Native American Myths and Legends - Edward Curtis et al.

A fresh tranche of Arcturus myths and legends released a week ago, and this is my first review for the new batch. I was tempted to skip them, but the completionist in me forced my hand, and it's not looking good so far. The series continues the trend of taking century old texts and reprinting them in attractive covers. In addition to my other common complaints about this series, in this particular book on Native Americans, the full list of authors is not given. I managed to obtain the names from the Amazon listing in the end, as only Edward Curtis is named in the introduction. The intro also mentions illustrations for the book, but these do not appear anywhere, which only strengthens my suspicion that AI was used. One comes to recognise the writing style.

As for the stories themselves, I am saddened to admit that they are not good. Whether this is due to the source material being a bit lacking, or the narration being flat, it's difficult to say. I'm sure a more competent modern writer could liven up these tales considerably, as the ones here are delivered in such a flat and listless blow-by-blow manner. The first half of the book deals with creation stories across twenty-five or so different Native American tribes. The second half is about heroes and trickster figures, usually a half human, half animal character like a raven or coyote who gets into various scrapes. The essence of the tales are not particularly engaging, and usually amount to immediate survival concerns such as food, shelter, warmth, clothing etc. There are some imaginative depictions of another world beyond the sky or below the earth, but no consistent lore across tribal cultures.

Rating: 2/5

Madonna in a Fur Coat - Sabahattin Ali

This Turkish novella is about longing, desire, and the shameful waste of a life by closing oneself off from the world. I enjoyed it very much, and whizzed through it in just a few days. There are no chapters, and subsequently no ideal place to put it down, which led to some intese reading sessions. I'd never heard of Sabahattin Ali before, and he only wrote two other novels, both of which are meant to be more politicial, and so probably not to my taste. The scholar who wrote the intro to my edition claims that this is likely Sabahattin's attept at writing something in the Romantic style, and less likely to be censored. He was imprisoned for his other writings against the Turkish state, and eventually assassinated whilst trying to flee to Bulgaria. 

The main character in the novel is Raif Bey, a tediously shy and passive translator at a lumber firm who is belittled by his employer and family. The unnamed narrator of the story becomes intrigued by his unwaveringly dull colleague and attempts to draw him out, believing that nobody can truly be that closed off or dead behind the eyes. His suspicions pay off when he comes in possession of Raif's journal on his deathbed. The journal's tale is the bulk of the novella, and tells of how a young Raif moved to Germany after the collapse of the Ottoman empire to try and learn a trade in luxury soap. He meets Maria Puden at a seedy cabaret bar, after first becoming fixated on her self portrait at an art gallery. What follows is a typically trope-ridden romance where Raif is strung along by the manic pixie dream girl against a Bohemian backdrop, having his soul awakened, only for things to inevitably end in tragedy. 

It's a hauntingly sad story, likely autobiographical, and it struck a deep chord with me about wasted opportunity. Whilst the story itself isn't particularly original, I really appreciated the way it was written, as Raif fluctuates between bitterness, hope, resignation and eventually complete emotional apathy. I've seen other reviewers on Goodreads comparing Raif to an incel, which seems a little unfair considering just how much the character tries to withdraw from society and not inflict his thoughts onto others, arguably the opposite of what an incel does. Apparently this book has had a recent surge in popularity due to Tiktok. 

Rating: 4/5

Viking Myths & Legends - Jennie Hall et al.

In the Arcturus Myths and Legends series, this is the first return to a previously covered mythology - the Scandinavians. I was a bit annoyed about there being two volumes for Scandi folklore, but the books do have significantly different scopes, therefore a distinction must be made. Whilst Norse deals with the gods, goddesses, giants, and the hero Siegfried, Viking is exclusively about, well... Vikings. The first half of the book is a reprint of Jenny Hall's children's book Viking Tales from 1902, complete with illustrations, whilst the latter half is two (abdridged) translations of the Icelandic sagas, Thorstein, Viking's Son, and Fridthjof the Bold. I generally preferred the more childish first half, as they were suitable bedtime stories for my eight year old. 

The later sagas were a bit tedious to get through, particularly Thorstein's. There are lots of characters introduced in a short space of time, lots of battles and enemies, and a whole lot of raiding and pillaging. I also got sick of reading about heroes 'busking' themselves. Compared to some of the other volumes so far, this was a relatively easy read, and a welcome breeze after the slog of Donald Mckenzie's offerings. Whilst the sagas are a bit repetitive in nature, at least they are actual stories. For anyone who enjoyed the TV series Vikings, there are lot of familiar names to be found here.

