Barbara Vine - The Birthday Present, 30 Sep 2008
(I intended four stars but I can't change it back. Oh well.)

The Birthday Present has probably been the book I was most looking forward to in 2008, especially considering how good Rendell's last effort under the Vine name - The Minotaur - was. Sadly, this doesn't get within a long creeping tendril's distance of the quality.

It's early 1990. The Thatcher government it's nearing it's last days, and there's a love affair going on. Ivor Tesham, a thirty-year-old political rising star is secretly bedding beautiful London housewife Hebe Furnal. For her birthday Ivor decides to give her a special present that certain more open couples have begun to engage in: a practice known as `adventure sex'. Hebe is to be abducted, consenting but unknowing of when, at an unknown venue and time, bound and gagged, then delivered to her lover at a specified location... The decision to "treat" Hebe to this fashionable new thrill is one that will lead to tragedy touching the lives of several people, least of all Tesham's.

The Birthday Present is an odd beast among the Vine canon, almost entirely unlike any of her other, which normally feature hidden, secret crimes of the past, dark, cloudy tragedies recollected in the present or some further point, that gradually become unfolded to reveal something horrific. This, however, is more a political satire-cum-thriller. It is, admittedly, absolutely full of many of the things one would expect of a Vine novel: a brilliant conveyance of the psychology of its many characters, and a demonstration of a remarkable insight into the time-period in which it is set. The characters, with their weaknesses and leavening normalities, are of course brilliantly written. As is the portrait of a primarily self-obsessed early-nineties era. Vine plays this aspect of the social landscape up, and that is the part which contains the majority of the subtle satire. The novel is brought to us in two parts, the first-person narration of Ivor's brother-in-law, and the first-person diary of Hebe's "best friend" Jane, who Hebe largely used merely an alibi to keep her affair under wraps. Jane is a particularly Vine-esque piece: a lonely, bitter 30-ish spinster whom one would feel utter sympathy for were it not for the fact that her loneliness has made her unspeakably selfish, self-obsessed, and vaguely deluded. Her characters, as ever, are perfect examples of how to place a reader's opinions in conflict. At times I felt infinitely sorrow and pity for Jane, at times one wants laughs at her and, cruelly, almost believes she deserves herself. Ivor's self-obsession is a slightly different story: his ability to think about anyone but himself or his political career induces nothing but coldness, apart from the occasional wistful brace of pity at his naivety. Ultimately, few readers will care that his political career is bound to come tumbling down, which might be part of the problem. It is bound to happen, but no one cares, which renders the crucial question (and with Vine there is always one crucial question, one that is supposed to taunt the reader throughout, this time that of how the man's career tumbles) almost irrelevant.

Vine also makes good use of questions of fate and chance to inject levels and power and intrigue into the novel, but ultimately any good work is dampened by the ending (much like the latest P.D. James novel), which is disappointing for a reason unheard of in Vine: simply, there is no surprise. Not even an effort at one. What has been destined to happen all along, turns out to happen, and that's pretty much it. There's a little subplot - that of Jane - to be dealt with, and dealt with it is, but not in a way that has any great shocks or surprises. The fact that everything turned out to be so predictable disappointed me greatly. It's possible that Vine was aiming at something different with this novel, making it more of a criminal satire than a novel of secrets and surprises, but the aspects of satire are not enough to give the novel enough oomph. Vine's strengths are the unveiling of hidden, shocking secrets, the revealing of twisted psychologies, and they really needed to be present here as well. It's a great shame, as I thought the premise was absolutely brilliant: a woman captured from the secret for the purposes of `adventure sex'. It's a great plot-point to start with, but sadly Vine takes her focus elsewhere, which also added to my disappointment.

For Vine fans, The Birthday Present may be a disappointment, but it is still certainly worth a read for its social insights and psychological portraits. It's a good novel, and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just very disappointed that it was less than it could be. Non-Vine fans, or readers who prefer satires or political novels, may well - unclouded by expectation - find much indeed to like here. So, for almost any reader it is certainly one to have a crack at. It is, after all, brilliantly written. And that is a worthwhile pleasure for anyone.


A Good Read, 29 Sep 2008
Whilst not reaching the heights of A Fatal Inversion or House of Stairs it was far better than some recent Barbara Vine outings (The Blood Doctor/Minotaur/Chimney Sweepers Boy).

The characters are well drawn and believeable but there are a few too many coincidences in the plot for my liking.
Would these characters' paths really have crossed quite so frequently? Still, a good read though.

A Mordant Commentary, 16 Sep 2008
Barbara Vine never fails to write an engrossing tale. Her writing is as good as it gets, and she builds a gripping story. The reader is carried along, not knowing where he or she is going, but unable to stop reading.

This new novel is essentially a character study of two people --- a rising star in the Conservative Party heirarchy, and a lonely young woman whose life and sanity are rapidly crumbling; but these two central threads fit into a more complex mosaic that includes Vine's typically keen characterizations as well as some biting political commentary.

This is not to say that there's an endorsement of a political viewpoint or issue. The book is more a look at how appearances trump substance in politics. It doesn't matter so much what you've done; it's how that is perceived, how it's spun in the media. It's all about perception.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do almost everything Vine has written, and highly recommend it for her fans.

Excellent, 14 Sep 2008
This is a seriously good book, on many levels.

Building from the "birthday present" of the title, the tension increases as the consequences of the "present" unfold - for Ivor Tesham, the rising Conservative MP, for Hebe Furnal's family and friends, and for the Lynch family (saying who they are would give away too much plot). It all gets out of control, of course, and ends badly - but not in a way you'd expect.

Absolutely key to the book's atmosphere is the diary of Jane, the "alibi lady", friend of Hebe, for whom I felt equal revulsion and pity (One moment she will write loathsome things about Hebe's husband or son, the next set out a devastating flash of self knowledge. Her lack of empathy though is chilling). Jane's slowly gathering despair powers the book. "What are you going to do?" asks Tesham of her, early on, and the question hangs in the air throughout.

The diary entries alternate with chapters written from the point of view of Tesham's brother in law, an affable accountant, bewildered by the mess the MP has got himself into and by his caddish behaviour. These document Tesham's flight into danger. The two characters - Jane and Ivor - are done well, and they remained with me after I finished the book.

Definitely one not to miss.


Redressing the balance, 09 Sep 2008
Just to redress the balance, since the previous very unfair one-star rating can put some people off buying the book, which is in fact greatly enjoyable and on a par with the best books by the author. Most of the readers that are disappointed by some Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine books have yet to learn that (unlike many of the so-called crime novelists) she has always refused to stick to a formula. This novel cheerfully ignores all genre conventions that so many readers happen to rely on.

It took Vonnegut more than 20 years to put his Dresden experiences into words. He explained, "there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again." Slaughterhouse Five is a powerful novel incorporating a number of genres. Only those who have fought in wars can say whether it represents the experience well. However, what the novel does do is invite the reader to look at the absurdity of war. Human versus human, hedonist politicians pressing buttons and ordering millions to their deaths all for ideologies many cannot even comprehend. Flicking between the US, 1940's Germany and Tralfamadore, Vonnegut's semi- autobiographical protagonist Billy Pilgrim finds himself very lost. One minute he is being viewed as a specimen in a Tralfamadorian Zoo, the next he is wandering a post-apocalyptic city looking for corpses. Slaughterhouse Five-Or The Children's Crusade A Duty-Dance with Death is a remarkable blend of black humour, irony, the truth and the absurd. The author regards his work a "failure", millions of readers do not. Released the same time bombs were falling on South East Asia, this title caused controversy and awakening. Essential reading for all. So it goes. --Jon Smith

Barbara Vine - The Birthday Present, 30 Sep 2008
(I intended four stars but I can't change it back. Oh well.)

The Birthday Present has probably been the book I was most looking forward to in 2008, especially considering how good Rendell's last effort under the Vine name - The Minotaur - was. Sadly, this doesn't get within a long creeping tendril's distance of the quality.

It's early 1990. The Thatcher government it's nearing it's last days, and there's a love affair going on. Ivor Tesham, a thirty-year-old political rising star is secretly bedding beautiful London housewife Hebe Furnal. For her birthday Ivor decides to give her a special present that certain more open couples have begun to engage in: a practice known as `adventure sex'. Hebe is to be abducted, consenting but unknowing of when, at an unknown venue and time, bound and gagged, then delivered to her lover at a specified location... The decision to "treat" Hebe to this fashionable new thrill is one that will lead to tragedy touching the lives of several people, least of all Tesham's.

The Birthday Present is an odd beast among the Vine canon, almost entirely unlike any of her other, which normally feature hidden, secret crimes of the past, dark, cloudy tragedies recollected in the present or some further point, that gradually become unfolded to reveal something horrific. This, however, is more a political satire-cum-thriller. It is, admittedly, absolutely full of many of the things one would expect of a Vine novel: a brilliant conveyance of the psychology of its many characters, and a demonstration of a remarkable insight into the time-period in which it is set. The characters, with their weaknesses and leavening normalities, are of course brilliantly written. As is the portrait of a primarily self-obsessed early-nineties era. Vine plays this aspect of the social landscape up, and that is the part which contains the majority of the subtle satire. The novel is brought to us in two parts, the first-person narration of Ivor's brother-in-law, and the first-person diary of Hebe's "best friend" Jane, who Hebe largely used merely an alibi to keep her affair under wraps. Jane is a particularly Vine-esque piece: a lonely, bitter 30-ish spinster whom one would feel utter sympathy for were it not for the fact that her loneliness has made her unspeakably selfish, self-obsessed, and vaguely deluded. Her characters, as ever, are perfect examples of how to place a reader's opinions in conflict. At times I felt infinitely sorrow and pity for Jane, at times one wants laughs at her and, cruelly, almost believes she deserves herself. Ivor's self-obsession is a slightly different story: his ability to think about anyone but himself or his political career induces nothing but coldness, apart from the occasional wistful brace of pity at his naivety. Ultimately, few readers will care that his political career is bound to come tumbling down, which might be part of the problem. It is bound to happen, but no one cares, which renders the crucial question (and with Vine there is always one crucial question, one that is supposed to taunt the reader throughout, this time that of how the man's career tumbles) almost irrelevant.

