Saman

Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, Mary Jane

Reviewed: 02-27-20

These are the victims. The murdered women who were individuals, wives, mothers, and unfortunate victims of poverty. All were destitute, some mentally ill, many alcoholic and ill from disease. Not all were prostitutes as deemed at the time. These women were hunted and murdered by a vile Victorian misogynist psychopath. Due to the media reporting, history has promoted and sensationalized the culprit rather than these victims until now.

The author, a social historian, has presented a wonderfully researched book on the lives of the canonical five. Each character‘s background is illuminated against the biases of the late Victorian era where women were mostly invisible. Further, the author highlights the Victorian way of life around Whitechapel and Spitalfield where dosshouses and workhouses are mixed with brothels, slums, and fancy dwellings. She even visits Elisabeth’s life in Gothenburg and Mary Jane’s mysterious visit to Paris. The lives of these broken women who were killed in late 1888 is truly heart breaking.

This is a remarkable book that should be read/listened by all who care for the victims rather than the perpetrator.

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16 people found this helpful

Slow and arduous ...

Reviewed: 01-22-20

Another Booker winner and another intellectual bore. The story set in the Troubles period of Norther Ireland leaves little to the imagination. Names and places do not exist in the novel. They are called by other identifiers such as milkman, real milkman, or over the water. The protagonist, an 18-year-old female, is named middle sister and keeps her emotions close to her heart. To her, silence is golden. She also likes to run with her third brother-in-law and read while walking. This strange behavior attracts uninvited advances throughout the novel.

The author is very smart in her unique writing style, and I can see why the Booker judges were awed by the book. The book does provide intermittent humorous life episodes whilst others evoke sadness or even terror. But overall the story or lack of story, mundane subject matter, and the lack of interesting conversation made me yawn.

Narration was excellent even with the accent.

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1 person found this helpful

Terrific!

Reviewed: 01-06-20

This was my second read from Erik Larson after Dead Wake. The author is a master in picking his subject matter and then writing down the complex history in a readable manner. This is another brilliant study of the Third Reich in its nascent stage of power.

Larson illuminates the period from 1933 to 1934 in Germany with the arrival of William Dodd and family, the USA Ambassador to Germany. This quirky family, fits rather uncomfortably into Berlin where the SA runs amok amongst the camps opposed to National Socialism. Dodd’s early objective is to keep the many US citizens being mercilessly beaten for not conforming to the Nazi salute. Dodd’s daughter Martha also adds to the intrigue by her reckless escapades with all manner of men whilst still being married in the USA. The story is fantastical and yet so horrifyingly true. And it takes a great author to unravel the intricacies of the narrative and present history to the modern reader. Larson does this magnificently. If there is a criticism, the story ends after the Night of the Long Knives in early July 1934. Thereafter we simply get a quick summary for closure.

The most interesting character in the book is clearly Martha Dodd. At 25, she is the light of the household and the numerous parties she attends. She even meets Hitler and slowly changes her political stance from being an apologist for the Nazi regime and onto a Soviet sympathizer through her NKVD lover. Someone should really write a biography of her remarkable life.

Thoroughly recommended for the history lover.

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2 people found this helpful

A difficult listen …

Reviewed: 12-09-19

Knowing the tragic life story of Sylvia Plath, this was certainly a book I wanted to read/listen. The narration provided by Maggie Gyllenhaal is indeed very good. The story of a young woman, circling into mental distress told from the first point of view is quite intriguing. The novel itself is a reflection on the life of Plath. When you look at it in this manner, it becomes somewhat disturbing.

Th story is about a young woman, Esther Greenwood, who is a budding writer and poet. Her struggles to find a career and choose a fulfilling life is the major plot point of the novel. Unfortunately, she is also suffering from an unknown malady that constantly leads her to tears and isolation. After surviving an almost successful suicide attempt, she is summarily admitted to a psychiatric establishment where the treatment reflects the understanding of mental illness at the time. In time, she recovers enough to contemplate an exit from the treatment center.

Whether she finally conquers her ailments are left to the imagination of the reader. Sadly, knowing and understanding mental illness today, it seems unlikely.

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The great man speaks …

Reviewed: 11-19-19

History is magnificent. It is especially wonderous when told from personal experience. These are the words from one of the 20th centuries greatest statesman, Winston Churchill. Controversy surrounds the life of Churchill and his imperialist policies but his dogged determination to warn and then fight the Nazi threat remains indomitable.

This book covers the period from 1920 to 1940, the beginning of the Second World War. Most influential European figures of the time are highlighted including their political views, interactions with Churchill, and their roles within government bodies. Throughout the book, Churchill laments the mistakes made by the appeasers of the time who continue to talk peace whilst Germany and Italy continue to break agreements, rearm in strength, and carve out Europe and Afrika. Hawkish and militaristic, Churchill plays an outsiders role during this calamitous period of inaction by the allied powers. Yet his prediction of a world war becomes a stunning reality in 1939.

