Sorry, this is going to be both long and short - attempting to catch up on reviews of middling reads:
The Dark Half - Stephen King
My first SK. I wanted to swerve the famous stories/series already familiar from adaptations, so chose this standalone on blurb appeal - which, after a promising setup, turned out to be painfully mid. And the ending was just silly. I know his later work often gets criticised for bloat but this from 1989 already felt like a potentially fun 50-page story inflated to 500. The writing was snappy enough that I did make it to the (very silly) end, and there were one decent bit of body horror, but characterisation was sorely lacking (and what there was felt rather dated) - if that's a feature rather than a bug, this will also be my last SK.
The House with the Golden Door - Elodie Harper
FortunaMajor warned this series took a real dive after the first book and how right she was. Pale imitation/rehash of its runaway hit predecessor, and I was not surprised to read in the afterword it had been rush-written during Covid lockdown while homeschooling a young child. Still, an easy no-brainer page-turner and I enjoy AD70s Pompeii setting enough to read the concluding book of the trilogy in hopes of seeing a favourite character finally getting their revenge (no, not Vesuvius.)
The House in Cornwall - Noel Streatfeild
Recently republished 1939 children's book with Lucy Mangan intro. Odd foray into Blytonesque adventure, and read like it was dashed off as a bit of escapist light entertainment for evacuees, with some modelling of healthy ways to cope with anxiety. For diehard completists only - though speaking as one, I did enjoy the pre-Curtain Up iteration of Sorrel the Responsible Eldest (and best ninja), and a moustache-twirling precursor to the questionable guardians of some later books (including Saplings). As always, the best bit involved Contriving of Suitable Clothing from Limited Materials for a Sudden Occasion - here, breaking and entering in dead of night 🥷🏻
Blitz Writing - Inez Holden (ed. Kristin Bluemel)
Inspired by Wifedom to bump this from my TBR, which bundles Holden's Night Shift (1941 novella taking place over a week's worth of night shifts in a London munitions factory) with* It Was Different At the Time (diaries from 1938-1941, pub. 1943) with a critical/biographical intro and notes by the editor. Not sure how to rate this as the novella was excellent (observation and dialogue particular standouts) and a strong bold*, but I found the diaries bitty, simultaneously over- and under-worked, and surprisingly dull (and I lap up the most mundane Mass Obs minutiae). Though pleased that Stevie Smith (Holden's friend) comes across as exactly the total weirdo that Stevie Smith (the writer) does.
Go - Kazuki Kaneshiro (tr. Takami Nieda)
For a winner of the Naoki Prize (in 1996) I was surprised to find this quite so formulaically YA, with cardboard characters (esp. The Girl) and a cartoonishly neat resolution. And a fight scene every few pages, cos shōnen, innit. I think it won for Raising Important Social Issues, and did find it informative (and enraging) on the experiences of the Zainichi Korean community in 90s Japan, including bitter rivalry between North- and South-Korean affiliated Zainichi organisations and the impact of various legislative changes enacted that decade to inch back shameful levels of official discrimination.
The L-Shaped Room - Lynn Reid Banks
Read for the 'Rather Dated' book group, and it certainly fit that brief on isms.Also more YA than expected, so that I felt both too old as well as too young for it. However, I could see its charms for an earlier age (in both senses), in the first-person narrative voice and slice-of-life details.
They - Kay Dick
'Rediscovered' SF classic from 1977. 5 stars for mood and prose style, 1 for consistency/plausibility of dystopian worldbuilding (affinities with The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa.) Some powerfully disturbing scenes, and no less chilling incidental details, but a surprising amount of repetition in a novella-length volume, which lessened the impact of some later stories. Marred by copious class snobbery, which made this seem older than its age. On the strength of the writing, I want to read more of Dick's novels, though apparently this was a wild departure.
Young Queens - Leah Redmond Chang
Longlisted for the WPNF, already reviewed by several 50Bookers. Readable but basic. I wanted more on the queens, Elisabeth of Valois in particular (and other women of the family/circle) and less wiki-level 'Intro to the Reformation' plod. Some oddly naive readings of what were clearly political documents intended for wide distribution, as pure outpourings of their girlish/motherly hearts.🙃
Anansi's Gold - Yepoka Yeebo
Winner of this year's Jhalak Prize. Stranger-than-fiction account of the life of John Ackah Blay-Miezah, a fraudster who amassed millions through the 1970s and 80s by claiming to be the sole trustree of a fund supposedly worth billions, derived from Ghana's stolen national wealth. The con itself boiled down to your basic 'advance fee' grift, but offered an entertaining way to learn about modern Ghanaian history and the global history of cons. I thought the first few and last few chapters were particularly good and politically punchy, but the middle lost focus: a blur of potted biographies and the same basic scenario played out in various countries over the decades, with much backtracking and repetition.
River Spirit - Leila Aboulela
From the Jhalak Prize longlist. Traditional multiple-POV historical fiction set in late 19th C. Sudan. Began excellently (was giving Brotherless Night with greater ambition) setting up a cast of complex, engaging characters on various sides of what would become the Mahdist war, and promising interrogations of faith, love, identity, loyalty, justice.... but while I thought BN kept improving as it went on, the later sections of this frustrated me by (very sloowly) squandering its built-up potential and momentum on a bland romance and constantly having characters getting ill / knocked out / imprisoned etc. while all the action happened offstage.
TBF, the female characters were the most interesting element, and for all my frustration by the end, I still preferred this to many of the books on the WP list.
The Woman in the Purple Skirt - Natsuko Imamura (tr. Lucy North)
Another one that started strong, ratcheted up impressive levels of tension through nothing but the accrual of mundane and often cosy/quirky slice-of-life details, teased insight into contemporary working class Japanese women's lives... and then just fizzled out.
Suspect I've also just reached this turning point in Asako Yuzuki's Butter (2/3 of the way through) hence spamming you lot instead of finding out how low that ends up going.😅Will update when I do and also catch up with the thread (so many great reviews and enviable holidaying!)