Vine also makes good use of questions of fate and chance to inject levels and power and intrigue into the novel, but ultimately any good work is dampened by the ending (much like the latest P.D. James novel), which is disappointing for a reason unheard of in Vine: simply, there is no surprise. Not even an effort at one. What has been destined to happen all along, turns out to happen, and that's pretty much it. There's a little subplot - that of Jane - to be dealt with, and dealt with it is, but not in a way that has any great shocks or surprises. The fact that everything turned out to be so predictable disappointed me greatly. It's possible that Vine was aiming at something different with this novel, making it more of a criminal satire than a novel of secrets and surprises, but the aspects of satire are not enough to give the novel enough oomph. Vine's strengths are the unveiling of hidden, shocking secrets, the revealing of twisted psychologies, and they really needed to be present here as well. It's a great shame, as I thought the premise was absolutely brilliant: a woman captured from the secret for the purposes of `adventure sex'. It's a great plot-point to start with, but sadly Vine takes her focus elsewhere, which also added to my disappointment.

For Vine fans, The Birthday Present may be a disappointment, but it is still certainly worth a read for its social insights and psychological portraits. It's a good novel, and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just very disappointed that it was less than it could be. Non-Vine fans, or readers who prefer satires or political novels, may well - unclouded by expectation - find much indeed to like here. So, for almost any reader it is certainly one to have a crack at. It is, after all, brilliantly written. And that is a worthwhile pleasure for anyone.


A Good Read, 29 Sep 2008
Whilst not reaching the heights of A Fatal Inversion or House of Stairs it was far better than some recent Barbara Vine outings (The Blood Doctor/Minotaur/Chimney Sweepers Boy).

The characters are well drawn and believeable but there are a few too many coincidences in the plot for my liking.
Would these characters' paths really have crossed quite so frequently? Still, a good read though.

A Mordant Commentary, 16 Sep 2008
Barbara Vine never fails to write an engrossing tale. Her writing is as good as it gets, and she builds a gripping story. The reader is carried along, not knowing where he or she is going, but unable to stop reading.

This new novel is essentially a character study of two people --- a rising star in the Conservative Party heirarchy, and a lonely young woman whose life and sanity are rapidly crumbling; but these two central threads fit into a more complex mosaic that includes Vine's typically keen characterizations as well as some biting political commentary.

This is not to say that there's an endorsement of a political viewpoint or issue. The book is more a look at how appearances trump substance in politics. It doesn't matter so much what you've done; it's how that is perceived, how it's spun in the media. It's all about perception.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do almost everything Vine has written, and highly recommend it for her fans.

Excellent, 14 Sep 2008
This is a seriously good book, on many levels.

Building from the "birthday present" of the title, the tension increases as the consequences of the "present" unfold - for Ivor Tesham, the rising Conservative MP, for Hebe Furnal's family and friends, and for the Lynch family (saying who they are would give away too much plot). It all gets out of control, of course, and ends badly - but not in a way you'd expect.

Absolutely key to the book's atmosphere is the diary of Jane, the "alibi lady", friend of Hebe, for whom I felt equal revulsion and pity (One moment she will write loathsome things about Hebe's husband or son, the next set out a devastating flash of self knowledge. Her lack of empathy though is chilling). Jane's slowly gathering despair powers the book. "What are you going to do?" asks Tesham of her, early on, and the question hangs in the air throughout.

The diary entries alternate with chapters written from the point of view of Tesham's brother in law, an affable accountant, bewildered by the mess the MP has got himself into and by his caddish behaviour. These document Tesham's flight into danger. The two characters - Jane and Ivor - are done well, and they remained with me after I finished the book.

Definitely one not to miss.


Redressing the balance, 09 Sep 2008
Just to redress the balance, since the previous very unfair one-star rating can put some people off buying the book, which is in fact greatly enjoyable and on a par with the best books by the author. Most of the readers that are disappointed by some Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine books have yet to learn that (unlike many of the so-called crime novelists) she has always refused to stick to a formula. This novel cheerfully ignores all genre conventions that so many readers happen to rely on.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Curious, philosophical, wide reaching great book, 01 Oct 2007
The first chapter in this book is in the first person which gives context to the rest of the book. I always forget how rare, but enjoyable, it is to read first person until you come across it, generally in autobiographies. This gave a fascinating start which engaged my curiosity from the beginning.
I loved the swapping backwards and forwards in time. It was initially unsettling but once I accepted that was normal then it was a very relaxing technique. The use of the fourth dimension led to a interesting conclusion that when a body dies it doesn't matter as there are still times when it was alive and they can be revisited at any time.
Billy has memories from the future which is a great concept and I loved his complete acceptance of what will be happening at some time and also accepting his inability to change it.
I'm not quite sure how the author managed to acheive it, but the suspense was retained all through the novel even though, through Billy, the reader has already seen the end of the story.
There is a thin line between the philosophical genius of Billy and his lunatic tendancies which increase as the time progressed towards his death.
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I will read more.

Read it, pass it on to your sons and their sons, 24 Sep 2007
Not much more can be said about this book beyond what the previous reviewers have already said. Unlike a lot of highly recommended reading it is however a great and despite its subject, enjoyable read. The enjoyment may however be intruded upon by some sober reflection on the part of the reader. The mental picture of Billy Pilgrim's entry into Dresden is a wonderful metaphor for the absurdity of war as is the moral outrage of the Dresdener who berates him for his appearance a superb portrayal of the differences which arise from nothing more than perspective.
Buy it.

So it Goes., 30 Aug 2007
Kurt Vonnegut was a genius. If you were a publisher reading the synopsis (if he ever did such a thing!) on Slaughterhouse 5 you would probably need to have a lie down for a while, whilst you wondered if you ever dared print such a thing. But back in 1969 it was, and drew interest at a time of ant-war protests in the US.

Vonnegut follows Billy Pilgrim as he stumbles towards the curtain of the Allied bombing of Dresden at the end of World War 2.

In-between Billy slips in and out of time travel and is kidnapped by an alien race called the Tralfamadorians who put him in a zoo. The aliens perceive all points in time at once:

"When a Tralfamodorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that person is just fine in plenty of other moments."

Billy also meets his favourite author Kilgore Trout.

"Are - you Kilgore Trout?"
"Yes." Trout supposed that Billy had some complaint about the way his newspapers were being delivered. He did not think of himself as a writer for the simple reason that the world had never allowed him to think of himself in this way.
"The - the writer?" said Billy.
"The what?"

Slaughterhouse works on a number of levels. (Let me be clear, the book should not work, the fact that it does is a testament to Vonnegut.) It is funny, moving and informative. It brings into perspective the level of suffering in a city which Vonnegut describes as having no military significance (it was untouched until the bombing at the end of the war). Vonnegut himself survived the bombing as a prisoner of war in Dresden.

1945
Air attack on Tokyo by American bombers kills 83,793 people.
Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima kills 71,370 people.
Conventional bombs dropped by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force on Dresden, kills 135,000 people.

What I like about the book is the way you are drawn into the thought gymnastics that go on in Vonnegut's mind. He is clever, witty and provides a view on life that is refreshing and allows you to look at the human condition from a perspective outside the normal polite form of thought demonstrated by the mass of media that surrounds us.

It's like discovering a donut sprinkled in brightly covered hundreds and thousands in a packet of cornflakes. Totally unexpected and a real treat at the wrong time of day. Disjointed from the normal patterns.

In the book The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that a person only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past.
Tralfamadorians say about dead people, "So it goes."
Vonnegut died this April aged 84.

So it goes.

Barbara Vine - The Birthday Present, 30 Sep 2008
(I intended four stars but I can't change it back. Oh well.)

The Birthday Present has probably been the book I was most looking forward to in 2008, especially considering how good Rendell's last effort under the Vine name - The Minotaur - was. Sadly, this doesn't get within a long creeping tendril's distance of the quality.

It's early 1990. The Thatcher government it's nearing it's last days, and there's a love affair going on. Ivor Tesham, a thirty-year-old political rising star is secretly bedding beautiful London housewife Hebe Furnal. For her birthday Ivor decides to give her a special present that certain more open couples have begun to engage in: a practice known as `adventure sex'. Hebe is to be abducted, consenting but unknowing of when, at an unknown venue and time, bound and gagged, then delivered to her lover at a specified location... The decision to "treat" Hebe to this fashionable new thrill is one that will lead to tragedy touching the lives of several people, least of all Tesham's.

