"The Blue Hour" by Paula Hawkins

An audio book.

James Becker is the curator of the Fairburn foundation's works. He never knew his father. His mother was an artist who died from cancer when he was young. His boss is Sebastian. James' pregnant wife Helena was once engaged to Seb.

Tate Modern has contacted the Fairburn foundation because they discovered that an art piece the Tate borrowed from them contains a human bone. Becker knows a lot about the artist's work - his mother liked the artist's work too. He drives to Eris where she used to live. Vanessa Chapman, the artist, died of cancer 5 years before, leaving her work to the Fairburn foundation - a surprise because they were her enemy for a time. Grace (once the local doctor then her live-in carer) is her executor who's been slow passing on the diaries and notebooks. She lives on Eris, which is an island some of the day. She and James begin to trust each other. She tells him she helped Vanessa with a morphine overdose at the end. He tells her that Seb's mother Emmaline killed his father Douglas (Vanessa's agent). Vanessa's husband Julian once sold a work of hers to pay his gambling debts. He disappeared along with his car about 20 years before.

We learn about events partly from Vanessa's journals. Grace once saved Vanessa from a rapist.

Seb thinks that Grace is holding onto some works of art and some diaries. Grace wasn't given any art-works in the will though she was given the island and house. Maybe she's hiding evidence that would show her in a bad light?

When Julian last visited the island, he asked Vanessa for money. They slept together. Grace (who fancied beautiful Vanessa) left the house in disgust. Vanessa later left to see (and sleep with) her agent. Did Julian trash Vanessa's paintings and sculptures when he was alone in the house? No. Actually, Grace killed him when he humiliated her, then trashed some works. We learn more about Grace - how she felt rejected by her parents, then her student house-mates. After finding the arts vandalised, Vanessa told her not to return to the house because she knew too much. When Vanessa discovered she had cancer she begged Grace to come back.

James visits again. Grace gets him to stay the night, hiding his car keys. He begins to thinks that Helena and Seb are having an affair. Grace tells James that Vanessa killed Julian. James is phonGraceed and told that the bone isn't Julian's. It's from Nick, who he knows was a student friend of Grace. In a flashback we learn that Nick visited Grace pretending that after drugs/women problems he wanted to be friends with her again, but he ended up humiliating her. She hadn't planned to kill him but when the chance arose, she did. Then she kills James.

In general I liked the writing, (and how Grace gradually became the central figure, she and James having much in common), though -

• When James (his PoV) is on the phone to the Tate we learn that "the man on the phone exhaled audibly". I've seen this phrase before. It irritates me more than it should. Why is the word "audibly" there?
• About 80 mins from the end there's "reached for Grace's hand ... dropping Vanessa's hand .. the cutter between her hand" then "intent on the task at hand". Too many hands.
• Scenes are repeated from different PoVs. Fair enough, though sometimes the differences are barely worth it.

Other reviews

• Fiona Sturges
• bookliterati
• Vicky Leigh ( ‘Blue Hour’, despite being written from three different perspectives again, was much easier to follow. It feels like a two hander, between Grace and Becker.)
• Goodreads - many disappointed readers

"Dwelling places" by David Ferry (Univ of Chigaco Press, 1993)

Poems from Agni, Harvard Magazine, The New Republic, Partisan Review, Ploughshares, Raritan, etc. Many of the pieces are translations/adaptions - of Goethe, Rilke, Baudelaire, etc. My favourite poem was Mnemosyne (Hölderlin) though most of the pieces were way beyond me. In general, I don't understand why there are so many words. Here for example is part of "In the garden" - The whole plucked stalk is an event in time:/ a number of blossoms one above the other,/ but some blossoms more fully out than others,/ in an intricately regular scale or series./ Of course, since the flower is plucked, it isn't really/ an event in time, but only the record of an event.

"A Botanical Daughter" by Noah Medlock

An audio book.

1889. Simon (taxidermist) and Gregor (botanist) live on a Buckinghamshire estate. They're lovers. Gregor receives a package from the East. It includes a fungus which shows signs of awareness. Their cleaner Jenny had a best friend Connie who recently killed herself, people say. Gregor and Simon dig up the body to use as substrate for the fungus and other plants. Simon thinks that it wasn't a suicide. Jenny suspects that Gregor and Simon are lovers. The locals thinks that too, and that Jenny is a lesbian.

