"Ashenden" by W Somerset Maugham

Nigel: wanted to read W Somerset Maugham

Nigel explained how he had wanted to read something by W. Somerset Maugham for sometime despite knowing very little about him.  
He was very impressed by this book.  In addition to being beautifully written it has the ring of authenticity - Nigel felt that a lot of what Maugham relates is rooted in truth, and the vast majority in his own experience.

Nigel is intrigued by spying and World War 1.  A while back Robin chose the film adaptation of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", and like this book that film seemed to depict real spies (as opposed to the James Bond depiction) who lead unusual, solitary and interesting lives.  Never sure who they can trust and relying on their wits and intelligence to survive.

All the stories are good, and four of them really pack a punch (The Hairless Mexican, The Traitor, His Excellency, and Mr Harrington's Washing).  People die, people get hurt.  The story that has stayed with Nigel the longest is The Traitor - in particular the anguish of the Grantley Caypor's widow.

In His Excellency, Maugham uses a literary sleight of hand, Maugham - who was gay but in the closet during the events he is describing - is almost certainly speaking of himself.  Society in those days had clear expectations of sexual conduct - and that would have been an end to the matter.  Whilst I enjoyed this tale, it also dragged just a bit and is perhaps too conventional when compared with the other stories but the sentimentality also feels undeniably real.  

Keith: felt cheated

A minor masterpiece.  9/10.

Our Royal correspondent, Keith felt cheated by this book.  The preface promised a spy novel and yet the book is a collection of interrelated short stories rooted in Maugham’s own experiences as an agent, that reflect the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.  What a swizz.  

Keith wanted more, stating, "this is not a spy novel but a novel about spying".  4/10

Hamish was also "thrown by the preface" before going on to describe how the book was well written with well developed characters and great endings to each story.  

Ashenden is recruited by a Colonel known to him only as R., and sent on a variety of missions that include playing escort to an eccentric Mexican assassin, arranging for a traveling dancer to betray her revolutionary Indian lover, ascertaining whether an Englishman spying for Germany might be recruited as a double agent, attempting to prevent the Bolshevik revolution, and more. Sometimes he succeeds, frequently with bittersweet results, and sometimes he fails. Occasionally his objective or the outcome is not known to the reader, since Maugham is more interested in describing the people Ashenden meets than in the specifics of his efforts.  

Ultimately Hamish thought the book felt slight.  6/10

Nick: loves WW1 war poets

Nick explained how World War 1 is the era he likes best in fiction and evoked the splendour of the war poets with a faraway look in his eye.  He also took time out to recommend "The Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad.  

Nick "loved it".  Travel, romance, grubbiness - this book has it all.  Maugham’s writing is wonderful and the stories in Ashenden are excellent. Nick thought it was impossible to pick a favourite story, as each has indelible moments: “The Traitor” and “Giulia Lazzari” being unforgettable.

Maugham has a knack for creating vivid portraits of his characters while wasting not a single word.  Here’s an example from “A Chance Acquaintance”: 

Mr. Harrington was devoted to his wife and he told Ashenden at unbelievable length how cultivated and what a perfect mother she was. She had delicate health and had undergone a great number of operations, all of which he described in detail. He had had two operations himself, one of his tonsils and one to remove his appendix, and he took Ashenden day by day through his experiences. All his friends had had operations and his knowledge of surgery was encyclopedic. He had two sons, both at school, and he was seriously considering whether he would not be well-advised to have them operated on.

Nick concluded by picking up on Nigel's point about how Ashenden is the antithesis of James Bond by stating that the latest James Bond film "Skyfall" has quite a bit in common with Ashenden, and he wondered if Sam Mendes, the film's director, had read "Ashenden".  8/10

Tristan: witty, urbane and delightfully detached

Tristan enjoyed it.  It felt modern and evoked the era beautifully.  Tristan enjoyed the ferries, steam trains, numerous baths, and the wonderful characters. It seems, on the whole, espionage work a century ago was both, bureaucratic and boring, and then thrilling, macabre and absurd, with the emphasis being on the former, although the book emphasises the latter: Ashenden encounters a hairless Mexican, a dying English nanny to two Egyptian Princesses, any number of French farmer's wives carrying secret messages in their bosoms and an endlessly chattering American on the train to Petrograd with an interest in his own laundry bordering on the hysterical. 

Ashenden is witty, urbane and delightfully detached as he encounters unique, strange people with a wry, disinterested eye.  Tristan thought it amusing and dark, for example the grim tableau of an owner's dog howling as his widow realises why her husband hasn't been writing recently, whilst Ashenden strolls off impassively despite having got to know both of them and having contributed to his death. 

Was this the first spy novel?  It's certainly one of the best. 7/10.

Don: an impressive understanding of humanity

This was Don's first foray into the world of Maugham and it was a fine journey.  Don does not enjoy Spy novels and yet was won over by the beautifully crafted Ashenden character. Don immersed himself in the story and visualised the characters and the environment. One minute he was on a ferry journey, the next collecting flowers in the Alps., and then eating scrambled eggs with a Russian woman called Anastacia Alexandrovna. Marvellous, lucid, elegant, and it displayed an impressive understanding of humanity. Don was also fascinated to get an idea of what Maugham's experiences as an intelligence offer entailed.

Mr Harrington was remarkable. An amalgam of several real life characters, and a man who met his his demise in an entirley believable way. 

8/10 (and not to be consigned to the compost heap).

If Robin was a spy he'd be Ashenden. Forget James Bond with his car chases, dolly birds, gadgets, Martinis, and explosions, and instead embrace the romance of Edwardian travel, exotic encounters with Russian ‘foxes’ and a stiff upper lip measured with enviable tolerance and old school values. 