The Birthday Present is an odd beast among the Vine canon, almost entirely unlike any of her other, which normally feature hidden, secret crimes of the past, dark, cloudy tragedies recollected in the present or some further point, that gradually become unfolded to reveal something horrific. This, however, is more a political satire-cum-thriller. It is, admittedly, absolutely full of many of the things one would expect of a Vine novel: a brilliant conveyance of the psychology of its many characters, and a demonstration of a remarkable insight into the time-period in which it is set. The characters, with their weaknesses and leavening normalities, are of course brilliantly written. As is the portrait of a primarily self-obsessed early-nineties era. Vine plays this aspect of the social landscape up, and that is the part which contains the majority of the subtle satire. The novel is brought to us in two parts, the first-person narration of Ivor's brother-in-law, and the first-person diary of Hebe's "best friend" Jane, who Hebe largely used merely an alibi to keep her affair under wraps. Jane is a particularly Vine-esque piece: a lonely, bitter 30-ish spinster whom one would feel utter sympathy for were it not for the fact that her loneliness has made her unspeakably selfish, self-obsessed, and vaguely deluded. Her characters, as ever, are perfect examples of how to place a reader's opinions in conflict. At times I felt infinitely sorrow and pity for Jane, at times one wants laughs at her and, cruelly, almost believes she deserves herself. Ivor's self-obsession is a slightly different story: his ability to think about anyone but himself or his political career induces nothing but coldness, apart from the occasional wistful brace of pity at his naivety. Ultimately, few readers will care that his political career is bound to come tumbling down, which might be part of the problem. It is bound to happen, but no one cares, which renders the crucial question (and with Vine there is always one crucial question, one that is supposed to taunt the reader throughout, this time that of how the man's career tumbles) almost irrelevant.

Vine also makes good use of questions of fate and chance to inject levels and power and intrigue into the novel, but ultimately any good work is dampened by the ending (much like the latest P.D. James novel), which is disappointing for a reason unheard of in Vine: simply, there is no surprise. Not even an effort at one. What has been destined to happen all along, turns out to happen, and that's pretty much it. There's a little subplot - that of Jane - to be dealt with, and dealt with it is, but not in a way that has any great shocks or surprises. The fact that everything turned out to be so predictable disappointed me greatly. It's possible that Vine was aiming at something different with this novel, making it more of a criminal satire than a novel of secrets and surprises, but the aspects of satire are not enough to give the novel enough oomph. Vine's strengths are the unveiling of hidden, shocking secrets, the revealing of twisted psychologies, and they really needed to be present here as well. It's a great shame, as I thought the premise was absolutely brilliant: a woman captured from the secret for the purposes of `adventure sex'. It's a great plot-point to start with, but sadly Vine takes her focus elsewhere, which also added to my disappointment.

For Vine fans, The Birthday Present may be a disappointment, but it is still certainly worth a read for its social insights and psychological portraits. It's a good novel, and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just very disappointed that it was less than it could be. Non-Vine fans, or readers who prefer satires or political novels, may well - unclouded by expectation - find much indeed to like here. So, for almost any reader it is certainly one to have a crack at. It is, after all, brilliantly written. And that is a worthwhile pleasure for anyone.


A Good Read, 29 Sep 2008
Whilst not reaching the heights of A Fatal Inversion or House of Stairs it was far better than some recent Barbara Vine outings (The Blood Doctor/Minotaur/Chimney Sweepers Boy).

The characters are well drawn and believeable but there are a few too many coincidences in the plot for my liking.
Would these characters' paths really have crossed quite so frequently? Still, a good read though.

A Mordant Commentary, 16 Sep 2008
Barbara Vine never fails to write an engrossing tale. Her writing is as good as it gets, and she builds a gripping story. The reader is carried along, not knowing where he or she is going, but unable to stop reading.

This new novel is essentially a character study of two people --- a rising star in the Conservative Party heirarchy, and a lonely young woman whose life and sanity are rapidly crumbling; but these two central threads fit into a more complex mosaic that includes Vine's typically keen characterizations as well as some biting political commentary.

This is not to say that there's an endorsement of a political viewpoint or issue. The book is more a look at how appearances trump substance in politics. It doesn't matter so much what you've done; it's how that is perceived, how it's spun in the media. It's all about perception.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do almost everything Vine has written, and highly recommend it for her fans.

Excellent, 14 Sep 2008
This is a seriously good book, on many levels.

Building from the "birthday present" of the title, the tension increases as the consequences of the "present" unfold - for Ivor Tesham, the rising Conservative MP, for Hebe Furnal's family and friends, and for the Lynch family (saying who they are would give away too much plot). It all gets out of control, of course, and ends badly - but not in a way you'd expect.

Absolutely key to the book's atmosphere is the diary of Jane, the "alibi lady", friend of Hebe, for whom I felt equal revulsion and pity (One moment she will write loathsome things about Hebe's husband or son, the next set out a devastating flash of self knowledge. Her lack of empathy though is chilling). Jane's slowly gathering despair powers the book. "What are you going to do?" asks Tesham of her, early on, and the question hangs in the air throughout.

The diary entries alternate with chapters written from the point of view of Tesham's brother in law, an affable accountant, bewildered by the mess the MP has got himself into and by his caddish behaviour. These document Tesham's flight into danger. The two characters - Jane and Ivor - are done well, and they remained with me after I finished the book.

Definitely one not to miss.


Redressing the balance, 09 Sep 2008
Just to redress the balance, since the previous very unfair one-star rating can put some people off buying the book, which is in fact greatly enjoyable and on a par with the best books by the author. Most of the readers that are disappointed by some Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine books have yet to learn that (unlike many of the so-called crime novelists) she has always refused to stick to a formula. This novel cheerfully ignores all genre conventions that so many readers happen to rely on.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Curious, philosophical, wide reaching great book, 01 Oct 2007
The first chapter in this book is in the first person which gives context to the rest of the book. I always forget how rare, but enjoyable, it is to read first person until you come across it, generally in autobiographies. This gave a fascinating start which engaged my curiosity from the beginning.
I loved the swapping backwards and forwards in time. It was initially unsettling but once I accepted that was normal then it was a very relaxing technique. The use of the fourth dimension led to a interesting conclusion that when a body dies it doesn't matter as there are still times when it was alive and they can be revisited at any time.
Billy has memories from the future which is a great concept and I loved his complete acceptance of what will be happening at some time and also accepting his inability to change it.
I'm not quite sure how the author managed to acheive it, but the suspense was retained all through the novel even though, through Billy, the reader has already seen the end of the story.
There is a thin line between the philosophical genius of Billy and his lunatic tendancies which increase as the time progressed towards his death.
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I will read more.

Read it, pass it on to your sons and their sons, 24 Sep 2007
Not much more can be said about this book beyond what the previous reviewers have already said. Unlike a lot of highly recommended reading it is however a great and despite its subject, enjoyable read. The enjoyment may however be intruded upon by some sober reflection on the part of the reader. The mental picture of Billy Pilgrim's entry into Dresden is a wonderful metaphor for the absurdity of war as is the moral outrage of the Dresdener who berates him for his appearance a superb portrayal of the differences which arise from nothing more than perspective.
Buy it.

So it Goes., 30 Aug 2007
Kurt Vonnegut was a genius. If you were a publisher reading the synopsis (if he ever did such a thing!) on Slaughterhouse 5 you would probably need to have a lie down for a while, whilst you wondered if you ever dared print such a thing. But back in 1969 it was, and drew interest at a time of ant-war protests in the US.

Vonnegut follows Billy Pilgrim as he stumbles towards the curtain of the Allied bombing of Dresden at the end of World War 2.

In-between Billy slips in and out of time travel and is kidnapped by an alien race called the Tralfamadorians who put him in a zoo. The aliens perceive all points in time at once:

"When a Tralfamodorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that person is just fine in plenty of other moments."

Billy also meets his favourite author Kilgore Trout.

"Are - you Kilgore Trout?"
"Yes." Trout supposed that Billy had some complaint about the way his newspapers were being delivered. He did not think of himself as a writer for the simple reason that the world had never allowed him to think of himself in this way.
"The - the writer?" said Billy.
"The what?"

Slaughterhouse works on a number of levels. (Let me be clear, the book should not work, the fact that it does is a testament to Vonnegut.) It is funny, moving and informative. It brings into perspective the level of suffering in a city which Vonnegut describes as having no military significance (it was untouched until the bombing at the end of the war). Vonnegut himself survived the bombing as a prisoner of war in Dresden.

1945
Air attack on Tokyo by American bombers kills 83,793 people.
Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima kills 71,370 people.
Conventional bombs dropped by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force on Dresden, kills 135,000 people.

What I like about the book is the way you are drawn into the thought gymnastics that go on in Vonnegut's mind. He is clever, witty and provides a view on life that is refreshing and allows you to look at the human condition from a perspective outside the normal polite form of thought demonstrated by the mass of media that surrounds us.

It's like discovering a donut sprinkled in brightly covered hundreds and thousands in a packet of cornflakes. Totally unexpected and a real treat at the wrong time of day. Disjointed from the normal patterns.

In the book The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that a person only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past.
Tralfamadorians say about dead people, "So it goes."
Vonnegut died this April aged 84.

So it goes.


A modern classic, 26 Jun 2008
What a beautifully written insightful story. A female author who clearly has a 'masculine' side to write as a man. She intertwined the characters, their lives and personalities with skill and feeling. I loved the way she understates detail acknowledging the readers intelligence. Brilliant. It was even better than Miss Garnet's Angels. i immediately went out and bought all her other novels.

