Sunday 24 March 2013

The Almond Tree Review

almond
I'd just like to say I won this novel through Goodreads Giveaway, and spoilers follow:
If the Almond Tree can be described with one word that both sums up its inspiration, content and ambition it's 'grim'. This is never clearer than the opening chapter, described through the eyes of a young boy as he watched his baby sister chase a butterfly out of a house, across the street and into a minefield. It's a grim tale about a boy persecuted for being an Arab boy in an Israeli state, of his escape through education and the hunt to redeem himself via his family. It depicts the living conditions of real people and runs across many historical events of the last fifty years accurately (as far as I can tell, although I must confess I am no historian and woefully ignorant about some things that I should not be), I just 'wish' I could say it was based on a true story but sadly the redemption found in the end by Ichmad is not one that our dreary real world has accomplished yet.

Monday 4 March 2013

‘The City at the End of Time’ Review

Or the 'Slow Painful Death of Reality'...
city

There's a brilliant tale somewhere in 'The City at the End of Time', it's a book full of pregnant thoughts and weighty expectations but in the end I admit I was left just as unfulfilled as I did when launching into this difficult piece of prose. By splitting his story between so many characters Greg Bear risked spreading his story too thin but in fact it's perhaps the characters themselves that let the grander tale down.