muyū.

This is the first book from the pen of Max Porter, who otherwise works in publishing. It is a piece of experimental fiction, and therefore not for everybody. Although I wish everybody would go and read it nevertheless.


In a little over one hundred pages (114, to be precise) we are told the story of a family who have recently lost their mother. The father, a Ted Hughes scholar (crow, anybody?), and his two sons. They're all falling apart, in their own way. One day, the house is visited by Crow, because after all, crows are the symbol of death and mourning, and grief.
The Crow doesn't leave though - instead, she stays, and she guides the family through their grief. The Crow is at the centre of everything.  She is there when the father tries to finish his book on Ted Hughes and his crow, and she is there to babysit the boys. Almost like a mother, protecting her nest. You can never tell, not even after finishing the book, whether Crow is an actual thing, or just a trick of imagination, and although I know some people hate to not know, for me personally this is the best way to go with a story.
I can't really say much more without giving away the whole story. A little about the style, though..

It's written in three voices, divided into three parts. The three parts stand for the situation in which the family and the Crow find themselves - A Lick of Night, Defence of the Nest, Permission to Leave.
The three voices from whose perspectives we read are that of the boys, the Crow, and the father. A little into the story the voices of Crow and the father start to entwine and merge, and it takes focus to see which is which - and still you cannot always decide.
Personally, I found Max's style to be close to brilliant. He twists your brain and your perception, without making you feel frustrated.


My absolutely favourite part of the book:
The Crow tells the boys that there is going to be a competition, and whoever wins will be granted the real mother to put them to bed that night. The task is to try to recreate their mother as convincingly as they can, using whatever materials they please. One of the boys recreates his mother from all sorts of things like toys, and stationary, and books lined on the floor, the other boy draws her. And then they keep asking Crow to tell them, who won? Who will get the real mother back? And Crow starts laughing, and laughing a bit more, because how could the boys believe something so silly as bringing a dead mother back?

Brilliant writing and brilliant themes, this book is a must read. Although I do recommend reading The Crow poetry collection by Ted Hughes first. Just a tip.

Další skvělá věc v téhle knize: Zoe má dvě sestry, a já bych hrozně chtěla, aby Dot, ta nejmladší, byla mojí sestrou! Je naprosto dokonalá, vtipná, a rozkošná, a já se vždycky chtěla naučit znakovou řeč, tak bych teď aspoň musela, a konečně to udělala.
Jediná věc na téhle knize, která mě ze začátku trochu rozčilovala, byl způsob psaní Zoe. Přišlo mi, že je to možná až moc dětinské, a že by takhle teenager přece nepsal. ALE, ve chvíli, kdy jsem se do příběhu pořádně dostala, jsem si na to nějak zvykla, a už mi to tolik nepřišlo. A když jsem o knize přemýšlela pár dnů po dočtení, usoudila jsem, že už jsem jen věkově moc daleko od mých teenage let, a už si nepamatuju, jak jsem sama jednou psala.
Rozhodně tuto knihu doporučuju. Všem. A hodně.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I haven't read a young adult novel in a while, since the last one that got into my hands was predictable in just about every way. However, when four of my friends who all have similar reading taste to mine (amazing, of course) told me to read it, because they all loved it, I had to give it a go. And I regret nothing. If you're deciding whether to give this one a chance or not, do read it. It's original, and unlike any other ya book I've read in terms of storyline and protagonist. You go, Annabel!

The protagonist is a teenager in secondary school, dreaming of becoming a writer, which isn't really what her mum wants - she wants her daughter to be a prosperous lawyer. Zoe starts spending her night in a barn next to their house, writing letters. To whom? To a murderer on a death row in Texas. She doesn't tell him where she's from, writes under a fake name, from a fake address. But these letters are all that's keeping her sane. She writes to this man, mr. Harris, telling him everything she feels guilty of, and that she can't tell anybody else. And if you want to know what Zoe has done, and what the end of this story is, you'll have to read the book.



