggest it if you're looking for an easy read, want a book to take on a trip, just finished reading something intense and need an intellectual breather, or are looking for a gift to give your niece or nephew in a subtle attempt to ensnare them into the world of reading and/or mystery novels.
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Also read Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, but as this book is so well known and considered a classic I didn't think a review was needed. Worth the read if you are into supernatural books or want to read the "first gothic novel". I would like to note that Horace Walpole and Hugh Walpole are NOT related, despite certain anthologies publishing the otherwise :)
Also just started Her Fearful Symmetry last night but someone else has just posted a review so I'll leave that alone!