The holder of a Bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation from Clemson University and a master’s from the University of Maryland in Kinesiology, Ms. Martha Swirzinski has more than 20 years of experience working in the field of movement with children.
“More and more research is being developed about the rise of obesity in children,” notes Ms. Swirzinski, who teaches movement education in a local pre-school and offers teacher training workshops and customized consultations. At the same time, numerous studies continue to link increased brain function and movement, she explains. “Being active grows new brain cells!”
Ms. Swirzinski believes that every child should be afforded structured movement opportunities every day to promote an active, healthy lifestyle and become part of a lifelong regime.
It is along this vein that Ms. Swirzinski has published three children’s books focused on movement. Using entertaining rhymes and charming pictures, these developmentally based books offer fun and creative ways for children to move while also providing mind stimulating activities on each page. By following the suggested activities, children can engage in 30-60 minutes of their recommended structured daily movement, as well as enhancing other mind/body skills. Designed to be enjoyed again and again, the pages of these books are filled with laughter, learning, movement and more.
Martha’s books are: “Leap… Laugh… Plop,” “Guess… Giggle… Wiggle,” and “Kick… Catch… Buzz”
Let’s take a moment and get to know more about this fun author.
What do you love most about working with young children?
They hug and give compliments and “always say the darndest things.”
What is most challenging about being a pre-school teacher?
Saying “Goodbye” at the end of the year.
What do you enjoy most about writing children’s books?
I enjoy being creative and imagining the joy the children will experience when reading them.
What is the best way to engage children in story time?
I believe in getting them to be part of the story. My books get children engaged by moving along to the rhymes but moving can be done with any book.
What other writing genre’s interest you?
Mystery, Nonfiction based on my field of study (childhood development), Historical fiction
If a snapshot was taken of you enjoying a perfect day, what would it look like?
On the beach with my family.
Favorite gadget:
Heart shaped waffle maker
Favorite movie(s):
Christmas movies
The book(s) on your nightstand:
The Bible, The Developing Brain by Marilee Sprenger, Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (I’m reading this to my girls. They’ve decided to write a paper on the differences between the book and the movie. It’s been fun finding them.) Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Describe yourself in two words:
Adventurous and Kind
Comfort food:
Fried shrimp and grits
Your secret skill:
Making healthy food fun for my children.
What is your favorite word and why?
Serendipitous because I believe we should all be open to these kinds of moments.
What is your least favorite word and why?
Can’t because I believe the moment that it comes out of your mouth you are defeated.
What is your personal motto?
"A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.” Winnie the Pooh
Any tips for parents and their children?
Safety Tips
Whether we play inside or we play out of doors,
We want to play safely and protect the ones we adore.
1. Teach children about personal space. Have each child extend their arms to the side and turn slowly in a complete circle. Make sure the arms of one child do not touch the arms of another child.
2. Use the concept of freeze. Play areas are often noisy so use your outside voice and yell freeze. Teach the children that when they hear the word freeze they immediately hold the pose that they are in. You can then have them sit down and regain their personal space.
3. Be sure that the proper fitting safety gear is worn for the activity.
4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Drinking water is important when children are exercising, especially when it is hot. The Centers for Disease Control recommends 10 ounces every 15 – 20 minutes.
Tips to Keep Children Active:
Use Outside as your Play Room
· Take a nature hike – name the colors you see, pick up trash for a more pleasant environment, count different types of plants, move like the animals you see.
· Visit a pick your own berry farm
· Play at a neighborhood park
· Ride bikes
· Walk the dog together or just take a walk as a family
· Teach your child how to plant a garden
· Dig for worms and roly poly animals
· Draw on the sidewalk with chalk
Find out what your child likes to do:
· Read- take a walk to the library, pick books that encourage movement throughout the story.
· Draw – draw people being active and act out what they are doing
· Play- Try some of the classic games like Red Rover, Red Light/Green Light, Hopscotch, Tag, Charades, or 4 Square.
