Low Rankin, 13 Oct 2008
The best way I can describe reading this book after Rebus is it's like watching Bonekickers after Life on Mars. I know Ian Rankin can write well without Rebus - I first read his watchman stuff - but this has the feel of meeting deadlines and fulfilling contractual obligations. The characters are cardboard, no one to like or care about, the plot is thin. I think this is probably the first time I have needed more than one sitting to read any of his books - I really struggled to finish it and I don't think it was worth it. From anyone else I would have given this two stars - so this may be really unfair - but the disappointment is all the more. Let's hope this is a blip, back to form next time, and that this isn't the start of a series.

Last page first, 13 Oct 2008
This book was a tremendous disappointment and a crashing bore. I managed to read a third way through, then, thoroughly exasperated, I turned to the last chapter and epilogue,and found it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I am a great fan of Ian Rankin and crime novels in general but this simplistic, obvious storyline is just a big yawn.

Mega dissapointment, 12 Oct 2008
I have read all Rankin`s previous works - also the non-Rebus titles but I have never been bored. That is until this one......

In short it took me 2 weeks to accomplish the reading and all the time I felt like putting it away, but hey, one owe Rankin to read it to the end.
And I did.
I`m sure the next one will be better, indeed couldn`t be much worse.

Bit of a strange mixture, 30 Sep 2008
"Bit quiet since you-know-who retired" says one copper half way through, so let's get 'him' out of the way! This book started strangely - by page 50 or so, I was convinced that Rankin, a supremely accomplished writer, was having me on. It's a spoof! Lavender Hill Mob meets Ocean's 11. Surely these guys can't be serious?!! In fact I came close to abandoning it BUT then something happened. Not just one event or a certain page but something a bit more gradual. Rankin was being serious after all. Yes, he's still commenting on social divides in Edinburgh, but on other things as well. His take on the aftermath of greed reminds me of the 'Pardoner's Tale' and his treatment of guilt Poe's story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' which interestingly is mentioned. After half way, I was hooked. Pretty good ending too!!!! I think he'll leave this one as a stand-alone whilst he decides his writing future. I really don't see any character here surviving in any major way into the future as none of them are properly developed. May be wrong!! Good read overall but can't give it 5 stars.

A Break From The Day Job (3.5* Stars), 28 Sep 2008
You're a celebrated crime author and you've just retired your most famous character - DI John Rebus, as if you didn't know - so what do you do next? Answer, you write an old-fashioned heist caper.

You'll have read the plot synopsis so I'll not summarise it again, I'll simply confine myself to making a few general points about the book.

First of all, this originally ran as a serial in the same publication that first printed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch-lite `The Overlook' before it was published as a novel last year. I don't know if Ian has padded out `Doors Open' a bit before publishing it, but if I'm being honest, it doesn't particularly feel as if it's longer than it should be.

I found `Doors Open' to be a satisfying read, even if it doesn't come close to approaching the quality of a large number of the best of the superb Rebus novels. For anyone else it would be good, but Rankin has set his own standards so high, that you're perhaps looking for a bit more. I personally suspect that he wrote this as a bit of light relief after creating the increasingly complex plots of the `you know who' series for the past twenty years. That and the large wad of cash he was apparently offered for writing it.

His policeman here, DI Ransome could not be less like John Rebus if he tried. For a start, he doesn't rush bull-headed into things with no care for insulting his betters - or anyone, else for that matter. Ransome has a facility for diplomacy when among his peers (his counterpart from another station is the one officially investigating the art theft) and has subtle plans for his own advancement. He's no less effective than Rebus, but like I say, his methods are totally different. However, in local Edinburgh gangster Chib Calloway he's created a baddie cut from the same cloth, or perhaps that should be, hewn from the same block of granite, as 'Big Ger' Cafferty from the Rebus novels.

There are a few times in this novel where Rankin has his characters spit things out... as in `Blah, blah, blah', he spat. This despite the fact that the sentences often contain no sibilants. This is a bit lazy, and proves to me that Ian himself regards this as no more than a frippery; a break from the real day job. Having said that, it's still a professional effort and contains a good number of decent twists.

In summary, this is an effective and efficient little thriller, and it's Ian Rankin writing in a much lighter vein, but it's no less enjoyable for that. If I'm going to be picky, there are writers around like Christopher Brookmyre who, frankly, do this kind of thing much better. Still it's a nice enough stab at the sub-genre, and it's never less than entertaining. But it isn't major league Rankin and anyone approaching it with that expectation is going to be disappointed.

Low Rankin, 13 Oct 2008
The best way I can describe reading this book after Rebus is it's like watching Bonekickers after Life on Mars. I know Ian Rankin can write well without Rebus - I first read his watchman stuff - but this has the feel of meeting deadlines and fulfilling contractual obligations. The characters are cardboard, no one to like or care about, the plot is thin. I think this is probably the first time I have needed more than one sitting to read any of his books - I really struggled to finish it and I don't think it was worth it. From anyone else I would have given this two stars - so this may be really unfair - but the disappointment is all the more. Let's hope this is a blip, back to form next time, and that this isn't the start of a series.

Last page first, 13 Oct 2008
This book was a tremendous disappointment and a crashing bore. I managed to read a third way through, then, thoroughly exasperated, I turned to the last chapter and epilogue,and found it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I am a great fan of Ian Rankin and crime novels in general but this simplistic, obvious storyline is just a big yawn.

Mega dissapointment, 12 Oct 2008
I have read all Rankin`s previous works - also the non-Rebus titles but I have never been bored. That is until this one......

In short it took me 2 weeks to accomplish the reading and all the time I felt like putting it away, but hey, one owe Rankin to read it to the end.
And I did.
I`m sure the next one will be better, indeed couldn`t be much worse.

Bit of a strange mixture, 30 Sep 2008
"Bit quiet since you-know-who retired" says one copper half way through, so let's get 'him' out of the way! This book started strangely - by page 50 or so, I was convinced that Rankin, a supremely accomplished writer, was having me on. It's a spoof! Lavender Hill Mob meets Ocean's 11. Surely these guys can't be serious?!! In fact I came close to abandoning it BUT then something happened. Not just one event or a certain page but something a bit more gradual. Rankin was being serious after all. Yes, he's still commenting on social divides in Edinburgh, but on other things as well. His take on the aftermath of greed reminds me of the 'Pardoner's Tale' and his treatment of guilt Poe's story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' which interestingly is mentioned. After half way, I was hooked. Pretty good ending too!!!! I think he'll leave this one as a stand-alone whilst he decides his writing future. I really don't see any character here surviving in any major way into the future as none of them are properly developed. May be wrong!! Good read overall but can't give it 5 stars.

A Break From The Day Job (3.5* Stars), 28 Sep 2008
You're a celebrated crime author and you've just retired your most famous character - DI John Rebus, as if you didn't know - so what do you do next? Answer, you write an old-fashioned heist caper.

You'll have read the plot synopsis so I'll not summarise it again, I'll simply confine myself to making a few general points about the book.

First of all, this originally ran as a serial in the same publication that first printed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch-lite `The Overlook' before it was published as a novel last year. I don't know if Ian has padded out `Doors Open' a bit before publishing it, but if I'm being honest, it doesn't particularly feel as if it's longer than it should be.

I found `Doors Open' to be a satisfying read, even if it doesn't come close to approaching the quality of a large number of the best of the superb Rebus novels. For anyone else it would be good, but Rankin has set his own standards so high, that you're perhaps looking for a bit more. I personally suspect that he wrote this as a bit of light relief after creating the increasingly complex plots of the `you know who' series for the past twenty years. That and the large wad of cash he was apparently offered for writing it.

His policeman here, DI Ransome could not be less like John Rebus if he tried. For a start, he doesn't rush bull-headed into things with no care for insulting his betters - or anyone, else for that matter. Ransome has a facility for diplomacy when among his peers (his counterpart from another station is the one officially investigating the art theft) and has subtle plans for his own advancement. He's no less effective than Rebus, but like I say, his methods are totally different. However, in local Edinburgh gangster Chib Calloway he's created a baddie cut from the same cloth, or perhaps that should be, hewn from the same block of granite, as 'Big Ger' Cafferty from the Rebus novels.

There are a few times in this novel where Rankin has his characters spit things out... as in `Blah, blah, blah', he spat. This despite the fact that the sentences often contain no sibilants. This is a bit lazy, and proves to me that Ian himself regards this as no more than a frippery; a break from the real day job. Having said that, it's still a professional effort and contains a good number of decent twists.

In summary, this is an effective and efficient little thriller, and it's Ian Rankin writing in a much lighter vein, but it's no less enjoyable for that. If I'm going to be picky, there are writers around like Christopher Brookmyre who, frankly, do this kind of thing much better. Still it's a nice enough stab at the sub-genre, and it's never less than entertaining. But it isn't major league Rankin and anyone approaching it with that expectation is going to be disappointed.


A masterpiece, 08 Oct 2008
Compelling & intensely affecting; angry & driven. A masterpiece from one of the world's great writers. Anyone who thinks literature doesn't matter (or is dead) should read this novel.