The book conjures up sufficient intrigue to keep it compelling and evocative.  Robin especially enjoyed the train journey from Vladivostock to Petrograd and the threats from revolutionaries.  Would the British Government ever think they could halt the Russian revolution with one man and a sack for of cash?  The book was romantic without being sentimental.
One of the best sections was the ambassador recounting his flight of fancy with the woman from the circus.

An excellent choice and I will read more Maugham. 8/10

Hove Book Group awards this book an average score of 7/10.  

"Diamond Dogs" by David Bowie

With supreme serendipity we also discussed the merits of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" album.  

The discussion took place on 8th January 2012, not only was this Mr Bowie's 66th birthday, he also chose to surprise the world with the release of a new single and the announcement of a new album.

Thanks David Bowie - and Happy Birthday.

Nigel explained how this was one of the first albums he ever owned.  An old friend and an old friend that even today never fails to remind him of the excitement he felt when he first heard it as a 14 year old who had very little else to compare it with.  The opening howl of 'Future Legend' before the monologue is probably the greatest opening of any album he can think of...

And in the death, as the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy thoroughfare, the shutters lifted in inches in Temperance Building high on Poacher's Hill, and red, mutant eyes gaze down on Hunger City. No more big wheels....fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats, and ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes, coveting the highest of the sterile skyscrapers, like packs of dogs assaulting the glass fronts of Love-Me Avenue, ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox, now legwarmers, family badge of sapphire and cracked emerald, any day now...the Year of the Diamond Dogs...."This ain't Rock'n'Roll....This is Genocide!" .....before that glorious riff.  

Just as the listener is settling in for the superior glam musical presaged by the title track, then comes Sweet Thing/Candidate which ups the ante even higher.  Nigel was entranced by this this song as a teenager. An ambitious, epic pop tune - music and lyrics coming together to create something magnificent.  Nigel could wax lyrical about every lyric, perhaps "I'm glad that you're older than me, Makes me feel important and free" or maybe "there's a shop on the corner that's selling papier mache, Making bullet-proof faces; Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay", it's all wonderful - one of his best songs, and the album's key track.

Just one year after Diamond Dogs was released came the "plastic soul" of 'Young Americans. Both "Rock 'n' Roll With Me" and the Shaft-inspired wah-wah guitar style of "1984" signpost this new direction.  This further extends the musical variety and adds to the album's splendour.  And of course Diamond Dogs also anticipates punk rock - Bowie himself describing the Diamond Dogs of the title song as "little Johnny Rottens and Sid Viciouses".

Nick also "loved it".  Hamish found it hard to go back and evaluate whole albums having been that bit too young to have embraced it first time round.  Tristan felt it was not quite up there with the other stuff.  Keith put the whole thing into context by detailing the top albums of 1974.  Fascinating stuff.

Basically it's got the lot.  Keep cool Diamond Dogs rule.  

And so ended another wonderful gathering of the Hove Book Group - we'll be back next month for cultural discourse, beer and crisps.  Happy New Year.

Hove Book Group - 2012 End Of Year Review

On the evening of 12 December 2012 Hove Book Group celebrated another wonderful year of bonhomie and cultural discourse with a meal at Leonardo restaurant.

The hardest working book group in Hove kick back for a well deserved celebration and a review of all things 2012.

In amongst the back slapping, red wine and Peroni, was the HBG review of 2012....

This is what we read this year:

• "Room" by Emma Donoghue
• "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce
• "The Kingdom Of God Is Within You" by Leo Tolstoy
• "The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories" by Leo Tolstoy
• "Snowdrops" by AD Miller
• "Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton
• "Blindness" by José Saramago
• "Sum" by David Eagleman
• "Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle
• "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
• "Remainder" by Tom McCarthy

We commissioned Gallup to run a rigorous poll, and once the golden envelope was opened, our special guest Ian Lavender revealed that - collectively - our most loved book of 2012 was "Blindness" by José Saramago. Congratulations to José Saramago (who sadly could not be present to receive the accolade).  The full results were:

1. Blindness
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3. Hangover Square
4. Room
5. Sum
6. Remainder
7. Planet of the Apes
8. Ivan Ilyich
9. Snowdrops
10. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Our favourite film was:

• "The Guard"

Our favourite music was :

• Simple Minds "Early Gold", and nigeyb's imagined soundtrack to Hangover Square

Favourite book group moments included the debate about "Room" which almost resulted in a fight; Robin's scathing dismissal of Seven Samurai; Robin choosing to read and review a different book; this blog; and, most recently, Pannier-gate (see below).

We also enjoyed a more general review of 2012 that variously embraced the following landmark public and personal events:

• Pannier-gate - the mystery of who dumped their copy of "Remainder" into Robin's pannier was solved
• The Olympics - very enjoyable
• The extent to which Operation Yewtree is just a police officer throwing darts at a 1978 Look In annual
• Keith's memorable rant about the royal family
• The End Of The Road festival
• This blog
• Jimmy Savile (boo)
• The lack of a public uprising against the Government
• New schools
• The Three Peaks - and the possibility of a 24 hour walk on the Downs

And so ends another year of Hove Book Group camaraderie.  

Merry Xmas and a happy new year.

"Remainder" by Tom McCarthy

The Hove Book Group gathered together on Thursday 22nd November 2012 to discuss Keith's choices.

First up was "Remainder" by Tom McCarthy.

"Why Keith?  Why?"

Keith replied that he wanted something modern, new and unknown, and that's what he got from this book.  Original, intriguing, intense, and humorous.

