The Seven Days of Peter Crumb - Jonny Glynn

I originally picked this one up because of the simple but effective portrait on the cover. The premise sounded promising: our hero has seven days left to live and he was told to write everything down about this last week and it begins with something like: "I am not a good man, I am not a bad man, in seven days I will be dead.." I was intrigued.

And the writing is quite good, it is very easy to read and the book itself is not that long so a nice filler novel to prepare for the next lengthy tome. My problem with it was that as you read further into the week of Peter Crumb, you discover just how messed up this character is and what an utterly evil pyschopath he really is and this character I wasn't really prepared for.

Still, I read the book and it remained a quick and easy read but it left me wondering about the author and how on earth anyone could imagine somebody this twisted. I know I could never write a character this wicked and overall, I'm still not sure if I liked it or not. It's a few hours of my life that I'll never get back but it's not necessarily a bad book, just a subject matter I wasn't really in the mood for and the paragraph on the back cover simply doesn't prepare you for Peter Crumb.

The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

I think that this graphic novel should be compulsory reading for anyone truly interested in our world.  It is an autobiographical depiction of growing up in war-torn Iran, through countless wars and revolutions.  It follows Marjane's life from about 10 years old until her early twenties and is a fascinating insight into a previously untold slice of human history and the story of a country with its history usually so well guarded.

The drawings themselves are so wonderfully basic that you admire the simplicity and understand that this allows you to really focus on the story at hand.  Whether this is just the author's preferred drawing style or whether it was done intentionally, whatever the case it helps make the impact of the novel even more real.

You learn a lot about the coming of age of our author and what a long and at times very desolate journey that was.  She is not afraid to bear all unto scrutiny by her peers and this honest approach is one of the things I enjoyed most.

I'm not so great at summarising the recent history of Iran as she does so I've borrowed someone else's words to give you an insight into some of the things you learn while reading Marjane's tale:

"Starting in 1979, the year that the Shah of Iran was overthrown in a popular uprising,.. we learn the history of this unique country that lies between the Arab world and Asia. Throughout its history, whether as Persia or Iran, the country was constantly under attack and being invaded by one foreign power after another. After World War Two, the father of the last Shah of Iran led a revolt sponsored by the British in return for allowing them access to Iranian Oil. Instead of the republic that most people had hoped for, they merely replaced one dictator for another.

The uprising in 1979 started as a popular rebellion against the tyranny of the Shah, but was corrupted. A great many of those who helped ensure its success ended up imprisoned, tortured, and eventually executed by the new regime. Any chance that there might have been for the overthrow of the religious leadership was quashed by the American-sponsored Iraqi invasion, as those in power seized upon it as an opportunity to quash what remained of the opposition. Political prisoners were given two choices - die on the front lines as cannon fodder or be executed. After eight years of war, nothing was accomplished save for the deaths of close to a million Iranians, ensuring the elimination of any opposition to the religious authorities."

Imagine growing up through all that, while being the great grand-daughter of the last Shah of Iran and with two very intelligent and polictically motivated parents who were constantly protesting about the injustices happening in their country.

What can I say?  Read this one, you won't be disappointed.

Posession - A. S. Byatt

I loved the premise of this novel, two scholars stumbling across a long forgotten secret: an illicit affair between two well known victorian poets, one of them very married.  I once read a brilliant book about a lost Shakespeare play and all the mystery and intrigue that followed the discovery and so my hopes were very high for this offering, especially with that Booker Prize tucked firmly underneath its belt, but I'm not sure it really delivered and it was definitely not as good as 'The Book of Air and Shadows' by Michael Gruber which is the book I just mentioned.

But for all that, this one is very well written and does keep you intrigued as you follow the story and slowly learn more clues as to where the secret takes you.  My big gripe and it's not so much a gripe as a disappointment in myself and my headspace, is that the author has written a lot of victorian poetry to back up the story and the hunt for clues and these pieces are stunningly written and very detailed.  The gripe is also that they are stunningly written, very detailed, and some pieces are pages long.

Unfortunately I was not prepared to undertake the poetry, which really deserves and demands the correct attention, and while I could skim the longer passages for key words crucial to the story, I just could not find the headspace to focus solely on the poetry itself.  This is a real shame.  Some verses are written in a style similar to Spencer's Fairie Queen verses, and so are very heavy in mythology, allegory, and fantasy as well as the normal metaphorical style of the victorian poets.  It can get heavy.  Thankfully, the shorter verses were easy to absorb and thoroughly enjoyable, this author is very versatile and talented.

So, to summarise, a well-written novel of giddy intellectual heights supported by original victorian verses by the author.  A story of suspense and intrigue with a couple of tragic romances entangled along the way.  A novel that should satisfy and one that I will return to when I feel in the mood for some excellent poetry.