Messy Messner, 07 Oct 2008
Philip Roth's new novel tells a story narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish butcher's son from Newark at college in the American Midwest during the Korean War. Marcus intends to work hard at his studies to avoid being drafted into the war, for fear of being killed. At college he has an unsettled time, not getting on with room-mates and having a short-lived affair with a troubled fellow student. Marcus's fall-outs with room-mates and then his girlfriend's mental breakdown bring him into conflict with the college dean.

Overall "Indignation" is about the protagonist's unwillingness to fit in with social conventions he doesn't accept - for instance, he's an atheist, but the college requires him to attend chapel weekly. A sexual ingenu, he's unable to cope with the complexities of an adult sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

If this description makes the novel sound slight, that's because it was my reaction to it. I thought this was insubstantial in comparison to Roth's better work - with large chunks of story skipped over, and an ending that's far less elliptical than it seems on first reading. But Roth is a first-rate writer, and it is a slick, easy read, though I'd also add that the story itself has the feel in places of being a messy first draft.

Phil Flops, 29 Sep 2008
One of the central motifs of the Roth oeuvre is human hysteria, usually depicted in tragic, comic or (more often) tragicomic terms. Witness the youthful neurosis of "Portnoy's Complaint"; the celebrity circus of "Zuckerman Unbound"; the macho-man collapse of "Sabbath's Theatre"; and the senescent mortality angst of "The Dying Animal", "Everyman" and "Exist Ghost" - those short, sharp bullets of Roth's maturity.
Here, the frenzied approach to life is embodied in the character of protagonist Marcus Messner's father. Marcus, a 1950's college student, is a source of constant and extreme worry to the old man, a Newark butcher. Why? Well, no reason - and that's the whole point. I guess.
"Indignation" is apparently a story about fatalism. The theme of the book could be, "lots of terrible things will happen to you if you think about them, or if others think about them (or worry incessantly) on your behalf."
But the question is, is it any good? And the answer - it cannot be concealed - is no. Roth may have surprised many, and even dazzled some, with the constant stream of quality work he has produced since the mid-nineties, but the wheels have really come off with this contemptible, truncated mess. It's over almost as soon as it begins, and has the distinct feel of an abandoned work that has been dusted down and reheated with a tacked-on ending. There is also a crudely inserted penultimate episode about a college riot that bears almost no relation to the "novel" itself. To be fair, the writing is accomplished and the character of the father is an amusing absurdity. That said, this is Roth's worst book since the atrocious "Deception".


American Kundera, 26 Sep 2008
I got this yesterday afternoon, I finished it this morning at four. It's simply great. It is, as the title of another review has it, a novel about "the way one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." In this respect it resembles Milan Kundera's best novels. But it also is a novel about a bunch of complex, realistic characters, and about an important piece of History of the 20th century, and even more about the sincere, intelligent, passionate, and yet frustrated efforts of the protagonist to understand all that: History, people, and the way our choices can influence them.


Classic Roth - truly wonderful, 23 Sep 2008
Some are suggesting that Roth has become too prolific, with the implication that quality begins to dip, but Indignation refutes that. This is a tightly written, evocative and moving novel. It's the story of Marcus Messner, a young man dealing with an overbearing father and the strangeness of moving away to college, set as America is fighting the Korean War. Messner is also dead and from this vantage point, he is reviewing his short life. Such a device can be clumsy or silly, but Roth employs it to incredible effect. The characters are all vivid and memorable (the scene between Messner and the dean of men is a wonderful example) and the narrative is beautifully structured.

At the denouement, when Roth's purpose comes into final focus, I was left with the feeling of having experienced something simple and wise and powerful. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

Low Rankin, 13 Oct 2008
The best way I can describe reading this book after Rebus is it's like watching Bonekickers after Life on Mars. I know Ian Rankin can write well without Rebus - I first read his watchman stuff - but this has the feel of meeting deadlines and fulfilling contractual obligations. The characters are cardboard, no one to like or care about, the plot is thin. I think this is probably the first time I have needed more than one sitting to read any of his books - I really struggled to finish it and I don't think it was worth it. From anyone else I would have given this two stars - so this may be really unfair - but the disappointment is all the more. Let's hope this is a blip, back to form next time, and that this isn't the start of a series.

Last page first, 13 Oct 2008
This book was a tremendous disappointment and a crashing bore. I managed to read a third way through, then, thoroughly exasperated, I turned to the last chapter and epilogue,and found it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I am a great fan of Ian Rankin and crime novels in general but this simplistic, obvious storyline is just a big yawn.

Mega dissapointment, 12 Oct 2008
I have read all Rankin`s previous works - also the non-Rebus titles but I have never been bored. That is until this one......

In short it took me 2 weeks to accomplish the reading and all the time I felt like putting it away, but hey, one owe Rankin to read it to the end.
And I did.
I`m sure the next one will be better, indeed couldn`t be much worse.

Bit of a strange mixture, 30 Sep 2008
"Bit quiet since you-know-who retired" says one copper half way through, so let's get 'him' out of the way! This book started strangely - by page 50 or so, I was convinced that Rankin, a supremely accomplished writer, was having me on. It's a spoof! Lavender Hill Mob meets Ocean's 11. Surely these guys can't be serious?!! In fact I came close to abandoning it BUT then something happened. Not just one event or a certain page but something a bit more gradual. Rankin was being serious after all. Yes, he's still commenting on social divides in Edinburgh, but on other things as well. His take on the aftermath of greed reminds me of the 'Pardoner's Tale' and his treatment of guilt Poe's story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' which interestingly is mentioned. After half way, I was hooked. Pretty good ending too!!!! I think he'll leave this one as a stand-alone whilst he decides his writing future. I really don't see any character here surviving in any major way into the future as none of them are properly developed. May be wrong!! Good read overall but can't give it 5 stars.

A Break From The Day Job (3.5* Stars), 28 Sep 2008
You're a celebrated crime author and you've just retired your most famous character - DI John Rebus, as if you didn't know - so what do you do next? Answer, you write an old-fashioned heist caper.

You'll have read the plot synopsis so I'll not summarise it again, I'll simply confine myself to making a few general points about the book.

First of all, this originally ran as a serial in the same publication that first printed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch-lite `The Overlook' before it was published as a novel last year. I don't know if Ian has padded out `Doors Open' a bit before publishing it, but if I'm being honest, it doesn't particularly feel as if it's longer than it should be.

I found `Doors Open' to be a satisfying read, even if it doesn't come close to approaching the quality of a large number of the best of the superb Rebus novels. For anyone else it would be good, but Rankin has set his own standards so high, that you're perhaps looking for a bit more. I personally suspect that he wrote this as a bit of light relief after creating the increasingly complex plots of the `you know who' series for the past twenty years. That and the large wad of cash he was apparently offered for writing it.

His policeman here, DI Ransome could not be less like John Rebus if he tried. For a start, he doesn't rush bull-headed into things with no care for insulting his betters - or anyone, else for that matter. Ransome has a facility for diplomacy when among his peers (his counterpart from another station is the one officially investigating the art theft) and has subtle plans for his own advancement. He's no less effective than Rebus, but like I say, his methods are totally different. However, in local Edinburgh gangster Chib Calloway he's created a baddie cut from the same cloth, or perhaps that should be, hewn from the same block of granite, as 'Big Ger' Cafferty from the Rebus novels.

There are a few times in this novel where Rankin has his characters spit things out... as in `Blah, blah, blah', he spat. This despite the fact that the sentences often contain no sibilants. This is a bit lazy, and proves to me that Ian himself regards this as no more than a frippery; a break from the real day job. Having said that, it's still a professional effort and contains a good number of decent twists.

In summary, this is an effective and efficient little thriller, and it's Ian Rankin writing in a much lighter vein, but it's no less enjoyable for that. If I'm going to be picky, there are writers around like Christopher Brookmyre who, frankly, do this kind of thing much better. Still it's a nice enough stab at the sub-genre, and it's never less than entertaining. But it isn't major league Rankin and anyone approaching it with that expectation is going to be disappointed.


A masterpiece, 08 Oct 2008
Compelling & intensely affecting; angry & driven. A masterpiece from one of the world's great writers. Anyone who thinks literature doesn't matter (or is dead) should read this novel.

Messy Messner, 07 Oct 2008
Philip Roth's new novel tells a story narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish butcher's son from Newark at college in the American Midwest during the Korean War. Marcus intends to work hard at his studies to avoid being drafted into the war, for fear of being killed. At college he has an unsettled time, not getting on with room-mates and having a short-lived affair with a troubled fellow student. Marcus's fall-outs with room-mates and then his girlfriend's mental breakdown bring him into conflict with the college dean.

Overall "Indignation" is about the protagonist's unwillingness to fit in with social conventions he doesn't accept - for instance, he's an atheist, but the college requires him to attend chapel weekly. A sexual ingenu, he's unable to cope with the complexities of an adult sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

If this description makes the novel sound slight, that's because it was my reaction to it. I thought this was insubstantial in comparison to Roth's better work - with large chunks of story skipped over, and an ending that's far less elliptical than it seems on first reading. But Roth is a first-rate writer, and it is a slick, easy read, though I'd also add that the story itself has the feel in places of being a messy first draft.