Rating: 3/5

Aztec & Mesoamerican Myths & Legends - Donald A. Mackenzie

As I near the end of reviewing the second tranche of Arcturus myths and legends books, it occurs to me just how uneven this collection is. The worst entry in the series so far, Aztec & Mesoamerican Myths & Legends also wins the award for most mistitled, being as it were, almost nothing about the Aztecs or Mayans. If you were hoping to learn about Aztec mythology, as I was, you can completely forget about it! There are a few chapters at the end discussing Mayahuel, Chalchiuhtlicue and Tlaloc, but mostly by comparing them to similar gods from other cultures. I'd go so far as to call this book a scam, which makes the luxury treatment of gilded font and stencilled pages edges something of a mockery. Written by the same kook who did the Indian volume, here Donald A. Mackenzie takes off his amateur scholar hat and replaces it with a tinfoil one. 

To start with, unlike the others in the series, this is not a collection of stories at all, but rather a long and rambling academic essay trying to persuade the reader that primitive American civilisations were incapable of forming their own culture, and that everything was borrowed from or influenced by foreign visitors. Not only are Mackenzie's theories egregious, outdated, and offensive, but they're also not convincingly argued. He hops from one cultural example to the next - Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Scandinavian - apparently everyone had a hand in shaping America's civilisation except the natives themselves. To believe Donald here, Ancient Mexico was a regular tourist hotspot, with boats constantly arriving from all over the world to teach the ignorant indians how to live and create systems of mythology. 

The opening chapters arguing that Aztecs 'valuing gold' and 'drinking milk' are firm evidence of overseas influences is particularly absurd. The enemy of Donald's theories is the concept of 'psychic unity', the notion that the commonality of humans mean that similar stories and practices arise independently in different parts of the globe. He rails against this idea as supernatural hokum, slandering his fellow anthropologists and folklorists for suggesting it. Indeed, he spends more time rubbishing the credibility of his rivals than he does convincing the reader of his own theories. Another outrageous idea of his is that Indian elephants made their way to Central and South America, based on some stone sculptures and knick-knacks that are quite clearly based on tapirs, a local animal. He also argues that secretary birds (imported from Africa) are the only snake destroying bird species in the world, when we all know this isn't true at all. 

For the average person purchasing this book with a view to learning about mythology, Arcturus has a duty of care to be more explicit in their introduction not to take any of Mackenzie's theories as fact. That this horribly antiquated book was even greenlit to be republished, and by a supposedly reputable publisher, is an utter mystery to me. It seems that they were so eager to represent every major world mythology that they scraped the barrel of redundant scholarship to find material. This and the Egyptian volume were borderline unreadable. Riddled with typos and formatting errors, nonsensical ideas presented as fact, dry and unappealing prose, whilst being terminally off-topic, the book reads like a conspiracy theorist feverishly jumping from one idea to the next in an effort to prove how clever he is.

Rating: 1/5

Persian Myths & Legends - Elizabeth D. Renninger

This has been my favourite out of the myth collections so far, for several reasons. Firstly, Elizabeth D. Renninger recreates the tales of Ferdowski's 'Book of Kings' in an accessible and engaging manner. She retains many of the rhyming couplets throughout, woven into the prose to a give a taste of the original lyrical epic. Secondly, the source material itself is completely new to me, so stumbling into a whole new system of mythology is akin to unearthing a buried treasure trove. Thirdly, the stories are actually good - clever, lively, funny, tragic, they display a sophistication and imagination far surpassing what I expected to find here, and what was woefully lacking in the Egyptian texts. The world of Persian myth, here largely consigned to Ancient Iran, is a legendary past populated by great shahs, or kings, their proud warriors, larger than life heroes, the evil Deevs - a cat-headed race of magicians or demons, genii, dragons, and giant god birds called the Simurgh. Sadly, we do not hear anything of the twelve Persian gods, besides their king, Ormuzd.

