Book Review: Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

 Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke has just been awarded the Women's Prize for fiction, 2021. This was my primary motivation for deciding to read it, having been somewhat put off by seeing that it had been described as a fantasy or science fiction novel. Indeed, when the copy I had reserved arrived from my local library it had a large 'science fiction' sticker on the spine. Wikipedia defines science fiction as a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life.

Piranesi definitely fits this definition as it takes place in a parallel universe but it certainly shows that sci fi writing can also be literary fiction. 

The book follows Piranesi, who lives alone in an endless series of halls full of statues, visited twice a week by a mysterious figure he refers to as 'The Other', convinced that they are the only two living humans in the world. Piranesi spends his time mapping the halls, cataloguing the statues and writing in his journal, subsisting by fishing from the flooded halls below. Gradually Piranesi begins to notice signs of another human presence - wafts of perfume and written messages left behind - and the novel develops into an intriguing mystery. Who are these people? (Even Piranesi is not sure who he is: Piranesi. It is what he calls me. Which is strange because as far as I remember it is not my name.) What is their relationship to each other?  What are The Halls? 

This genre-defying book is so different to what I normally read but I loved it. It is a fascinating study in solitude, a page turning mystery and a truly immersive experience. The strange characters and setting which begin as something so alien to the reader quickly become somewhere for the reader to retreat to from the outside world thanks to Clarke's superbly evocative writing. Highly recommended. 

Book Review: Home Fire, by Kamila Shamsie

Home Fire, by Kamila Shamsie was announced as the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 back in June so I have been eagerly anticipating reading it. It is a modern retelling of  Sophocles's Antigone, but is also a compelling and thrilling story of  contemporary Britain.

Isma Pasha is a young British Muslim who has been responsible for raising her teenage twin siblings Aneeka and Parvais, since the death of their parents. As the novel begins Isma is finally able to realise her dream of studying in America,. Whilst there she meets and befriends Eamonn, the son of a British Pakistani father and an Irish American mother, who soon becomes involved with the whole Pasha family. Matters are complicated by the fact that their father was a jihadi who was captured in Afghanistan and killed while en route to Guantanamo Bay, and Eamonn's father is the British Home Secretary, Karamat Lone. Cue a complicated story of conflicting loyalties and clashing cultures - a real Greek Tragedy.

The story with its themes of love, loyalty and clashes of both family and faith (Ancient Greek themes that are very relevant  today) is revealed from 5 different viewpoints  (Isma, Aneeka, Parvais, Eamonn and Karamat) and builds to a brutal and devastating climax that left me reeling.  I don't want to give away too much of the plot but need to tell you that it is an insightful exploration of the dilemma faced by Muslims in Britain today that draws you in and leaves you a little changed for reading it. It is a Greek Tragedy, so you shouldn't be expecting a happy ending but if you like a book to be a slightly uncomfortable read that will really make you think, then you should read this. 

Book Review: The Power, by Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman's The Power was the winner of the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and it's easy to see why. This is a fantastic, subversive and thought provoking novel that will leave you questioning so many things in your everyday life and examining your own thoughts and ideals on just about every page. 

Imagine a world where everything is suddenly turned on its head and women hold all the power - literally. At an unspecified moment in time teenage girls around the world begin to discover that with a simple touch of the hand they can inflict agonising pain and even death through a jolt of electric current. There follows a worldwide revolution and society, religion and governments are utterly transformed. We follow the stories of 4 main characters: Roxy, the only daughter of a notorious London gangster; Allie, an American teenager in foster care; Tunde, an opportunistic Nigerian journalist; and Margot, an ambitious American politician, as the course of their lives is forever altered by this turn of events.

This really is fabulous satire. With her intelligent, engaging and subtly humorous writing Alderman illuminates with glaring and startling obviousness the extent of sexism in society today. By reversing the situation and showing men as "the weaker sex" she shows how ridiculous it is that women are routinely treated in this way. Although she touches on many serious and shocking practices in the world today such as female genital mutilation and sex trafficking, the subtle instances of casual sexism, as in the following observations, show with a brilliant irony how prevalent sexist attitudes are in all areas of life.

No one mentions that Olatunde Edo's videos have been such a hit because he's handsome as hell. He's half naked in some of them, reporting from the beach in just Speedos, and how's she supposed to take him seriously now, when she's seen his broad shoulders and narrow waist and the rolling landscape of obliques and deltas, glutes and pecs

There were many times when reading when I found myself with a wry smile reflecting on the truth of these subtle situations, so humorous when describing men in this way, yet so true in the media when you swap the gender roles portrayed. And particularly pertinent when many prominent women working in the British media are asking questions about why they are treated differently to their male colleagues. Does this scene describing the presenters on a local news / tv magazine show seem somehow familiar?

Matt laughs and says, I couldn't even have watched! He's very attractive, a good ten years younger than Kristen. The network had found him. Just trying something out. While we're at it, Kristen, why don't you wear your glasses onscreen now, it'll give you more gravitas. We're going to see how the numbers play out this way.

This is undoubtedly a feminist novel, and a very important social commentary, but it is also a very readable and razor sharp satire. It also touches on the nature of truth and propaganda and how easy it can be to rewrite history or at least to skew history towards a certain viewpoint. A really good novel and a worthy prize winner. Read it and hope that in the future your grandchildren will read it and wonder how it was possible that sexism could have been so prevalent in all societies in 2017.