Phil Flops, 29 Sep 2008
One of the central motifs of the Roth oeuvre is human hysteria, usually depicted in tragic, comic or (more often) tragicomic terms. Witness the youthful neurosis of "Portnoy's Complaint"; the celebrity circus of "Zuckerman Unbound"; the macho-man collapse of "Sabbath's Theatre"; and the senescent mortality angst of "The Dying Animal", "Everyman" and "Exist Ghost" - those short, sharp bullets of Roth's maturity.
Here, the frenzied approach to life is embodied in the character of protagonist Marcus Messner's father. Marcus, a 1950's college student, is a source of constant and extreme worry to the old man, a Newark butcher. Why? Well, no reason - and that's the whole point. I guess.
"Indignation" is apparently a story about fatalism. The theme of the book could be, "lots of terrible things will happen to you if you think about them, or if others think about them (or worry incessantly) on your behalf."
But the question is, is it any good? And the answer - it cannot be concealed - is no. Roth may have surprised many, and even dazzled some, with the constant stream of quality work he has produced since the mid-nineties, but the wheels have really come off with this contemptible, truncated mess. It's over almost as soon as it begins, and has the distinct feel of an abandoned work that has been dusted down and reheated with a tacked-on ending. There is also a crudely inserted penultimate episode about a college riot that bears almost no relation to the "novel" itself. To be fair, the writing is accomplished and the character of the father is an amusing absurdity. That said, this is Roth's worst book since the atrocious "Deception".


American Kundera, 26 Sep 2008
I got this yesterday afternoon, I finished it this morning at four. It's simply great. It is, as the title of another review has it, a novel about "the way one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." In this respect it resembles Milan Kundera's best novels. But it also is a novel about a bunch of complex, realistic characters, and about an important piece of History of the 20th century, and even more about the sincere, intelligent, passionate, and yet frustrated efforts of the protagonist to understand all that: History, people, and the way our choices can influence them.


Classic Roth - truly wonderful, 23 Sep 2008
Some are suggesting that Roth has become too prolific, with the implication that quality begins to dip, but Indignation refutes that. This is a tightly written, evocative and moving novel. It's the story of Marcus Messner, a young man dealing with an overbearing father and the strangeness of moving away to college, set as America is fighting the Korean War. Messner is also dead and from this vantage point, he is reviewing his short life. Such a device can be clumsy or silly, but Roth employs it to incredible effect. The characters are all vivid and memorable (the scene between Messner and the dean of men is a wonderful example) and the narrative is beautifully structured.

At the denouement, when Roth's purpose comes into final focus, I was left with the feeling of having experienced something simple and wise and powerful. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

A bit of a let-down, 16 Sep 2008
A very good plot, and well up to the usual standard of Rankin's powers of perceptive and descriptive writing, but let down, I think, by a somewhat lame ending. Admittedly, it's difficult to know how he could think of a finale which would appeal to all readers, but having just finished reading it about an hour ago, I can't help feeling a bit "flat".

Goodbye and Thanks For The Memories, 30 Aug 2008
What a fantasic send off for one of the great creations of modern literature.
I have read all the Rebus books in sequence over the years and fans of the series will be delighted to know Ian Rankin has written a a suitable finale.
We join Rebus with one week until his retirement and in a great device the chapters count down the days no surprising the pieces don't slide together until the final day of the week.

A murder of a Russian poet in Kings Stable Road gives Rebus one last case to solve soon ties are being made to big business, politicians and the criminal underworld led by Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty. Is this the last chance saloon for John to finally nail Edinburgh's gangster ?
As has been the case with the last few Rankin books the reader is left guessing right until the final pages who has commited the crimes. I can say that I guessed part of it but I doubt anyone will be able to predict all the conclusions.

The early books in the series were enjoyable but it's been the last half dozen that have really elevated the series the introduction of DS Siobhan Clarke I feel was where it really kicked in giving Rebus a genuine partner to bounce off. This book is no exception with the scenes with them together being the strongest. It's real shame in some ways that Rankin's decision to age Rebus in real time deprives us of further INSPECTOR Rebus books but if you haven't ever read any of the series you are so lucky to have twenty books available to you.

For the rest of us here's looking forward to the first of the DI Clarke stories which if Ian Rankin decides not to write then there really will have been a crime committed.

Before Salman Rushdie had that problem with a certain religious-political figure with a serious need to chill out, he'd already shown he was an important literary force. Quite simply, Midnight's Children is amazing--fun, beautiful, erudite, both fairy tale and political narrative told through a supernatural narrator who is caught between different worlds. Though it's a big book, with big themes of India's nationhood and of ethnic and personal identity, it's far from a dry history lesson. Rushdie tells the story in his own brand of magical realism, with a prose of lyrical, transcendent goofiness.

Low Rankin, 13 Oct 2008
The best way I can describe reading this book after Rebus is it's like watching Bonekickers after Life on Mars. I know Ian Rankin can write well without Rebus - I first read his watchman stuff - but this has the feel of meeting deadlines and fulfilling contractual obligations. The characters are cardboard, no one to like or care about, the plot is thin. I think this is probably the first time I have needed more than one sitting to read any of his books - I really struggled to finish it and I don't think it was worth it. From anyone else I would have given this two stars - so this may be really unfair - but the disappointment is all the more. Let's hope this is a blip, back to form next time, and that this isn't the start of a series.

Last page first, 13 Oct 2008
This book was a tremendous disappointment and a crashing bore. I managed to read a third way through, then, thoroughly exasperated, I turned to the last chapter and epilogue,and found it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I am a great fan of Ian Rankin and crime novels in general but this simplistic, obvious storyline is just a big yawn.

Mega dissapointment, 12 Oct 2008
I have read all Rankin`s previous works - also the non-Rebus titles but I have never been bored. That is until this one......

In short it took me 2 weeks to accomplish the reading and all the time I felt like putting it away, but hey, one owe Rankin to read it to the end.
And I did.
I`m sure the next one will be better, indeed couldn`t be much worse.

Bit of a strange mixture, 30 Sep 2008
"Bit quiet since you-know-who retired" says one copper half way through, so let's get 'him' out of the way! This book started strangely - by page 50 or so, I was convinced that Rankin, a supremely accomplished writer, was having me on. It's a spoof! Lavender Hill Mob meets Ocean's 11. Surely these guys can't be serious?!! In fact I came close to abandoning it BUT then something happened. Not just one event or a certain page but something a bit more gradual. Rankin was being serious after all. Yes, he's still commenting on social divides in Edinburgh, but on other things as well. His take on the aftermath of greed reminds me of the 'Pardoner's Tale' and his treatment of guilt Poe's story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' which interestingly is mentioned. After half way, I was hooked. Pretty good ending too!!!! I think he'll leave this one as a stand-alone whilst he decides his writing future. I really don't see any character here surviving in any major way into the future as none of them are properly developed. May be wrong!! Good read overall but can't give it 5 stars.

A Break From The Day Job (3.5* Stars), 28 Sep 2008
You're a celebrated crime author and you've just retired your most famous character - DI John Rebus, as if you didn't know - so what do you do next? Answer, you write an old-fashioned heist caper.

You'll have read the plot synopsis so I'll not summarise it again, I'll simply confine myself to making a few general points about the book.

First of all, this originally ran as a serial in the same publication that first printed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch-lite `The Overlook' before it was published as a novel last year. I don't know if Ian has padded out `Doors Open' a bit before publishing it, but if I'm being honest, it doesn't particularly feel as if it's longer than it should be.

I found `Doors Open' to be a satisfying read, even if it doesn't come close to approaching the quality of a large number of the best of the superb Rebus novels. For anyone else it would be good, but Rankin has set his own standards so high, that you're perhaps looking for a bit more. I personally suspect that he wrote this as a bit of light relief after creating the increasingly complex plots of the `you know who' series for the past twenty years. That and the large wad of cash he was apparently offered for writing it.

His policeman here, DI Ransome could not be less like John Rebus if he tried. For a start, he doesn't rush bull-headed into things with no care for insulting his betters - or anyone, else for that matter. Ransome has a facility for diplomacy when among his peers (his counterpart from another station is the one officially investigating the art theft) and has subtle plans for his own advancement. He's no less effective than Rebus, but like I say, his methods are totally different. However, in local Edinburgh gangster Chib Calloway he's created a baddie cut from the same cloth, or perhaps that should be, hewn from the same block of granite, as 'Big Ger' Cafferty from the Rebus novels.

There are a few times in this novel where Rankin has his characters spit things out... as in `Blah, blah, blah', he spat. This despite the fact that the sentences often contain no sibilants. This is a bit lazy, and proves to me that Ian himself regards this as no more than a frippery; a break from the real day job. Having said that, it's still a professional effort and contains a good number of decent twists.