The first two stories in the collection are my favourite, and introduce the reader to Zohak, a good prince corrupted by Iblis, the Evil One. After wormtonguing his way into the virtuous prince's confidence, Iblis convinces him to slay his father, so that he can take the throne. Once installed, Zohak is further corrupted, is introduced to the concept of eating meat (I love this for the root of evil) and after being kissed on both shoulders by Iblis, sprouts a pair of thick black snakes. Zohak screams and tries to have them cut off, only for them to grow back thicker and nastier than before, craving human brains. This unexpected slice of body horror transforms Zokak into the Serpent King, and forms a compelling villain origin story that cautions of the polluting of innocence and subsequent fall from grace. Most of the rest of the book is about the hero Rustem, a thoroughly unlikable chap based on modern values, but I'm guessing the ideal of Persian masculinity and virility. His exploits are numerous and suitably heroic, up until the tragic killing of his son and ignoble death at the hands of a treacherous brother. This book is heavily abridged, and sometimes refers to characters and events not covered.

Rating: 4/5

Indian Myths and Legends - Donald A. Mackenzie

Where to begin with this one? I'll start by saying the composition of the book is rough! The heavily abridged contents come from a 1913 publication written by Donald A. Mackenzie, a Scottish journalist and folklore enthusiast, whom the snooty introduction takes pains to tell us held no formal qualifications. The introduction goes even further, almost like its trying to sabotage the book, by stating that Mackenzie is not held in good stead by modern scholars, that he's a self-taught amateur, and his text is riddled with Imperialistic prejudices. The usual hysterical modern disclaimer exists to warn sensitive readers about potentially harmful language or outdated stereotypes. But I encountered none of these - I found Mackenzie very respectful about Indian mythology. Even so, the introduction does not exactly inspire confidence in someone hoping to properly delve into Indian myth for the first time.

The format of the book is not going to appeal to everyone, and I can see from the limited reviews in existence that people were turned off by the old fasioned, often stodgy prose. The first half of the book is academic ramblings, loosely divided into categories such as overviews of the Vedic deities, demons, giants and fairies, the various Ages of Indian myth history, and the social and religious developments. The structure could have been better organised, as I was frequently confused about the overwhelming variety of gods and when they appeared and/or supplanted one another. I was hoping for more stories about favourites such as Kali and Ganesha, of which I know there are many, but Mackenzie only gives them a short paragraph each. The second half of the book is his re-telling of the epic Mahabharata. I was really enjoying this section, it being my first exposure, until the book abruptly ends before the big finale! Something clearly went wrong in the editing process here, totally unacceptable for 2025.

Rating: 2/5

Irish Myths and Legends - James Stephens, Lady Gregory, Patrick Kennedy, Lady Wilde et al.

Another mythology book done and dusted, and I'm already starting to feel myth fatigued. But we plow on regardless. And what kind of folklore does the Emerald Isle offer up? Whereas the Japanese stories all launch with a beautiful daughter, the Irish ones commonly begin with a beautiful son, or comely male youth. It's certainly a strange one, for a culture to place male beauty over female, but let's go with it. The tales are fairytale-like in nature, with the classic mystical trio of happenings in every interaction and plot point. This makes for frustrating reading, especially when whole swathes of the text are the same for each repetition. For instance, a protagonist will meet three characters on the road, one after the other, each offering a different boon. Or a hero will be challenged to defeat a foe and his army, three times, or engage in combat with a hag's three sons, always with the same outcome. 

Thematically, the stories range from whimsical dealings with leprechauns, to big rollocking epics like the legend of Fin MacCumhail. Many of the stories feel rather rambling and unfocused in nature, with characters with no previously established powers randomly turning themselves into animals. There also seems to be a very strong Greek influence, with the episode of Odysseus's escape from the cyclops cave repeated here across multiple stories, with barely a detail changed. This is less cultural influence and more straight up plagiarism in my opinion. Do the giants really need to have a single eye in the middle of their heads, for instance? Do the heroes need to escape by hiding under a sheep fleece? The quality of the various writers contributing to this tone are not all equal. James Stephens is significantly superior in his use of language, with some beautifully written stories. However, they were too little, too late at the end of the volume to raise the rating.

Rating: 2/5

Japanese Myths and Legends - R. Gordon Smith

This text is adapted from the 1908 volume Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan which quite frankly is a more accurate title than Myths and Legends. I felt like the title was quite misleading, as I was expecting actual, well... myths. There is almost nothing about the Japanese gods, despite the brief mention in a few of the stories. I was hoping to learn more about them here but this book is more a random collection of strange folkloric tales on ghosts, doomed love, samurai, and a bit of war for good measure. Due to its age, it abounds with what some readers may accuse of being 'white superiority' but I didn't notice it too much, he seemed respectful enough. R. Gordon Smith, was a British traveller, naturalist, and full time chauvinist who lived in Japan and documented the local folklore for European audiences. He was also responsible for discovering thirty five species of animals, all of which are named after him to this day. 

