Rowling, J.K. : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The last book (finally!). How does it fare?

A grinning me went to sign for the book at the security post at 10 pm, and 5 hours later, I could safely say that it fared pretty well.

I had hoped that after the space-filler of a 6th book she'd come back with a vengeance and she definitely delivered. All the books have revolved around something big and important - the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, etc, while the 6th book revolved around something (the half-blood prince, Snape) that had little bearing on the other events happening. And from the first page there was action, action and more action. There was a dip in the tempo around the middle, when Harry and Co. were meandering aimlessly around trying to find the Horcruxes/Deathly Hallows, but the book seems to echo the change in the tone of the movies - more real magic, more duels, more face-to-face combat, more action. It certainly makes for more enjoyable reading.

I also loved the fact that Snape comes clean in the end, and all because of his love for Lily Potter, Harry's mother. Call me silly, but I think Snape's pretty cool, and it's great that he's absolved, even in the end of this book. She must have given Snape's character development quite a lot of thought, because the whole story falls quite nicely, and is pretty believable.

I could say the same about Albus Dumbledore - that a lot of thought went into him and even when he's died, his name, and really, his whole life story, comes out of the woodworks and is laid bare. So far he's just been the wise mentor, but now he becomes 3-dimensional, and more human.

Harry, as usual, gets this 3-D-ing effect as well, and grows up. Everyone seems more adult in this book, even more adult than in the last. I think her style of writing has grown with her fans, and with this book she's come to accept that she's probably writing more for the grown-up fans than the children. It's still accessible to the younger ones of course, but not as much as the first books. Her style of writing also reflects that she's aware of its transition onto the silver screen. There's more precise descriptions, reminding me somewhat of a filmscript. All in all it has a definite commercial feel to it, which is only to be expected with all the hype about the books.

I didn't like the way she approached deaths. I could hardly register Hedwig's death when it happened, and there was little mention of grief after that. It was as if she killed poor Hedwig off so that Harry had one less thing to carry around during his quest. Bah. Even in the ending battle I had to read it through again to find out that Remus and Tonks died (even now I can't believe that).

Reading through this book, it felt like she could have kept going - all those flashbacks and character developments, plus all the parts she could have stretched out a bit more, or added. Part of me wants more of Harry Potter, but then again, 7 is a nice number (unlike Terry Goodkind's series which has gone on forever, past 10 books when I was last interested) and the ending, however cliche and commonplace, was good. So I smile with pleasure and relief with the thought of a great 7-book series now complete to read from cover to cover, and who knows, Rowling might like to start another series featuring Severus Albus Potter?

Rating: ****out of 5

Smith, Zadie: On Beauty: a novel

This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the 2006 Orange Prize for fiction. Apparently Zadie Smith is a scholar of EM Forster and has modeled her book to contain allusions to her “idol”, and yes, her book did remind me a bit of “Howard’s End”. She tells of a family in the US, and what happens as their lives intertwine with the lives of the family members of the patriach’s enemy. And of course, there has to be a confrontation between the two enemies, causing everything to unravel for a while, but get together again by the end of the book.
The characters were well-written, and the story went deep into some issues, but overall it didn’t have much of a wow effect on me, not as much as I’d expect from a prize winner. If you take away the Forster-ian undertones, it just ends up as a well-written story that can entertain for while, like most of the other books on the market. The writers of these other books should really catch on and jump on the bandwagon, and say that their books were modeled after so-and-so author – they might just make it onto a shortlist somewhere. And this is always good for business, because there’s always people like me, curious to see if the book is up to par.

Rating: ***out of 5

Pratchett, Terry: Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, Small Gods, Soul Music, Maskerade

My journey with Pratchett really started when I got his younger-children book, Truckers (part of the Bromeliad trilogy) as a birthday present, perhaps when I was in late primary school. I loved that book, loved how the Nomes were so ignorant of human customs, and how they’d capitalize all the unknown words borrowed from the human language and put some obscure importance to them. My copy at home is now well-creased from the re-reading. When I found out that there were 2 more books after it, of course I had to read them!
Then I forgot about him for a while, because I thought the Discworld series was so extensive there was no point starting on them. Then the lovely book rental place in Subang Parade, and YP’s dear friend happened – and I had a ready supply of early Discworld books to read. So I read “The Colour of Magic”, “The Light Fantastic”, “Equal Rites”, and “Mort”.
The saga continues with the ready supply of Discworld books in the libraries around me. It’s a good thing that they’re not to be read in any order, so I can simply borrow any book on the shelf.
Truthfully, I can’t tell you exactly what happens in each book, and I won’t even try (thus the grouped review). BUT they’re really great distractions from life! The humour he injects into each book is novel, and each book covers different topics/issues: “Sourcery” tells of a dictatorship of sorts which could lead to the end of the world; “Wyrd Sisters” introduces witches and plays with plays like those of Shakespeare; “Reaper Man” deals with Death not being able to do his job; “Witches Abroad” reintroduces the witches and mixes them with many fairy tales; “Small Gods” takes a tongue-in-cheek look at religions; “Soul Music” is about that “real” soul music – rock music, and is a really entertaining read!; and “Maskerade” takes a look at opera, with lots of borrowing from “Phantom of the Opera”. Some of the allusions and jibes in the books I didn’t really get, but I guess everyone understands different things differently anyway.
That’s the books so far in a nutshell, really. These books are like candy – you can’t read too many at once, but taken one at a time, at regular intervals, they serve to give you a much-needed laugh and a different outlook to life. Which is a great treat!

