Saturday, February 10, 2018

"The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan



Started reading as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2018. I am really struggling to get into this book and after about 60 pages have put it down to read some other books. Not sure if I will come back to this book at some later stage during the year or not, as several other friends have told me they also gave up on this book part way through so that doesn't give me much incentive to persevere.

Aussie Author Challenge stats:
Male Author, New to me author, Genre: historical fiction
Started reading: 11th February 2018
- Put on hold.


“Big little lies” by Liane Moriarty

 
This book was recommended to me by my Mum and she gave me her copy to read when she finished it. Thanks Mum :-) I had heard several people mention they had really enjoyed Liane Moriarty's books, but had not realised until recently that she is an Australian author, but since I realised that I bumped the book up the priority list and started reading it as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2018. 

After the last few books I have read which have been mostly historical fiction mixed with creative sci-fi, this book was a complete change of genre and pace. It is a murder mystery and probably also considered "chick lit" (not a genre I read a lot of), and so in many ways was a lot lighter than the other books I've read lately. That said however, it does involve bullying, domestic violence and murder, so it's not really that light! It was a page-turner, and I finished it over 4 days despite only having time to read on the bus to/from work or late at night. Liane is very good at capturing all the tiny elements that make characters unique and yet also so readily recognisable. She has done a great job at describing all the gossippy/bitchy nature of some people, as well as the conflict that often exists between the confident external facade of a person and the reality of what that person is going through internally.

I don't know if Pirriwee Public School is meant to be a fictitious place or not, but in my mind it seemed to be set on Sydney's Northern Beaches, and if so, it captured a lot of the sterotypical behaviour, people and lifestyle that would be so familiar to anyone who had spent time living on 'the Peninsula'. 

I wont give away the twists of the murder mystery aspect of the book, but it is gripping and easy to read, with the story told from lots of different characters perspectives, which I really enjoyed. Definitely worth reading.

Started reading: 8th February 2018
Finished: 11th February 2018
My score: 9/10