There are fifty stories in total, with no proper attempt to curate them into a particular order. Most are entertaining enough, the ghost stories especially. But as always, I have some criticisms. There are quite a few typographical and grammatical errors, a common complaint of this series it seems. Smith often uses an English equivalent of a word instead of introducing readers to a Japanese concept, i.e. 'knight' instead of 'samurai', although he is inconsistent in this. Nearly every single story begins in the same format - a man has a beautiful teenage daughter, and it's high time a husband was found for her. The obsession with beautiful young girls gets a little wearisome after a while, bordering on fetishisation, and characters are ever eager to commit suicide and disembowel themselves over mere trifles.. I was disappointed that, knowing the wealth of Japanese folklore concerning yokai, fox spirits and the like, the stories do not really explore these at all.

Rating: 3/5

Egyptian Myths and Legends - E. A. Wallis Budge & W. M. Flinders Petrie

Compared to Greek and Norse, Egyptian mythology was always a weak point of mine, and I was hoping to learn a thing or two from this book. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. A cursory glance at other reader reviews shows that I'm not alone in this opinion. The text itself is translated from the hieroglyphics of tombs, monuments, steles, tablets and papyrus scrolls from Ancient Egypt. The translations are over 100 years old, and no effort has been made by Arcturus to modernise or make them approachable. In the first half of the book, the 'stories' are more like hymns or chants, extolling the majesty of their animal headed gods. They're extremely tedious and repetitive to read. Later, the stories move away from the gods and cover mortal doings. Sometimes these are less 'myth' and more historical accounts of merchants arguing over trade goods. Some are quite entertaining, but not enough to salvage the whole.

I was wondering why there aren't many books featuring stories of the Egyptian gods and heroes, and why there isn't a unified mythic canon. The reason is due to the sprawling, messy, and fractured nature of Egyptian history, which causes gods to evolve, merge and contradict one another over a long period of time. There aren't many memorable tales in the collective conciousness, scholars argue about the identities of the gods and what they represent. There is also much that has been lost, and those texts that have survived appear to be mostly snippets. Often, the translator marks how a story is damaged or incomplete, thus ending it abruptly, or beginning halfway. In my opinion, this book was not fit for publication, and required an extensive overhaul. On the other hand, I was wary of rubbishing this volume because at the end of most tales is a warning not to criticise the holy writings, on pain of being smitten by a terrible curse...

Rating: 1/5

Norse Myths and Legends - Emilie Kip Baker

I have long felt that my knowledge of Norse mythology was not as great as it could be, so was eager to rectify that. Does Emilie Kip Baker deliver, where she fell short with the Greeks? Again, this book is aimed at a younger audience, with deliberately softened language and removal of all sex and rape. It is a selection of twenty eights stories, the first half being about the Norse gods and giants, and the latter the telling of the hero Siegfried, more famously known as 'The Ring of the Nibelung' or 'The Ring Cycle.' The early stories range from the creation of the Nine Realms, the Aesir's many forays into Jotunheim to battle the frost giants, and the internal squabbles among the gods. The final chapter is the Twilight of the Gods, a very hastily told and anti-climactic overview of Ragnarok. 

Unfortunately, I do not feel that my knowledge is sufficiently more enriched than before. Whilst this book is a good introduction to Norse mythology, it centres mostly on the more famous of the gods, namely the wise Odin, arrogant Thor, and troublesome Loki. I still don't know much about the rest. With the exception of Sif, Baldur, and Iduna, the others were not given any standout tales of their own and act more like bystanders. It was also annoying and confusing that Baker uses the words 'elf' and 'dwarf' interchangably. I recognise that this is a hangover from Victorian times, when the two were treated as synonyms. However, when these are distinct races living in their own realms, the correct delineation is important. I would recommend this book as an accessible entry point to pique one's interest, but for the real deal, you'll need the Icelandic Eddas and the Sagas.

