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BOOKS.
Friday 19.06.2015 to Sunday 21.06.2015 | Dubbo Weekender
We should be thankful that Stephen King is determined to publish everything he can write BY KATE WHITING THE BOOKCASE
z BOOK OF THE WEEK Finders Keepers by Stephen King is published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton. WITH more than 50 novels under his belt, it’s admirable that Stephen King still writes his own books, unlike some big authors whose names have been turned into brands. Better yet, King tries to avoid being repetitious by often breaking out of his default (a writer haunted by evil in Maine) – we’ve known he can do brilliantly outside of horror since 1982 and the novella that became The Shawshank Redemption. Mr Mercedes, published in 2013, was similarly refreshing: devoid of supernatural spookiness, it was a cat-and-mouse suspense, with expertly delivered thrills and a fun motley trio of crime-fighters. Finders Keepers is its sequel, although it begins with new characters setting up a new plot and is probably enjoyable on its own terms. Novelist John Rothstein is the crucial character, even though he dies in the first chapter: he lingers through his literary legacy, especially as his obsessed fan of a murderer steals a cache of unpublished notebooks. Thirty years later and the loot is rediscovered by a teenage boy, who is soon thrown in over his head into a dangerous situation as everyone fights for a scrap of previously-unread genius, eventually turning to the heroes of Mr Mercedes for help. King has lots to say on the nature of books and their bewitching power over people, a theme he probed best in Misery as introspective terror. Here the results are frightening but they play out more like a roller coaster of a story, with King’s simple prose whisking readers easily through the plot. The last pages do hint at something supernatural to come in the next instalment and, unlike John Rothstein, it seems that Stephen King is determined to publish everything he can write. If books such as the effortlessly exciting Finders Keepers are the result, we should all be grateful. 9/10 (Review by Stephen Wood)
O FICTION The Turning Point by Freya North is published in hardback by HarperCollins. THE Sunday Times bestselling author returns with a tale about finding love in unexpected circumstances. Divorced children’s author Frankie Shaw lives in Norfolk with her children after recently leaving the hustle and
bustle of London. Unknown to her editor, Frankie is suffering from writer’s block. But when she gets a call to go to London for a meeting, Frankie reluctantly makes the journey. While having a drink at the hotel, she encounters fellow guest, Canadian musician and single father Scott Emerson, which leads to an enjoyable dinner and conversation. Despite returning to their respective homes, they begin a tentative relationship through sweet text messages, phone calls and emails. When they make plans to meet up again, Frankie and Scott can’t believe they have another chance of love. But fate has other ideas. Will Frankie and Scott get their happy ever after? An emotional read following the lives of a pair of new lovers. 8/10 (Review by Julie Cheng) In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume is published in hardback by Picador. TO say I was excited to start reading In The Unlikely Event, Judy Blume’s first novel for adults in more than 15 years, is an understatement. Like many girls growing up in the Eighties, her teen stories shaped my childhood, with well-thumbed copies of Forever famously doing the rounds at school. With Blume’s new book, we’re on familiar ground, as the central character is a teenager called Miri Ammerman. But the story is partly autobiographical. It’s the tale of three plane crashes that happened over one winter in 1950s Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Blume grew up. Her father was a dentist, who helped to identify the bodies and writing the book was evidently cathartic for Blume. While the narrative switches between multiple characters’ viewpoints, Miri, who lives with her single mum Rusty, ace reporter uncle Henry and grandmother Irene, is the linchpin of the novel. Besides dealing with the emotional fallout of each crash, she falls in love with a boy called Mason, and meets her father for the first time – death is juxtaposed with normal teenage life, with its cashmere cardigans and new hairdos.
But there’s no neat story arc for Miri or any of the other characters, this is real life and real adolescence at its most raw. And somehow, it’s strangely not as satisfying as the Judy Blume books for tweens. 7/10 (Review by Kate Whiting) The Versions Of Us by Laura Barnett is published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. IN her hotly-tipped debut novel, Laura Barnett plays on the Sliding Doors-style philosophy of ‘What would have happened if...?’ – an exploration into the dynamics of choice verses fate in the game of love. In a nutshell, three alternative lives are played out. In 1958, Cambridge English student Eva cycles over a nail and fellow student Jim offers to fix it – who she then leaves her boyfriend to marry. In the second scenario, she misses the nail and marries her boyfriend David and in the third, she meets Jim, but ends up in a loveless marriage with David having attempted to do ‘the right thing’. Barnett’s use of structure enables multiple insights into marriage and relationships and, in contrast to many, often idealistic, romance novels, Jim and Eva’s experiences are challenging and gritty. But it is as much about the endurance of love as it is about the hardships of relationships. The interesting structure is undermined by the protagonists, who are unreliable and, at times, unlikeable. Jim morphs from a passionate and caring young man into an unrecognisable cowardly, fickle and vaguely pathetic character. This makes it challenging to fully invest in the relationship between him and Eva. The Versions Of Us contains some touching moments and explorations into relationships of all ages. But the weaknesses in the character development prevent the novel from having a lasting effect. 6/10 (Review by Chloe Chaplain) The Reader On The 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent (translated by Ros Schwartz) is published in hardback by Mantle. GUYLAIN Vignolles has a passion for literature and pulps books for a living. Morose and alone, haunted by the geno-
Stephen King’s new release “Finders Keepers” is a sequel to his ‘refreshing’ 2013 release “Mr Mercedes”. PHOTO: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
romp. Hapless singleton Annie McDee hands over a few quid for what turns out to be a multimillion pound 18th-century masterpiece languishing in a junk shop. Unfortunately, the title of this novel has a double meaning, in that the plot turns out to be pretty improbable too. Many characters feel drawn from a fairy tale and although it must have seemed like a good idea to write chunks from the viewpoint of the painting, it doesn’t really come off. All this seems at odds with the rather serious central theme of whether now that owning art has become just another way of showing off wealth, has its beauty and power to move been reduced to nothing but a footnote? 5/10 (Review by Gill Oliver)
cide that is his job, he finds his daily respite on the commuter train, where he reads aloud to the compartment the pages he has salvaged from the pulper. One day he uncovers the diary of a woman called Julie, and, captivated by her writing, sets about trying to find her. It is a pleasing fable about the power of literature to elevate our lives: like Guylain, the host of secondary characters are pursuing their salvation through words, from the security guard who speaks only in Alexandrine verse, to Giuseppe, who lost his legs in the pulper and is attempting to find all the books that were made from them. But the novel lacks the substance to support its many quirks, and ultimately it feels unsatisfying, unable to offer the redemption that it promises. 6/10 (Review by Adam Weymouth)
O NON-FICTION
The Improbability Of Love by Hannah Rothschild is published in hardback by Bloomsbury. AS a big name in the art world, writer and film director Hannah Rothschild certainly knows her Titian from her Rembrandt and that comes across strongly in this chick-lit
The Life Of Saul Bellow: To Fame And Fortune, 1915-64 by Zachary Leader is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape. THIS biographical doorstep is billed as ‘THE’ life, not ‘a’ life, and so comprehensive and meticulous and just plain huge is this account that it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking on