Power, passion and a bit of brutality
Summer reading
Red Sparrow author Jason Matthews’ Cold War spy novels were everywhere when I was growing up in the 1980s. My father seemed to be a huge fan of Fredrick Forsyth, Len Deighton, Adam Hall and John Le Carre.
So much so, that when I think of our old family home in Christchurch I immediately see the large bookcase in the living room with Deighton’s brilliantly named Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy in the middle row.
I read a few of them growing up but never really got the bug for the spy genre. Mrs D might suggest it’s because I’ve got book snob tendencies as I also won’t read her crime novels either. She might be right.
Anyway, these days it’s very unusual for me to read a spy thriller such as Jason Matthew’s Red Sparrow. In fact, I only did so because it was my mother-in-law’s recommendation and her book suggestions are always top notch.
And sure enough I found Red Sparrow to be a cracking story. What’s more, it has an incredible and highly believable level of detail and insight into modern day spying practices. Mathews was a CIA agent for many years. Interestingly, not long after I finished the book, the Russian Spy poisoning scandal broke in the UK. And whenever I read reports about that poisoning story, I always found myself thinking back to what I learned in Red Sparrow. Word of warning though. The film version of Red Sparrow with Jennifer Lawrence really sucked. And I’m no film snob.
Spoils Spoils is one of a growing list of compelling, insightful, albeit harrowing literary fiction to be written about the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Spoils is interesting because it’s told from the perspective of a female US soldier and a young jihadist fighter in Iraq, whose paths cross when the
– Brian Van Reet
soldier is taken hostage. It is pretty brutal at times but nevertheless utterly absorbing.
A Shout in the Ruins
Former soldier Kevin Powers came to fame a few years back for his fantastic Iraq War novel, Yellow Birds. His follow-up A Shout in the Ruins came out this year but this time tells a story of the US Civil War. It feels more complicated and challenging a read than I remember Yellow Birds to be but is worth the effort. Powers seems to write with great historical depth and feeling about the conflict.
Powers – Kevin
Montpelier Parade
I picked this up on a whim at Wellington Airport (which has an excellent new books section, I should
– Karl Geary
add) and I’m so glad I did. This is a great tragic love story set in Dublin in the 1980s. It centres on an unlikely romance between a working class boy and an older rich woman. Didn’t know anything about Irishman Karl Geary before this but his writing hit me from the get-go. If you are a fan of fellow Irish writers John Banville and Anne Enright, you’ll probably like this.
Normal People
Staying with the Irish theme is Sally Rooney’s Normal People. What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this fantastic and hugely popular novel? Not much other than to say it lives up to all the hype that surrounds it. I smashed it in a couple of days but was still thinking about it for weeks. I’m not clever enough to articulate why it was so good. All I can say is that during a busy year, in a busy world in a busy life, it cut through and had a very strong emotional impact on me. I liked the writing so much that I bought her first novel, Conversations with Friends and read that straight away, too. It didn’t disappoint, either.
– Sally Rooney
Baby This twisted, dark and gripping Kiwi thriller tells the story of a young, disillusioned Auckland woman who runs away to Northland with her female yoga instructor. The main character Cynthia is an extraordinary piece of imagination and writing. Quite a few times, I’d find myself muttering aloud about something she’d done or thought. Totally authentic though. Jochems is a talent. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
– Annaleese Jochems