Therapist and patient help each other, 09 Dec 2007
David McBride, a psychotherapist, has a patient, Elizabeth Cruikshank who had attempted suicide. The story of Elizabeth triggers long-suppressed thoughts about and bleak insights into problems in his own life. As a result he responds to his patient's story with particular intensity and not with the detachment that therapists are supposed to show. Patients often want sessions to continue beyond the consultation hour, but here David wants it also and one session, for example, lasts for seven hours, well into the night. And although long silences in the early stages of the treatment are convincing, in the late stages I found Elizabeth's account of conversations she had had with her lover Thomas too literary, too artistically crafted: people don't speak like that; and that could also be said of a five page long speech by David to his wife Olivia. Events seem to me rather too telescoped: four separate major events happen to David on one day, and on the following day he moves from deep depression to catharsis. What also put me off somewhat is that the story is told by David in the first person, so that the wise reflections he makes from time to time about psychology and about life, especially in about the first half of the book, have about them a slightly vain tone which, perhaps unjustly, made me a little irritated with the author who is herself a psychotherapist - and in the light of that knowledge I had initially to remind myself from time to time that the psychiatrist in this novel is a man and not a woman.

But all that having been said, there are excellent things in the book. The personality of Elizabeth - so painfully lacking in self-esteem and so torn between duty to an unloved husband, children and mother-in-law on the one hand and passion for her lover Thomas on the other - is very well drawn. She has the intuition that some patients have to know what the therapist is not saying. Thomas is an unusual, magnificently forthright and eloquent creation - clearly not only Elizabeth but also both David and Salley Vickers are strongly attracted by him. Gus Galen, too, David's guru, is a meaty and wise character. There is a touching description of how, towards the end Elizabeth and David support each other. (Lesser writers would have inserted a sex scene here.)

As in the author's Miss Garnet's Angel, Italy and Italian art play a considerable part here, though I think she was much better at evoking Venice in that other novel than she is at her somewhat guide-book descriptions of Rome in this one. On the other hand what she sees in Caravaggio in this novel is more profound than what she saw in Guardi in the other one. Part of what Caravaggio means to her, to David and to Elizabeth is the subject, near the end, of the moving lecture David delivers in Rome and then of a further visit to his works in that city. This Part IV of the book is a most satisfying finale and handsomely made up for some of my earlier reservations.

An utterly engrossing book, 18 Nov 2007
This tale is told from two perspectives: Dr David McBride, a psychiatrist, and his patient, Elizabeth Cruikshank, a failed suicide. Essentially it is a story about their relationship and how, over time, trust grows between them. But The Other Side of You also tackles some bigger, yet more subtle, themes, including how the decisions we make impact on the rest of our lives and how we never really know the people we are closest to.

During one of his sessions with the normally reticent Elizabeth, David confesses that "there's no cure for being alive" and that the only thing to do is to "find a way to live". Having lost a sibling as a child, this is exactly how David has lived his life, keeping the pain buried deep within but sometimes imagining he could "bring him back by willing it".

But it is only when the pair begin to discuss a painting by Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus -- which depicts the moment when the resurrected Jesus reveals himself to two unsuspecting disciples -- that Elizabeth begins to open up and reveal the hidden pain that caused her to attempt to take her own life.

What follows is a riveting tale about a tragic love affair, which swings between London and Rome, so beautifully and exquisitely told (by Vickers) that the reader must give up all hope of putting the book down. In fact, I read it in one sitting and by the end of the marathon reading session -- some 270 odd pages -- I felt utterly devastated. The story lingered in my mind for days and weeks afterwards.

This is a remarkable, utterly engrossing book that cannot fail to move any reader, no matter how hardened they might be to the myriad emotions associated with art, death, life, love and loss. I cried buckets when I got to the end, and I rather suspect you might too.


Bucks a modern trend, 29 Oct 2007
As with several of the reviewers on Amazon, I had not read Salley Vickers before but was encouraged to by a bookseller who tells me her latest, 'Where Three Roads Meet', is also fascinating. He sold me 'Miss Garnett' and this one through sheer enthusiasm (I gather she's a favourite with the independent booksellers to whom she attributes Miss Garnett's success). No need to recap the plot as it has been well done here already so I'll just add my thought that this is a writer who bucks a modern trend. Her work takes time to absorb but is nourishing both to the mind and heart. An intellectually rigorous writer with soul is a rarity. As Phillip Pullman puts it 'she's a presence to be cherished'. I liked 'Miss Garnett', which I gather was the book which made her famous, but unlike so many first-time successes she seems to have got better. 'The Other Side of You' is a deeper book. Congratulations, Ms Vickers. I await 'Three Roads' with excitement.

A book that has grown on me since I finished it!, 04 Oct 2007
Although this book has been applauded by many reviewers, I found it a bit slow and ultimately not very rewarding. Strangely though, I have upgraded my rating from 3 to 4 stars since reviewing it!

David McBryde, a psychiatrist specialising in suicide cases, is assigned to Elizabeth Cruikshank, a young, married patient. It takes him a while to gain her trust, eventually breaking the ice through a mutual respect for the artist Caravaggio.
Meanwhile some of the background leading to David's choice of career is revealed, including the death of a close brother when he was just 4 years old, the brother 6.
Once Elizabeth decides to trust the doctor, she relates the traumatic history of love and loss that had lead up to the decision to end her life.
There are some wonderful peripheral characters, especially those at the hospital, though I found Thomas, the love of Elizabeth's life, both patronising and controlling.

In spite of a number of inspiring quotes and beautiful descriptions of Caravaggio's work, I really wasn't grabbed by this book.
I had previously read Miss Garnet's Angel, prior to a visit to Venice, but even under such favourable circumstances, I felt similarly uninspired by this author. I doubt I shall read any of her other books.

Barbara Vine - The Birthday Present, 30 Sep 2008
(I intended four stars but I can't change it back. Oh well.)

The Birthday Present has probably been the book I was most looking forward to in 2008, especially considering how good Rendell's last effort under the Vine name - The Minotaur - was. Sadly, this doesn't get within a long creeping tendril's distance of the quality.

It's early 1990. The Thatcher government it's nearing it's last days, and there's a love affair going on. Ivor Tesham, a thirty-year-old political rising star is secretly bedding beautiful London housewife Hebe Furnal. For her birthday Ivor decides to give her a special present that certain more open couples have begun to engage in: a practice known as `adventure sex'. Hebe is to be abducted, consenting but unknowing of when, at an unknown venue and time, bound and gagged, then delivered to her lover at a specified location... The decision to "treat" Hebe to this fashionable new thrill is one that will lead to tragedy touching the lives of several people, least of all Tesham's.

The Birthday Present is an odd beast among the Vine canon, almost entirely unlike any of her other, which normally feature hidden, secret crimes of the past, dark, cloudy tragedies recollected in the present or some further point, that gradually become unfolded to reveal something horrific. This, however, is more a political satire-cum-thriller. It is, admittedly, absolutely full of many of the things one would expect of a Vine novel: a brilliant conveyance of the psychology of its many characters, and a demonstration of a remarkable insight into the time-period in which it is set. The characters, with their weaknesses and leavening normalities, are of course brilliantly written. As is the portrait of a primarily self-obsessed early-nineties era. Vine plays this aspect of the social landscape up, and that is the part which contains the majority of the subtle satire. The novel is brought to us in two parts, the first-person narration of Ivor's brother-in-law, and the first-person diary of Hebe's "best friend" Jane, who Hebe largely used merely an alibi to keep her affair under wraps. Jane is a particularly Vine-esque piece: a lonely, bitter 30-ish spinster whom one would feel utter sympathy for were it not for the fact that her loneliness has made her unspeakably selfish, self-obsessed, and vaguely deluded. Her characters, as ever, are perfect examples of how to place a reader's opinions in conflict. At times I felt infinitely sorrow and pity for Jane, at times one wants laughs at her and, cruelly, almost believes she deserves herself. Ivor's self-obsession is a slightly different story: his ability to think about anyone but himself or his political career induces nothing but coldness, apart from the occasional wistful brace of pity at his naivety. Ultimately, few readers will care that his political career is bound to come tumbling down, which might be part of the problem. It is bound to happen, but no one cares, which renders the crucial question (and with Vine there is always one crucial question, one that is supposed to taunt the reader throughout, this time that of how the man's career tumbles) almost irrelevant.

Vine also makes good use of questions of fate and chance to inject levels and power and intrigue into the novel, but ultimately any good work is dampened by the ending (much like the latest P.D. James novel), which is disappointing for a reason unheard of in Vine: simply, there is no surprise. Not even an effort at one. What has been destined to happen all along, turns out to happen, and that's pretty much it. There's a little subplot - that of Jane - to be dealt with, and dealt with it is, but not in a way that has any great shocks or surprises. The fact that everything turned out to be so predictable disappointed me greatly. It's possible that Vine was aiming at something different with this novel, making it more of a criminal satire than a novel of secrets and surprises, but the aspects of satire are not enough to give the novel enough oomph. Vine's strengths are the unveiling of hidden, shocking secrets, the revealing of twisted psychologies, and they really needed to be present here as well. It's a great shame, as I thought the premise was absolutely brilliant: a woman captured from the secret for the purposes of `adventure sex'. It's a great plot-point to start with, but sadly Vine takes her focus elsewhere, which also added to my disappointment.

For Vine fans, The Birthday Present may be a disappointment, but it is still certainly worth a read for its social insights and psychological portraits. It's a good novel, and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just very disappointed that it was less than it could be. Non-Vine fans, or readers who prefer satires or political novels, may well - unclouded by expectation - find much indeed to like here. So, for almost any reader it is certainly one to have a crack at. It is, after all, brilliantly written. And that is a worthwhile pleasure for anyone.


A Good Read, 29 Sep 2008
Whilst not reaching the heights of A Fatal Inversion or House of Stairs it was far better than some recent Barbara Vine outings (The Blood Doctor/Minotaur/Chimney Sweepers Boy).

The characters are well drawn and believeable but there are a few too many coincidences in the plot for my liking.
Would these characters' paths really have crossed quite so frequently? Still, a good read though.