Chloe, the new hybrid creature, develops. Simon likes the idea of he and Gregor having a child, andChloe could be it. Gregor is keen for botantic fame. They give Chloe a voice-box. Jenny notices that Connie's body has been dug up. The men tell her about their experiment and that it's female. They invite her to live with them.

Julian Malory (an old rival - and lover? - of Gregor) is now president of the Royal Horticultural Society. He's married. Gregor invites him to stay then disposes of him. Chloe and Jenny fall in love and run away to the watermill cottage where Jenny and her father lived. They make love there. Jenny's father is killed and Chloe absorbs Jenny. Chloe's spreading. The men transfer her to a special, sealed greenhouse built on their estate, with a copy of the cottage.

An interesting attempt. It's a historical novel (is "weaponised" an appropriate word to use?), it's gay (though we learn little of the characters' inmost thoughts), and it's Gothic fantasy/horror (though I'd have expected the hybrid to have induced more fear. Jenny's reaction is a particular surprise). Gregor murders too easily.

Other reviews

• Fiona Denton ( felt like I was left wanting in terms of characterisation. Although not all characters (Jennifer in particular felt very well formed and I genuinely cared for her), but certainly for our protagonists I often did not believe the plausibility of their choices or actions)
• AJ Reardon (I compare this book [with] the other two queer Frankenstein pastiches I’ve read in the past year (Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai and Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill) ... I couldn’t stand Gregor and how he treated the other characters. ... I also noticed that the characters, especially Gregor and Simon, seemed to change their opinions about things kind of on a whim, as if the author felt like he had to keep switching up their views so they could be on opposite sides of the issue.)
• the fiction fox (The personalities they did have were fairly one-dimensional and a few “change-of-mind-moments” and character interactions fell flat for me as a result. In particular, the falling out between Gregor and Simon over Chloe’s “monstrous nature” felt unearned. Neither of them had expressed such strong opinions beforehand, so the emotional change of heart felt too abrupt. Secondly, some of the themes I mentioned I loved were also explored too shallowly for my liking. With the set-up created, there was so much more emotional and ethical depth to be explored here)
• queercrossroads (Gregor [is] a man of great intellect; a sullen and withdrawn academic, akin to Frankenstein in many ways, obsessed with the creation of life ... In true Gothic fashion, their reason for isolation is an air of general ‘unease’ rather than a rational and tangible problem, despite there being one in this case ... In Simon, despite manipulation and lies thrust upon him throughout by his secretive counterpart, we see the voice of reason. The way he provides care for Gregor who, in turn, understands Simon and his eccentricities, shows a fulfilling gay relationship between two soft, warm and neurodivergent-coded POV characters. It is through this relationship that the two are redeemed)

"The Patient" by Jasper DeWitt

An audio book presented as blog posts with only the names changed.

Set in the US. Parker the narrator has a partner Jocelyn. His mother had mental problems. He has an Ivy League degree. He gets a job in an asylum. Joe has been there since 1973 when he was 6. He's in his 20s now. The narrator decides to cure him. People discourage him - previous doctors who treated him (Including Dr G, the narrator's boss) have had problem. A nurse, Nessie, who's known him from the start, has recently killed herself. After interviewing Jo the narrator believes that Joe is a victim of the system - a cashcow, a scapegoat who's been given bad doctors on purpose. He thinks that Nessie knew this and killed herself with guilt. He tries to help Jo escape but his plan is foiled - because Jo spills the beans.

His boss and Dr A, the first doctor who dealt with Jo, fill Parker in on the case. They'd even tried exorcism. He visits Jo's widowed, rich mother and finds a child's corpse behind the wall. He deduces that the thing in the asylum wasn't human. It escapes. Jo's mother kills herself. Dr A is killed. Parker starts up a private practice to treat children who are possessed.

"Other people's comfort keeps me up at night" by Morgan Parker (Corsair books, 2021)

Poems from PANK, The Literary Review, Tin House, etc. Some poems have punctuation, some don't. Some have long lines, some have short ones. There are extra spaces between some words. It all seems rather random to me, like most of the line-breaks. One poem is double-spaced.