Rating: 3/5

Greek Myths and Legends - Emilie Kip Baker

First published as Stories from Old Greece & Rome in 1913, this is actually a very old book masquerading as a new one. The Roman stories have been dropped, the names of Greek deities standardised, and the whole repackaged into an attractive, budget friendly ornate hardback edition with gold leaf embossing, full-colour end paper designs and stencilled page edges. It's always nice to have attractive books on the shelf, but what of the contents? Unfortunately with this edition, all that glitters is not gold, for some pretty egregious errors abound here. These mistakes, along with the gilt leaf very easily rubbing off when handled, leads me to believe the book was not intended to be read at all, but simply admired. Which is a shame, because Greeks myths are fantastic tales that should be known by everyone. 

This is by no means a definitive collection. It's more of a whistle stop tour of Greek myth, or a compedium of the greatest hits. Don't go in expecting the depth and thoroughness of Robert Graves, or you'll be disappointed. Notable absences are the Trojan War and the events of The Odyssey - the final story is 'The Apple of Discord', which launched the former events. The origins of Greek myth are also notably sparse. There is almost nothing of the Titans and the creation of the world, and the story of Zeus' birth and overthrowing of Kronos is absent. The erasure of the Titans means that Apollo has been given Helios's role, and it is he who rides the chariot of the sun. Baker plays fast and loose with both the original mythology and Ovid's later additions in Metamorphoses, which can get a bit messy and confusing. 

Being very dated in language, the stories seem to be written for ten year olds from over a century ago. Antiquated phrases such as 'pledged their troth' make frequent appearances, and all references to sex and rape are removed or softened. Which leads me onto the book's editing, which is absymal. AI was most certainly involved, for the word 'sorceror' is printed as 'SorsDemeter' each time, and the multiple errors in the foreward indicate it was certainly not checked by a human being. Dionysus is listed twice on the list of gods, and Heracles is incorrectly credited as slaying the Minotaur. Whilst the stories themselves are fun and easy to read, the dreadful formating brings this edition down to 3 stars. I hope the others in the series have better proofing.

Rating: 3/5

Thunderstorm - Tsao Yu

My wife bought me this famous play to introduce me to more Chinese literature, telling me it was a standard school text and widely performed. It has been described as the Shakespeare of Chinese theatre, specifically Hamlet, due to its emotionally charged themes of social rebellion and incest. The comparison is undeserved in my opinion, and even Tsao Yu in his forward is pretty disparaging towards his own work. With a dramatic ending featuring multiple deaths, it felt more like a Greek tragedy, but the influences of Chekhov and Ibsen are also present. (There are no less than three instances of Chekhov's gun appearing as foreshadowing.) The play is spread over four acts, set in both the household of a wealthy coal mining tycoon and his family, and the house of their staff, who are tightly connected with those they serve. The play is supposed to represent the collapse of the old social order as the energetic and rebellious youths try to assert themselves against it. But there is a sickness at the heart of the family. Revelations flow thick and fast in the final act as the storm outside reaches its crescendo in classic Sturm und Drang fashion. The closest Western comparison I can think of is Vinterberg's film Festen, in which another bourgeois family implodes beneath a barrage of shocking disclosures.

In my opinion, and I'm fully aware that this might be a translation issue, the play is crude and unpolished. It amused me to see the editors of my book describe the translation as merely 'adequate' - something we would never see in a western publication, where even bad translators like Emily Wilson are overly lauded. Tsao Yu has written an excessively self-deprecating preface complaining that the publishers forced him to write it. 'Is Thunderstorm worth reading? I imagine one of the jobs of a preface-writer is to pin-point the highlights in an effort to induce the reader to keep on turning the pages, but I can't for the life of me put my finger on a single point that satisfies me.' He also writes, 'I was told, "Your own assessment of your works is not half so penetrating as other people's."' A reminder that once a creative work is launched, the public and academia will become the main judges in deciding what it's about. I would also draw attention to this choice bit of 'men writing women' stage direction describing Ssu-Feng's appearance: 'When she walks, the movement of her over-developed breasts is plainly visible under her clothes ... Her mouth is large, with full lips that are naturally and deliciously red.' Make of that what you will! Despite my mockery, I did enjoy the play, just don't expect Shakespeare!