· Climb – a tree, a rope, a rock wall
· Dance- turn on the music and DANCE!! No one is watching so be silly and have fun!
Set a positive example:
· Park farther from store entrances
· Take the stairs
· When you go to the park with your child be active with them and have fun playing.
· Eat healthy snacks and meals
· Drinks lots of water
· Take your children places that encourage walking: Zoo, botanical gardens, beach, museums, and parks.
Learn more about Martha at http://www.movementplus.com/ and http://www.wholechildpublishing.com/. Also find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Movement-Plus-/194978907592?ref=ts
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Scottish Version of "Watership Down" Reviewed
Title: The Island of Whispers
Author: Brendan Gisby
Author's Web site: http://www.brendangisby.com/
Genre: Fiction: Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1907407109
Reviewed by George Polly Originally for Amazon and www.tostadaspeaks.blogspot.com a
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars
Reminiscent of Richard Adams' "Watership Down", Brendan Gisby's novel is a mesmerizing tale of conquest, enslavement and yearning for a life of freedom from oppression and want.
Set in Scotland in an ancient ruined monastery on the island of Inchgarvie that was abandoned during the Middle Ages, "The Island of Whispers" tells the story of the conquest and subjugation of the island's indigenous black rat population by much larger (cat-size larger) brown rats that arrived from passing ships. Enslaved, despised and abused by the brown rats, the black rats yearn for freedom and dream of founding a just society somewhere else. The ruling leadership will do anything to snuff it out and exterminate it.
Looking out from his island prison, Twisted Foot sees another land. How could they get there? Could it be a place where he, his mate and his child could have a free life? What about Fat One, Small Face and Long Ears? Would they be interested? And Grey Eyes, Soft-Mover and Bone-Cruncher? They would have to be very, very careful to avoid the sharp eyes and ears of the Protectors and the Inner Circle. Eventually, taking Slayer, the Slave King who escapes during a slave revolt that the authorities brutally put down, they leave the island for their freedom.
What happens then? Does their freedom last? Are Twisted Foot, Fat One and their friends able to establish the just society they were dreaming of? You'll have to read the book to find that out, which - unless you hate rats - shouldn't be a problem, as it's a can't-put-it-down kind of read.
This rat tale is a wonderfully told story of the yearning to be free that's in every person's heart. It's a story that is as ancient as history, and as current as today's news. Inchgarvie could be Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, North Korea, apartheid South Africa, Israel, the U.S., Argentina during the military junta, Chile during Pinochet's rule, Myanmar, the company you work for ... wherever people are kept down, marginalized, despised, and ignored.
Pick up a copy of "The Island of Whispers" in either paperback or Kindle. It's a book you will read again and again.
Will there be a sequel to this story? I certainly hope so.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Brendan Gisby
Author's Web site: http://www.brendangisby.com/
Genre: Fiction: Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1907407109
Reviewed by George Polly Originally for Amazon and www.tostadaspeaks.blogspot.com a
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars
Reminiscent of Richard Adams' "Watership Down", Brendan Gisby's novel is a mesmerizing tale of conquest, enslavement and yearning for a life of freedom from oppression and want.
Set in Scotland in an ancient ruined monastery on the island of Inchgarvie that was abandoned during the Middle Ages, "The Island of Whispers" tells the story of the conquest and subjugation of the island's indigenous black rat population by much larger (cat-size larger) brown rats that arrived from passing ships. Enslaved, despised and abused by the brown rats, the black rats yearn for freedom and dream of founding a just society somewhere else. The ruling leadership will do anything to snuff it out and exterminate it.
Looking out from his island prison, Twisted Foot sees another land. How could they get there? Could it be a place where he, his mate and his child could have a free life? What about Fat One, Small Face and Long Ears? Would they be interested? And Grey Eyes, Soft-Mover and Bone-Cruncher? They would have to be very, very careful to avoid the sharp eyes and ears of the Protectors and the Inner Circle. Eventually, taking Slayer, the Slave King who escapes during a slave revolt that the authorities brutally put down, they leave the island for their freedom.