There's an introduction which didn't help me much - "while Beyoncé wants no part in the God talk, she has no issue with Queen and demands you bow. Morgan's project is Morgan. Morgan doesn't want God's problems. Queens for the most part suck.". Here are just a few of the many passages that baffled me -

• how the truth can feel like/ ant hills their sandy curves their tiny crests/ like nipples what I really want to ask is/ what do you think of the idea of progress/ and is it an injury I can fix (p.1)
• I strip down to a woman./ What is a woman?/ Women/ are a problem with a name. Girl,/ bye./ Power is money and my body (p.30)
• In this equation everyone stands for me./ Oh you in your strikened pose!/ Oh fly honey baby/ on the run and on the market! It's like pictures are words/ or sex is a Xerox machine (p.58)
• For now we are taking/ someone's grandma's pills/ I am slicing a wedge of brie/ with a comically large blade/ We walk a windy canyon and are safe/ Someone asks where the blood on the floor came from (p.74)
• Dawn is foggy/ an infinite blue stomach/ a child/ learning the function/ of a verb (p.94)

"Started Early, Took My Dog" by Kate Atkinson

An audio book.

1975. Leeds. Tracy and Ken Arkwright (police) are climbing to a 15th floor flat to investigate an incident. We learn later that they find the 2 week old corpse of a prostitute mother (Carol Braithewaite) and a child, Michael. Tracy's suspicious - the child says that his dad was the murderer, and the flat had been locked from the outside, but her colleagues don't follow those leads.

In the present, Tracy, 50+, a big woman, works in security in a shopping centre. She sees a woman, Kelly, (who she knows from her past life in the police) abuse a child and buys the child (Courtney) on a whim for £3k.

Tillie, 70+, has also seen the bad mother. She's becoming forgetful. Jackson helps her. Leslie takes her in for a chat. She's childless, had a miscarriage. Julia (Jackson's ex; his son's mother) and Tillie are both in "Collier", a TV series is being filmed locally. Tillie's confused when she sees the show on TV.

Colin abuses a dog. Jackson (once a soldier, then a cop, then a gumshoe) thumps him and takes the dog. "Tessa" (ex-wife, con-artist) stole his money. His daughter's Marley. His sister was murdered decades ago. He's become interested in culture. He has found out he has a young son. He's trying to find out about the past of a New Zealand client, Hope, who was adopted. He plans an interview with Linda (who deals with adoptions) about Carol.

Linda phones Tracy about Carol Braithwaite. Tracy phones Barry, who's still in the force. Barry has a secret.

In 1974 we get Ray's PoV. He's a policeman with a wife Marge. Marge is friends with Kitty who's married an older doctor. Both women are infertile. Kitty had been a model and a muse for a writer. An abortion 5 months into an unwanted pregnancy made her infertile. Ray had a carefree affair.

Tracy wonders about killing Kelly - a loose end - then entering Kelly's place finds that she's already been killed. Tracy's a suspect. She starts driving Courtney to a cottage she's rented but crashes into a deer. Jackson picks them up. When he leaves the car she drives away. A car picks Jackson up - a Private Investigator who'd put a tracker on the dog. The PI's called Brian Jackson. Jackson interviews Marilyn Needles, the reporter from 1975. She was told not to pry. Jackson's assaulted by 2 thugs. He's told not to pry.

We learn more about Tracy. She lost her virginity to her married driving instructor when she was 20, and got her own flat.

Jackson watches a train station incident - Tillie and a thug fall under a train while Tracy and Courtney (with new IDs) catch a train. In weeks they're in DisneyLand, Paris. The other Jackson's client is Michael Braithewaite - Hope's brother!

Back in 1975, we hear about the murder of Carol from the murderer's PoV - a detective, the father of Michael. His colleague, Eastman, covered it all up, arranged the girl's adoption with Kitty and husband, who emigrated to New Zealand.

Barry kills his daughter Amy (in a permanent coma) then himself. Ray is arrested - the other Jackson got Linda to confess. Ray gave the child to childless Kitty rather than his own wife.

