General Fiction Book Reviews
The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce
Atria Books, June, 2003Hardcover, 294 pages
ISBN: 0743463420
Ordering information:
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The Facts of Life does not disappoint the reader;
It leaves few parts of life unexplored. The story follows
the adventures of a young boy who is born into
a working class world in the midlands of England
after the end of World War II. The tale is brutal yet
kind as it allows this young boy to see all that is to
be seen of life. The midlands and especially the
town of Coventry had been the target of Hitler's
Luftwaffe. It was bombed mercilessly, probably
because of the existence of a munitions factory.
The political and social climate of postwar England
and the attitudes and problems of ordinary people
all surround and influence the growing boy.
Frank's existence is due to another of his mentally unstable mother's "lapses." When she made her first mistake, the family found an adoptive family for the child. But when the prospective adoptive mother of Cassie's second "lapse" approached her, Cassie ran home with her little son still in her arms. The family, under the leadership of Martha, the undisputed matriarch, decided to keep the boy and trade out the responsibilities for his care among themselves.
Young Frank is exposed to all the experiences to which a family can expose a child. As Frank lives with the family of each aunt he is exposed to the birth of twins, the sexual exploits of would-be intellectuals living in a colony in Oxford, as well as the details of embalming the dead in which he assists his aunt and uncle. All is seen through the explicit and nonjudgmental eyes of youth which accepts, but does not yet judge.
Is the Vine family so very different from most families? If all the truths were told, perhaps not. At least the reader will find characters beautifully drawn not only through descriptions, but through their actions and reactions as they move toward molding England into what it became in the second half of the twentieth century.
As for Frank Vines, that child that all of the Vine family felt was so special, readers of The Facts of Life would like to see what he turns out to be, after so unconventional a start in life. In the tradition of English writers, Graham Joyce has introduced us to a family of unforgettable people who do their best to make life livable. He lets us see how the eccentric and the unusual can come close to the spiritual as people work out the problems in their lives the best way they can.
--Sarah Reaves White
Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith
Atria Books, June, 2003Hardcover, 337 pages
ISBN: 0743464826
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Rarely does one come across a book that in which
each chapter is complete enjoyment and fascination.
Chasing Shakespeare is a feast set before the reader.
It serves up an almost unending amount
of little known, but up to date, details about that elusive
period that produced Shakespeare and the King James
version of the Bible. There are many mysteries about
Shakespeare, and yet his sparsely documented life
continues to fascinate us. After 400 years, his phrases
still thunder and delight, for no collection of literature
in English has been so incisive in its wisdom of humanity
or so knowledgeable in the details of life. The plays,
poems and sonnets of Shakespeare are beloved, not
only by those who speak English, but also by those
who speak German and Dutch.
Chasing Shakespeare follows two graduate students, specialists in Shakespeare, who are experiencing that culminating problem of graduate school life: finding a really good subject for the dissertation, a subject that will make a career. Never has the search for a subject of a dissertation been as fascinating as the search that Joe Roper, son of a Vermont hardware store owner, and Posy Gould, very rich and very hip, begin. Joe Roper has learned of the fascination of literary scholarship from a beloved professor. Posy Gould is simply looking to make a name for herself in the academic world. While cataloguing a collection of letters, Joe finds a suspicious letter in an archival envelope that purports to be a confession signed by Shakespeare that the Earl of Oxford had written the works attributed to him. Joe Roper believes that the letter is a forgery, but Posy Gould is sure that it is real. Together they travel to London to find out the truth.
Not only is Chasing Shakespeare full of fascinating facts, but the two main characters are very engaging. The author brings Posy Gould to life. Every statement Posy makes ends with a question mark. The reader can delight in the hilariously avant garde outfits she wears, as well as in her hip speech. Joe Roper, the relentless researcher, is as solid and sincere as Posy is impulsive and emotional.
Sarah Smith has written a thoroughly enjoyable mystery that will carry the reader through the many paths that must be followed in the search for truth. She has done a masterful job of showing why literary research can be endlessly fascinating, and how it can lead where one does not necessarily want to go.
--Sarah Reaves White
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