Mslexia

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Books

This Summer we recommend…

Love Lies by Adele Park
(Penguin, £6.99)

Adele Parks’ Love Lies tells the tale of a famous pop star who meets, falls instantly in love with, and proposes marriage to a flowershop girl. While the premise is more the fantasy of fan-girl dreams, and might seem to be taking the escapism factor too far, Parks does an excellent job at setting up both the characters and the situation so that the fairy tale is easily believable.

Narrated primarily by Fern, the girl, Lies allows us to empathise intimately with Fern as her 30th birthday rushes towards her and she realises her life with Adam, her live-in boyfriend, once fun-filled and exciting, is now mundane, lack-lustre and stalled. Fern yearns for marriage. But not only does Adam not go down on one knee, it appears that he doesn’t even want to talk about it.

With the familiar scene properly set, enter Scottie, who brings heart-throb popster Robbie Williams vividly to mind. Scottie is needy, sexy and beautiful. He’s been the star of Fern’s fantasies since she was 15, and when they finally meet, the sexual tension crackles like high voltage electricity. Three days later, he proposes in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley Stadium and flies Fern off to live the celebrity dream in LA, complete with a high-priced, fancy resident wedding planner.

Will it all end Happily Ever After? Who really is Mr Right? Is it Adam? Or is it Scottie? In fact, does Fern even deserve a happy ending after heartlessly discarding Adam like last year’s designer shoes? And, if she does, is Scottie the real deal, or just dazzle? It is these questions, along with the up close and personal narration, that skilfully unveil each new facet of the trio’s relationships and their pasts, that pull you through the compelling story, and keep you reading right up to the glamorous, twist-filled, fun-filled ending.

reviewed by SUZANNE MCLEOD

This is a selected highlight from the current issue of Mslexia. To read the book reviews in full subscribe now. Other titles also featured include: The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk, A Jury Of Her Peers by Elaine Showalter, The Rough Guide To Girl Stuff  by Kaz Cooke, When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson, White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Mslexia Book Club: the verdict

The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry
(Blue Door, £12.99)

Anne Berry’s debut novel is the first book from new imprint Blue Door, and the billing – ‘a perfect balance of literary and commercial fiction’ and a ‘natural candidate for reading groups,’ – intrigued us. But from the beginning, opinion was divided. Val found it to be ‘a page-turner’ and Helen ‘wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.’ In contrast, Julie ‘would have given up,’ and Gill also struggled, finding the prose ‘interesting but not compelling.’ The prologue, and some parts of the narrative, especially the very vivid description of an abortion, were very difficult.

We enjoyed the insight into the ‘cocooned’ colonial life in the flat on the peak of Hong Kong:

Gill found it ‘historically interesting and very good’; Val found that ‘the British don’t come out very well – there’s a huge difference between the moneyed colonists and the poor population,’ while Helen feels that ‘it’s very accurate, with the British taking what they wanted, enjoying the easy life style while exploiting the local population.’

Val felt that the physical descriptions of Hong Kong were evocative and enticing, though in places it was ‘overdone,’ particularly in the final chapters. For Julie, it was her favourite part of the book: ‘All those warrens of cloth alleys, whorls of colour.’

The short chunky chapters were easily absorbed, and we liked having a variation of voices in the narrative style. In the main, these differing narrators were believable, and recognisably different, but we found it disappointing that the book was written in everyone’s voice except for Alice, the main protagonist. As we heard from the Ghost, Alice’s mum, dad, siblings, neighbour, teacher, and so on, we were all waiting for Alice’s turn. The Ghost, Lin Shui, we thought was in actuality the true main character, ‘In effect it was the Ghost’s story,’ according to Val.

We felt the portrait of Alice’s dysfunctional family was accurately drawn, and that, in fact, they would have been equally as damaging to Alice’s life without her ghostly entourage. Myrtle, Alice’s mum, provoked especial discussion:

Val: ‘There are so many things to hate Myrtle for.’

Julie: ‘I think she was jealous of Alice.’

Gill: ‘Was Myrtle a product of colonisation?’

Helen: ‘…Or a product of her own mother?’

The book did provoke a lively conversation. The setting was unusual and exotic and not one we had come across before, so that was interesting. The style was definitely much nearer ‘commercial’ than ‘literary.’

reviewed by JULIE, HELEN, GILL and VAL

The ‘Bookless’ Book Group – Julie Noble, Helen Berry, Gill Almack and Val Everton – all have busy lives, so though they try to cover a book a month, there’s no pressure. They discuss theatre, radio and families as well as books. The babies always join in at Julie’s house, the dogs at Val’s. The wine flows, but only to loosen the tongue, not drown it. Other members arrive according to season or other reasons, so it’s a very fluid group!

This article is taken from the current issue of Mslexia. If you'd be interested in your reading group test-driving a book for the Mslexia Book Group feature please Contact Us.

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Tracey Curzon-Manners is married with two children and lives in Derbyshire. After jotting things down for years she finally plucked up the courage to begin writing a literary blog where she can explore her imagination to the full. Tracey works in a theatre box office and writes pieces based on her observations and experiences within the arts industry.