Tom McCarthy couldn’t get Remainder published in the UK at first. He eventually sold it to a French house who marketed it through art galleries rather than bookstores. It proved a critical hit and so was then picked up for a more traditional UK release.

Keith thought it was "an excellent book" and lavished it with an excellent 9/10.

As Keith is a fan of alternative scoring systems, Hamish emailed through a different approach for his review.  Using Kurt Vonnegut's eight rules for story writing he had this to say:

Hamish: alternative scoring system 

Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted: Was Hamish's time wasted?  The novel was certainly readable enough, dramatic action took place, the story progressed and Hamish kept turning pages.  It wasn’t hard work.  Sadly Hamish felt little emotional attachment to the novel though. Half a Vonnegut

Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for: The narrator totally dominated the book.  None of the other characters were developed enough.  The narrator suffered some mental illness or was just self obsessed and didn’t care.  Either way, Hamish found him vaguely irritating and difficult to relate to.  No Vonneguts 

Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water:  The narrator wanted to be real.  Naz initially wanted money but, as the book went on, wanted to feed his addiction to making things run like clockwork.  The other characters presumably just wanted money.  So they did all want something.  But Hamish gave no points because both the narrator and Naz’s desires seemed contrived and plain daft.  No Vonneguts

Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action: Hamish felt that no sentences revealed character.  The action was regularly and dramatically advanced however, although to what end?  Half a Vonnegut

Start as close to the end as possible: The narrator started with the accident and ended with the last re-enactment.  We learned nothing superfluous about his earlier life.  There were no offshoots from the plot, cameo appearances or flowery Rushdiesque descriptions of nearby vegetation.  It was succinct and to the point.  Whatever the point might have been.  One Vonnegut

A sadist

Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of:  Sadly nothing awful happened to the narrator.  No Vonneguts

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia: Mr McCarthy cannot possibly have written this hoping to make love to the world surely?  The self obsession suggests he wrote it just for himself.  Which is of course how it should be and Hamish scored it  One Vonnegut

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages: The opening page telling us of some awful accident, but the book then actively refuses to give further details.  Early hopes were that things would be explained, it became increasingly evident that they would not.  The narrator/McCarthy actually took some pleasure in not explaining things.  Tom McCarthy utterly failed to make his story similarly believable.  No Vonneguts

So overall, Hamish awarded a grand total of 3 Vonneguts out of a potential 8.  In summary, "a fairly readable pile of complete old tosh".  Tristan converted the "Vonneguts" into the traditional HBG scoring system to reveal a dismissive 4/10.

Nick - used to live in Brixton

Nick, as an ex-Brixton resident, enjoyed the book's Brixton setting.  It was a way in for him.  Alas, after getting in the book never took off.  Too many reconstructions and re-enactments.  Remainder is a novel of ideas. It was clear to Nick that to have any chance of understanding what this book might be about he'd have to pay attention more to the themes than to the events: repetition; the barrier of consciousness from direct experience; the intransigency of matter.  Alas, this approach merely resulted in Nick concluding that this book was Iain Banks-lite.  5/10

Don, quickly got into the book, so much so that he was buoyed.  It was a page turner.  Akin to Blindness.  Don loved the cats...part of the re-enactment of the building and old apartment includes the view from it of a sloping tiled roof on which cats would lie in the sun. This part doesn’t work out so well as the cats placed on the roof keep falling off it and dying. The cats were not enough for Don though.  He demands more than dead cats from his reading, and - as he read on - the book's lack of characters started to annoy, and - at the conclusion of the book - he felt it was only worthy of 6/10.

A cat

Nigel, whilst a fan of Kurt Vonnegut, was not convinced by all of his rules (See Hamish's review above).  Nigel enjoyed the way the book allowed the reader to fill in the blanks.  Nigel was not really sure what it was all about, however he found it beguiling and it sparked off many thoughts and ideas around memory, feelings, experience, time, and life.  

As the book's mysterious councillor reminds the reader towards the book's conclusion: "No less than one hundred and twenty actors have been used. Five hundred and eleven props — tyres, signs, tins, tools, all in working condition — have been assembled and deployed. And that’s just for the tyre shop scene. The number of people who have been employed in some capacity or other over the course of all five re-enactments is closer to one thousand.” He paused again and let the figure sink in, then continued: "All these actions, into which so much energy has been invested, so many man-hours, so much money — all, taken as a whole, confront us with the question: for what purpose?"  For what purpose indeed?  8/10

Tristan

Tristan found the book irritating.  Was it meant to be irritating?  Where was the cleverness?  Tristan felt that the only cleverness was in the madness of the narrator.  Where was the humour?  To what extent is the narrator trustworthy? Is he awake? Was the book a dream? At one dizzying juncture the narrator admits that a conversation he just described didn’t actually happen. Later the narrator is dogged by a smell of cordite. Nobody else can smell it except for one man.  We can’t trust the narrator.  Who can we trust?  4/10

Robin explained he didn't like the book.  Robin recently went to an exhibition in London. By chance he got talking to one of the curators of the exhibition - a sculptor. Robin mentioned that he was reading Remainder. Was sculpture a theme?  The cutting away of stuff until what remains is revealed? Michelangelo spoke of the statue being inside the block of marble already. Cut away the excess material and the statue will be revealed. 3/10

Robin - chance encounter with a sculptor

So, in summary, a book that inspired a mixed set of reactions, and a great discussion.  The average score from Hove's finest - 6/10.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Keith & Nick

With his second choice, Keith wanted to push his own boundaries, and having obsessively perused numerous obituaries he was inspired to find out more about Chris Marker (RIP), and specifically La Jetée (The Pier, 1962).  It's a c30-minute post-third world war story, made up entirely of stills, except for one brief moving shot of a woman opening her eyes. This futuristic photo-novel film was semi-remade by Terry Gilliam as 12 Monkeys in 1995.