What happens then? Does their freedom last? Are Twisted Foot, Fat One and their friends able to establish the just society they were dreaming of? You'll have to read the book to find that out, which - unless you hate rats - shouldn't be a problem, as it's a can't-put-it-down kind of read.
This rat tale is a wonderfully told story of the yearning to be free that's in every person's heart. It's a story that is as ancient as history, and as current as today's news. Inchgarvie could be Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, North Korea, apartheid South Africa, Israel, the U.S., Argentina during the military junta, Chile during Pinochet's rule, Myanmar, the company you work for ... wherever people are kept down, marginalized, despised, and ignored.
Pick up a copy of "The Island of Whispers" in either paperback or Kindle. It's a book you will read again and again.
Will there be a sequel to this story? I certainly hope so.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Friday, April 1, 2011
First Novel Impresses Tough Audience
Title: City of the Damned
Author: Stephen Knight
Author's Web site link: http://knightslanding.wordpress.com/
Genre or category: horror
ISBN: 9781458195814
Originally reviewed by Bob Mueller for Ravens Beak
City Of The Damned is the debut novel for author Stephen Knight, available exclusively for e-readers through Amazon and Smashwords. Mark Acheson leads a containment team, dedicated to eradicating a terror most people don’t believe in: vampires. Two years after one of his team members is captured during an operation, Acheson’s team is attacked by the vampire they supposedly destroyed, and the team begins to realize this vampire family is a lot more than they expected. And they’ve got plans.
Knight has written a rollicking vampire story with something for everyone: master vamps, gunplay, sexual tension between main characters, and a touch of vengeance thrown in for seasoning. As the husband of a Nazarene children’s pastor, I’m hardly in Knight’s target audience for vampire stories, but this isn’t just a vampire story. It’s about how people respond to crises and evil, and how those events bring out the best in people, sometimes in spite of themselves.
Knight’s descriptions of military action show a knowledge earned the hard way, especially when it comes to helicopters. It’s clear he’s got a slew of t-shirts. He’s not excruciatingly detailed in the action though, giving the reader just enough information to make the scene, and no more. The realistic interplay between team members reinforces the feeling that Knight has been there, facing the elephant more than once.
City of the Damned is a good, fast read, but don’t read it right before bed. You’ll leave a light on if you do.
Be sure to check out Knight’s blog too, so you can see what’s coming. I think we’ll hear a lot more about Stephen Knight.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Stephen Knight
Author's Web site link: http://knightslanding.wordpress.com/
Genre or category: horror
ISBN: 9781458195814
Originally reviewed by Bob Mueller for Ravens Beak
City Of The Damned is the debut novel for author Stephen Knight, available exclusively for e-readers through Amazon and Smashwords. Mark Acheson leads a containment team, dedicated to eradicating a terror most people don’t believe in: vampires. Two years after one of his team members is captured during an operation, Acheson’s team is attacked by the vampire they supposedly destroyed, and the team begins to realize this vampire family is a lot more than they expected. And they’ve got plans.
Knight has written a rollicking vampire story with something for everyone: master vamps, gunplay, sexual tension between main characters, and a touch of vengeance thrown in for seasoning. As the husband of a Nazarene children’s pastor, I’m hardly in Knight’s target audience for vampire stories, but this isn’t just a vampire story. It’s about how people respond to crises and evil, and how those events bring out the best in people, sometimes in spite of themselves.
Knight’s descriptions of military action show a knowledge earned the hard way, especially when it comes to helicopters. It’s clear he’s got a slew of t-shirts. He’s not excruciatingly detailed in the action though, giving the reader just enough information to make the scene, and no more. The realistic interplay between team members reinforces the feeling that Knight has been there, facing the elephant more than once.
City of the Damned is a good, fast read, but don’t read it right before bed. You’ll leave a light on if you do.