In summary, this is an effective and efficient little thriller, and it's Ian Rankin writing in a much lighter vein, but it's no less enjoyable for that. If I'm going to be picky, there are writers around like Christopher Brookmyre who, frankly, do this kind of thing much better. Still it's a nice enough stab at the sub-genre, and it's never less than entertaining. But it isn't major league Rankin and anyone approaching it with that expectation is going to be disappointed.


A masterpiece, 08 Oct 2008
Compelling & intensely affecting; angry & driven. A masterpiece from one of the world's great writers. Anyone who thinks literature doesn't matter (or is dead) should read this novel.

Messy Messner, 07 Oct 2008
Philip Roth's new novel tells a story narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish butcher's son from Newark at college in the American Midwest during the Korean War. Marcus intends to work hard at his studies to avoid being drafted into the war, for fear of being killed. At college he has an unsettled time, not getting on with room-mates and having a short-lived affair with a troubled fellow student. Marcus's fall-outs with room-mates and then his girlfriend's mental breakdown bring him into conflict with the college dean.

Overall "Indignation" is about the protagonist's unwillingness to fit in with social conventions he doesn't accept - for instance, he's an atheist, but the college requires him to attend chapel weekly. A sexual ingenu, he's unable to cope with the complexities of an adult sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

If this description makes the novel sound slight, that's because it was my reaction to it. I thought this was insubstantial in comparison to Roth's better work - with large chunks of story skipped over, and an ending that's far less elliptical than it seems on first reading. But Roth is a first-rate writer, and it is a slick, easy read, though I'd also add that the story itself has the feel in places of being a messy first draft.

Phil Flops, 29 Sep 2008
One of the central motifs of the Roth oeuvre is human hysteria, usually depicted in tragic, comic or (more often) tragicomic terms. Witness the youthful neurosis of "Portnoy's Complaint"; the celebrity circus of "Zuckerman Unbound"; the macho-man collapse of "Sabbath's Theatre"; and the senescent mortality angst of "The Dying Animal", "Everyman" and "Exist Ghost" - those short, sharp bullets of Roth's maturity.
Here, the frenzied approach to life is embodied in the character of protagonist Marcus Messner's father. Marcus, a 1950's college student, is a source of constant and extreme worry to the old man, a Newark butcher. Why? Well, no reason - and that's the whole point. I guess.
"Indignation" is apparently a story about fatalism. The theme of the book could be, "lots of terrible things will happen to you if you think about them, or if others think about them (or worry incessantly) on your behalf."
But the question is, is it any good? And the answer - it cannot be concealed - is no. Roth may have surprised many, and even dazzled some, with the constant stream of quality work he has produced since the mid-nineties, but the wheels have really come off with this contemptible, truncated mess. It's over almost as soon as it begins, and has the distinct feel of an abandoned work that has been dusted down and reheated with a tacked-on ending. There is also a crudely inserted penultimate episode about a college riot that bears almost no relation to the "novel" itself. To be fair, the writing is accomplished and the character of the father is an amusing absurdity. That said, this is Roth's worst book since the atrocious "Deception".


American Kundera, 26 Sep 2008
I got this yesterday afternoon, I finished it this morning at four. It's simply great. It is, as the title of another review has it, a novel about "the way one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." In this respect it resembles Milan Kundera's best novels. But it also is a novel about a bunch of complex, realistic characters, and about an important piece of History of the 20th century, and even more about the sincere, intelligent, passionate, and yet frustrated efforts of the protagonist to understand all that: History, people, and the way our choices can influence them.


Classic Roth - truly wonderful, 23 Sep 2008
Some are suggesting that Roth has become too prolific, with the implication that quality begins to dip, but Indignation refutes that. This is a tightly written, evocative and moving novel. It's the story of Marcus Messner, a young man dealing with an overbearing father and the strangeness of moving away to college, set as America is fighting the Korean War. Messner is also dead and from this vantage point, he is reviewing his short life. Such a device can be clumsy or silly, but Roth employs it to incredible effect. The characters are all vivid and memorable (the scene between Messner and the dean of men is a wonderful example) and the narrative is beautifully structured.

At the denouement, when Roth's purpose comes into final focus, I was left with the feeling of having experienced something simple and wise and powerful. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

A bit of a let-down, 16 Sep 2008
A very good plot, and well up to the usual standard of Rankin's powers of perceptive and descriptive writing, but let down, I think, by a somewhat lame ending. Admittedly, it's difficult to know how he could think of a finale which would appeal to all readers, but having just finished reading it about an hour ago, I can't help feeling a bit "flat".

Goodbye and Thanks For The Memories, 30 Aug 2008
What a fantasic send off for one of the great creations of modern literature.
I have read all the Rebus books in sequence over the years and fans of the series will be delighted to know Ian Rankin has written a a suitable finale.
We join Rebus with one week until his retirement and in a great device the chapters count down the days no surprising the pieces don't slide together until the final day of the week.

A murder of a Russian poet in Kings Stable Road gives Rebus one last case to solve soon ties are being made to big business, politicians and the criminal underworld led by Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty. Is this the last chance saloon for John to finally nail Edinburgh's gangster ?
As has been the case with the last few Rankin books the reader is left guessing right until the final pages who has commited the crimes. I can say that I guessed part of it but I doubt anyone will be able to predict all the conclusions.

The early books in the series were enjoyable but it's been the last half dozen that have really elevated the series the introduction of DS Siobhan Clarke I feel was where it really kicked in giving Rebus a genuine partner to bounce off. This book is no exception with the scenes with them together being the strongest. It's real shame in some ways that Rankin's decision to age Rebus in real time deprives us of further INSPECTOR Rebus books but if you haven't ever read any of the series you are so lucky to have twenty books available to you.

For the rest of us here's looking forward to the first of the DI Clarke stories which if Ian Rankin decides not to write then there really will have been a crime committed.

Disappointing and dull, 18 Sep 2008
It's hard to live up to the "Booker of Bookers" tag but this comes nowhere near. Rushdie can write: bursts of compelling narrative display that. Unfortunately the whole story is trussed up in that clever "flash-back", "flash-forward" conceit which eventually bored me. No, I didn't finish it. I got a little further than I did with Ulysses, but eventually hurled this into the same Pseud Bin.
I've read somewhere that the author intends the time switching to be like the digressions of an oral storyteller but I think that's like trying to capture ballet in a poem or the moon in a bucket. The device is overused and tiresome. Want a Third World Magic Realism Family Saga? try "House of the Spirits".

An important, and dare I say enjoyable read, 20 Aug 2008
Whatever controversies arise from Rushdie one cannot but marvel at the depths of his imagination. Midnight's Children whilst containing some of the most beautiful language and imagery is no easy read. As with most Rushdie novels we venture into the world of magic realism and we witness the life of a child born on the stroke of midnight hour when Nehru announces the "tryst with dynasty". Born with special powers Saleem is witness through the whirlwind of events that make up India's first thirty years and we see his attempted interfering. Again with Rushdie's novels we're unable to sympathise with any of the characters but nevertheless the strength of the writing keeps us plodding through.

Comment on previous review, 12 Aug 2008
I would not usually indulge in a review. It is only reading the previous review that has prompted, less than a reply, than a reaction.
Midnight's Children is a good book. Does this make me a fraud? No, it just happened that I enjoyed it, savoured it's scope, it's humour, it's allegory - all of this is not difficult to grasp, only if some people did not try so hard. When a person put the word intellectual in brackets it is fairly obvious that they see a distinct 'us and you'mentality in the literary world. And as much as there are the literary squabblers and vacous acedemic blabbers, these do not rule the litrary roost.
Midnight's children is a book to be read without too much initial analysis. Lap up the world inside the book, not the underlying allegory of Indian independance. Laugh and Saleem's akwardness, do not over-exert yourself by picking apart each sentence. Ride along with this book and you will enjoy it.
I think a large part of the problem is the current image of Rusdhie. He is a celebrity, but for all the wrong reasons. Ignore Rushdie and listen to Saleem himself, it is the work and not the author your reading here.
I find it hard to believe that the previous reveiwer actually finished the book. And these literary deathmatches (Nabakov is better than Rusdhie) are pointless defences for a floundering argument.
I suggest that you ignore the last review and make your own mind up.

How to spot a fraud...., 31 Jul 2008
Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who tells you that this is a good book is a pretentious fraud. Rushdie doubtless has an excellent command of language but is unable to stop himself overindulging, as a result the book is wordy, disjointed and goes nowhere. Midnight's Children is a classic fraudster's book, praised only by those who want the reflected glory of association with a book supposedly only capable of being understood and appreciated by "intellectuals." It's a shame really as Rushdie clearly has talent, however his writing is simply abysmal and because he is the darling of the literary establishment people pretend that they like and appreciate his work - don't waste your money, if you want to have a good read try Lolita by Nabakov, a true wordsmith from whom Rushdie could learn alot.