Keith felt that La Jetée abstracts cinema almost to its essence in bringing to life the story of a post-apocalyptic man obsessed with an image from his past.  "A little wonder" with fantastic style and excellent images.  Those images endured for Keith.  8/10

Hamish thought that for a short slideshow of photos backed by sounds and narration, this was highly effective.  It reminded him of Godspeed You Black Emperor for some reason.  Hamish enjoyed it.  Five Godspeeds out of a possible seven.  Tristan converted this into a score of 7/10.

Good news for Don

Nick watched the film in French, despite not speaking the language.  When questioned, he was a bit vague on the plot.  He still loved it though.  8/10

Don watched a different film by Chris Marker - San Soleil.  The good news for Don was that the film featured some cats.  Cats and owls were Marker's favourite animals and were a central theme of Sans Soleil.  Don explained that San Soleil also focuses on the weird and the titillating (taxidermied animals in sex poses, an animatronic JFK in a shopping mall).  Marker explains what he sees with the curiosity and empathy of an anthropologist.  San Soleil also has an uneasy relationship with truth.  Don explained that it undermines itself at every opportunity. What is stock footage and what is original? Are scenes separated by geography also separated by years?  Don was unsure.
7/10.

Robin - shocked

Nigel explained the reasons for his high tolerance for art cinema.  These included a woman called Lemmy, carrot cake, coffee in polystyrene cups, and The Electric Cinema in Notting Hill Gate.  Nigel liked the photography and the film's dream-like quality.  7/10

Tristan marvelled at how the still images traced one man's attempt to reclaim an image from his past, and in particular, the poetic, provocative meld of global catastrophe and human frailty.  Why isn't there more of this stuff?  8/10

Robin was also enthused, so much so that he watched both the French version and the English version.  Robin was shocked by the moment the woman blinked - the only moving image in the film. 7/10.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain

Don - master of accents

The Hove Book Group met on Tuesday 16th October at The Poets Corner pub in Hove.  We discussed Don's choices, the first of which was "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

Don explained that he had chosen the book due to "The Twain Factor".  Lest we forget it was Mark Twain who said, "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter".  A quote dear to Don's heart.

Don admitted that he struggled with the accents.  Despite this he managed to uncannily evoke Jim, the slave character, as he read out one of Jim's early quotes.

Don described the book as tortuous however added that it improved as he progressed.

Ultimately he awarded the book 7/10 and stated he was glad to have read it.

Nick "came to resent the book"

Nick read the book on his iPhone.  For Nick, reading on an iPhone is sometimes a fluid and unconscious experience, on other occasions (e.g. whilst reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), he was tempted to skip chunks of the book's 1,200 pages.

Nick, as a self-confessed early 21st century English liberal, struggled with the repeated use of the word "nigger".

Just as Huckleberry Finn resented his father, so Nick came to resent this book.  Nick finally awarded it a reluctant and resentful 5/10.

Nigel was unsure how he'd managed to have lived on the planet for fifty years without reading anything by Mark Twain.  He thanked Don, before explaining that he didn't even know what it was about - all he knew was that it is regarded by many as an American classic.

Nigel - he's 50

It took Nigel a while to get into the vernacular style.  The writing style grated in parts and was especially hard to follow when Jim, the slave, was talking, that said Nigel also thought that the style made the book feel very contemporary - far more than any other 19th century novel he'd read.  Ultimately Huckleberry Finn's world was made wonderfully vivid through his seemingly authentic first person voice.

Nigel concluded that it's an enjoyable, if rather long, adventure with as many twists and turns as the Mississippi River that features so extensively.  The plot appeared to be a vehicle for Twain to highlight issues around freedom and slavery.  Huckleberry Finn is held captive by his abusive father and, quite understandably, wants to escape to freedom.  Jim the slave faces far more serious issues when he tries to escape.  Nigel doesn't fully understand its status as a classic. Perhaps, the long journey is part of the appeal, perhaps it has greater resonance for Americans who are closer to the Civil Rights struggles of their country? 6/10

Keith had low expectations.  He liked Tom's alternate take on reality.  Twain complicates Tom’s position on the border between childhood and adulthood by ridiculing and criticising the values and practices of the adult world toward which Tom is heading. Twain’s harshest satire exposes the hypocrisy - and often the essential childishness - of social institutions such as school, church, and the law, as well as public opinion. 

Keith discussed how the tale is told from the first person point of view of an only-partly-educated thirteen-year-old southern boy in the 1830s. As narrator, Huck describes the story in his natural, everyday voice, and he addresses his readers directly during his storytelling with a friendly, trusting attitude. Taking that into consideration – along with Huck’s age, education level, and social background – Twain’s choice of a colloquial style made sense to Keith.  Despite this, he felt the book was only worthy of 5/10. 

Robin - read a different book

Robin didn't finish the book as he was reading Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum.  Consequently Robin was only halfway through "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".  Robin explained that it is hardly surprising that Ruby Lennox, the narrator of Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum, should, aged 17, fantasise about her own funeral - the open coffin strewn with flowers, a church filled not just with friends and family but also "an admiring Leonard Cohen and a soulful Terence Stamp", and with Maria Callas singing. It is 1968. For the novel, which is her story of her family, has more deaths than even Dickens would have dared include. "As a family, we are genetically disposed towards having accidents"  stated Ruby the all-seeing narrator. 

