Demob Happy

John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas I’m naturally suspicious of the recent glut of novels marketed as children’s literature for adults (see ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ and ‘The Life of Pi’), but this is a darker proposition. The Holocaust makes for a particularly poignant subject for John [...]

[Read more →]

Reading of responsibility 9/10 The Reader is a subtle, thought-provoking work that continues – but does not quite belong to – a tradition of Holocaust literature. The novel very cleverly raises questions about the nature of complicity and the boundaries of responsibility. It also examines the idea of collective ‘amnesia’ and its consquential twin, collective [...]

[Read more →]

Remains of Old Europe 9/10 ‘Remains of the Day‘ is a subtle, thought-provoking work, and perhaps Anthony Hopkins’ all-time best performance. He plays Stevens, a career butler at the service of Lord Darlington, a Nazi appeaser who uses his diplomatic influences to promote cross-cultural ties with Germany in the early 1930s. Stevens is a dutiful [...]

[Read more →]

A piece of my mind … 6/10 Anne Michaels’s book is a highly evocative yet frustrating read. She is well-equipped with atmospheric language to describe the seasonal sights and smells from Poland to Greece and Canada. There are long and dreamy passages devoted to the sensations of time and place – the aromas and tastes [...]

[Read more →]