Low Rankin, 13 Oct 2008
The best way I can describe reading this book after Rebus is it's like watching Bonekickers after Life on Mars. I know Ian Rankin can write well without Rebus - I first read his watchman stuff - but this has the feel of meeting deadlines and fulfilling contractual obligations. The characters are cardboard, no one to like or care about, the plot is thin. I think this is probably the first time I have needed more than one sitting to read any of his books - I really struggled to finish it and I don't think it was worth it. From anyone else I would have given this two stars - so this may be really unfair - but the disappointment is all the more. Let's hope this is a blip, back to form next time, and that this isn't the start of a series.

Last page first, 13 Oct 2008
This book was a tremendous disappointment and a crashing bore. I managed to read a third way through, then, thoroughly exasperated, I turned to the last chapter and epilogue,and found it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I am a great fan of Ian Rankin and crime novels in general but this simplistic, obvious storyline is just a big yawn.

Mega dissapointment, 12 Oct 2008
I have read all Rankin`s previous works - also the non-Rebus titles but I have never been bored. That is until this one......

In short it took me 2 weeks to accomplish the reading and all the time I felt like putting it away, but hey, one owe Rankin to read it to the end.
And I did.
I`m sure the next one will be better, indeed couldn`t be much worse.

Bit of a strange mixture, 30 Sep 2008
"Bit quiet since you-know-who retired" says one copper half way through, so let's get 'him' out of the way! This book started strangely - by page 50 or so, I was convinced that Rankin, a supremely accomplished writer, was having me on. It's a spoof! Lavender Hill Mob meets Ocean's 11. Surely these guys can't be serious?!! In fact I came close to abandoning it BUT then something happened. Not just one event or a certain page but something a bit more gradual. Rankin was being serious after all. Yes, he's still commenting on social divides in Edinburgh, but on other things as well. His take on the aftermath of greed reminds me of the 'Pardoner's Tale' and his treatment of guilt Poe's story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' which interestingly is mentioned. After half way, I was hooked. Pretty good ending too!!!! I think he'll leave this one as a stand-alone whilst he decides his writing future. I really don't see any character here surviving in any major way into the future as none of them are properly developed. May be wrong!! Good read overall but can't give it 5 stars.

A Break From The Day Job (3.5* Stars), 28 Sep 2008
You're a celebrated crime author and you've just retired your most famous character - DI John Rebus, as if you didn't know - so what do you do next? Answer, you write an old-fashioned heist caper.

You'll have read the plot synopsis so I'll not summarise it again, I'll simply confine myself to making a few general points about the book.

First of all, this originally ran as a serial in the same publication that first printed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch-lite `The Overlook' before it was published as a novel last year. I don't know if Ian has padded out `Doors Open' a bit before publishing it, but if I'm being honest, it doesn't particularly feel as if it's longer than it should be.

I found `Doors Open' to be a satisfying read, even if it doesn't come close to approaching the quality of a large number of the best of the superb Rebus novels. For anyone else it would be good, but Rankin has set his own standards so high, that you're perhaps looking for a bit more. I personally suspect that he wrote this as a bit of light relief after creating the increasingly complex plots of the `you know who' series for the past twenty years. That and the large wad of cash he was apparently offered for writing it.

His policeman here, DI Ransome could not be less like John Rebus if he tried. For a start, he doesn't rush bull-headed into things with no care for insulting his betters - or anyone, else for that matter. Ransome has a facility for diplomacy when among his peers (his counterpart from another station is the one officially investigating the art theft) and has subtle plans for his own advancement. He's no less effective than Rebus, but like I say, his methods are totally different. However, in local Edinburgh gangster Chib Calloway he's created a baddie cut from the same cloth, or perhaps that should be, hewn from the same block of granite, as 'Big Ger' Cafferty from the Rebus novels.

There are a few times in this novel where Rankin has his characters spit things out... as in `Blah, blah, blah', he spat. This despite the fact that the sentences often contain no sibilants. This is a bit lazy, and proves to me that Ian himself regards this as no more than a frippery; a break from the real day job. Having said that, it's still a professional effort and contains a good number of decent twists.

In summary, this is an effective and efficient little thriller, and it's Ian Rankin writing in a much lighter vein, but it's no less enjoyable for that. If I'm going to be picky, there are writers around like Christopher Brookmyre who, frankly, do this kind of thing much better. Still it's a nice enough stab at the sub-genre, and it's never less than entertaining. But it isn't major league Rankin and anyone approaching it with that expectation is going to be disappointed.


A masterpiece, 08 Oct 2008
Compelling & intensely affecting; angry & driven. A masterpiece from one of the world's great writers. Anyone who thinks literature doesn't matter (or is dead) should read this novel.

Messy Messner, 07 Oct 2008
Philip Roth's new novel tells a story narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish butcher's son from Newark at college in the American Midwest during the Korean War. Marcus intends to work hard at his studies to avoid being drafted into the war, for fear of being killed. At college he has an unsettled time, not getting on with room-mates and having a short-lived affair with a troubled fellow student. Marcus's fall-outs with room-mates and then his girlfriend's mental breakdown bring him into conflict with the college dean.

Overall "Indignation" is about the protagonist's unwillingness to fit in with social conventions he doesn't accept - for instance, he's an atheist, but the college requires him to attend chapel weekly. A sexual ingenu, he's unable to cope with the complexities of an adult sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

If this description makes the novel sound slight, that's because it was my reaction to it. I thought this was insubstantial in comparison to Roth's better work - with large chunks of story skipped over, and an ending that's far less elliptical than it seems on first reading. But Roth is a first-rate writer, and it is a slick, easy read, though I'd also add that the story itself has the feel in places of being a messy first draft.

Phil Flops, 29 Sep 2008
One of the central motifs of the Roth oeuvre is human hysteria, usually depicted in tragic, comic or (more often) tragicomic terms. Witness the youthful neurosis of "Portnoy's Complaint"; the celebrity circus of "Zuckerman Unbound"; the macho-man collapse of "Sabbath's Theatre"; and the senescent mortality angst of "The Dying Animal", "Everyman" and "Exist Ghost" - those short, sharp bullets of Roth's maturity.
Here, the frenzied approach to life is embodied in the character of protagonist Marcus Messner's father. Marcus, a 1950's college student, is a source of constant and extreme worry to the old man, a Newark butcher. Why? Well, no reason - and that's the whole point. I guess.
"Indignation" is apparently a story about fatalism. The theme of the book could be, "lots of terrible things will happen to you if you think about them, or if others think about them (or worry incessantly) on your behalf."
But the question is, is it any good? And the answer - it cannot be concealed - is no. Roth may have surprised many, and even dazzled some, with the constant stream of quality work he has produced since the mid-nineties, but the wheels have really come off with this contemptible, truncated mess. It's over almost as soon as it begins, and has the distinct feel of an abandoned work that has been dusted down and reheated with a tacked-on ending. There is also a crudely inserted penultimate episode about a college riot that bears almost no relation to the "novel" itself. To be fair, the writing is accomplished and the character of the father is an amusing absurdity. That said, this is Roth's worst book since the atrocious "Deception".


American Kundera, 26 Sep 2008
I got this yesterday afternoon, I finished it this morning at four. It's simply great. It is, as the title of another review has it, a novel about "the way one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." In this respect it resembles Milan Kundera's best novels. But it also is a novel about a bunch of complex, realistic characters, and about an important piece of History of the 20th century, and even more about the sincere, intelligent, passionate, and yet frustrated efforts of the protagonist to understand all that: History, people, and the way our choices can influence them.


Classic Roth - truly wonderful, 23 Sep 2008
Some are suggesting that Roth has become too prolific, with the implication that quality begins to dip, but Indignation refutes that. This is a tightly written, evocative and moving novel. It's the story of Marcus Messner, a young man dealing with an overbearing father and the strangeness of moving away to college, set as America is fighting the Korean War. Messner is also dead and from this vantage point, he is reviewing his short life. Such a device can be clumsy or silly, but Roth employs it to incredible effect. The characters are all vivid and memorable (the scene between Messner and the dean of men is a wonderful example) and the narrative is beautifully structured.

At the denouement, when Roth's purpose comes into final focus, I was left with the feeling of having experienced something simple and wise and powerful. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

A bit of a let-down, 16 Sep 2008
A very good plot, and well up to the usual standard of Rankin's powers of perceptive and descriptive writing, but let down, I think, by a somewhat lame ending. Admittedly, it's difficult to know how he could think of a finale which would appeal to all readers, but having just finished reading it about an hour ago, I can't help feeling a bit "flat".

Goodbye and Thanks For The Memories, 30 Aug 2008
What a fantasic send off for one of the great creations of modern literature.
I have read all the Rebus books in sequence over the years and fans of the series will be delighted to know Ian Rankin has written a a suitable finale.
We join Rebus with one week until his retirement and in a great device the chapters count down the days no surprising the pieces don't slide together until the final day of the week.

A murder of a Russian poet in Kings Stable Road gives Rebus one last case to solve soon ties are being made to big business, politicians and the criminal underworld led by Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty. Is this the last chance saloon for John to finally nail Edinburgh's gangster ?
As has been the case with the last few Rankin books the reader is left guessing right until the final pages who has commited the crimes. I can say that I guessed part of it but I doubt anyone will be able to predict all the conclusions.

