Gary Raymond

Thanks to Netgalley and Parthian Books for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into." Those wise words by Jonathan Swift (I think) came to mind while reading this fabulous book by Gary Raymond. Taking a tour through the classic "Love Actually" on a scene by scene basis, critiquing the omnipresent misogyny, bigotry and other outright awfulness so evident in the film, I couldn't help but laugh out loud each time Gary pointed these occasions out. "Yes, that scene is really awful when you come to think of it!" "Oh, that was actually a hideous remark to make under those circumstances." But the truth is, it just won't change the warm fuzzy glow I feel when watching this film and I can't explain why. What it did do was leave me thinking whether there are any other films which Gary can tear to shreds in the same honest, intelligent and very amusing fashion. And can this book not be added in some way as an audio commentary duing the film?

I can recommend this book to anyone who feels the same about "Love Actually" as I do and doesn't mind being confronted with a hilariously honest alternative view.

#HowLoveActuallyRuinedChristmas #NetGalley… (más)

“Until the Russian turned up with his entourage, I was the only person at the funeral, and I had come two and a half thousand miles to be there” ….. so begins this captivating story. The reflection comes from the never-named narrator of this haunting story, an artist who hasn’t sold a painting for more than four years, is in debt and whose relationship with his girlfriend, Clare, has become increasingly fraught because of this. When he receives news from a solicitor in Larnaca that he is a named beneficiary in the will of his old art teacher, and one-time mentor, Francis Bentham and that a return flight has been booked and paid for so that he can attend the funeral, he is intrigued. He had lost touch with Francis ten years earlier, had no idea that he had moved to Cyprus and so the question of who had arranged and paid for this trip is a mystery. What he discovers soon after the funeral is that it was Illarion (or Illie as he prefers to be called) Prostakov, the wealthy Russian who had been Bentham’s benefactor. In exchange for a self-contained home and studio in the grounds of Illie’s secluded estate, Francis was expected paint the Russian’s recurring dream, attempting to capture its elusive meaning on canvas, and by doing so reveal something from Illie’s past which continues to haunt and elude him. Although he spends night after night attempting to do so, he never succeeds in satisfying Illie’s demands so, knowing of the link between the two artists, Illie is keen for the younger man to take Bentham’s place. With the prospect of being able to earn enough to settle his debts and maybe kick-start his creative abilities, the novel’s protagonist agrees.
The opening sentence of this novel immediately begins to set the scene for a story which is full of mystery from beginning to end, where nothing, and no one, is what it seems, and where anything which hints at offering an answer just leads to the uncovering of even more intrigue. Is Illie a Russian mobster or just a rich oligarch; are the other three people who live in the grounds of his estate really a father and his attractive teenage daughters? What is the mystery behind Illie’s obsession with his recurring dream? Why did Francis find it too elusive to be able to capture it on canvas? Will the narrator be any more successful? Will any of the inhabitants of the local towns of Paralimni and Ayia Napa be able to offer any clues? There is Lou, the young English girl working as a waitress, Tara who runs the local art gallery, her younger partner Furkan, owner of a bar, and the menacing, reptilian-like drug dealer Stelly, whom our protagonist is warned to avoid at all costs. All seem to have their own secrets.
Central to the story is the history of Cyprus, particularly in the aftermath of the 1974 Turkish invasion, when the permanent division of the island, by a physical boundary, led to the displacement of so many people and the continuing tensions between the Greeks and the Turks. It is an island whose geographical location has, over the centuries, brought influences from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, introducing a wonderful mix of cultures. However, it was this invasion which transformed the city of Famagusta from a vibrant, affluent tourist destination into a ghost-town, divided by a wall, abandoned and sealed-off by the Turks. The narrator hears rumours about this city, some of which suggest that the Russian mafia use it as a hide out. However, a key to his search for the truth becomes centred on the local legend of the Golden Orphans. Mystery surrounds the more than thirty children who were abandoned to living a feral existence in the city following the invasion. Who are they, where are they now and how do they feature in his investigations? Eventually he must enter the city and confront the secrets it holds. What he discovers there leads to the shocking revelation which marks the end of his stay on the island.
From his opening sentence the author laid the foundations for a story which is full of mystery and tension, not only about the characters he creates, but also about the island they inhabit. There are times when there is an almost surreal quality to the events being described and the experiences of the narrator of the story and, throughout, I felt an unsettling sense of apprehension about what was about to happen, what direction the narrative would take. I felt as constantly wrong-footed as our protagonist did! I was particularly captivated by the explorations of how the narrator attempted to understand Illie’s dream in order to “translate” it onto canvas. This was a fascinating demonstration of how difficult (not to say impossible!) it is to capture something as illusory and complex as the internal images of another person.
The author brought Cyprus to life in a very powerful and atmospheric way but, for the most part, this was not a portrayal of the sunny, fun-filled tourist destination island, although some of the scenes set in Ayia Napa did reflect this side. Instead, it showed a much darker and sinister underbelly, one which featured drugs, violence, kidnap and murder and painted a picture of a community still dealing with the massive social upheaval caused by the partition of the island. A scene in the Troodos Mountains, with its lush forests, its pockets of snow and the presence of military forces, where, from the summit of Mount Olympus, you can see the contrasting landscapes of much of this fascinating but troubled island, was symbolic of so many of the divisions its people are living with.
Although there is a lot of action and tension in this relatively short novel, it never felt rushed and I always felt confident that the author was in total control of the reflective pacing which resulted in its dramatic resolution. I loved the cast of interesting, often ambiguous characters who made this story such a captivating, thought-provoking read – and I was delighted, if also a little saddened, to be reminded of happy memories of an island I visited in the years before partition.… (más)

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to review this book, but I decided to do it anyway, because I enjoyed it.

This book tells you about J.R.R. Tolkien, the writer who gave us the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, and a lot of other great works. 3-Minute J.R.R. Tolkien tells you about his past, about how he wrote the famous books and about his influences to the fantasy books we read now. It also tells you a bit about the fans of the world of Middle Earth, about the movies made by Peter Jackson (and the cartoons made in the 70s).

Like I said, I enjoyed reading it; the pieces of text were short (so short you could have a page finished within three minutes, hence the title). But I did notice some tiny mistakes. I am not sure if these were translation mistakes (I read it in Dutch) or just mistakes in the original book, but in one part, Beorn (who we meet in the Hobbit) is called a werewolf, and later on he’s a shapeshifter (though the correct term is skin changer). And later on in the book, Éowyn, who is the badass lady who kills the Witch-king of Angmar during the battle for Minas Tirith (Return of the King), is called Théoden’s daughter, though she is his niece (Éowyn and her brother Éomer were brought up by Théoden ‘as if they were his own children’ (so I kinda get the confusion there but still), but the latter had only one son, Théodred, who died in Two Towers).

Of course, I am not really bothered by these tiny mistakes, but still they are a bit dumb in my opinion, I mean if you want to write a biography about someone, you’d really make sure to get all the facts right, and get it checked (and perhaps double checked), or is that just me?

Beside that, the book tells you a lot about J.R.R. Tolkien’s life, about his wife, his three sons and daughter; his friends, his life as a teacher; it tells you so much in those small pieces of text. If you want to know more about the writer of the Lord of the Rings, I suggest you pick up this book, because it’s also accompanied by some amazing pictures!… (más)