Rating: ***out of 5

Pelzer, Dave J: A Child Called It, The Lost Boy, A Man named Dave

Dave Pelzer writes, in three parts, of his life so far, from his days existing only as a thing under his mother’s abusive hand, to his escape, life as an adoptee, and his journey to the publishing of his books. The story of his abuse is quite heart-rending, and I think it’s been described as one of the most serious child abuses in America, or something like that. I guess it’s not just the abusing that strikes you, but it’s the fact that his mother actually denied his existence as her son, but treated him as “it” – this thing, only there to be abused and taken advantage of. It’s really quite a depraved world we live in, and the point is driven home by the horrible way he was treated in his childhood.

I would say that the first book is the most riveting, because of this, the sheer magnitude of his experiences. At the end of the first book, he’s rescued, and his life truly begins. Of course, there are episodes where the past (and the mother) comes to haunt him, even in the 3rd book, but things aren’t as shocking as in the 1st, and his straightforward style of writing, while suited and so endearing to telling a child’s point of view, loses its charm as the child grows up. I would say, read the whole trilogy for continuity, and to find out how this remarkable man made his way through the many pitfalls of life he could have stayed in. But always remember the little boy called “it” from the 1st book.

Rating: **** out of 5

McEwan, Ian: Saturday

A book about a Saturday in the life of a neurosurgeon, practising in London. He uses quite a lot of jargon in describing the neurosurgeon's medical life, but doesn't dwell on it, which is good for the nonmedical reader. He also gives quite an insight into the emotions involved, having shadowed a neurosurgeon for a couple of years.

Of course, this can't be any old Saturday that makes it into a book. This is a special Saturday - he sees something 9-11 like as he stands at his bedroom window in the small hours of the morning, which sort of sets the tone for the oddness of the day; there's an anti-war protest in the central London, near where he stays; he gets into an accident with a thug with a neurological problem, which he diagnoses and uses to his advantage, but will haunt him again later in the day; there's a mini family reunion that night that he has hopes and anxieties about. Within all that, the neurosurgeon indulges (or rather McEwan indulges on his character) in musings about war, and terrorism, and his work, and his middle-aged life, and really, life in general. These musings can be quite draggy at times, but on the whole they're quite thought-provoking, and quite cerebral (but appropriately so!).

The writing is of high-standard, and McEwan draws us intimately into the neurosurgeon's life - we feel what he feels, and think what he thinks, etc. The supporting characters are believable as well, and provide good colour for the neurosurgeon's life. I also like the fact that it's set in modern-day London, and I could take out my London A to Z and point out where his house is, which hospital he probably is working at, the routes he takes, etc. - exciting. :)

A good read for me, a maybe biased POV because of the medicine-related character.

Rating: ****out of 5

McBain, Ed: Fiddlers

One of JF’s choices from the horror/thriller line, but I was also attracted because of the title and the bloody violin on the front cover. However, I was quite disappointed that the fiddle/fiddler/fiddling has no big part to play in the main plot - the only fiddler is the blind fiddler who gets killed in the beginning of the book. It's more of an allusion to the killer, I think, who fiddles, or intervenes, in the lives of the ones he murders.

McBain had the task of creating some random murders in random ways and finding a way to connect them all, which he did, and made it enjoyable. You sort of know whodunit midway into the book (why else would he be telling the guy's story as a subplot if he wasn't the killer?) but what you don't know is WHY he did it, which keeps one reading to the end. Apparently this was his last book (he passed away in 2005), and his first books were better than this. If that's so, I'd start reading his first books!

Rating: ***out of 5

James, P. D.: The Lighthouse

If Agatha Christie is the Queen of Crime, PD James is certainly the princess, or the heir apparent. Which is ironic because PD James is now an octogenarian (she was 85 when she wrote this book).

Anyway, "The Lighthouse" is set on an imaginary island of the Devon coast, where a writer, his daughter, and his copy-editor go for a sabbatical of sorts. Their arrival is not taken well by some other guests and inhabitants of the island, and the it is to almost no-one's surprise that the writer is found hanging from the lighthouse on the island. PD James' darling investigator Adam Dalgliesh is sent in to solve the case.

It's a well-written book (especially for an 85-year-old! but I'm not ageist) and each character and their pasts are delved into quite thoroughly, giving lots of sublplots which help plump up the main one. It's even up-to-date - two characters in the book get stricken with SARS, which was a big concern in 2005 (and still is). However, I think that SARS thing was a bit unbelievable, plus the fact that Dalgliesh sort of solved the mystery while he was having dreams from the fever made it look like she was just using it as a means to an end. Just a small hiccup though. A good book to read, but if possible, read her earlier books and get to know the detective Dalgliesh first. Then you'll appreciate this book more.

Rating: ***out of 5