The early books in the series were enjoyable but it's been the last half dozen that have really elevated the series the introduction of DS Siobhan Clarke I feel was where it really kicked in giving Rebus a genuine partner to bounce off. This book is no exception with the scenes with them together being the strongest. It's real shame in some ways that Rankin's decision to age Rebus in real time deprives us of further INSPECTOR Rebus books but if you haven't ever read any of the series you are so lucky to have twenty books available to you.

For the rest of us here's looking forward to the first of the DI Clarke stories which if Ian Rankin decides not to write then there really will have been a crime committed.

Disappointing and dull, 18 Sep 2008
It's hard to live up to the "Booker of Bookers" tag but this comes nowhere near. Rushdie can write: bursts of compelling narrative display that. Unfortunately the whole story is trussed up in that clever "flash-back", "flash-forward" conceit which eventually bored me. No, I didn't finish it. I got a little further than I did with Ulysses, but eventually hurled this into the same Pseud Bin.
I've read somewhere that the author intends the time switching to be like the digressions of an oral storyteller but I think that's like trying to capture ballet in a poem or the moon in a bucket. The device is overused and tiresome. Want a Third World Magic Realism Family Saga? try "House of the Spirits".

An important, and dare I say enjoyable read, 20 Aug 2008
Whatever controversies arise from Rushdie one cannot but marvel at the depths of his imagination. Midnight's Children whilst containing some of the most beautiful language and imagery is no easy read. As with most Rushdie novels we venture into the world of magic realism and we witness the life of a child born on the stroke of midnight hour when Nehru announces the "tryst with dynasty". Born with special powers Saleem is witness through the whirlwind of events that make up India's first thirty years and we see his attempted interfering. Again with Rushdie's novels we're unable to sympathise with any of the characters but nevertheless the strength of the writing keeps us plodding through.

Comment on previous review, 12 Aug 2008
I would not usually indulge in a review. It is only reading the previous review that has prompted, less than a reply, than a reaction.
Midnight's Children is a good book. Does this make me a fraud? No, it just happened that I enjoyed it, savoured it's scope, it's humour, it's allegory - all of this is not difficult to grasp, only if some people did not try so hard. When a person put the word intellectual in brackets it is fairly obvious that they see a distinct 'us and you'mentality in the literary world. And as much as there are the literary squabblers and vacous acedemic blabbers, these do not rule the litrary roost.
Midnight's children is a book to be read without too much initial analysis. Lap up the world inside the book, not the underlying allegory of Indian independance. Laugh and Saleem's akwardness, do not over-exert yourself by picking apart each sentence. Ride along with this book and you will enjoy it.
I think a large part of the problem is the current image of Rusdhie. He is a celebrity, but for all the wrong reasons. Ignore Rushdie and listen to Saleem himself, it is the work and not the author your reading here.
I find it hard to believe that the previous reveiwer actually finished the book. And these literary deathmatches (Nabakov is better than Rusdhie) are pointless defences for a floundering argument.
I suggest that you ignore the last review and make your own mind up.

How to spot a fraud...., 31 Jul 2008
Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who tells you that this is a good book is a pretentious fraud. Rushdie doubtless has an excellent command of language but is unable to stop himself overindulging, as a result the book is wordy, disjointed and goes nowhere. Midnight's Children is a classic fraudster's book, praised only by those who want the reflected glory of association with a book supposedly only capable of being understood and appreciated by "intellectuals." It's a shame really as Rushdie clearly has talent, however his writing is simply abysmal and because he is the darling of the literary establishment people pretend that they like and appreciate his work - don't waste your money, if you want to have a good read try Lolita by Nabakov, a true wordsmith from whom Rushdie could learn alot.

It grows on you - give it a chance and you will be rewarded, 26 Aug 2008
Read it once, quickly, as you may an 'ordinary' novel and you might struggle to finish it, at best maybe give it three stars. Read it again, slowly, study it with an appropriate text and the book really comes into it's own. Oh, this is very good. Clever, subtle, crafted. Beautifully done, with a light touch. It's a wonderfully evocative social commentary on how the stiffness of British imperialistic attitudes flounder and seem absurd in a tropical climate and setting. Likewise, it's a commentary on life and living and loving and being, on being black and being white, of male and female and power structures and sex. There's just so much going on.

Worth a try for curious readers, 18 Aug 2008
'Jane Eyre' is probably one of my favourite novels of all time, and when a family member lent me this prequel, I was quick to devour it.

My expectations were not high, however. I was excited about the 'Jane Eyre' BBC adaptation, and when it turned out to be outstanding and very loyal to its source material, I was keen to watch the prequel that they advertised afterwards. I was not as impressed. I found it dull and could not really connect with Bertha.

As it turns out, after reading this novella, the BBC adaptation was as loyal as the 'Jane Eyre' adaptation. It was sexy, colourful, brooding, exotic and menacing, and whilst I did not appreciate this at the time, I do after reading this. Unfortunately, this loyalty means the shortcomings of the TV adaptation are also true of this novella. It is quite difficult to feel for the heroine, like we are clearly supposed to, and the author opts to make Rochester (who, interestingly, is never named) out to be a villain, and her madness is entirely his fault.

It is a plausible exploration that aligns itself with Victorian gender politics; when women were sent to lunatic asylums for as little as depression, and then sent mad inside of them. Actually, it is highly relevant, and it gives the reader a completely different view of Bertha's story. This is a double edged sword though. As interesting as it is, and perhaps right, in many respects, it is pretty difficult to grasp the characterisation of Rochester in this manner for all the people that adored his character in 'Jane Eyre'.

Besides the character of Bertha, and the fact that this novella is a prequel, it can firmly stand on its own. Not, perhaps, as a story or something to be enjoyed, but for the thematics and how the language complements them. The narration is riddled with imagery, foreshadowing and sheer elegance. It deals with gender politics, Victorian martial laws, colonialism, race, and of course, psychology. Having said that, I would recommend reading 'Jane Eyre' before embarking on this, as much of it would be lost if you have not read 'Jane Eyre' first. It also may soil your view on Rochester for 'Jane Eyre' and give away plot details which would ruin the novel for you considerably.

If you have read 'Jane Eyre', I would not say that this is vital, but if you are curious about Bertha's character this novella fleshes her out a bit, though there is still something about her that is lacking. I felt more sympathy for her in `Jane Eyre' without all of this background to be honest.


Highly recommended., 18 Jan 2008
This is a morose, but beautifully written novel. Definitely lives up to expectations. I read it through twice for full appreciation, and recommend this idea to others. I rate this 6 stars!

Dark and Delicious, 27 Oct 2007
This is a macabre book with a true sense of gothicism to it. I first read it as a teenager after being blown away by Jane Eyre, and hated it. Its difference from Bronte's writing and its harsh treatment of Rochester didn't sit well with me at all. Having had to read it again as part of a course recently I have to say I wasn't relishing the experience, but how wrong I was. Reading it again, with no expectation of kinship with Bronte made such a difference. This is a brilliant book, densely layered, symbolic and evocative of the tropical landscape, madness and imprisonment. It has some of the wonderful internal dialogue moments of Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, swooping through the narrative and Rhys' eye for detail and dialogue is superb. Its brooding menace is chilling and the use of imagery is stupendous. A fantastic book.

Had to read it, 30 Jan 2007
...for a course. I wouldn't of picked this book otherwise. I am glad we had to read it though as it introduced me to an interesting book that I wouldn't have read otherwise.
I'm not saying it is the best and most enjoying book that I have ever read but it was very interesting and well written and really worth reading.

Low Rankin, 13 Oct 2008
The best way I can describe reading this book after Rebus is it's like watching Bonekickers after Life on Mars. I know Ian Rankin can write well without Rebus - I first read his watchman stuff - but this has the feel of meeting deadlines and fulfilling contractual obligations. The characters are cardboard, no one to like or care about, the plot is thin. I think this is probably the first time I have needed more than one sitting to read any of his books - I really struggled to finish it and I don't think it was worth it. From anyone else I would have given this two stars - so this may be really unfair - but the disappointment is all the more. Let's hope this is a blip, back to form next time, and that this isn't the start of a series.

Last page first, 13 Oct 2008
This book was a tremendous disappointment and a crashing bore. I managed to read a third way through, then, thoroughly exasperated, I turned to the last chapter and epilogue,and found it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I am a great fan of Ian Rankin and crime novels in general but this simplistic, obvious storyline is just a big yawn.

Mega dissapointment, 12 Oct 2008
I have read all Rankin`s previous works - also the non-Rebus titles but I have never been bored. That is until this one......

In short it took me 2 weeks to accomplish the reading and all the time I felt like putting it away, but hey, one owe Rankin to read it to the end.
And I did.
I`m sure the next one will be better, indeed couldn`t be much worse.

