Books
17 Apr '14 01:48(As the previous thread has been closed for some arcane reason).
Review:
Memory of a Salt-Shaker by Bernard M. Cox
I found this on my Kindle iPad app, not being quite certain how I had acquired it: perhaps as a free promotional copy in some late-night book-downloading spree, or maybe I saw it reviewed in a newspaper or blog and took a punt.
It details, in a clipped and spare manner, the progressive mental and physical disintegration of Bert, a thirtysomething American lawyer whose wife, a teacher, has been murdered in a heartbreakingly senseless attack by two young pupils at her school, angry at the confiscation of an iPhone. The author delivers an effective, economical portrayal of the numb shock of bereavement, and the submerging of the psyche that may afflict the bereaved. Bert's only physical connection with his dead wife is a workaday object, a salt-shaker that she took from a diner on their honeymoon. Tasting the salt somehow allows him to access memories of their life together (yet from her point of view, not his). However unlikely this is, I found it didn't matter too much in the context of the story.
Not being an American (let alone a New Yorker) or overly familiar currently with American culture and speech, I wasn't able to fill in the sounds, sights and smells mostly absent from the prose (which is, I guess deliberate), I still found the story affecting and a little moving, yet not uncomfortably so. Overall, I found it quite a tasteful and understated piece, like something that unexpectedly draw you in from your routine, read in a short timeslot on Radio 4 (or NPR) late one evening. I was surprised in the end by how much I liked it, as I considered giving up a couple of times, despite it being very short. Although the tone is one of sadness, I don't feel that the book is likely to cause feelings of depression, and ends on a positive (yet still understated note). Recommended.
If you're on Goodreads you'll find my review there, too. Feel free to look me up and be my friend/follow my reviews.
Review:
Memory of a Salt-Shaker by Bernard M. Cox
I found this on my Kindle iPad app, not being quite certain how I had acquired it: perhaps as a free promotional copy in some late-night book-downloading spree, or maybe I saw it reviewed in a newspaper or blog and took a punt.
It details, in a clipped and spare manner, the progressive mental and physical disintegration of Bert, a thirtysomething American lawyer whose wife, a teacher, has been murdered in a heartbreakingly senseless attack by two young pupils at her school, angry at the confiscation of an iPhone. The author delivers an effective, economical portrayal of the numb shock of bereavement, and the submerging of the psyche that may afflict the bereaved. Bert's only physical connection with his dead wife is a workaday object, a salt-shaker that she took from a diner on their honeymoon. Tasting the salt somehow allows him to access memories of their life together (yet from her point of view, not his). However unlikely this is, I found it didn't matter too much in the context of the story.
Not being an American (let alone a New Yorker) or overly familiar currently with American culture and speech, I wasn't able to fill in the sounds, sights and smells mostly absent from the prose (which is, I guess deliberate), I still found the story affecting and a little moving, yet not uncomfortably so. Overall, I found it quite a tasteful and understated piece, like something that unexpectedly draw you in from your routine, read in a short timeslot on Radio 4 (or NPR) late one evening. I was surprised in the end by how much I liked it, as I considered giving up a couple of times, despite it being very short. Although the tone is one of sadness, I don't feel that the book is likely to cause feelings of depression, and ends on a positive (yet still understated note). Recommended.
If you're on Goodreads you'll find my review there, too. Feel free to look me up and be my friend/follow my reviews.
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