Be sure to check out Knight’s blog too, so you can see what’s coming. I think we’ll hear a lot more about Stephen Knight.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Hopefawn Levenson Reviews Cochran Novel
Title: In Love with Eleanor Rigby
Author: Stacey Cochran.
Author's Web site: http://www.staceycochran.com/
ISBN: 9781456595814.
Reviewed by Hopefawn Levenson for Bookstove.com .
Stacey Cochran's four star novellette, “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is a snack of a story which fills you up and tides you over well until your next meal. Concise and neat, the story has a positive message for people looking for a fresh start or for acceptance.
Cochran’s stream of conscious style of writing in this book reminds me a bit of William S. Burroughs, “Naked Lunch," but simpler to digest and enjoy. Noticeably, “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is ironically about a life rebuilding from the start and not the self-indulgent wallowing of a substance abuser from the bottom of an intoxicating bottle or dropper. The first person perspective offers a look into the psyche and heart of a man struggling with an affliction of his soul. We get an excellent first hand account of the fight or flight phenomenon.
As a protagonist goes, Joe, a likeable carpenter and recovering alcoholic, has an easy manner in spite of his awkward interactions with the his love interest, Tabitha Merriweather and the real world. His struggle to be honest about his dark places inside with someone new is tense and touches a raw nerve in anyone who has wanted to be loved authentically.
If you have a sensitive bone in your body, whether you’ve struggled with the disease of addiction personally or through someone else, or perhaps not at all, this is a poignant, often funny-bone tickling, engaging read.
Mr. Cochran is author of such works as; The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page, and The Legend of the Coral Stone.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Stacey Cochran.
Author's Web site: http://www.staceycochran.com/
ISBN: 9781456595814.
Reviewed by Hopefawn Levenson for Bookstove.com .
Stacey Cochran's four star novellette, “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is a snack of a story which fills you up and tides you over well until your next meal. Concise and neat, the story has a positive message for people looking for a fresh start or for acceptance.
Cochran’s stream of conscious style of writing in this book reminds me a bit of William S. Burroughs, “Naked Lunch," but simpler to digest and enjoy. Noticeably, “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is ironically about a life rebuilding from the start and not the self-indulgent wallowing of a substance abuser from the bottom of an intoxicating bottle or dropper. The first person perspective offers a look into the psyche and heart of a man struggling with an affliction of his soul. We get an excellent first hand account of the fight or flight phenomenon.
As a protagonist goes, Joe, a likeable carpenter and recovering alcoholic, has an easy manner in spite of his awkward interactions with the his love interest, Tabitha Merriweather and the real world. His struggle to be honest about his dark places inside with someone new is tense and touches a raw nerve in anyone who has wanted to be loved authentically.
If you have a sensitive bone in your body, whether you’ve struggled with the disease of addiction personally or through someone else, or perhaps not at all, this is a poignant, often funny-bone tickling, engaging read.
Mr. Cochran is author of such works as; The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page, and The Legend of the Coral Stone.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Deborah Hockenberry Reviews Glenn Stuart Book
TITLE: The Pawnbroker
AUTHOR: Glenn Stuart
PUBLISHER: Black Leaf Publishing http://www.blackleafpublishing.com
PAGES: 180
PRICE: $11.04 (US), CDN$ 11.39 (CA), £7.99 (UK)
FORMAT: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1907407324
ISBN-13: 9781907407321
Reviewed by Deborah Hockenberry, Independent Author
Imagine. You and your friend are riding your bikes and come upon a dilapidated old mansion. Naturally, you and he go into the old house to explore. Suddenly, you can’t find your friend. When you come out, you start having weird dreams about two boys in another time. This is what happens to Jamie after leaving that old house. Why did Jamie start having these dreams and where did his friend go?
Night after night, Jamie has these dreams but they aren’t always the same dream. They’ve always been about the two boys being told to steal from innocent people but now its worse. Now, Jamie witnesses a murder. What do these dreams mean and why is he having them?
Jamie and another friend, Sarah, visit the library to investigate. By reading old newspapers, going through city directories and indexes they find that all Jamie’s dreams actually happened. The jewels that Jamie dreamt that Bert found in the mansion about are real. Even the murder really happened!