Bit of a strange mixture, 30 Sep 2008
"Bit quiet since you-know-who retired" says one copper half way through, so let's get 'him' out of the way! This book started strangely - by page 50 or so, I was convinced that Rankin, a supremely accomplished writer, was having me on. It's a spoof! Lavender Hill Mob meets Ocean's 11. Surely these guys can't be serious?!! In fact I came close to abandoning it BUT then something happened. Not just one event or a certain page but something a bit more gradual. Rankin was being serious after all. Yes, he's still commenting on social divides in Edinburgh, but on other things as well. His take on the aftermath of greed reminds me of the 'Pardoner's Tale' and his treatment of guilt Poe's story 'The Tell-Tale Heart' which interestingly is mentioned. After half way, I was hooked. Pretty good ending too!!!! I think he'll leave this one as a stand-alone whilst he decides his writing future. I really don't see any character here surviving in any major way into the future as none of them are properly developed. May be wrong!! Good read overall but can't give it 5 stars.

A Break From The Day Job (3.5* Stars), 28 Sep 2008
You're a celebrated crime author and you've just retired your most famous character - DI John Rebus, as if you didn't know - so what do you do next? Answer, you write an old-fashioned heist caper.

You'll have read the plot synopsis so I'll not summarise it again, I'll simply confine myself to making a few general points about the book.

First of all, this originally ran as a serial in the same publication that first printed Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch-lite `The Overlook' before it was published as a novel last year. I don't know if Ian has padded out `Doors Open' a bit before publishing it, but if I'm being honest, it doesn't particularly feel as if it's longer than it should be.

I found `Doors Open' to be a satisfying read, even if it doesn't come close to approaching the quality of a large number of the best of the superb Rebus novels. For anyone else it would be good, but Rankin has set his own standards so high, that you're perhaps looking for a bit more. I personally suspect that he wrote this as a bit of light relief after creating the increasingly complex plots of the `you know who' series for the past twenty years. That and the large wad of cash he was apparently offered for writing it.

His policeman here, DI Ransome could not be less like John Rebus if he tried. For a start, he doesn't rush bull-headed into things with no care for insulting his betters - or anyone, else for that matter. Ransome has a facility for diplomacy when among his peers (his counterpart from another station is the one officially investigating the art theft) and has subtle plans for his own advancement. He's no less effective than Rebus, but like I say, his methods are totally different. However, in local Edinburgh gangster Chib Calloway he's created a baddie cut from the same cloth, or perhaps that should be, hewn from the same block of granite, as 'Big Ger' Cafferty from the Rebus novels.

There are a few times in this novel where Rankin has his characters spit things out... as in `Blah, blah, blah', he spat. This despite the fact that the sentences often contain no sibilants. This is a bit lazy, and proves to me that Ian himself regards this as no more than a frippery; a break from the real day job. Having said that, it's still a professional effort and contains a good number of decent twists.

In summary, this is an effective and efficient little thriller, and it's Ian Rankin writing in a much lighter vein, but it's no less enjoyable for that. If I'm going to be picky, there are writers around like Christopher Brookmyre who, frankly, do this kind of thing much better. Still it's a nice enough stab at the sub-genre, and it's never less than entertaining. But it isn't major league Rankin and anyone approaching it with that expectation is going to be disappointed.


A masterpiece, 08 Oct 2008
Compelling & intensely affecting; angry & driven. A masterpiece from one of the world's great writers. Anyone who thinks literature doesn't matter (or is dead) should read this novel.

Messy Messner, 07 Oct 2008
Philip Roth's new novel tells a story narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish butcher's son from Newark at college in the American Midwest during the Korean War. Marcus intends to work hard at his studies to avoid being drafted into the war, for fear of being killed. At college he has an unsettled time, not getting on with room-mates and having a short-lived affair with a troubled fellow student. Marcus's fall-outs with room-mates and then his girlfriend's mental breakdown bring him into conflict with the college dean.

Overall "Indignation" is about the protagonist's unwillingness to fit in with social conventions he doesn't accept - for instance, he's an atheist, but the college requires him to attend chapel weekly. A sexual ingenu, he's unable to cope with the complexities of an adult sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

If this description makes the novel sound slight, that's because it was my reaction to it. I thought this was insubstantial in comparison to Roth's better work - with large chunks of story skipped over, and an ending that's far less elliptical than it seems on first reading. But Roth is a first-rate writer, and it is a slick, easy read, though I'd also add that the story itself has the feel in places of being a messy first draft.

Phil Flops, 29 Sep 2008
One of the central motifs of the Roth oeuvre is human hysteria, usually depicted in tragic, comic or (more often) tragicomic terms. Witness the youthful neurosis of "Portnoy's Complaint"; the celebrity circus of "Zuckerman Unbound"; the macho-man collapse of "Sabbath's Theatre"; and the senescent mortality angst of "The Dying Animal", "Everyman" and "Exist Ghost" - those short, sharp bullets of Roth's maturity.
Here, the frenzied approach to life is embodied in the character of protagonist Marcus Messner's father. Marcus, a 1950's college student, is a source of constant and extreme worry to the old man, a Newark butcher. Why? Well, no reason - and that's the whole point. I guess.
"Indignation" is apparently a story about fatalism. The theme of the book could be, "lots of terrible things will happen to you if you think about them, or if others think about them (or worry incessantly) on your behalf."
But the question is, is it any good? And the answer - it cannot be concealed - is no. Roth may have surprised many, and even dazzled some, with the constant stream of quality work he has produced since the mid-nineties, but the wheels have really come off with this contemptible, truncated mess. It's over almost as soon as it begins, and has the distinct feel of an abandoned work that has been dusted down and reheated with a tacked-on ending. There is also a crudely inserted penultimate episode about a college riot that bears almost no relation to the "novel" itself. To be fair, the writing is accomplished and the character of the father is an amusing absurdity. That said, this is Roth's worst book since the atrocious "Deception".


American Kundera, 26 Sep 2008
I got this yesterday afternoon, I finished it this morning at four. It's simply great. It is, as the title of another review has it, a novel about "the way one's most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result." In this respect it resembles Milan Kundera's best novels. But it also is a novel about a bunch of complex, realistic characters, and about an important piece of History of the 20th century, and even more about the sincere, intelligent, passionate, and yet frustrated efforts of the protagonist to understand all that: History, people, and the way our choices can influence them.


Classic Roth - truly wonderful, 23 Sep 2008
Some are suggesting that Roth has become too prolific, with the implication that quality begins to dip, but Indignation refutes that. This is a tightly written, evocative and moving novel. It's the story of Marcus Messner, a young man dealing with an overbearing father and the strangeness of moving away to college, set as America is fighting the Korean War. Messner is also dead and from this vantage point, he is reviewing his short life. Such a device can be clumsy or silly, but Roth employs it to incredible effect. The characters are all vivid and memorable (the scene between Messner and the dean of men is a wonderful example) and the narrative is beautifully structured.

At the denouement, when Roth's purpose comes into final focus, I was left with the feeling of having experienced something simple and wise and powerful. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

A bit of a let-down, 16 Sep 2008
A very good plot, and well up to the usual standard of Rankin's powers of perceptive and descriptive writing, but let down, I think, by a somewhat lame ending. Admittedly, it's difficult to know how he could think of a finale which would appeal to all readers, but having just finished reading it about an hour ago, I can't help feeling a bit "flat".

Goodbye and Thanks For The Memories, 30 Aug 2008
What a fantasic send off for one of the great creations of modern literature.
I have read all the Rebus books in sequence over the years and fans of the series will be delighted to know Ian Rankin has written a a suitable finale.
We join Rebus with one week until his retirement and in a great device the chapters count down the days no surprising the pieces don't slide together until the final day of the week.

A murder of a Russian poet in Kings Stable Road gives Rebus one last case to solve soon ties are being made to big business, politicians and the criminal underworld led by Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty. Is this the last chance saloon for John to finally nail Edinburgh's gangster ?
As has been the case with the last few Rankin books the reader is left guessing right until the final pages who has commited the crimes. I can say that I guessed part of it but I doubt anyone will be able to predict all the conclusions.

The early books in the series were enjoyable but it's been the last half dozen that have really elevated the series the introduction of DS Siobhan Clarke I feel was where it really kicked in giving Rebus a genuine partner to bounce off. This book is no exception with the scenes with them together being the strongest. It's real shame in some ways that Rankin's decision to age Rebus in real time deprives us of further INSPECTOR Rebus books but if you haven't ever read any of the series you are so lucky to have twenty books available to you.

For the rest of us here's looking forward to the first of the DI Clarke stories which if Ian Rankin decides not to write then there really will have been a crime committed.

Disappointing and dull, 18 Sep 2008
It's hard to live up to the "Booker of Bookers" tag but this comes nowhere near. Rushdie can write: bursts of compelling narrative display that. Unfortunately the whole story is trussed up in that clever "flash-back", "flash-forward" conceit which eventually bored me. No, I didn't finish it. I got a little further than I did with Ulysses, but eventually hurled this into the same Pseud Bin.
I've read somewhere that the author intends the time switching to be like the digressions of an oral storyteller but I think that's like trying to capture ballet in a poem or the moon in a bucket. The device is overused and tiresome. Want a Third World Magic Realism Family Saga? try "House of the Spirits".