A Mordant Commentary, 16 Sep 2008
Barbara Vine never fails to write an engrossing tale. Her writing is as good as it gets, and she builds a gripping story. The reader is carried along, not knowing where he or she is going, but unable to stop reading.

This new novel is essentially a character study of two people --- a rising star in the Conservative Party heirarchy, and a lonely young woman whose life and sanity are rapidly crumbling; but these two central threads fit into a more complex mosaic that includes Vine's typically keen characterizations as well as some biting political commentary.

This is not to say that there's an endorsement of a political viewpoint or issue. The book is more a look at how appearances trump substance in politics. It doesn't matter so much what you've done; it's how that is perceived, how it's spun in the media. It's all about perception.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do almost everything Vine has written, and highly recommend it for her fans.

Excellent, 14 Sep 2008
This is a seriously good book, on many levels.

Building from the "birthday present" of the title, the tension increases as the consequences of the "present" unfold - for Ivor Tesham, the rising Conservative MP, for Hebe Furnal's family and friends, and for the Lynch family (saying who they are would give away too much plot). It all gets out of control, of course, and ends badly - but not in a way you'd expect.

Absolutely key to the book's atmosphere is the diary of Jane, the "alibi lady", friend of Hebe, for whom I felt equal revulsion and pity (One moment she will write loathsome things about Hebe's husband or son, the next set out a devastating flash of self knowledge. Her lack of empathy though is chilling). Jane's slowly gathering despair powers the book. "What are you going to do?" asks Tesham of her, early on, and the question hangs in the air throughout.

The diary entries alternate with chapters written from the point of view of Tesham's brother in law, an affable accountant, bewildered by the mess the MP has got himself into and by his caddish behaviour. These document Tesham's flight into danger. The two characters - Jane and Ivor - are done well, and they remained with me after I finished the book.

Definitely one not to miss.


Redressing the balance, 09 Sep 2008
Just to redress the balance, since the previous very unfair one-star rating can put some people off buying the book, which is in fact greatly enjoyable and on a par with the best books by the author. Most of the readers that are disappointed by some Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine books have yet to learn that (unlike many of the so-called crime novelists) she has always refused to stick to a formula. This novel cheerfully ignores all genre conventions that so many readers happen to rely on.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Curious, philosophical, wide reaching great book, 01 Oct 2007
The first chapter in this book is in the first person which gives context to the rest of the book. I always forget how rare, but enjoyable, it is to read first person until you come across it, generally in autobiographies. This gave a fascinating start which engaged my curiosity from the beginning.
I loved the swapping backwards and forwards in time. It was initially unsettling but once I accepted that was normal then it was a very relaxing technique. The use of the fourth dimension led to a interesting conclusion that when a body dies it doesn't matter as there are still times when it was alive and they can be revisited at any time.
Billy has memories from the future which is a great concept and I loved his complete acceptance of what will be happening at some time and also accepting his inability to change it.
I'm not quite sure how the author managed to acheive it, but the suspense was retained all through the novel even though, through Billy, the reader has already seen the end of the story.
There is a thin line between the philosophical genius of Billy and his lunatic tendancies which increase as the time progressed towards his death.
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I will read more.

Read it, pass it on to your sons and their sons, 24 Sep 2007
Not much more can be said about this book beyond what the previous reviewers have already said. Unlike a lot of highly recommended reading it is however a great and despite its subject, enjoyable read. The enjoyment may however be intruded upon by some sober reflection on the part of the reader. The mental picture of Billy Pilgrim's entry into Dresden is a wonderful metaphor for the absurdity of war as is the moral outrage of the Dresdener who berates him for his appearance a superb portrayal of the differences which arise from nothing more than perspective.
Buy it.

So it Goes., 30 Aug 2007
Kurt Vonnegut was a genius. If you were a publisher reading the synopsis (if he ever did such a thing!) on Slaughterhouse 5 you would probably need to have a lie down for a while, whilst you wondered if you ever dared print such a thing. But back in 1969 it was, and drew interest at a time of ant-war protests in the US.

Vonnegut follows Billy Pilgrim as he stumbles towards the curtain of the Allied bombing of Dresden at the end of World War 2.

In-between Billy slips in and out of time travel and is kidnapped by an alien race called the Tralfamadorians who put him in a zoo. The aliens perceive all points in time at once:

"When a Tralfamodorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that person is just fine in plenty of other moments."

Billy also meets his favourite author Kilgore Trout.

"Are - you Kilgore Trout?"
"Yes." Trout supposed that Billy had some complaint about the way his newspapers were being delivered. He did not think of himself as a writer for the simple reason that the world had never allowed him to think of himself in this way.
"The - the writer?" said Billy.
"The what?"

Slaughterhouse works on a number of levels. (Let me be clear, the book should not work, the fact that it does is a testament to Vonnegut.) It is funny, moving and informative. It brings into perspective the level of suffering in a city which Vonnegut describes as having no military significance (it was untouched until the bombing at the end of the war). Vonnegut himself survived the bombing as a prisoner of war in Dresden.

1945
Air attack on Tokyo by American bombers kills 83,793 people.
Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima kills 71,370 people.
Conventional bombs dropped by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force on Dresden, kills 135,000 people.

What I like about the book is the way you are drawn into the thought gymnastics that go on in Vonnegut's mind. He is clever, witty and provides a view on life that is refreshing and allows you to look at the human condition from a perspective outside the normal polite form of thought demonstrated by the mass of media that surrounds us.

It's like discovering a donut sprinkled in brightly covered hundreds and thousands in a packet of cornflakes. Totally unexpected and a real treat at the wrong time of day. Disjointed from the normal patterns.

In the book The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that a person only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past.
Tralfamadorians say about dead people, "So it goes."
Vonnegut died this April aged 84.

So it goes.


A modern classic, 26 Jun 2008
What a beautifully written insightful story. A female author who clearly has a 'masculine' side to write as a man. She intertwined the characters, their lives and personalities with skill and feeling. I loved the way she understates detail acknowledging the readers intelligence. Brilliant. It was even better than Miss Garnet's Angels. i immediately went out and bought all her other novels.

Therapist and patient help each other, 09 Dec 2007
David McBride, a psychotherapist, has a patient, Elizabeth Cruikshank who had attempted suicide. The story of Elizabeth triggers long-suppressed thoughts about and bleak insights into problems in his own life. As a result he responds to his patient's story with particular intensity and not with the detachment that therapists are supposed to show. Patients often want sessions to continue beyond the consultation hour, but here David wants it also and one session, for example, lasts for seven hours, well into the night. And although long silences in the early stages of the treatment are convincing, in the late stages I found Elizabeth's account of conversations she had had with her lover Thomas too literary, too artistically crafted: people don't speak like that; and that could also be said of a five page long speech by David to his wife Olivia. Events seem to me rather too telescoped: four separate major events happen to David on one day, and on the following day he moves from deep depression to catharsis. What also put me off somewhat is that the story is told by David in the first person, so that the wise reflections he makes from time to time about psychology and about life, especially in about the first half of the book, have about them a slightly vain tone which, perhaps unjustly, made me a little irritated with the author who is herself a psychotherapist - and in the light of that knowledge I had initially to remind myself from time to time that the psychiatrist in this novel is a man and not a woman.

But all that having been said, there are excellent things in the book. The personality of Elizabeth - so painfully lacking in self-esteem and so torn between duty to an unloved husband, children and mother-in-law on the one hand and passion for her lover Thomas on the other - is very well drawn. She has the intuition that some patients have to know what the therapist is not saying. Thomas is an unusual, magnificently forthright and eloquent creation - clearly not only Elizabeth but also both David and Salley Vickers are strongly attracted by him. Gus Galen, too, David's guru, is a meaty and wise character. There is a touching description of how, towards the end Elizabeth and David support each other. (Lesser writers would have inserted a sex scene here.)

As in the author's Miss Garnet's Angel, Italy and Italian art play a considerable part here, though I think she was much better at evoking Venice in that other novel than she is at her somewhat guide-book descriptions of Rome in this one. On the other hand what she sees in Caravaggio in this novel is more profound than what she saw in Guardi in the other one. Part of what Caravaggio means to her, to David and to Elizabeth is the subject, near the end, of the moving lecture David delivers in Rome and then of a further visit to his works in that city. This Part IV of the book is a most satisfying finale and handsomely made up for some of my earlier reservations.

An utterly engrossing book, 18 Nov 2007
This tale is told from two perspectives: Dr David McBride, a psychiatrist, and his patient, Elizabeth Cruikshank, a failed suicide. Essentially it is a story about their relationship and how, over time, trust grows between them. But The Other Side of You also tackles some bigger, yet more subtle, themes, including how the decisions we make impact on the rest of our lives and how we never really know the people we are closest to.

During one of his sessions with the normally reticent Elizabeth, David confesses that "there's no cure for being alive" and that the only thing to do is to "find a way to live". Having lost a sibling as a child, this is exactly how David has lived his life, keeping the pain buried deep within but sometimes imagining he could "bring him back by willing it".

But it is only when the pair begin to discuss a painting by Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus -- which depicts the moment when the resurrected Jesus reveals himself to two unsuspecting disciples -- that Elizabeth begins to open up and reveal the hidden pain that caused her to attempt to take her own life.

What follows is a riveting tale about a tragic love affair, which swings between London and Rome, so beautifully and exquisitely told (by Vickers) that the reader must give up all hope of putting the book down. In fact, I read it in one sitting and by the end of the marathon reading session -- some 270 odd pages -- I felt utterly devastated. The story lingered in my mind for days and weeks afterwards.