Robin gave the book 7/10.

Hamish wondered how, given Don's penchant for classic adventure yarns, he hadn't chosen this book earlier. Hamish, reading it for the second time, described the book as a great action story that captures the excitement of childhood.  The language is great.  Huck is a brilliant character, who we see wrestling with his conscience.  The book is about complete freedom.  Despite a rushed ending, Hamish was unapologetic for his 9.5/10 rating.

Tristan confessed he was swayed by Hamish's articulate enthusiasm for the book and despite "quite liking it" he upped his score from 5 to 6/10.  Tristan also described how the book evoked a period of US history where steamboats, rafts, settlements, river transportation, slavery, lawlessness, and abuse were everyday occurrences.  That said, Tristan felt the racism and slavery marred the book - even though Twain was clearly a progressive thinker who helped abolish slavery.

Average rating of 6.5/10

And on that note, we moved on to Don's second choice, the film "Seven Samurai" directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Don - Gangnam style

Don described it as a classic, and a great film.  Don wondered if it was completely true to notions of Bushido -  literally "the way of the warrior" - a Japanese word for the way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. The Japanese understanding of the word is predicated on the samurai moral code stressing frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honour unto death. Born from Neo-Confucianism during times of peace in Tokugawa Japan and following Confucian texts, Bushido was also influenced by Shinto and Zen Buddhism, allowing the violent existence of the samurai to be tempered by wisdom and serenity. Despite these concerns Don still felt comfortable to lavish the film with a score of 7/10.

Hove Book Group ponder the merits of Seven Samurai

Nick praised the film and described how he was transfixed and shell-shocked by the way the finale's images had catapulted him into the rain-drenched violence.  He described the film as "remarkable" and awarded it with a 8/10.

Nigel stated that, as with the book, it was wonderful to finally watch a film that is often cited as one of the greatest films of all time.  Whilst it is a good film, Nigel didn't think the years had been that kind.  He could think of plenty of films from the same era, that he regards as better films, for example, from the same year, On The Waterfront is a better film, and other films from the same decade that he prefers include Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, A Touch Of Evil, and The Wild One.  Nigel reflected on how some of the action sequences, which are the best part of the film, are now staples of mainstream action filmmaking and this probably accounts for the film's stellar reputation.  The Seven Samurai inspired The Magnificent Seven which ultimately led to the “spaghetti Westerns” of Sergio Leone and others - which Nigel adores. And whilst Seven Samurai is clearly a lot more than just an action film - Nigel found too much of it a bit slow moving.  The themes of sacrifice, friendship, and camaraderie were not enough.  Nigel concluded that he was glad to have seen it but it's more about the great films it's influenced.  Nigel acknowledged that perhaps the cinema is the place to watch it, before rating it 6/10.

Keith was surprised by how much he liked Seven Samurai - a blockbuster in every sense, and a period film conceived on an epic scale, pitting the wise, zen-like leader against the wildcat intensity of the son-of-a-farmer samurai. Along with the five other swords-for-hire what follows is pure cinematic dynamite. Keith had no hesitation in awarding it 7 out of 7.  Magnificent.

Robin stopped the Seven Samurai love-in right in its tracks.  "An abomination" he declared, and a film that "looked like it was made in 1910".  The Magnificent Seven is a much better film as far as Robin is concerned. 2/10.

Hamish said he agreed with Robin and "switched off after an hour".  3/10.

Tristan thought there was some good cinematography, a lot of over acting and some below par sword fighting.  5/10

Average rating of 5.5/10

And so, with Hove Book Group coming to some very disparate conclusions about Seven Samurai, we bade each other farewell and wandered into the cool night air.  

See you again next time.

"Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle

Hove Book Group came together, once again, on the evening of Thursday 6th September 2012 at The Poets Corner pub.

We discussed Robin's choices.  The first book under discussion was "Sum" by David Eagleman.

Robin had heard about the book whilst enjoying an arts programme on his radiogram.  He was attracted to it because it was short and interesting.  Like so many of the best things in life.  Robin was keen to understand which of the group were believers in the afterlife (sadly none of us).   Robin felt that, in terms of the afterlife, most of the world’s major religions have fairly prosaic stuff on offer. Only occasionally will a cosmology be really colourful, as it is in Greek mythology, where some interesting eschatological options are available. In terms of this book Robin felt that after a while the stories - whilst enjoyable and provocative - started to merge into one. 7.5/10

Nigel explained that it was the second time he'd read this book.  The first time was just after it was published.  The short stories that comprise the book are clever, occasionally funny, and generally thought provoking.  Those stories that offer life lessons, and ideas about enjoying a fulfilling life, were the ones he enjoyed the most.  Nigel confessed that towards the end of the book the cleverness started to pall, and the stories started to merge together.  Ultimately it's enjoyable and interesting but not quite as wonderful as many of the reviews suggest.  7/10

Don... didn't read it.

Keith was impressed by how the book attempted to do something different with complex issues.  "We are our interactions with other people" resonated.  Speculating about who, if anyone, created us and what lies ahead of us can be intellectually engaging and entertaining too.    Another example that delighted Keith: “There are three deaths,” Eagleman writes. “The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.” In this scheme, when we die, we go to a cosmic waiting room where we mark time until our name is never again mentioned. The famous are trapped here, of course, for a very long time; they wish for obscurity, but it may take an eternity to arrive. 7/10

Tristan was also coming to the book for a second time.  Quirky and original, was his pithy summary.  Although Tristan did not actually say this, Sum invites comparison with two great books, which offer visions of the limitations and unbounded possibilities of imagination: Michael Frayn’s satire Sweet Dreams, a bourgeois liberal vision of heaven, and Italo Calvino’s fantastical gazetteer, Invisible Cities. 7/10

Nick enjoyed reading a book on the afterlife that was neither by a Dawkinsesque staunch atheist, or a person with strong religious convictions.  "How does anyone believe in only one story?" queried Nick.  By combining scientific knowledge with creativity and an inventive imagination, Eagleman has written a book worthy of a massive 9/10.

