Catching up with my holiday reads:
34 All the Hopeful Lovers by William Nicholson. This was a RWYO - it has been sitting on my kindle for years. I see from the blurb that it's a sequel to The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life and features most of the same characters, but I read that back in 2014 so I didn't remember any of them! Basically it's about a loosely connected group of people of varying ages falling in love, having affairs etc. It's pretty good, although I think it might have been better to have fewer characters and focus on them in more detail. Also I was really disappointed in the outcome for one couple!
35 Beloved by Toni Morrison. I expect most of you have already read this. Sethe, an ex slave, is living alone with her daughter since her two sons left home and her mother-in-law died. Their home is haunted by the presence of her other daughter, who died as a baby. We gradually find out about Sethe's earlier life and the death of her daughter. Some of the details of the treatment of slaves were new to me, and very distressing. So it's not a comfortable book to read, but it is incredibly powerful.
36 The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine. Long listed for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction. This is about the sexual assault of a teenage girl by three teenage boys at a party, told from multiple viewpoints. I thought it was excellent - very much "show not tell" and one that keeps you thinking after you've finished it.
37 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. As a result of the Covid lockdown, Lara and Joe's three young adult daughters have returned to their parents' cherry farm and are helping with the harvest. To pass the time, Lara tells them about the summer over 30 years ago when she was a young woman acting in a production of Our Town and had a fling with one of the other actors, who went on to become a famous movie star. I am a Patchett fan and I loved this. One of her best.
38 The Names by Florence Knapp. Much reviewed on this thread, this is the story of a baby boy who is named, in the three versions of his life, either Bear, Julian or Gordon. The book follows the repercussions of each name for the boy, his mother Cora and sister Maia. I enjoyed this, although the way in which we visit the characters once every seven years means that there's always a lot of big stuff going on (births, deaths, divorces etc) in each of the storylines, which I found a bit off-putting. I remember feeling the same about The Heart's Invisible Furies (which also shifts forward in 7-year jumps) - I think I prefer a plot which unfolds in a more gradual, natural manner.
39 Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry. Another thread favourite, this is an interesting and moving account of Perry's father in law's death from cancer. My parents are in their 80s so I worry that I may have this ahead of me.
40 The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami. Another from the WP long list (this time from last year). Set in the near future, the concept for this novel is that we should be able to predict violent crimes before they occur (eg a mass shooter may have a dodgy internet search history, a couple of minor convictions, a tendency to fall out with colleagues etc). The algorithm comes up with an individual's "risk score" based on hundreds of data points (even including their dreams!), and when your risk factor is above a certain level you can be detained without notice. Obviously it's impossible to prove that you weren't about to commit a crime, which is frustrating for Sara when she finds herself detained. This is a very clever idea and mainly well executed, but I thought it was let down by its ending. It just seemed to peter out.