It's entertaining. Several characters muse over how things have changed since their day. Several characters have similar senses of humour and feelings of disappointment - Tracy "only realised when they died that [her parents] would never love her"; A boy's acne is so bad that if you knew braille you could read his face. The plot is full of coincidences and parallels (Jackson finding a permanent companion - a dog; Tracy finding a child) at the expense of [psychological] credibility. The quality of the observation and character insight cover the cracks.

Other reviews

• Justine Jordan (Kate Atkinson's novels have always been built around lost girls ... Tracy's awkward transformation into would-be parent is wryly moving, and Atkinson swerves the obvious sentimentality by channelling it all into Tilly, who has her own pity-soaked memories of maternal heartbreak. Tracy's new role is also mirrored by Jackson's adoption of a particularly winning dog)
• shereadsnovels (there were too many [characters] whom I struggled to distinguish from each other; in particular, the other police officers involved in the 1975 storyline all seemed to blend into one which made that part of the book difficult to follow. There were also some subplots that didn’t seem to go anywhere and some important questions that remained unanswered at the end. Compared with the first three books in the series, I thought this one was disappointing)
• Amy Adams (Atkinson is operating in a gray area between realism and metaphor. ... Atkinson isn't interested so much in Tracy's character as she is in Tracy's situation--the sudden change of your world, the madness that is parental love, the way the inclusion of a child into your life fundamentally changes who you are. ... it's a fascinating book, intricately plotted, with layers of meaning playing off against each other, raising the ongoing challenge of how our culture treats children. Atkinson also liberally sprinkles the pages with ruminations on poetry and how it illuminates our lives.)

"History of wolves" by Emily Fridlund

An audio book.

Linda (her first-person PoV), 37, looks back on her life. At school the new, male history teacher, Mr Grierson, seemed interested in schoolgirls. A classmate, Lily, was rumoured to be having fun with him, the rumours gaining details over the weeks. He chose Linda to deliver a talk for an inter-school competition. She did it about the "History of wolves" and got an originality prize. Lily got pregnant. Grierson was put on trial (Lily had made an accusation about him that she later retracted). Child porn was found in his house. He hadn't slept with Lily though he admitted he'd thought about it. He got 7 years.

Linda lived in a lake-cabin. Classmates thought her a bit odd. Her mother, after leaving a commune, became a regular church-goer. When 15, Linda looked after Paul, 4, for $10 a day. His father was an astronomer, his mother was Patra. They invited her to spend the weekend away with them. She went. The father quizzed her about God. Later, at a trial, she's asked about the parents, particularly the father. Paul died of a brain swelling. Linda had tried to understand Paul's parents. The father was a 3rd-generation Christian Scientist. Patra had asked him out when he was her Prof. They were acquitted of negligence for religious reasons.

After her father died, Linda went away, not talking to her mother for 2 years. She slept with a mechanic who had a psychology degree and used Tarot cards. She learnt that her mother started living in the shed after the roof came off the cabin, and returned to her. She tried to track down Lily and Mr Grierson. She faked a letter from Grierson and gave it to Lily. She could imagine herself Lily by following the steps of a ritual.

Is there a difference morally between thinking about something and doing it? Grierson and Christian Scientists ponder over it. Linda wonders too, right to the end.

There's a lot of jumping forwards and backwards in time. Once the trial is mentioned, details from it are frequently mentioned.

Other reviews

• Sarah Ditum (when everything is explicitly foreshadowed, nothing is at stake. Fridlund carries on meticulously dressing her traps long after they’ve been sprung. In some ways, this is the standard literary fiction shortcoming of thinking plot is the least important part. In others, Fridlund’s weaknesses are her own. Characters tend to be vague outlines with tics. ... there are none of the subtle mechanisms that make characters coherent – and capable of acting surprisingly. There is only one mood: slow and sad)
• Lauren Kocher (The mystery surrounding Paul’s death does its work to pull the reader along, but Linda and her longing is our focal point ... Perhaps the most compelling part of this book is Linda’s reflection on the events of her childhood. By this point in the novel, she has gained enough distance to look back objectively, though she is still unable to understand herself)