Currently reading
Roman Blood
Progress:
171/401 pages
Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child
Progress:
208/557 pages
Avant-gardes du XXe siècle: arts & littérature, 1905-1930
Caesar's Commentaries: On the Gallic War and On the Civil War
Les bûchers de Bocanegra
The Songs of the Kings
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories: Volumes I and II
The Hobbit
The Closed Circle
This is the follow up to The Rotter's Club which I liked a lot. This one is more of a "where are they now?" The narrative starts in 1999 and ends where the first book ended. In between we follow and find out what happpened to the gang. Claire and her search for her gone long ago sister Miriam. Claire who married Philip, divorced him, ran to Italy and is worried she wasn't a good mother to their son Patrick. Philip remarried, made a comfortable life for himself. Small time journalist he's going about his life slowly. Doug, the fearless leader in their teenage years married well, is happy and makes a living as a reputable journalist. The book is focused on the Trotter brothers Benjamin and Paul. Benjamin who never published his book, is trapped in a cold mariage by his own making. Benjamin is still living in the past, waiting for Cicely to come back so he can start living again. And Paul he's living a charmed life or so it seems. The obnoxious little brother is a well to do politician in the Blair government. Both the brother's lives will be put inside out when they meet a young woman that for Benjamin will shook him out of his lethargy and for Paul will ultimately change his life forever. The author makes long requiems against neo liberal values, the hypocriscy of the free market economy. A bitter view of England under the Blair government and a certain nostalgia of the 70's. The political views of the author don't weight down the narrative at all. I could have gone without the numbering chapter going down instead of up. Like a countdown.
