THE HOUSE GUN BY NADINE GORDIMER & THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE BY M.CONNELLY (BOOK REVIEWS)

Today I have two books reviews to share with you. I also have an autumn outfit proposal that I have found in the blog archives recently (I don't think I posted it before). I'm planning to do a special post about this denim skirt with DIY floral patches soon so if you enjoy those kind of sustainable fashion posts, stay posted for that. As for the novels I'm going to review, they are both my authors I haven't read before: Nadine Gordimer and Michael Connelly. The novel by Nadine Gordimer ( a South African Nobel prize winner for literature!) impressed me. I definitely want to read more from this author. If this book is anything to judge by, Nadine Gordimer deserved her Nobel prize. On the other hand, the novel by Michael Connelly was alright but nothing special. A typical politically correct crime novel. Scroll down to read my full reviews. 

THE HOUSE GUN BY NADINE GORDIMER 4/5

The House Gun is a relatively slow paced psychological novel that opens with a murder case. When I started reading this novel, I was blissfully unaware of anything about this writer, including the fact that Nadine Gordimer is a recipient of a Nobel prize for literature. The cover didn't give me much to work with either, but sometimes it is refreshing to read something without prior research. It gives you a sort of fresh perspective. Based on the cover, The House Gun could have been a crime novel for all I knew. Once I settled into the narrative, I could tell it was not a typical murder story but I like how it kind of starts off as a crime novel. The difference is not only in that it focuses on the question 'why?' more than on 'who?', but in the way it focuses on that 'why?' question. I found the writing style quite captivating in its curiously distant way. Fascinating how the writing both hides and reveals the characters, manages to be both incredibly distant and intimate- all at the same time. I imagine this book will be too slow paced and subtle for some readers to fully enjoy, but I found it to be an extremely satisfying read that kept my attention from start to finish.

What does goodreads tells us about this book? ...The respected Executive Director of an insurance company, Harald, and his doctor wife, Claudia, are faced with something that could never happen to them: their son, Duncan, has committed murder. What kind of loyalty do a mother and father owe a son who has committed the unimaginable horror? How could he have ignored the sanctity of human life? What have they done to influence his character; how have they failed him? So, this is a novel about a man and a women who discover their son is murderer. They have gave life to someone who has taken somebody's life. The horror and the shock creep slowly in them. Is it really possible? If yes, who is to blame? Themselves? Their son? The society?

In many ways this novel has reminded me of American Pastoral by Philip Roth, one of his best works if not the very best. I would say both novels are studies not only of the individual crime committed but also of the society the crime is committed in. In the way the concept of 'American dream' is relevant for understanding of the American Pastoral, so is the 'post apartheid dream' important for the understanding of this novel. When I started reading this novel and saw that it is set in the South Africa of the nineties, I wondered would the country and the period themselves play an important part. Would South Africa be a character (of sorts) in the novel in its own right? The answer to my question proved to be- yes. South Africa plays an important role in this novel. Indeed, South Africa and its politics might be in the background of the story, but they do play an important part in this novel, just like USA does in the American Pastoral.  

Moreover, both novels focus on a successful married couple whose only child has done the unthinkable- taken a human life. The Swede, a successful Jewish immigrant who played basketball and the Miss America, an Irish catholic beauty who married him are a happy couple. How could the product of such love go so wrong? Similarly, Harald a religious (Catholic) but successful business man and his atheist humane doctor wife seem to be the rare thing: a genuinely happy married couple. Harald and Claudia are living the South African dream. Despite not being directly involved in the fight for equality, they were never racist. These two seem to do well in the new post apartheid world, they work in jobs that allow them to help bridge the gap between the races. At any rate, Harald and Claudia seem to play their part in the building of a  new and more equal society. Both couples share something in common- one of them is a believer, the other isn't and this creates a sort of cultural difference between them. How does this affects a child? The daughter of the American couple grows up in a young girl that kills several people in cold blood. Was it truly cold blood or was the young lady insane? Could a sane person do it? Kill in the name of activism? The son of the South African couple grows up in a young man who kills a man. 

Does he kill him in cold blood? That's the big legal question but also a moral one. Both of these individuals, son and daughter of highly functional families, seem to be profoundly unhappy. Indeed, does a happy person take a life? There are many literary references in this novel, the author quotes Dostoevsky on a number of occasions. The father Harald is a reader and so is the son. They try to find answers in the books, the way many of us do. When we try to kill and destroy somebody, literary references in this novel suggest, we are trying to kill ourselves. I wonder if Philip Roth has read this novel and if yes, what did he think of it? If I had to choose a word to describe the nineties, I would have to go with violence. These two novels do reflect the nineties, the feeling on chaos and hopelessness that has crept into our lives back then and perhaps hasn't left since. Some may remember the nineties as a happy time, but when it comes to world politics and reality, the nineties were extremely violent, filled with civil wars and unrest. 