An important, and dare I say enjoyable read, 20 Aug 2008
Whatever controversies arise from Rushdie one cannot but marvel at the depths of his imagination. Midnight's Children whilst containing some of the most beautiful language and imagery is no easy read. As with most Rushdie novels we venture into the world of magic realism and we witness the life of a child born on the stroke of midnight hour when Nehru announces the "tryst with dynasty". Born with special powers Saleem is witness through the whirlwind of events that make up India's first thirty years and we see his attempted interfering. Again with Rushdie's novels we're unable to sympathise with any of the characters but nevertheless the strength of the writing keeps us plodding through.

Comment on previous review, 12 Aug 2008
I would not usually indulge in a review. It is only reading the previous review that has prompted, less than a reply, than a reaction.
Midnight's Children is a good book. Does this make me a fraud? No, it just happened that I enjoyed it, savoured it's scope, it's humour, it's allegory - all of this is not difficult to grasp, only if some people did not try so hard. When a person put the word intellectual in brackets it is fairly obvious that they see a distinct 'us and you'mentality in the literary world. And as much as there are the literary squabblers and vacous acedemic blabbers, these do not rule the litrary roost.
Midnight's children is a book to be read without too much initial analysis. Lap up the world inside the book, not the underlying allegory of Indian independance. Laugh and Saleem's akwardness, do not over-exert yourself by picking apart each sentence. Ride along with this book and you will enjoy it.
I think a large part of the problem is the current image of Rusdhie. He is a celebrity, but for all the wrong reasons. Ignore Rushdie and listen to Saleem himself, it is the work and not the author your reading here.
I find it hard to believe that the previous reveiwer actually finished the book. And these literary deathmatches (Nabakov is better than Rusdhie) are pointless defences for a floundering argument.
I suggest that you ignore the last review and make your own mind up.

How to spot a fraud...., 31 Jul 2008
Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who tells you that this is a good book is a pretentious fraud. Rushdie doubtless has an excellent command of language but is unable to stop himself overindulging, as a result the book is wordy, disjointed and goes nowhere. Midnight's Children is a classic fraudster's book, praised only by those who want the reflected glory of association with a book supposedly only capable of being understood and appreciated by "intellectuals." It's a shame really as Rushdie clearly has talent, however his writing is simply abysmal and because he is the darling of the literary establishment people pretend that they like and appreciate his work - don't waste your money, if you want to have a good read try Lolita by Nabakov, a true wordsmith from whom Rushdie could learn alot.

It grows on you - give it a chance and you will be rewarded, 26 Aug 2008
Read it once, quickly, as you may an 'ordinary' novel and you might struggle to finish it, at best maybe give it three stars. Read it again, slowly, study it with an appropriate text and the book really comes into it's own. Oh, this is very good. Clever, subtle, crafted. Beautifully done, with a light touch. It's a wonderfully evocative social commentary on how the stiffness of British imperialistic attitudes flounder and seem absurd in a tropical climate and setting. Likewise, it's a commentary on life and living and loving and being, on being black and being white, of male and female and power structures and sex. There's just so much going on.

Worth a try for curious readers, 18 Aug 2008
'Jane Eyre' is probably one of my favourite novels of all time, and when a family member lent me this prequel, I was quick to devour it.

My expectations were not high, however. I was excited about the 'Jane Eyre' BBC adaptation, and when it turned out to be outstanding and very loyal to its source material, I was keen to watch the prequel that they advertised afterwards. I was not as impressed. I found it dull and could not really connect with Bertha.

As it turns out, after reading this novella, the BBC adaptation was as loyal as the 'Jane Eyre' adaptation. It was sexy, colourful, brooding, exotic and menacing, and whilst I did not appreciate this at the time, I do after reading this. Unfortunately, this loyalty means the shortcomings of the TV adaptation are also true of this novella. It is quite difficult to feel for the heroine, like we are clearly supposed to, and the author opts to make Rochester (who, interestingly, is never named) out to be a villain, and her madness is entirely his fault.

It is a plausible exploration that aligns itself with Victorian gender politics; when women were sent to lunatic asylums for as little as depression, and then sent mad inside of them. Actually, it is highly relevant, and it gives the reader a completely different view of Bertha's story. This is a double edged sword though. As interesting as it is, and perhaps right, in many respects, it is pretty difficult to grasp the characterisation of Rochester in this manner for all the people that adored his character in 'Jane Eyre'.

Besides the character of Bertha, and the fact that this novella is a prequel, it can firmly stand on its own. Not, perhaps, as a story or something to be enjoyed, but for the thematics and how the language complements them. The narration is riddled with imagery, foreshadowing and sheer elegance. It deals with gender politics, Victorian martial laws, colonialism, race, and of course, psychology. Having said that, I would recommend reading 'Jane Eyre' before embarking on this, as much of it would be lost if you have not read 'Jane Eyre' first. It also may soil your view on Rochester for 'Jane Eyre' and give away plot details which would ruin the novel for you considerably.

If you have read 'Jane Eyre', I would not say that this is vital, but if you are curious about Bertha's character this novella fleshes her out a bit, though there is still something about her that is lacking. I felt more sympathy for her in `Jane Eyre' without all of this background to be honest.


Highly recommended., 18 Jan 2008
This is a morose, but beautifully written novel. Definitely lives up to expectations. I read it through twice for full appreciation, and recommend this idea to others. I rate this 6 stars!

Dark and Delicious, 27 Oct 2007
This is a macabre book with a true sense of gothicism to it. I first read it as a teenager after being blown away by Jane Eyre, and hated it. Its difference from Bronte's writing and its harsh treatment of Rochester didn't sit well with me at all. Having had to read it again as part of a course recently I have to say I wasn't relishing the experience, but how wrong I was. Reading it again, with no expectation of kinship with Bronte made such a difference. This is a brilliant book, densely layered, symbolic and evocative of the tropical landscape, madness and imprisonment. It has some of the wonderful internal dialogue moments of Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, swooping through the narrative and Rhys' eye for detail and dialogue is superb. Its brooding menace is chilling and the use of imagery is stupendous. A fantastic book.

Had to read it, 30 Jan 2007
...for a course. I wouldn't of picked this book otherwise. I am glad we had to read it though as it introduced me to an interesting book that I wouldn't have read otherwise.
I'm not saying it is the best and most enjoying book that I have ever read but it was very interesting and well written and really worth reading.

Ten star rating and more, 22 Mar 2007
This book achieves the impossible. It makes the difficult and obtuse polemical and theoretical debates of recent history easy to read. Yes, believe it or not! I cannot find enough congratulations to give for this excellent and learned book. The achievement of the age. Thank you for making clear sense of it all.My newly found bible for Literary Critical research.

A worthy introduction but only goes so far, 08 Mar 2007
This book is a useful tool for students wishing to grasp the basics, and sample a broad range, of critical approaches to literature. However, if you wish to explore a particular approach to a higher level, then this book will not be adequate on its own. For example, the fact that only a few pages are dedicated to the concept of 'gender' goes to show that this really is only an introductory work, and it could be argued that literary theory is not something that can be 'summed up' in the form of brief, introductory chapters.

Having said this, each chapter provides reading lists for additional relevant material, and therefore it is a good way to break into the field. Just be prepared to get in the library and seek out other books if a particular approach interests you. Don't expect to rely entirely on this.

I love this book!, 10 Nov 2006
Whilst trying to write an essay about desire, I became so confused I just wanted a book that would explain the various theories in simple language so that I would understand it. This book did just that. It provides introductions to complex topics and establishes a foundation of knowledge that you can build on with the handily referenced further reading, or reading of your own. Its now become my first port of call when writing essays, so I don't become tangled up in complex criticism and theories.

Superficial and condescending., 18 Feb 2006
In my first year as an UG philosophy and literature student, this book very nearly put me completely off literary theory: each of its chapters would be brilliant as an INTRODUCTION to an essay on each of the topics it pretends to discuss. Not only is the tone it takes insultingly condescending, but its authors have a real penchant for making seriously unsubstantiated statements. It's also stultifyingly politically correct, refusing to take any account of points of view that don't belong to the prevalent orthodoxy. It places excessive emphasis on 'close reading', which, even if intelligently and insightfully done (as it is here), is always prone to cause major lapses in the maintenance of a sense of perspective.

Theory IS difficult, and it isin't by means of such reductionism that it will, lo and behold, be made entertaining and accessible to all.

Superb, 05 Dec 2005
This book offers a real insight into the vast world of literary criticism and theory: it delves into fundamental subject areas, asking questions like, 'What is the text? Where does it begin?' Bennett & Royle consistently keep our interest (no mean feat in a book of this scope) and write concisely, intelligently and fluently. Case studies are used, so the theory really comes into play. I would recommend this book to anyone starting a course on literature or merely with an interest in the texts that make up our world. Particularly useful are the 'Further Reading' footnotes at the end of each chapter, which will advise you on texts to read according to what you found interesting about the subject. This is a relatively short book, but covers all its subject matter well and references other works which can provide a deeper insight. Don't expect to use this as a complete reference book; you will need to do some more reading, but as a comprehensive summary of modern literary theory this book is perfect.