A very respectable average rating of 7.5/10

After a pause for some refreshments, we pressed on with Robin's second choice: "Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle...

Unexpectedly Robin confessed that he was expecting the book to be "complete trash".  His main motivation for selecting the book had been his passion for saving animals around the world.  Most days Robin is involved in cutting free and caring for dancing bears in India; rescuing primates from animal traffickers in Indonesia; and treating stray dogs and cats in developing countries.  

Planet of the Apes begins with Jinn and Phyllis sailing across space in their small craft on holiday and eventually coming across a bottle drifting in the void -- a bottle that they get on board, only to discover a manuscript in it. It is the manuscript, an account by the journalist Ulysse Mérou, that makes up the bulk of the novel, though the book closes with Jinn and Phyllis again, after they have finished reading it.  Whilst flawed, Planet of the Apes is nevertheless an entertaining read. Boulle simplifies a few too many ideas in the book, but the action is good and the book entertains.  Robin "loved it".  8/10

Nigel

Nigel had high hopes having read some excellent science fiction from the 1960s - and having concluded it was something of a golden age for the genre.  Nigel also had fond, albeit hazy, memories of the Planet Of The Apes television series, and the original films, which he'd enjoyed as a child.

The first couple of chapters were very promising however by the end of the book Nigel had concluded this was, at best, a short story that had been stretched to a 200 page novel.  The basic idea is a good one, and the book highlights issues like slavery, animal experimentation, racism and closed-mindedness, but Pierre Boule labours these themes and the story.  After finishing the book Nigel discovered that Pierre Boulle was a Prisoner of War during World War 2, being held captive by the Japanese.  He wrote 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' based on his experiences.  Nigel wondered about the extent to which his wartime experiences might have informed Planet of the Apes. 6/10

Don

Don also recalled the popular seventies films starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell.  Don's edition included a pair of 3D glasses and this ensured his rating was automatically increased by one extra point.  Don decreed that it was a quick, fun read, with some poignant scenes where the intelligent human witnesses his fellow humans  subjected to degrading biological and mental experiments.  Don forgave the book its saggy middle and concluded by lavishing the Monkey Planet with 7/10.

Tristan

Tristan described the book as "cheesy shit" before condemning the tale to a sub-Asimov genre.  This book does not bear comparison with the titans of the 1960s - take a bow Michael Moorcock, Kurt Vonnegut and even (and whilst not to Tristan's taste) Philip K Dick.  To Tristan this book felt Victorian.  As a science fiction fan Tristan was disappointed, however - he was willing to concede - the book placed humankind under a lens and raised a few interesting issues.  Tristan then lambasted the idea that this monkey business was floating around in space in a bottle.  When did the narrator write out his account of the journey? Did he fly back into space to launch his bottle?  Tristan neither knew nor indeed cared.   5/10 (just).

Keith

Keith's opening gambit was that this book was "a neat little choice" going on to describe  it as "a decent yarn".  Keith felt the scientific detail was flimsy, often implausible and frequently illogical.  When someone suggested that the story was an allegory, Keith retorted that "it might be allegory but it was shit allegory".  That's you told Pierre Boulle. 5/10

Nick... didn't read it.

An average rating of 6.2/10

And so concluded another enjoyable gathering of Hove's premier book group.  Next time out we will be discussing "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

"Blindness" by José Saramago

We met on Thursday 19th July 2012, at the Poets Corner pub in Hove, to discuss Tristan's choices.  His book choice was "Blindness" by José Saramago.

Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. A city is hit by an epidemic of 'white blindness.'  The blindness spreads, sparing no one.  Authorities initially confine the blind to a vacant mental hospital secured by armed guards. 

Tristan hailed it as a parable of loss and disorientation, of man's worst appetities and hopeless weaknesses.  The book reminded him of a couple of previous choices: "The Road" and "Midnight's Children". He labelled the book good, clever, memorable and allegorical.  8.5/10

Don explained how he had hoovered up the book and immediately liked it. He was also reminded of "The Road", along with "Lord Of The Flies".  Saramago's style - pages of long sentences and dialogue without quotation marks - made for an easy read, although Don confessed to skipping a few paragraphs here and there. Don was very drawn to a scene when some of the book's characters shower in the rain. Don had done the same thing. He was less convinced by the conduct of the military, and the speed of a fire.  7.5/10

Robin

Robin thought the book had many fantastic moments, and that the shocking scenes in the asylum were the book's peak. He felt it was downhill from that moment and that the book was overlong. 6.5/10

Hamish was impressed by the rapid fire opening and had high hopes for the book but thought it was downhill all the way after the scenes in the asylum. Hamish also questioned the need for "a happy ending". 5.5/10

Keith put his cards straight on the table. "An outstanding book" he announced, before questioning the ability of the notetaker to capture all the salient points made by the Hove Book Group's esteemed reviewers.  He may have a point there.  This book ticked all Keith's boxes: great plot, philosophy, sex, violence, experimental writing style, and great characters.  Keith noted how the Doctor's wife had to constantly question how she should behave and react, and the prominence and significance of the character's homes. 10/10

Nigel acknowledged his debt to Tristan and the book group as it is unlikely he would have come across this book any other way.  Nigel enjoyed the unusual style: no quotation marks for dialogue, and the long stream-of-consciousness sentences which he also found easy to follow. For Nigel the book was very powerful and disturbing. The more disturbing scenes forming an intrinsic part of a tale that remind the reader of the fragility of civilisation.  Nigel was reminded how he should appreciate the wonder of the everyday - sanitation, drinking water, plenty of varied food, feeling secure - and, above all, the gift of sight. Nigel hailed the book as original, unusual, compelling, and memorable.  8/10

Nigel had also read the sequel to Blindness - Seeing - which he rated even more highly than Blindess. He urged anyone who had enjoyed Blindness to read Seeing.   