This is a remarkable, utterly engrossing book that cannot fail to move any reader, no matter how hardened they might be to the myriad emotions associated with art, death, life, love and loss. I cried buckets when I got to the end, and I rather suspect you might too.


Bucks a modern trend, 29 Oct 2007
As with several of the reviewers on Amazon, I had not read Salley Vickers before but was encouraged to by a bookseller who tells me her latest, 'Where Three Roads Meet', is also fascinating. He sold me 'Miss Garnett' and this one through sheer enthusiasm (I gather she's a favourite with the independent booksellers to whom she attributes Miss Garnett's success). No need to recap the plot as it has been well done here already so I'll just add my thought that this is a writer who bucks a modern trend. Her work takes time to absorb but is nourishing both to the mind and heart. An intellectually rigorous writer with soul is a rarity. As Phillip Pullman puts it 'she's a presence to be cherished'. I liked 'Miss Garnett', which I gather was the book which made her famous, but unlike so many first-time successes she seems to have got better. 'The Other Side of You' is a deeper book. Congratulations, Ms Vickers. I await 'Three Roads' with excitement.

A book that has grown on me since I finished it!, 04 Oct 2007
Although this book has been applauded by many reviewers, I found it a bit slow and ultimately not very rewarding. Strangely though, I have upgraded my rating from 3 to 4 stars since reviewing it!

David McBryde, a psychiatrist specialising in suicide cases, is assigned to Elizabeth Cruikshank, a young, married patient. It takes him a while to gain her trust, eventually breaking the ice through a mutual respect for the artist Caravaggio.
Meanwhile some of the background leading to David's choice of career is revealed, including the death of a close brother when he was just 4 years old, the brother 6.
Once Elizabeth decides to trust the doctor, she relates the traumatic history of love and loss that had lead up to the decision to end her life.
There are some wonderful peripheral characters, especially those at the hospital, though I found Thomas, the love of Elizabeth's life, both patronising and controlling.

In spite of a number of inspiring quotes and beautiful descriptions of Caravaggio's work, I really wasn't grabbed by this book.
I had previously read Miss Garnet's Angel, prior to a visit to Venice, but even under such favourable circumstances, I felt similarly uninspired by this author. I doubt I shall read any of her other books.

Gore blimey..., 27 Jun 2008
As a late discoverer of Gore Vidal I am amazed at his literary dexterity. Such an erudite observer of America, the world, himself, and all of life. The essential ironic American. A rewarding read. Now to read more Gore...

A pleasant surprise, 03 Aug 2007
Vidal has managed to present this volume of his memoirs with a winning mix of the self-effacing and the candid whilst at the same time even managing to render his trademark immodesty in an endearing way. The outcome for the reader is not dissimilar to that experienced when allowing an elderly relative to muse on times past, an effect accentuated by Vidal's tendency to move disjointedly between the most unlikely topics brazenly ignoring any supposed need for structure or continuity.

Where he succeeds is in bringing his life to life with a splash of colour and some memorable anecdotes, and the result is an extremely likeable anthology.

Vale for Vidal, 09 Jan 2007
If ever your life feels a little thin or uneventful, blame Gore Vidal. He's had enough event and diversion in his time for five or six of us, and he keeps making us feel even worse by not only telling us about them in superbly written memoirs, but looking out of the cover at us all handsome and assured, both in youth and old age.

First there was Palimpsest (1995), dealing with his early life, which Martin Amis called "a tremendous read, down and dirty from start to finish. It is also a proud and serious and truthful book." Now Vidal gives us Point to Point Navigation, subtitled A Memoir 1964 - 2006.

And it is full of everything we have come to expect. Strange stories of all the great and good of the American twentieth century, from the very very famous to the known-in-certain-circles. Vidal's life has been not just more eventful than most, but lived at a more rarefied level; he was brought up among the renowned and the ruling classes, and so the line for him between the personal and the political has always been a thin one.

Quote:
"During the next quarter century I re-dreamed the Republic's history, which I have always regarded as a family affair. But what was I to do with characters that were - are - not only famous but even preposterous? When my mother was asked why, after three famous marriages, she did not try for a fourth, she observed, "My first husband had three balls. My second, two. My third, one. Even I know enough not to press my luck.""

There, he is talking - initially - about his series of novels, Washington, D.C., Burr, 1876, Lincoln, Hollywood and The Golden Age, 'factional' accounts of the USA, which he refers to collectively as 'Narratives of Empire' but which his publishers keep insisting on branding as 'Narratives of a Golden Age.' Throughout Point to Point Navigation, Vidal is at pains to mention his fictional output at every opportunity, making a vain (in both senses) attempt to mark his patch in literary history as a novelist, rather than wit, essayist and polymath. But he can hardly be dissatisfied by how he is already remembered.

And there is a good reason for his interest in remembrance, and how he will be viewed in retrospect. Vidal is now 81 years old, and the spectre of death shadows most of the book. There will not, we suspect, be a third volume. He is writing in "the awful year 2005," after his first full year spent without his partner of 53 years, Howard Auster, and making the move for health reasons back to LA and away from his beloved La Rondinaia, the extraordinary home on the cliffs of Ravello on the Amalfi coast in Italy, where he and Auster had lived since 1963.

The memoir is less structured than Palimpsest, taking almost a diaristic form as he reflects both on the things that happen to him during 2005, the events in the world, and the people he knew whose deaths invoke a flurry of anecdotes. If the book had been more orderly, there is no doubt that Vidal would have left the strongest material to the end, instead of one-third in where it now appears. This is his report of the death of his partner Howard Auster in November 2003: the long struggle from illness to illness, the childlike reduction in his life, and most movingly, an extraordinary account of how Vidal looked into Auster's still-alert eyes after his heart stopped and held his gaze as he watched life ebb away from him. It is worth, as they say, the price of admission alone and if it doesn't move you to weeping then you should have your tear ducts checked by a qualified professional.

So strong is the feeling of mortality throughout the book (assisted by the black cover) that it almost feels like a posthumous publication. Vidal is still vital however, and the effortless quality of his prose reminds us that although he is "moving, graciously, I hope, toward the door marked exit," he is still fully with us.

And I do not want to suggest that the book is overwhelmingly gloomy or morbid. There is plenty of Vidal's wit in evidence, and his contempt for the current (and most past) American administration, and his country's cultural mores.

Quote:
"A current pejorative term is narcissistic. Generally, a narcissist is anyone better looking than you are, but lately the adjective is often applied to those "liberals" who prefer to improve the lives of others rather than exploit them. Apparently, a concern for others is self-love at its least attractive, while greed is now a sign of the highest altruism. But then to reverse, periodically, the meaning of words is a very small price to pay for our vast freedom not only to conform but to consume."

Despite the occasional stretches where he mistakes his intimate knowledge of some lesser-known folk with our interest in them, the overall feeling of gratitude and what Martin Amis called "a transfusion from above" when reading Point to Point Navigation, means I can offer it only the highest praise. It is a perfect vale for Vidal.

Between Obituaries, 10 Dec 2006
"No other writer has peered so intently under the hood of American Society. None can match his uncanny gift for "telling us what we want to know' about public life, including politics, theatre and the movies. His new book is sad, spotty chronicle that would suggest Gore is stuck in a fog from a dwindling set of landmarks. Vidal's' imagination has always been able to get into the past" James
None of us know much about Vidal Gore, he likes it that way. His two memoirs have shed light on himself and the people he liked and loved. Gore's wit could cut someone, usually politicians, to the core with out them even realizing they had even a sliver. However, with his contemporaries, authors, he is even tempered and respectful. His stories about Tennessee Williams, whom he adored, but wrote about with sarcasm, are ones to savor. As are his stories about and with Johnny Carson. Carson and Gore liked each other and when Gore appeared on 'The Tonight' show, that was what television is all about. Marcus There are witty remembrances of Paul Bowles, Federico Fellini, Amelia Earhart, and Jackie Onassis. Gore Vidal's father had a 'fling' with Amelia Earhart and hits inside is a story in itself. Of course, the fact that Gore Vidal had entrance to the Camelot known as the Kennedy Administration was his forte. He and the Kennedy's had spats but one of the final chapters in this memoir is about Kennedy and his death and has credence.

The most painful to read portion of this book is the time and death of Vidal's companion Howard Austen. Vidal gives s a vivid portrayal of his life just before his death and the final moments of Howard's life. These are poignant and give us insight into this great man.

We learn about Vidal Gore's entry into politics and why it did not work out. The writing of his forty-sox books, his philosophy of life and the writers he revered. Montaigne is the author he reveres and reads time and again about memory and the lapses of memory.

"Gore Vidal has the looks of a prince, the connections of a prince, more wit than any prince, and a prose style that should be the envy of the dwindling few who realize that prose style matters." Larry Mc Murtry.

