The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

An absolutely astonishing book. I loved everything about The Gargoyle - from the appearance of the pages (black to signify that the book has been burned along with the author) to the plot; the use of different timelines; the characters; the short tales told by Marianne Engel within the book. The way everything ties together in life.

I have to admit/warn you that the first few chapters contain some of the most disturbing images that I have had bought to mind by a book and it seemed initially that this was going to be a pretty tough read. Fascinating yes but pretty unpleasant. Due to the vividness of the descriptions you could all but physically feel the pain that the author is going through during the accident and then, even worse, during the treatment. I presume also that the treatments described are all real which gives it all an added edge.

At it's heart though this is actually a story of love and redemption for a modern day self-hating pornographer (we've all been there!!). A man who I have only just realised while writing this is never named (it's amazing how I missed that - guess I was just too engrossed from the outset and then it was never important).

 I would definitely recommend the book but possibly only to a selected audience purely due to the need for a strong stomach at points although if you can get past those there's a lot of heart in there.

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The World is Burning and I Love You! Dystopian Teen Fiction

The recent onslaught of young adult books set in worlds on the brink of collapse thrills some readers and leaves others cold. What do you think?

Here are some (relatively) recent teen titles:
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Forest of Hands and Teeth (and its two sequels) by Carrie Ryan (zombie dystopia!)
The Enemy (and its sequels) by Charlie Higson (zombies in this one too!)
Matched by Ally Condie
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Do you love dystopian novels? Hate them? Which one is your favourite? Do you think their societies are outlandish or totally believable?

Graphic Novels of late 20th Century



A panel from Sandman.

Between the revival of leggings and renewed popularity of 80s and 90s kitsch, you might be inclined to flee as soon as you hear a mention of either decade. Flee not, because when it comes to comics, some of the very best British graphic novels were produced during those very decades, including Alan Moore's infamous Watchmen to Neil Gaiman's much-loved and widely read Sandman series. Sure, sometimes the gorgeous illustrations look dated (a friend of mine recently said of Sandman: "1994 called and said it wants 1994 back"), but the masterful stories and exciting art make it easy to look past these obvious flaws.

Which is your favourite old graphic novel?

Last Man In The Tower by Aravind Adiga

I liked the look of this from the cover. Last Man in the Tower by Aravind Adiga was gentle in its charm but had such an underlying current of deceit, criminality, danger and friendship all in the mix. Set in Mumbai in one of two co-operative buildings whose residents are offered money by a property developer to move out and the winding path it leads them on. Each tower has to agree to all residents moving out to gain the best deal from the developer.

Learning about the different characters who lived in the tower was something I did have to flip back and forwards to often referring to the residents listing in the beginning as I found it a little difficult to keep up at first but then it soon settled into the flow of the story.

This was a really enjoyable book and I loved reading about the individual lives that revolved around the tower and how the money was going to change their lives. The resistance of Masterji as well as his blind friend and her husband and the belief that friendship will overcome all odds. The different caste systems and the poverty and the inherent culture of bribery and corrupt officials, the characters mixing with the wealth of Mumbai to the slums.

This book was a very good read and very enjoyable.

Without giving too much away, the end did shock me.

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