Rating: 3/5

The Trial - Franz Kafka

I was looking forward to The Trial because I'd never read anything by Kafka before. It seeemed like everything I would enjoy from a book - an M. C. Escher stairway design on the cover, a plot that inspired Pink Floyd's music video of the same name, and a dreamlike critique of overwhelming bureacracy. However, I was left disappointed, as most of the book is incredibly tedious to get through. I understand that this tedium is intentional to frustrate the reader, but Kafka does rather too frequently labour the point. The unfinished story begins with Joseph K awoken by some strange men in his room who tell him he is under arrest for a crime. We, along with Joseph (referred to hereafter as K), never discover what he is on trial for. In the following scenes, one immediately gets the sense of having walked into a surrealist painting, most notably one of Magritte's, for there are officious looking businessmen standing in corners of rooms, people watching from the windows of opposite houses, furniture re-arranged in improbable ways, and an overall collapse of reality. As K tries to uncover the mystery of his trial, he is drawn increasingly further into a nonsensical and convoluted web of dystopian surveillance and absurdity.

It's difficult to fairly rate a book that's unfinished, although this edition does come with some chapter fragments to give a loose idea of how it may have progressed. Unlike F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon, another unfinished novel I review here, this one at least has an ending chapter for some closure, so we're only missing middle chapters. Due to the loosely plotted and meandering narrative, their absence does not have too detrimental an effect on the overall story. What ruined the book for me were the extremely long esoteric and fake legal jargon explanations of how the law works in the world of The Trial. I did enjoy the bizarre erotic encounters that felt like they were straight out of a dream. I also appreciated the 'backrooms' style architecture, such as doors positioned behind beds, uncanny attics haunted by eccentric painters, and oppressive court office corridors populated by endlessly waiting defendants. In summary, the book is a philosophical examination and parody of the law's impenetrable system, mocking its labyrinthine pathways and seemingly arbitrary rules. Somehow, it feels simultaneously a shame and a relief that the book was never completed.

Rating: 2/5

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

This is the second time reading North and South, and like many of my literary opinions, they have mellowed over time. Before I found it a slog and a bore, I was unimpressed by such quibbling drama as 'a crisis of conscience', social unrest in the factories, and whether Margaret's unmaidenly falsehood would be explained in context to Mr Thornton. Now, I live for all that stuff. But I run on ahead! The novel is about the clash of two cultures - the rural, idyllic South vs the rugged, industrial North. When young Margaret Hale is uprooted from beloved Helstone (Hampshire) and moved to Milton (Manchester), she is predisposed to a bad impression. The reason for the move seems ludicrous to modern eyes. Her father, a pastor at Helstone, reads too much subversive literature and allows doubts about his faith concerning the Church of England to set in. He therefore brands himself a dissenter, giving up his position and comfortable living to move to the manufacturing hellhole. He could have just kept quiet and towed the line like the rest of us, but then, I could write an entire essay on how Mr Hale is one of the most pathetic men in English literature!

Once established in Milton, the family make the acquaintance of Henry Thornton, a local cotton mill owner. Magaret is prejudiced towards him for being a common and arrogant tradesman. Mr Thornton finds her to be stuck up and naive, yet he is drawn to her beauty. Does this plot sound somewhat familiar? It's clear to me that Gaskell must have been heavily inspired by Pride and Prejudice, the similarities of the antagonistic romance are too vivid. I must add, the constant references to Magaret's 'taper-like fingers' are quite creepy! The story is engaging and full of turns, but Gaskell often falls into 'misery porn', with an almost comical series of character deaths falling thick and fast on one another in order to humble the protagonist out of her conceit. One of the main tensions of the novel is between masters and men, the factory owners and hired hands who work the machines, but I still find the politics of strikes and unions rather wearisome to read about. That, and the working class characters like Higgins and his ailing daughter, can come across as irritating and stereotypical. Overall though, I enjoyed my reread of this classic book and found much to admire.

Rating: 3/5

Sanshirō - Natsume Sōseki

I didn't know anything about this book before I started reading it, but Sanshiro was more or less what I expected it to be. The story tells of Sanshiro, a young man leaving behind his sleepy country life to attend university in Tokyo. It's a slow paced coming-of-age novel that takes place over a short period of a year or so. A classic country mouse comes to the big city and is overwhelmed by the fast moving life, the traffic, the bold women, and strange new customs. After an initial near erotic encounter with a woman on the train, Sanshiro is condemned as a 'coward' for not making a move on her, setting him up as a passive protagonist who mostly observes the world but doesn't partake in all it has to offer. University is something of a disappointment at first as he tries to find his feet, but gradually his social circle broadens as he meets other students, professors, and their relatives.