This is a book to be revered if you are a Gore Vidal fan, as I am. I did not want it to end. Gore Vidal is now eighty-one and his memoirs may end but a trilogy would be most welcome. Highly Recommended. prisrob 12/09/06

There is something very old-fashioned and reassuring about Sally Vickers' novel Miss Garnet's Angel. The themes, self-discovery and redemption have the air of a bygone age, despite the novel being set in contemporary Venice in a world of holiday apartment lets and Pizza Express-funded restoration works. Julia Garnet is a middle-aged woman who has been practising economies of the spirit for years. Hers is a closed-in world, dusty with Marx's theories and when her friend and flatmate of 30 years dies Julia decides to spend the six winter months in Venice to recuperate from her loss. Miss Garnet is a dignified, brusque heroine and Sally Vickers' prose is likewise unruffled and controlled. Miss Garnet's epiphanies are as quiet and subtle as the "oro pallido" (pale gold) light in early Italian Art because, of course, art plays a part in this Venetian tale of emotional reawakening. Julia is moved by the depiction of Raphael in Guardis Tobias and the Angel: "something rusty and hard shifted deep inside Julia Garnet as she stood absorbing the vivid dewy painting and the unmistakable compassion in the angel's bright glance." She falls in love with Carlo, an art historian with crinkly eyes, white hair and a moustache. There are trials and tribulations to be undergone, Julia must unlearn all her old regimented ways of life, and this brings about heart ache and hurt. However, Vickers handles this with delicate sympathy, giving Julia Garnet a new sensitive view of the world, and the reader a resonant story of transformation. --Eithne Farry

Barbara Vine - The Birthday Present, 30 Sep 2008
(I intended four stars but I can't change it back. Oh well.)

The Birthday Present has probably been the book I was most looking forward to in 2008, especially considering how good Rendell's last effort under the Vine name - The Minotaur - was. Sadly, this doesn't get within a long creeping tendril's distance of the quality.

It's early 1990. The Thatcher government it's nearing it's last days, and there's a love affair going on. Ivor Tesham, a thirty-year-old political rising star is secretly bedding beautiful London housewife Hebe Furnal. For her birthday Ivor decides to give her a special present that certain more open couples have begun to engage in: a practice known as `adventure sex'. Hebe is to be abducted, consenting but unknowing of when, at an unknown venue and time, bound and gagged, then delivered to her lover at a specified location... The decision to "treat" Hebe to this fashionable new thrill is one that will lead to tragedy touching the lives of several people, least of all Tesham's.

The Birthday Present is an odd beast among the Vine canon, almost entirely unlike any of her other, which normally feature hidden, secret crimes of the past, dark, cloudy tragedies recollected in the present or some further point, that gradually become unfolded to reveal something horrific. This, however, is more a political satire-cum-thriller. It is, admittedly, absolutely full of many of the things one would expect of a Vine novel: a brilliant conveyance of the psychology of its many characters, and a demonstration of a remarkable insight into the time-period in which it is set. The characters, with their weaknesses and leavening normalities, are of course brilliantly written. As is the portrait of a primarily self-obsessed early-nineties era. Vine plays this aspect of the social landscape up, and that is the part which contains the majority of the subtle satire. The novel is brought to us in two parts, the first-person narration of Ivor's brother-in-law, and the first-person diary of Hebe's "best friend" Jane, who Hebe largely used merely an alibi to keep her affair under wraps. Jane is a particularly Vine-esque piece: a lonely, bitter 30-ish spinster whom one would feel utter sympathy for were it not for the fact that her loneliness has made her unspeakably selfish, self-obsessed, and vaguely deluded. Her characters, as ever, are perfect examples of how to place a reader's opinions in conflict. At times I felt infinitely sorrow and pity for Jane, at times one wants laughs at her and, cruelly, almost believes she deserves herself. Ivor's self-obsession is a slightly different story: his ability to think about anyone but himself or his political career induces nothing but coldness, apart from the occasional wistful brace of pity at his naivety. Ultimately, few readers will care that his political career is bound to come tumbling down, which might be part of the problem. It is bound to happen, but no one cares, which renders the crucial question (and with Vine there is always one crucial question, one that is supposed to taunt the reader throughout, this time that of how the man's career tumbles) almost irrelevant.

Vine also makes good use of questions of fate and chance to inject levels and power and intrigue into the novel, but ultimately any good work is dampened by the ending (much like the latest P.D. James novel), which is disappointing for a reason unheard of in Vine: simply, there is no surprise. Not even an effort at one. What has been destined to happen all along, turns out to happen, and that's pretty much it. There's a little subplot - that of Jane - to be dealt with, and dealt with it is, but not in a way that has any great shocks or surprises. The fact that everything turned out to be so predictable disappointed me greatly. It's possible that Vine was aiming at something different with this novel, making it more of a criminal satire than a novel of secrets and surprises, but the aspects of satire are not enough to give the novel enough oomph. Vine's strengths are the unveiling of hidden, shocking secrets, the revealing of twisted psychologies, and they really needed to be present here as well. It's a great shame, as I thought the premise was absolutely brilliant: a woman captured from the secret for the purposes of `adventure sex'. It's a great plot-point to start with, but sadly Vine takes her focus elsewhere, which also added to my disappointment.

For Vine fans, The Birthday Present may be a disappointment, but it is still certainly worth a read for its social insights and psychological portraits. It's a good novel, and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just very disappointed that it was less than it could be. Non-Vine fans, or readers who prefer satires or political novels, may well - unclouded by expectation - find much indeed to like here. So, for almost any reader it is certainly one to have a crack at. It is, after all, brilliantly written. And that is a worthwhile pleasure for anyone.


A Good Read, 29 Sep 2008
Whilst not reaching the heights of A Fatal Inversion or House of Stairs it was far better than some recent Barbara Vine outings (The Blood Doctor/Minotaur/Chimney Sweepers Boy).

The characters are well drawn and believeable but there are a few too many coincidences in the plot for my liking.
Would these characters' paths really have crossed quite so frequently? Still, a good read though.

A Mordant Commentary, 16 Sep 2008
Barbara Vine never fails to write an engrossing tale. Her writing is as good as it gets, and she builds a gripping story. The reader is carried along, not knowing where he or she is going, but unable to stop reading.

This new novel is essentially a character study of two people --- a rising star in the Conservative Party heirarchy, and a lonely young woman whose life and sanity are rapidly crumbling; but these two central threads fit into a more complex mosaic that includes Vine's typically keen characterizations as well as some biting political commentary.

This is not to say that there's an endorsement of a political viewpoint or issue. The book is more a look at how appearances trump substance in politics. It doesn't matter so much what you've done; it's how that is perceived, how it's spun in the media. It's all about perception.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do almost everything Vine has written, and highly recommend it for her fans.

Excellent, 14 Sep 2008
This is a seriously good book, on many levels.

Building from the "birthday present" of the title, the tension increases as the consequences of the "present" unfold - for Ivor Tesham, the rising Conservative MP, for Hebe Furnal's family and friends, and for the Lynch family (saying who they are would give away too much plot). It all gets out of control, of course, and ends badly - but not in a way you'd expect.

Absolutely key to the book's atmosphere is the diary of Jane, the "alibi lady", friend of Hebe, for whom I felt equal revulsion and pity (One moment she will write loathsome things about Hebe's husband or son, the next set out a devastating flash of self knowledge. Her lack of empathy though is chilling). Jane's slowly gathering despair powers the book. "What are you going to do?" asks Tesham of her, early on, and the question hangs in the air throughout.

The diary entries alternate with chapters written from the point of view of Tesham's brother in law, an affable accountant, bewildered by the mess the MP has got himself into and by his caddish behaviour. These document Tesham's flight into danger. The two characters - Jane and Ivor - are done well, and they remained with me after I finished the book.

Definitely one not to miss.


Redressing the balance, 09 Sep 2008
Just to redress the balance, since the previous very unfair one-star rating can put some people off buying the book, which is in fact greatly enjoyable and on a par with the best books by the author. Most of the readers that are disappointed by some Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine books have yet to learn that (unlike many of the so-called crime novelists) she has always refused to stick to a formula. This novel cheerfully ignores all genre conventions that so many readers happen to rely on.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Curious, philosophical, wide reaching great book, 01 Oct 2007
The first chapter in this book is in the first person which gives context to the rest of the book. I always forget how rare, but enjoyable, it is to read first person until you come across it, generally in autobiographies. This gave a fascinating start which engaged my curiosity from the beginning.
I loved the swapping backwards and forwards in time. It was initially unsettling but once I accepted that was normal then it was a very relaxing technique. The use of the fourth dimension led to a interesting conclusion that when a body dies it doesn't matter as there are still times when it was alive and they can be revisited at any time.
Billy has memories from the future which is a great concept and I loved his complete acceptance of what will be happening at some time and also accepting his inability to change it.
I'm not quite sure how the author managed to acheive it, but the suspense was retained all through the novel even though, through Billy, the reader has already seen the end of the story.
There is a thin line between the philosophical genius of Billy and his lunatic tendancies which increase as the time progressed towards his death.
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I will read more.

Read it, pass it on to your sons and their sons, 24 Sep 2007
Not much more can be said about this book beyond what the previous reviewers have already said. Unlike a lot of highly recommended reading it is however a great and despite its subject, enjoyable read. The enjoyment may however be intruded upon by some sober reflection on the part of the reader. The mental picture of Billy Pilgrim's entry into Dresden is a wonderful metaphor for the absurdity of war as is the moral outrage of the Dresdener who berates him for his appearance a superb portrayal of the differences which arise from nothing more than perspective.
Buy it.

So it Goes., 30 Aug 2007
Kurt Vonnegut was a genius. If you were a publisher reading the synopsis (if he ever did such a thing!) on Slaughterhouse 5 you would probably need to have a lie down for a while, whilst you wondered if you ever dared print such a thing. But back in 1969 it was, and drew interest at a time of ant-war protests in the US.

Vonnegut follows Billy Pilgrim as he stumbles towards the curtain of the Allied bombing of Dresden at the end of World War 2.

In-between Billy slips in and out of time travel and is kidnapped by an alien race called the Tralfamadorians who put him in a zoo. The aliens perceive all points in time at once:

"When a Tralfamodorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that person is just fine in plenty of other moments."

Billy also meets his favourite author Kilgore Trout.

