The Honey Guide, Richard Crompton

This is a murder mystery, I don't read much crime but this one looked a bit different. It is set in Nairobi and the detective is Maasai. 'It will do for Nairobi what Ian Rankin's novels did for Edinburgh, bringing the city vividly and unforgettably to life' according to the back cover. It does seem like it was written at least partly out of a love for Nairobi and Africa. The actual murder and investigation isn't as riveting as fans of crime might hope and the writing is a little ordinary.

It did get me wondering though why so much crime writing seems to be similar. The Honey Guide describes Mollel (the detective) on the back cover as 'a 42-year-old single father whose wife has been brutally murdered. A former Massai warrior, now working for the police' How come detectives have to be tragic and/or flawed? Aren't there other ways to make policemen-protagonists compelling?

Thank you Weidenfeld and Nicolson for the proof!

I am on Is That a Fish in Your Ear? by David Bellos now which is talking about translation, enjoying it so far.

Dear Lucy, Julie Sarkissian

Dear Lucy is a good story beautifully told. Lucy is the main narrator, 'I don't have right words for things and I have no good behaviour'. She is sent to live on the farm with Mister and Missus when her mum can't cope with her. The story is of Lucy and her mother, Samantha, another girl sent to live on the farm, and her baby and Mister and Missus and their family struggles. It is a heartbreaking and beautiful story about trying to cope and 'the secret of growing'

The only thing I wasn't sure about was the ending, the narrative just stops, there is no conclusion. Usually I would say that that was a good thing, you're left to make up your own mind. Here though there is a little niggle, did she end it like that for a reason, or could she just not think of the right way to finish it?

The main thing which rings out of this novel though is Lucy's personality, she is a striking and compelling character. She often doesn't fully understand what she sees, so having her as the main narrator is a little like watching what is happening through fog. You are constantly questioning what you're being told.

Thanks Hodder and Stoughton for the proof!

Just finishing reading The Honey Guide by Richard Crompton now.

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles, Fabio Geda

This is the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari. It is listed as fiction though, so not sure how embellished or cut down it is. This from the back cover 'One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah's mother tells him three things: don't use drugs, don't use weapons and don't steal. The next day, the ten year old Afghan boy wakes up to find she has gone. He is on the border of Pakistan, and he is all alone.'

Enaiatollah goes from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iran to Turkey to Greece and to Italy. Always trying to feel safer.

I was reading an English translation of an Italian novel, the story of which was told to the author in Italian by a boy whose first language is either Pashto or Dari. But it doesn't matter, you get the impression that there are so many children like Enaiatollah and so many people in the same situation, that if it didn't happen quite like that to him, it will have happened that way to someone else.

I don't think there is much else I can say about this, it is too real and it is happening everywhere.

Thanks David Fickling Books for the proof. 

I am reading Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian now. 

In One Person, John Irving

I was really looking forward to reading this, I have loved his other books. His work is usually very beautiful and very lonely. In One Person begins with a quote: 'Thus play I in one person many people, And none contented.'

The novel is narrated by Billy, we meet him at high school and follow him into his sixties. This from the back cover: 'In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy's friends and lovers - a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, it is a intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself 'worthwhile''.

I enjoyed this, though more towards the end. At the beginning it is hard to see it as anything more than The World According to Garp rehashed. There's the year in Vienna, the writing, the transexuals, the wrestling... He also introduces around five billion characters in the first 20 pages. HOWEVER after you get past all that it is a really good novel. It is about family, lovers, figuring out who you are and who you think you're allowed to be and high school infatuations lasting lifetimes.

Thank you Doubleday for the proof!

I've just finished In The Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda, thoughts on that one are coming shortly.