Nick enjoyed the mix of drama and the everyday. We enjoyed Nick's return to the group after an absence that felt like an eternity.  Welcome back Nick.  Nick described it as an uncanny novel about blindness, sight and the very essence of human nature and society.  

I think we are blind. Blind people who can see, but do not see.

Nick was transported into an alternate and terrifying universe. Saramago painted a vivid picture of society’s descent into anarchy. 7/10

Accepting his Nobel prize, Saramago, calling himself "the apprentice", and said: "The apprentice thought, 'we are blind', and he sat down and wrote Blindness to remind those who might read it that we pervert reason when we humiliate life, that human dignity is insulted every day by the powerful of our world, that the universal lie has replaced the plural truths, that man stopped respecting himself when he lost the respect due to his fellow-creatures."

Tristan felt that his film choice - A Town Called Panic - would provide some light relief after the dystopian world of Blindness.  He was right.  To one degree or another everyone got something out of the film.

Based on a Belgian TV show called Panique au Village, the film is by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, and is like a lo-fi Toy Story with the vibe of a live-action Terry Gilliam cartoon. The "plot" includes: accidentally ordering a million bricks from the internet; walls stolen by sea monsters; and Horse's piano lessons. A strange film to be sure.

Finally we discussed the "Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

This film inspired an interesting discussion.  Tristan was pleased to have found it.  Everyone agreed that there was plenty to learn and be inspired by.

From http://www.thelastlecture.com: On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged. Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.

And so ended another wonderful Hove Book Group gathering.  We all go our separate ways over the Summer and will reconvene in September.  Hasta la vista baby.

"Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton

Brighton hotel room @ Hangover Square exhibition,
University of Brighton Gallery, 5-27 May 2012

The Hove Book Group reconvened on Thursday 14th June 2012 at The Poets' Corner pub to discuss their very own Patrick Hamilton Festival.  Inspired by the Brighton Festival's events centred around the 50th anniversary of Patrick Hamilton's death, Nigel suggested the novel "Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton.  

There was a Hangover Square exhibition at University of Brighton Gallery that ran from 5th-27th May 2012. Keith, Tristan, Hamish and Nigel attended this exhibition.

Nigel Jones, Laura Wilson and Peter Guttridge
@ The Life and Work of Patrick Hamilton discussion,
Sallis Benney Theatre, University of Brighton, Sussex,
England on Friday 11th May 2012

Brighton Festival arranged a talk entitled "The Life and Work Of Patrick Hamilton" on Friday 11th May 2012 at the Sallis Benney Theatre, University of Brighton.  Nigel and Hamish attended this event.  The talk was chaired by Peter Guttridge, and the discussion explored Hamilton's life and work from his early stage thrillers Rope and Gaslight including, of course, Hangover Square (1941). The man on the left of the photo is Hamilton’s biographer Nigel Jones (Through a Glass Darkly) and the woman in the middle is crime novelist Laura Wilson (A Little Death, Dying Voices).  The event was produced by Sarah Hutchings and the Collected Works team.

Nigel had also provided an Imagined Soundtrack to the novel that predominantly featured music from the period when the book was written.

Hangover Square: nigeyb's imagined soundtrack by Nigeyb on Mixcloud

Nigel explained that he had wanted to read "Hangover Square" for sometime having developed a fascination with the English literature of the 1930s and 1940s.  Patrick Hamilton was a name that came up frequently in the context of key writers of the period.  His connection with Hove made Patrick Hamilton even more appealing.

"Hangover Square" was written at the peak of Patrick Hamilton's fame - which was by this time considerable.  Like all Patrick Hamilton's novels, the story is in part inspired by incidents from Patrick Hamilton's life.  Like the protagonist and narrator George Harvey Bone, Hamilton's life was becoming saturated in alcohol; and like Bone he too was obsessed by an unattainable woman, in Hamilton's case she was actress Geraldine Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald is the inspiration for Netta and in a sense could be Hamilton's revenge on her given the unflattering portrait ("She was completely, indeed sinisterly devoid of all those qualities which her face and body externally proclaimed her to have - pensiveness, grace, warmth, agility, beauty ... Her thoughts resembled those of a fish..").  In a nice touch, the film magazine in Netta's flat in the Hangover Square exhibition had a photo of  Geraldine Fitzgerald on the cover.

Geraldine Fitzgerald on the cover of Film Weekly
@ the Hangover Square exhibition,
University of Brighton Gallery, 5-27 May 2012

Where the book really succeeded for Nigel was in its evocation of London as war looms.  The book was written under the shadow of seemingly unstoppable advance of Germany and Nazism.  The novel searches for a human metaphor to express the sickness that Hamilton perceived in this period.  As a Marxist he identified the petty bourgeoisie from which Netta and Peter had sprung as the enemy.  Peter, and the stranger who comes down to Brighton with Netta and Peter, are both fascists.  The Hangover Square exhibition evoked a scene from the visit to Brighton really powerfully.  Whilst standing in a recreation of Bone's Brighton hotel room the participant listens to an extended section from this part of the novel.  Most powerfully, the part where Bone cannot sleep as he listens to Netta and the stranger talking before making love.  Torture for poor old Bone and the prelude to another schizophrenic episode where he resolves, again, to kill Netta and Peter.