"Are - you Kilgore Trout?"
"Yes." Trout supposed that Billy had some complaint about the way his newspapers were being delivered. He did not think of himself as a writer for the simple reason that the world had never allowed him to think of himself in this way.
"The - the writer?" said Billy.
"The what?"

Slaughterhouse works on a number of levels. (Let me be clear, the book should not work, the fact that it does is a testament to Vonnegut.) It is funny, moving and informative. It brings into perspective the level of suffering in a city which Vonnegut describes as having no military significance (it was untouched until the bombing at the end of the war). Vonnegut himself survived the bombing as a prisoner of war in Dresden.

1945
Air attack on Tokyo by American bombers kills 83,793 people.
Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima kills 71,370 people.
Conventional bombs dropped by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force on Dresden, kills 135,000 people.

What I like about the book is the way you are drawn into the thought gymnastics that go on in Vonnegut's mind. He is clever, witty and provides a view on life that is refreshing and allows you to look at the human condition from a perspective outside the normal polite form of thought demonstrated by the mass of media that surrounds us.

It's like discovering a donut sprinkled in brightly covered hundreds and thousands in a packet of cornflakes. Totally unexpected and a real treat at the wrong time of day. Disjointed from the normal patterns.

In the book The Tralfamadorians teach Billy that a person only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past.
Tralfamadorians say about dead people, "So it goes."
Vonnegut died this April aged 84.

So it goes.


A modern classic, 26 Jun 2008
What a beautifully written insightful story. A female author who clearly has a 'masculine' side to write as a man. She intertwined the characters, their lives and personalities with skill and feeling. I loved the way she understates detail acknowledging the readers intelligence. Brilliant. It was even better than Miss Garnet's Angels. i immediately went out and bought all her other novels.

Therapist and patient help each other, 09 Dec 2007
David McBride, a psychotherapist, has a patient, Elizabeth Cruikshank who had attempted suicide. The story of Elizabeth triggers long-suppressed thoughts about and bleak insights into problems in his own life. As a result he responds to his patient's story with particular intensity and not with the detachment that therapists are supposed to show. Patients often want sessions to continue beyond the consultation hour, but here David wants it also and one session, for example, lasts for seven hours, well into the night. And although long silences in the early stages of the treatment are convincing, in the late stages I found Elizabeth's account of conversations she had had with her lover Thomas too literary, too artistically crafted: people don't speak like that; and that could also be said of a five page long speech by David to his wife Olivia. Events seem to me rather too telescoped: four separate major events happen to David on one day, and on the following day he moves from deep depression to catharsis. What also put me off somewhat is that the story is told by David in the first person, so that the wise reflections he makes from time to time about psychology and about life, especially in about the first half of the book, have about them a slightly vain tone which, perhaps unjustly, made me a little irritated with the author who is herself a psychotherapist - and in the light of that knowledge I had initially to remind myself from time to time that the psychiatrist in this novel is a man and not a woman.

But all that having been said, there are excellent things in the book. The personality of Elizabeth - so painfully lacking in self-esteem and so torn between duty to an unloved husband, children and mother-in-law on the one hand and passion for her lover Thomas on the other - is very well drawn. She has the intuition that some patients have to know what the therapist is not saying. Thomas is an unusual, magnificently forthright and eloquent creation - clearly not only Elizabeth but also both David and Salley Vickers are strongly attracted by him. Gus Galen, too, David's guru, is a meaty and wise character. There is a touching description of how, towards the end Elizabeth and David support each other. (Lesser writers would have inserted a sex scene here.)

As in the author's Miss Garnet's Angel, Italy and Italian art play a considerable part here, though I think she was much better at evoking Venice in that other novel than she is at her somewhat guide-book descriptions of Rome in this one. On the other hand what she sees in Caravaggio in this novel is more profound than what she saw in Guardi in the other one. Part of what Caravaggio means to her, to David and to Elizabeth is the subject, near the end, of the moving lecture David delivers in Rome and then of a further visit to his works in that city. This Part IV of the book is a most satisfying finale and handsomely made up for some of my earlier reservations.

An utterly engrossing book, 18 Nov 2007
This tale is told from two perspectives: Dr David McBride, a psychiatrist, and his patient, Elizabeth Cruikshank, a failed suicide. Essentially it is a story about their relationship and how, over time, trust grows between them. But The Other Side of You also tackles some bigger, yet more subtle, themes, including how the decisions we make impact on the rest of our lives and how we never really know the people we are closest to.

During one of his sessions with the normally reticent Elizabeth, David confesses that "there's no cure for being alive" and that the only thing to do is to "find a way to live". Having lost a sibling as a child, this is exactly how David has lived his life, keeping the pain buried deep within but sometimes imagining he could "bring him back by willing it".

But it is only when the pair begin to discuss a painting by Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus -- which depicts the moment when the resurrected Jesus reveals himself to two unsuspecting disciples -- that Elizabeth begins to open up and reveal the hidden pain that caused her to attempt to take her own life.

What follows is a riveting tale about a tragic love affair, which swings between London and Rome, so beautifully and exquisitely told (by Vickers) that the reader must give up all hope of putting the book down. In fact, I read it in one sitting and by the end of the marathon reading session -- some 270 odd pages -- I felt utterly devastated. The story lingered in my mind for days and weeks afterwards.

This is a remarkable, utterly engrossing book that cannot fail to move any reader, no matter how hardened they might be to the myriad emotions associated with art, death, life, love and loss. I cried buckets when I got to the end, and I rather suspect you might too.


Bucks a modern trend, 29 Oct 2007
As with several of the reviewers on Amazon, I had not read Salley Vickers before but was encouraged to by a bookseller who tells me her latest, 'Where Three Roads Meet', is also fascinating. He sold me 'Miss Garnett' and this one through sheer enthusiasm (I gather she's a favourite with the independent booksellers to whom she attributes Miss Garnett's success). No need to recap the plot as it has been well done here already so I'll just add my thought that this is a writer who bucks a modern trend. Her work takes time to absorb but is nourishing both to the mind and heart. An intellectually rigorous writer with soul is a rarity. As Phillip Pullman puts it 'she's a presence to be cherished'. I liked 'Miss Garnett', which I gather was the book which made her famous, but unlike so many first-time successes she seems to have got better. 'The Other Side of You' is a deeper book. Congratulations, Ms Vickers. I await 'Three Roads' with excitement.

A book that has grown on me since I finished it!, 04 Oct 2007
Although this book has been applauded by many reviewers, I found it a bit slow and ultimately not very rewarding. Strangely though, I have upgraded my rating from 3 to 4 stars since reviewing it!

David McBryde, a psychiatrist specialising in suicide cases, is assigned to Elizabeth Cruikshank, a young, married patient. It takes him a while to gain her trust, eventually breaking the ice through a mutual respect for the artist Caravaggio.
Meanwhile some of the background leading to David's choice of career is revealed, including the death of a close brother when he was just 4 years old, the brother 6.
Once Elizabeth decides to trust the doctor, she relates the traumatic history of love and loss that had lead up to the decision to end her life.
There are some wonderful peripheral characters, especially those at the hospital, though I found Thomas, the love of Elizabeth's life, both patronising and controlling.

In spite of a number of inspiring quotes and beautiful descriptions of Caravaggio's work, I really wasn't grabbed by this book.
I had previously read Miss Garnet's Angel, prior to a visit to Venice, but even under such favourable circumstances, I felt similarly uninspired by this author. I doubt I shall read any of her other books.

Gore blimey..., 27 Jun 2008
As a late discoverer of Gore Vidal I am amazed at his literary dexterity. Such an erudite observer of America, the world, himself, and all of life. The essential ironic American. A rewarding read. Now to read more Gore...

A pleasant surprise, 03 Aug 2007
Vidal has managed to present this volume of his memoirs with a winning mix of the self-effacing and the candid whilst at the same time even managing to render his trademark immodesty in an endearing way. The outcome for the reader is not dissimilar to that experienced when allowing an elderly relative to muse on times past, an effect accentuated by Vidal's tendency to move disjointedly between the most unlikely topics brazenly ignoring any supposed need for structure or continuity.

Where he succeeds is in bringing his life to life with a splash of colour and some memorable anecdotes, and the result is an extremely likeable anthology.

Vale for Vidal, 09 Jan 2007
If ever your life feels a little thin or uneventful, blame Gore Vidal. He's had enough event and diversion in his time for five or six of us, and he keeps making us feel even worse by not only telling us about them in superbly written memoirs, but looking out of the cover at us all handsome and assured, both in youth and old age.

First there was Palimpsest (1995), dealing with his early life, which Martin Amis called "a tremendous read, down and dirty from start to finish. It is also a proud and serious and truthful book." Now Vidal gives us Point to Point Navigation, subtitled A Memoir 1964 - 2006.

And it is full of everything we have come to expect. Strange stories of all the great and good of the American twentieth century, from the very very famous to the known-in-certain-circles. Vidal's life has been not just more eventful than most, but lived at a more rarefied level; he was brought up among the renowned and the ruling classes, and so the line for him between the personal and the political has always been a thin one.

Quote:
"During the next quarter century I re-dreamed the Republic's history, which I have always regarded as a family affair. But what was I to do with characters that were - are - not only famous but even preposterous? When my mother was asked why, after three famous marriages, she did not try for a fourth, she observed, "My first husband had three balls. My second, two. My third, one. Even I know enough not to press my luck.""

There, he is talking - initially - about his series of novels, Washington, D.C., Burr, 1876, Lincoln, Hollywood and The Golden Age, 'factional' accounts of the USA, which he refers to collectively as 'Narratives of Empire' but which his publishers keep insisting on branding as 'Narr