CUCKOO IN THE NEST

MICHELLE MAGORIAN

THREE STARS

When I read this at fourteen I couldn't put it down; I was completely enthralled. Re-reading the book over a decade later and it's not the riveting read I remember, but there's certainly enough there to keep it interesting. Whilst the main plot of the novel is centered upon Ralph's aspirations for the theatre, there are a myriad of sub plots exploring family relationships, politics within the workplace, and the constraints associated with class. 

Far from being a novel revolving around one lead protagonist. the pages are packed with characters who each have their own struggles and their own challenge to piece together their lives after the war; each character brings a new dimension, and a more emotional element, to the tale.

For me, the amount of dialogue detracted from the overall flow of the story. Nonetheless, a sweeping, detailed novel that paints a striking picture of post war England, one that is carefully suited to the younger readers it is intended for.

THE GHOST WRITER

JOHN HARWOOD

Four Stars

Though I didn't find the initial plot between the novels protagonist, Gerard Freeman, and his mysterious pen-pal particularly compelling at first, it became progressively more intriguing, just as the ghost stories woven into the narrative became more complex. 

The novel is an intricate tapestry of story telling; the tales Harwood inserts into the novel could stand alone as ingenious gothic stories in their own right, whilst their seamless transition from seemingly irrelevant asides to integral pieces in the overall plot is masterfully, and effortlessly, achieved. The conclusion, whilst not exactly an anti-climax, did strike me as hurried, which was incongruous compared with the slow, deliberate pace of the rest of the novel. Whatever the conclusion though, the novels is really underpinned by Viola's tales, and it is their haunting words that linger with you regardless of the fate of Gerard Freeman.