However, there is also disappointment in his narrative. Churchill provides very little background to the suffering of the Jews in Germany during this period. In addition, his own isolationist views on the Spanish Civil War are clearly recorded. This forms a complex enigma. At the end, as historians have noted, this is Churchill’s own narrative and sometimes even a little promotional.

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Superbly Written!

Reviewed: 11-06-19

I have watched the movie several times over the last few years and wondered about this book for a long time. As the 1989 Booker winner, it had to be read/listened. What a wonderful surprise it turned out to be. The author provides us a remarkable insight into the tumultuous period of the 1920s where the English gentry is on the wane. As the world changes, a remarkable manservant’s story unfolds to illuminate the attitudes of service and blind faith.

The greatest theme in the book is dignity. It is discussed throughout the book and illustrated in many forms including a few exemplary life situations. Mr. Stevens, the butler who serves Lord Darlington lives by this trait absolutely. Even though other characters appear within the pages to add context to the story, the reader remains riveted to the relationship between Mr. Stevens and the housekeeper Miss Kenton. Their entente is comic, stormy, and sometimes affectionate. But Mr. Stevens is never able to escape his properness, servitude and emotional weakness. Their hidden affection to each other is never realized.

Ultimately it is a tragic story. A life wasted by decorum and tradition. Simply a marvelous book.

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Super listen - great Booker winner!

Reviewed: 10-14-19

This was a gem of a book. In it lies incredible historical writing that illustrates a darker period of British commerce. The story captures your heart with a collection of incredible characters spread over a decade with intrigue, sadness, and humor. The triangular trade of the 18th century is amplified by the author to reflect the greed of many on the backs of West African slaves, and the incessant hunger for profit deemed the “Sacred Hunger”.

The story revolves on the voyage of the “Liverpool Merchant”, its crew and the disease ridden onboard slaves. The main characters include the ship doctor Matthew Paris, a likable polymath of sorts, and the profit driven Captain Thurso, an evil opposite of Paris. Into this mire the author introduces the cousin Erasmus Kemp, a forlorn and vengeful character driven to undo a wrong. The description of the sufferings of the slaves are harrowing as is their murders. Yet the creation of the utopian community in Florida’s backwaters, all but brief, hints at a glimpse of humanity in an otherwise very dark age.

The narration of this book is simply fantastic. A very worthy Booker winner in 1992, sharing the price with the “The English Patient”.

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1 person found this helpful

Deep and meaningful …

Reviewed: 09-16-19

So much has been written about this novella, there is much to debate about its contents. It has been argued that it is deeply racist whereas others defend it as a piece of extreme anti-colonialist writing. In whichever camp you belong, most agree it is a masterful piece of writing. Conrad was a Polish author who learnt English later in life. Yet he is known today as a prominent English novelist.

The story within the story, i.e., frame story, captures the tail of Charlie Marlow, a sailor, who works for the Company in the heart of Africa. Clearly the story follows Conrad’s own experiences in the Belgian Congo. In Africa, Marlow attempts to retrieve Kurtz, an ivory hunter who follows a violent and extreme lifestyle outside the norms of European behavior. Kurtz has an army of adoring native followers and a local black mistress. Towards the end of the novella, Marlow too falls for the enigmatic Kurtz as the latter lays dying on his steamer. This novella was the basis for Coppola’s film decades later in ‘Apocalypse Now’.

This is an amazing book with incredibly long sentences, and deep meaningful insight into the colonial past. The Belgian Congo had a horrid history under the chains of King Leopold II. Conrad clearly knew of the atrocities as he would have seen them first hand during his excursions in the 1890s. Obviously those events affected him personally and inspired ‘Heart of Darkness’.

A great read/listen.

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Children's science fiction ...

Reviewed: 09-11-19

There is nothing in this novella to excite the science fiction fan. It is a simple story of a kid lost on a livable planet with strange creepy things. It could just as well be a story about a kid lost in the Amazon jungle. There you have the story in a nutshell.

I was hoping for a real survival story with nail-biting adventure and thrills. Instead, we get a slow moving story about the emotional state of the kid and his forgettable mis-adventures. Thank goodness it was a freebie.

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Emotional story …

Reviewed: 08-19-19

The story within this book revolves around the inhabitants of a plantation in the South. The main characters, both white and black, infuse the pages with heroism, hope, cruelty, suffering, and pain. The story spans two decades in the life of Lavinia, an orphaned poor Irish white girl, and Belle, the daughter of the master of the planation and a slave black girl.

The writing can be a little slow but does pick up in various parts of the book. The cruel and drunken son Marshall, who rapes, beats and antagonizes the heroines is especially loathsome. The ending however was forcibly optimistic and yet underwhelming considering the back drop of the book. I don’t believe many happy endings occurred for slaves in America in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It’s a good and fare listen.

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