I have always liked epistolary novels. There is just something about them that makes you feel as if you and the writer of the letters were one person. It makes you feel included - and that's something I admire about writers who can make you feel that way. When I requested this book from martinus.cz, I wasn't aware of the fact that it was written in the form of letters (somehow, my friends forgot to mention that). So when I opened the book, and discovered that it was in fact an epistolary novel, I was even more excited.
There was a time, when I reached page 60 or so, that I was afraid there would be a love triangle. You know, that horrible, cheesy, too unrealistic two guys one girl. And I was worried that Zoe would become so engrossed in this that we, the readers, would lose the storyline we were actually interested in. But it didn't happen, and I was so happy I actually might have done a victory dance. With the book in my hand. No photos of this available.

Zoe also has two sisters- and let me just say this: Can Dot be my sister? She is so adorable, and I've always wanted to learn sign language, so I'm ready!
The only thing that bugged me a little bit at the beginning was that I found it strange for a teenager to write like this. It felt a bit childish. BUT, once I got into the story, this feeling left me, and later I realised that I might just be too far away from my teenage years to remember what a teenager writes like. So, overall, I recommend this book. A lot.

written by Allan Hollinghurst

This Picador 40th Anniversary edition of The Line of Beauty was a birthday gift from my lovely friend. Before I unwrapped the book, I have never heard of it, although I did notice the cover in the bookshop. Once I started the book, it was impossible to stop reading, the writing style was so good and pleasant. I thoroughly enjoyed all the themes that were explored in the novel, however there were several things I did not love or wished there was less information/mentioning of them. That is why I could not rate this book a five star.


1980s. Thatcher England. Nick Guest has just come down from Oxford and he moves in with his friend's family. The family is rich, what you would call high society, involved in English politics. This is the time when AIDS and HIV is having its spread, also the time when coming out if you're gay is accepted but not supported, yet. Nick is gay, and what we read about in The Line of Beauty is the life he lives, throughout several years, how him being gay affects his relationships in society, how AIDS kills his friends and lovers. Nick is indeed obsessed by almost every man he spots, and he wants to get every man he spots, however, he is not the alfa type, from what I read.

The social differences and classes were interesting to read about, and thinking that even not so long ago from today, class was a very important issue. Occasionaly, I felt that there was a bit too much politics discussed but that was simply one of the sub-themes of the book, so I got over it. What was described with precision was the gay sex, and quite often, so if you are not comfortable with sex scenes generally, I'd suggest not to pick this book up. There is also quite a lot of mention of drug use (and abuse). I like what Line of Beauty refers to - Hogarth's line of beauty, of course, but also a line of cocaine, as well as the line where something/someone is the idea of beautiful for one person, but not the other.

written by Karen Joy Fowler

I saw this ugly, damaged, library edition of the novel couple of days ago when I went to the library, sitting there on the shelves, and decided it was about time I read this novel, six years after I saw the movie.
My experience with Jane Austen adaptations are not all very good. Mostly bad, actually. This summer I read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, and let me tell you - keep your hands of off this one, as it is one of the worst books I have read in my life. There are so many Austen adaptations out there, it is almost impossible to keep count of them. The Jane Austen Book Club is one that made it to the this-won't-make-Jane-want-to-rise-from-the-dead-and-cause-havoc group. Even though I found this book to be an ok one, not a brilliant one, it was entertaining, quite quick and easy to read and very sweet.


There are six people - Jocelyn, Bernadette, Sylvia, Allegra, Prudie, Grigg (the only man in this book club) - which is the same number as the number of Jane Austen novels being read in this book club. The novel is divided into six parts, every part lasts a month, and every month has got a novel and a character who takes the leading role, sort of, as well as hosts the book club at their place. It starts in March, and in March the novel being discussed is Emma, the character who is in the spot light is Jocelyn. In April, the novel is Sense and Sensibility, etc.

This novel is definitely not for someone who has never read a Jane Austen novel, or for those who strongly dislike her. There is a lot of talk dedicated to the main works of Jane Austen. Otherwise, the novel is about relationships, family, friendship, love and connection between people. And a little more. The centre of the story is not mainly the work of Jane Austen, but also the interconnection between the characters and their lives, and how they became who they are now.

What I really appreciated in this edition, and I don't know if the other editions of this novel have this as well, is that after the epilogue, there was a lot of accompanying material, such as a quick overview of Jane Austen novels, opinions and comments on her work by her friends and family, as well as from critics, writers and others, some of which were not very flattering. Which is something I really appreciated, even though this is a novel based on loving Austen, I am grateful that they didn't try to deny there were and still are a lot of negative responses to Jane Austen.