Dance, Dance, Dance ~ Haruki Murakami

I was disappointed with this novel after reading Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.  It felt like Murakami was regurgitating the same theme of abandonment with what felt like recycled characters, however Dance, Dance, Dance was written before these novels.

Basically the protagonist is in search of a girl he used to live with who seems to be sending him psychic messages which draw him to the old Dolphin Hotel.  The old hotel is no longer there, but a new hotel has been built in it’s place and bears the same name.  It is however the gateway to an alternate reality where there are six skeletons and as the novel progresses we find out who each skeleton belongs to, as death seems to follow the protagonist very closely.

This is as surreal as Murakami's other novels, and whilst he apparently enjoyed writing this one the most, it isn’t as beautiful or poetic as Kafka on the Shore, and mostly I felt bored with it.

A Prayer for Owen Meany ~ John Irving

This has been my first John Irving novel and it has far surpassed my expectations.

It is a story that is narrated with much love for Owen Meany, but it is also bound in a scathing attack on US politics and the Vietnam War.

The narration follows two time lines, that of the narrator and his childhood friend Owen and that of the narrator's life after Owen's death.  The scenes from their childhood are wonderfully written, and very touching, with Irving capturing the essence of childhood perfectly.

Oskar Matzerath

Owen is an unusual character and was created in tribute to Gunter Grass' Oskar Matzerath (The Tin Drum) and although there are similarities, this story stands alone and I found that I enjoyed it much more than The Tin Drum.

Owen believes that he is the instrument of God and the last few chapters read like a book of 'revelations'; and the way the story all comes together in the end really has a touch of brilliance.

The characterisations are wonderful throughout (although the narrator is a trifle boring), and I found it a truly  enjoyable read to the end.  A must read, put it on your list now!

Something Wicked This Way Comes ~ Ray Bradbury

Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are more like brothers than best friends, born just one day apart they live next door to each other in a small American town.  The novels opens with the promise of fun that only a child can see as Autumn begins, but a dark cloud is about to hover over them as an ancient carnival pulls into town.  The boys realise that something is very wrong with the carnival when they see one of its operators Mr Cooger ride the carousel backwards and so watch him grow younger and younger until he is a small boy.

Mr Dark, the illustrated man, seduces adults with promises of youth and his body is covered with the images of those he has lured.  What the adults don't realise is that to be young again will mean giving up all their friends, and finding themselves alone so frightens them when they have become a child that they beg to go back on the carousel.  They are promised that they will be given back their lives but first they must travel as freaks within the carnival.

One such freak is the blind Dustwitch - one night Mr Dark sends her out in a monstrous balloon to find the boys.  The sound of the balloon billowing in the wind and the blind freak holding out her hands to sense the boys is very creepy. They know the secret of the carnival and Mr Dark needs to silence them.......................  make no mistake, this is not a childrens book.  It is brilliantly told from a child's perspective, and I love how Will's opinion of his father grows.  He initially sees him as an old janitor at the library, but as the novel progresses Will realises that he seems taller and stronger - dependable and more importantly, he believes.  

Northanger Abbey ~ Jane Austen

As with all the Jane Austen novels I have read the main theme is about getting married, and marrying well. But the joy of her novels is in the dialogue and her observations of genteel life. 

Catherine Morland is a young girl heavily into reading gothic novels.  Unfortunately this increases her already vivid imagination and when she is invited to spend some time at Northanger Abbey she is thrilled.  Living in a modern day abbey is not as chilling as in the gothic novels, but the father of her love interest would make an excellent character in one of them.  Whilst not as sinister to murder his wife as Catherine supposes he has, he is a very disagreeable man, and Catherine inadvertently falls foul of him.  

There are some wonderful characterizations in this novel, one being the selfish Isabella Thorpe.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.