This novel made me ponder about a great number of things, the Western dream of liberty most of all. The conflict of traditional and modern. They teach us that modern liberalism is the holy grail that will save us all, but look at what it has done to the Western societies. Moreover, this novel made me think about the question of faith and liberty. The promised liberty of the French Revolution that lead to unimaginable bloodshed and horrors we so easily discard, the 'justice' that lead to Napoleon wars and violence that spread like circles through Europe. All in the name of liberty, the new, the modern and the better way of life. The dream of justice and equality for all. How seductive such ideas are! I wonder whether the modern atheism isn't a sort of religion in itself.

This young man Duncan lives in a house populated with individuals who indulge in promiscuous behavior they call freedom. But what is freedom truly? What is love? How many people get traumatized because they believe that freedom is indulging our every desire and forever rebelling like children? Duncan is in a relationship with a young neurotic woman Natalie who cheats on him but does that free him from responsibility? Does it make sense to say that it is somehow Natalie's fault as the author herself sometimes (it seems to me) imply? It is true that a mentally ill and destructive person might turn against the very person who is trying to help her, but if Duncan truly loves Natalia why does he stay in such a destructive relationship? Isn't it a bit to convenient to blame her for everything? Duncan is a character I couldn't make sense of not even at the end of the novel itself. He remains forever distant. We do get in his head more and more but at the end of the novel I was still left perplexed. The psychological portrayal of his parents and the examination of their marriage following the shock was excellent, but Duncan himself remains something of a mystery. I felt there was a bit of potential lost there.

The novel's subtle writing is wonderful, but a bit more information wouldn't have hurt it. I kept waiting for some grand reveal, for example the discussion of the letter (in which Duncan informed his parents of a suicide incident he witnesses as a kid in a boarding school) that might have given us the readers more insight. We don't really get an examination of Duncan's relationship with his parents. Was there ever truly one? Or theirs was a highly functioning family that was somehow empty on the inside? In addition, I didn't like the way the victim was treated a bit like a nonhuman entity. I think it would made sense to know more about him, this Norwegian guy Duncan shot in the head. How deep did the betrayal really go? Was the Norwegian really insensitive or did he act with the purpose to hurt? When I finished the book I was left with impression that some things were left unsaid. Normally, I'm a fan of ambiguous writing. I like books that can be interpreted in many way. However, here you couldn't do that in some cases because there wasn't much to work with. Some characters really remained a mystery, especially the victim and the killer. I feel like we should have left this novel knowing a bit more about them.  Nevertheless, this novel is certainly impressive with its examination of love in its many manifestations. The portrait of the parents was masterfully done. Their developing friendship with their son's lawyer and his son's roommate (the one who decides to stick by him) was very touching.  I'm certainly glad I read this fascinating book and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE BY MICHAEL CONNELLY 3/5

The Wrong Side of Goodbye is exactly what it promises to be: an interesting detective story and murder mystery. It offers nothing more, but also nothing less. The writing is pretty good on overall. It is obvious that this is the kind of writer that pays attention to details. I suppose Connelly's experience as a crime reporter helped. Many aspects of the police and detective work described seem authentic and that helped novel seem more realistic. On the other hand, the novel lacked any ambiguity and complexity. Everything was a bit too predictable and PC for my taste.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye is a great book if you want to know who the good and the bad guys are at all times. Everything is very politically correct in this story, up to the point it is easy to see some things. There is no ambiguity here, no complex examinations of the human psyche, just a relatively interesting story. There aren't that many surprises but the story flows easily enough and keeps one's interest. No complains here. The book was exactly what I expected it to be.

This novel is another in a series featuring a detective Harry Bosch. Goodreads lets me know that it is number #19 in the series. Well, that's a big number. As the novel opens, Harry works both as reserve officer (part time kind of police work) and a PE. Harry was forced to retirement at some point in the earlier novels but he managed to find his place in another police station. The novel actually follows him working on two cases simultaneously. As PE Harry has to find whether an old billionaire has any heirs (the billionaire in question abandoned a pregnant girl as a teenager). At the same time, Harry is trying to capture a serial rapist with the police. I enjoyed getting to know Harry, even if there was very little complexity to him. However, I don't think I will read another book in the series soon. I will reach for this author again only if I feel the need for something super easy to read. Typically, I enjoy books that are a bit more difficult and complex. Still, it wasn't a bad read.

That would be all from me for today. If you want more book reviews, you can check out my old posts:

READING UPDATE: MURAKAMI, KUNDERA, SMITH AND PHILIP K. DICK

ROADSIDE PICNIC BY BORIS AND ARKADY STRUGATSKY

VIRGINIA WOOLF: A BOOK OF ONE'S OWN

A RIVER SUTRA BY GITA MEHTA

NORTH AMERICAN NOVELS WORTH READING

AN UNCONVENTIONALLY ROMANTIC READING LIST

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, A NOVEL BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL

PERSONAL AND READING UPDATE IN TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

READING UPDATE: SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, MILAN KUNDERA AND STENDHAL

READING UPDATE: HUMAN ACTS AND HOGFATHER

ETC....

blazer: second hand, turtleneck: terranova, skirt: old + diy patches, statement tights: old, heels: peko

As always, thank you for reading and visiting. Have a lovely day!