Brighton hotel room @ the Hangover Square exhibition,
University of Brighton Gallery, 5-27 May 2012

The spectre of the forthcoming war, and discussions of fascism, and nods towards contemporary cinema (e.g going to the cinema to see a Tarzan film with Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan on the day Germany invade Poland) all added to the magic for Nigel, the book being full of such wonderful period detail.

Nigel really enjoys good quality London fiction (he's almost finished another classic London novel from the same period "London Belongs To Me" by Norman Collins) and declared that "Hangover Square" is "right up there with the best". As the back of his edition states "you can almost smell the gin".  By the end of the book Nigel felt he'd been in and out of a succession of smoky, shabby Earls Court boozers with George and his unsavoury companions.  Netta, the book's femme fatale, is a wonderful fictional creation - beguiling but also totally self-serving.

The perspectives from various different characters enriched Nigel's experience. Even a very minor character such as the young man Bone meets towards the end gives an illuminating and detached perspective of George and his companions.

Nigel found it a very moving book. The reader quickly realises that George has to forget Netta and move on. He knows it too. Yet he just can't escape her. A true lost soul. Nigel felt almost as happy as George after his successful round of golf in Brighton that gives him a glimpse of how life could be away from Netta and her boozy coterie.

It ends in the only way it could. All said, Nigel thought it was a masterpiece. 10/10

A burgeoning Patrick Hamilton collection

Nigel has subsequently read "Through A Glass Darkly" a biography of Patrick Hamilton by Nigel Jones; the Gorse Trilogy; and "The Slaves Of Solitude".  He stated there's more to follow.  He might even mention some of them here.

Keith described "Hangover Square" as "a good book" and "a very human tale".  He thought all the relationships were dependent on getting something from the other person.

For Keith, what made the book so extraordinary was the total authenticity of the characters. It doesn't deal in great universal truths, other than unfulfilled potential and unrequited love, but it does deal in the minutiae of ordinary everyday life, and does so brilliantly. Netta is a hateful villain, but also fully realised and her willing victim, the hapless George, is heartbreakingly credible.  7/10

Quote @ the Hangover Square exhibition,
University of Brighton Gallery, 5-27 May 2012

Tristan wished he hadn't been to the exhibition before finishing the book as he came across a spoiler that undermined his enjoyment of the book.

Tristan liked the natural style and really enjoyed reading about Brighton and London in the 1930s.  He was less enthralled by the protracted ending.  That said, Tristan saw Netta as an evil like Nazism itself, and that Bone's longing for her is actually a longing for freedom and peace, which she will never allow him. 

Tristan thought Hamilton's descriptions of Netta were brilliant, for example "resembled those of a fish - something seen floating in a tank, brooding, self-absorbed, frigid, moving… Netta Longdon thought of everything in a curiously dull, brutish way… She was completely, indeed sinisterly, devoid of all those qualities which her face and body externally proclaimed her to have - pensiveness, grace, warmth, agility, beauty." Alas, as Tristan observed, her thuggish brain is exalted, not by the pitiful George Bone, but the Mosley-ite Peter.  7/10

Brighton hotel room @ Hangover Square exhibition,
University of Brighton Gallery, 5-27 May 2012

Hamish was very enthusiastic and described the atmosphere of the book as "absolutely fantastic".  He thought there was "great detail in both the book and the exhibition".  

Hamish saw parallels between George's concessions and Chamberlain's policy of appeasement.  Despite the ever present homicidal tendencies exacerbated by George's illness the sympathy of the reader is always with George.  Hamish's sympathy was further underlined as it became clearer that Netta and Peter were closet fascists who are keen on Chamberlain's accommodation with Hitler.  At the novel's conclusion George finally kills them both on the day, in 1939, that Germany invades Poland.  Even the character's name - George - seemed to evoke England's patron saint.  A great observation and a lavish 8.5/10.

Robin texted a rating of 8/10.  The overall Hove Book Group rating was therefore also 8/10.

Nigel, Hamish, Tristan and Keith had all also watched a BBC4 adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's "Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky" trilogy on DVD.  Three interlinked stories centred around a pub in Euston.

In a world of smoky pubs and foggy lamplights, down-at-heel workers and forlorn lovers, the story focuses on The Midnight Bell, a bar off the Euston Road, and observes the impossibility of love between three protagonists. 

Bob, the pub’s barman, is infatuated with penniless prostitute Jenny, believing that he can rescue her through his rapidly diminishing savings. Barmaid Ella, while attracting the attentions of an older, wealthier man, casts lovelorn glances at her colleague. Meanwhile, Jenny, forced onto the streets through poverty, has little time for such niceties, as she casts her flirtatious eyes about in search of custom. This “spellbinding” (The Times) drama observes the struggles of ordinary lives lived close to the poverty line, and the torments and drives of unrequited love, ambition and disappointment. 

Keith declared it not his thing but OK.  Tristan thought it was a classic.  Hamish enjoyed it as did Nigel.  All agreed that it was a good compliment to "Hangover Square".  

And so another convivial evening drew to a close and Hove's finest drifted into the cool Summer's night.  

Next time out the Hove Book Group will be discussing "Blindness" by José Saramago.