Sanshiro is also a love story, but one characterised by continual failures and disappointments. There is a sense of futility, but also realism, to all the characters' undertakings. Sanshiro does not end up marrying Mineko, the girl he is in love with. His friend Yojiro's campaign to get their professor friend, Hirota, a teaching placement at the university backfires and fails. Sanshiro's studies are not conducive to greater knowledge or scholarly ambition, and there is also the sense that he does not manage to escape his provincial past or fully integrate with Tokyo culture. There is also a grisly suicide early on the novel which acts as a bad omen. The narrative is a loose account of Sanshiro's first year, with each chapter acting as a slice-of-life, philosophical insight into his world. Some of the haiku-like descriptions of sky, light, shadow and trees come across as clumsy and borderline absurd, but I'm sure they're beautiful to read in Japanese.

Rating: 3/5

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carré

I was not looking forward to this book after the mess I made with Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, but soon after starting it, I realised my blunder. It was Penguin's fault for releasing Tinker first, as that book actually comes after The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. I didn't understand Tinker because much of the complex world building and characters were laid out in an earlier book I hadn't read! What a difference a few explanatory lines made. This time round, I knew who the supposed antagonists were, what the mission was, and what much of the terminology meant. That's not to say The Spy isn't a demanding and complicated book, it certainly gives the reader a lot of credit in not being an idiot, but I felt it was a much tighter and more comprehensive read, also a real page turner!

Alec Leamas is a washed up British agent spiralling into alcoholism, depression, and irrelevancy after returning from Berlin following a failed extraction of another spy. His boss, Control, gives him one last job and a chance to redeem himself, which he willingly takes on. What follows is a tense and twisty narrative of subterfuge, betrayal, double dealings, and intrigue. Nobody can be trusted, plans within plans within plans are made, and the characters move through a gritty, grey underworld where human emotions are suppressed in favour of cold and mechanical decision making. Despite the monstrous ruthlessness of the spy world, at its heart is a very human story, as Leamas gradually submits to his better nature. A depressing, though rivetting read, hampered only by sometimes painstakingly tedious technical explanations of banking processes.

Rating: 3/5

 

The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I flew through Dostoyevsky's The Idiot in just over two weeks, a record for a book of this length, especially when compared to the three and a half months it took me to finish The Brothers Karamazov. This probably has more to do with me being on a three week holiday with unlimited downtime than it does the book's readibility. Even so, the novel is eminently readable, of that there can be no doubt. Unlike the other of Dostoyevsky's novels I've read, this one seemed much less bogged down with long philosophical digressions and homilies on religion, although they are still there. At the risk of running ahead of myself, this is probably the part of Dostoyevsky's writing that I dislike the most - when the narrative is pushed aside so that one character can deliver his lecture, whilst everyone else just sits there in silence as it runs on for multiple chapters. This happens no less than three times in The Idiot. If anyone tried to pull this self-absorbed stunt in real life, they'd soon lose their audience or be escorted out of the room.

Now though, some words on the actual story. Prince Myshkin is an epileptic on his way back to Russia after a long convalescence of many years in Switzerland. Upon arriving, he immediately becomes one of many suitors to a beautiful but fallen woman called Nastasya Filippova. The prince is a ridiculous, naive, and child-like figure who is supposed to resemble Christ - Dostoyevsky set out to write a novel about a perfect person, completely free of sin and ego. This 'holy fool' type is seen again in the character of Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov, whilst Nastasya is resurrected as Grushenka, and the consumptive teenager Ippolit as dying Ilyusha. It was interesting to see proto versions of these characters in an earlier book. Instead of managing to create a flawless and selfless being, the Prince becomes an infuriatingly passive and bloodless character guaranteed to infuriate modern readers. Always guaranteed to do the wrong thing, he will have you tearing your hair out in despair. The tale is marked by Dostoyevsky's characteristically grim and nihilistic tone, so don't expect a happy outcome.

Rating; 3/5

My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell

This book was an absolute delight to read, and a real blast from the past reminding me of the animal adventure stories I devoured as a child, particularly the Willard Price books. Before David Attenborough entered the natural history scene, Gerald Durrell was my favourite naturalist, and the man who inspired me most as a child. My Family and Other Animals is his semi autobiographical account of a five year sojourn on Corfu with his family, vividly painting the beautiful Greek island environs and the many animals he tries to tame and keep as pets during this period. The genre is part wild writing, part comedy, as he treads the line between affection and gentle mockery of his family members. It's pretty obvious which parts are exaggerated or made up for comedic effect, but it never detracts from the fun. After all, who doesn't embellish childhood memories or imperfectly remember the exploits of their youth?