In this paranormal story about traveling through time in dreams, Jamie is terrified. The evil Pawnbroker crosses time and will stop at nothing to get the jewels for himself. Even if it means murdering more people!
Will Jamie be able to solve this paranormal mystery? Can he escape The Pawnbroker?
Please visit Glenn Stuart’s Web site to learn more about this master of mystery and his books at: http://www.horroronthecosta.com . Another way to follow this master of paranormal mystery is to go to his page at Facebook and ‘like’ him. Just sign in to Facebook and search for Glenn Stuart. Even another way to keep up with Mr. Stuart is to follow him on his blog at: http://glennstuartauthor.blogspot.com .
~Reviewer Deb Hockenberry's Web site is http://thebumpyroadtopublishing.blogspot.com. She blogs at
http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
AUTHOR: Glenn Stuart
PUBLISHER: Black Leaf Publishing http://www.blackleafpublishing.com
PAGES: 180
PRICE: $11.04 (US), CDN$ 11.39 (CA), £7.99 (UK)
FORMAT: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1907407324
ISBN-13: 9781907407321
Reviewed by Deborah Hockenberry, Independent Author
Imagine. You and your friend are riding your bikes and come upon a dilapidated old mansion. Naturally, you and he go into the old house to explore. Suddenly, you can’t find your friend. When you come out, you start having weird dreams about two boys in another time. This is what happens to Jamie after leaving that old house. Why did Jamie start having these dreams and where did his friend go?
Night after night, Jamie has these dreams but they aren’t always the same dream. They’ve always been about the two boys being told to steal from innocent people but now its worse. Now, Jamie witnesses a murder. What do these dreams mean and why is he having them?
Jamie and another friend, Sarah, visit the library to investigate. By reading old newspapers, going through city directories and indexes they find that all Jamie’s dreams actually happened. The jewels that Jamie dreamt that Bert found in the mansion about are real. Even the murder really happened!
In this paranormal story about traveling through time in dreams, Jamie is terrified. The evil Pawnbroker crosses time and will stop at nothing to get the jewels for himself. Even if it means murdering more people!
Will Jamie be able to solve this paranormal mystery? Can he escape The Pawnbroker?
Please visit Glenn Stuart’s Web site to learn more about this master of mystery and his books at: http://www.horroronthecosta.com . Another way to follow this master of paranormal mystery is to go to his page at Facebook and ‘like’ him. Just sign in to Facebook and search for Glenn Stuart. Even another way to keep up with Mr. Stuart is to follow him on his blog at: http://glennstuartauthor.blogspot.com .
~Reviewer Deb Hockenberry's Web site is http://thebumpyroadtopublishing.blogspot.com. She blogs at
http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Monday, March 21, 2011
Author Rosanne Dingli Reviews Mainstream Fiction
Title: Days Without Number
Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction
Originally reviewed for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction
Originally reviewed for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author Review Fellow Author
Title: Days Without Number
Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction
Originally reviewd for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .
Reviewer: Rosanne Dingli
Website: http://www.rosannedingli.com
Blog: http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com
General fiction
This review first appeared on Amazon.co.uk – January 11, 2004
90% helpful votes (50/58)
Intellectual dilemma - literary or personal?
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
Rosanne Dingli
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ROSANNE DINGLI
Author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,
Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy,
Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,
The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places
http://www.rosannedingli.com
http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com
----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction
Originally reviewd for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .
Reviewer: Rosanne Dingli
Website: http://www.rosannedingli.com
Blog: http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com
General fiction
This review first appeared on Amazon.co.uk – January 11, 2004
90% helpful votes (50/58)
Intellectual dilemma - literary or personal?
Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.
Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.
Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.
He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.
What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?
Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.
The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?
Rosanne Dingli
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ROSANNE DINGLI
Author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,
Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy,
Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,
The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places
http://www.rosannedingli.com
http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com
----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :
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