Killing Me Softly

The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold

Little Brown & Company

Over the years, I've known a lot of people who have read and recommended this book. To be candid, I was suspicious of its seemingly universal appeal and thought of it in the same way that I would an Oprah's pick -- it might be good for the "masses", but surely I wouldn't find it interesting. It wasn't until my boss tossed it on my desk that I gave it any consideration at all. I am so glad I did.

The Lovely Bones opens with the teenage narrator, Susie Salmon, telling you that she has been murdered by Mr. Harvey -- her neighbour from down the street. As Susie watches her family from a curiously godless heaven, her loved ones slowly start to disintegrate and then regenerate themselves in a post-Susie world. While the subject matter is a tough (Susie is, after all, killed by a serial murderer who never gets caught), the novel is uplifting in the sense that each of the characters end up in a place that feels "right" to the reader. Don't get me wrong -- it's not all sweetness and light -- but it did feel real and maybe that's the appeal of the novel. Three very friendly ghosts out of five.

Wizards of Oz

A Fraction of the Whole
Steve Toltz
Anchor Canada

Sorry that I have been away from you guys for awhile. Once again, my personal life has gotten in the way and left me with very little time to write. I have, however, managed to read a line or two and if you count trashy romances, I've knocked back three books in the past two weeks! Um, yeah. I'm definitely not bragging.

So, let's talk about the subject of this week's entry -- Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole. I don't even know where to start -- this was one funny, if slightly acidic, book. The novel recounts the story of Jasper Dean, his misanthropic father Martin Dean, and his notoriously famous uncle, Terry Dean. This family definitely puts the "fun" in dysfunctional and parts of the novel had me snorting with laughter. Toltz's prose was also starkly beautiful at times, so much so that he moved me to tears. Think John Irving with a dash of Augusten Burroughs and a smidgen of Immanuel Kant. Yup -- it is that complex.

While I can totally appreciate why this novel was short-listed for the 2008 Booker, it boggles the mind that this is actually Toltz's debut work. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Four not-so-happy Schopenhauers out of five.

Just Friends

Strip Jack
Ian Rankin
Orion

Even though I've been crazy busy over the past few weeks, I managed to find some time to hook up with my old friend John Rebus. OMG ... it's so not what you're thinking. He's dating someone else at the moment (her name is Patience -- could that be more fitting?) and while I don't think they are going to last forever, she seems happy enough to put up with both his job and his lack of commitment. He doesn't seem any happier though. I wonder how long it will take for him to notice?

Anyway, even though it's against protocol, John also told me about the new case that he's working. It's an interesting one ... he and the team were doing a raid on a local brothel and someone tipped off the press. Not so unusual, except one of the patrons was a high-profile MP. As it turns out, the raid was only the beginning of the MP's trouble -- before the scandal could die down, his socialite wife turned up dead. John barely had time to talk to me -- he's heads down working all of his leads.

In fact, between the job and his new girl, I'm not sure when we will next meet. Maybe in a couple of months when things are a bit less zany for the two of us. We'll probably go to another restaurant though -- the location for this week's encounter only got three stars. The food was decent, but the place seemed a bit tired and formulaic.