The book shines most when Durrell goes into lengthy accounts of his eccentric extended family - the animals themselves. He has a real knack for making commonplace creatures extremely interesting, unique, and well drawn. He can write pages and pages on familiar creatures yet never be boring, displaying them in ways you've never imagined, and leaving you wanting more. Of particular note is the battle between a gecko and a praying mantis in his bedroom. The human characters are no less interesting, as he meets a myriad of eccentric personages who end up becoming close family friends. His environments are also superbly realised, so much so that he became responsible for a surge in Corfu tourism, which quite sadly, probably contributed to ruining many of his Edenic locations. A very human, spirited, and often hilarious book, I'd recommend this read to anyone with even a passing interest in nature.

Rating: 5/5

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings - Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a master of the Gothic form, and this edition brings together some of his more memorable poems and short stories. Hailed as the grandfather of horror and the founder of the mystery genre, I really enjoyed what he had to offer. But this review must necessarily deal with the book in thirds, divided as it is, into three parts. To begin with, we'll glance over his poetry. The Penguin Clothbound book brings us seventeen of them, ranging from the instantly recognisable (and excellent) The Raven to some of his lesser known sonnets. I have to say, The Raven stands head and shoulders above the rest on account of its sheer lyricality and quotability. 

Then we come to his short stories, the meat and bones of the book, and here lies the main interest. Many of the titles are well known, but with the exception of The Oval Portrait, which I remembered from sixth form college English class, I had never read them. I was pleasantly surprised by many, and underwhelmed by a few. The Murders in the Rue Morgue stood out as being notable for its excessive graphic violence, and also for being the first ever detective story. We even have a proto, gothic Sherlock Holmes in the character of Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin. The Fall of the House of Usher and The Telltale Heart, however, were not as exciting as I'd hoped, and were over before they really began. It's a shame Poe never properly turned his hand to novels, as I repeatedly felt myself wanting more from his short stories. I'm aware he did publish one.

But now onto the final section, the 'Other Writings' part of the book's title, and here lies the problem. Poe may be adept at crafting spine-tingling tales of horror, but by all accounts he was a terrible little man in his personal life and who, if he were alive today, would be rightly branded a paedophile. I'm therefore not hugely enthusiastic about reading his miscellaneous scribblings, and quite honestly, I'd rather the volume didn't have them. Not only do they take up precious shelf space, but they also make for incredibly dry reading. Reviews of books I've never heard of, behind the scenes on how he created The Raven - it's all mathematics! - and even essays on furniture, magazine composition, and lots of slandering of his literary peers which really betrays his poisonous personality. Avoid the last section if you aren't cursed with completionist tendencies.

Rating: 4/5

Dubliners - James Joyce

After struggling to complete Ulysses last year, I was not looking forward to another of Joyce's offerings. I was assured by an Irish friend that this one was more readable, and fortunately it was. Dubliners, not to be mistaken with the popular Irish folk band, is a collection of fifteen short stories set in the titular city of Dublin. The book is an anthology of realist 'slice of life' experiences of the middle classes. There is no particular plot to speak of, being little other than moments frozen in time, which I actually rather enjoy. There is a framework of ageing, with the early stories dealing with childhood, then through to middle age, and finally old age and death. There is also a consistent theme of drinking culture, which affects the characters' lives in various ways. I preferred the earlier stories to the later one, and those centering on personal, rather than civic life. 

As with any short story collection, there will nearly always be favourites, but a special shoutout to early entries 'An Encounter' and 'Araby.' The former is about two schoolboys who encounter a perverted old man whilst playing truant, and masterfully captures the familiar experience of being in a dangerous situation as a child. 'Araby' is about a boy taken with his friend's sister, and his first precocious stirrings of infatuation as he fails to secure a gift for her. The more depressing, cynical stories of middle age include the worst of the bunch 'Ivy Day in the Committee Room', which is just boring old men discussing politics. Big yawn to that one. The last story is the longest, of novella length, and is a melancholy reflection on mortality which I found quite moving. Overall, not a bad book, and one of Joyce's earliest.

Rating: 3/5