Book Tamers| book reviews

How about if we all have our own attic where we keep letters, diaries or some other memories from our childhood? Or from our teenage years or from our youth?

Of course, for me this is not possible, because of my age and the timing. But for the main character in The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley, Leo Colston, the past becomes present simply by discovering a diary from 1900.

In a very Proustesque kind of way, in a single afternoon, the old Leonard Colston meets young Leo, passionate about the signs of the zodiac and magic. Thus, the reason for introspection becomes remembering the lost time, in that summer of 1900 when he was a child of 12 and was invited by his classmate Marcus Maudsley to Brandham Hall, the summer residence of Marcus’ parents. Everything seems absolutely natural considering the children’s age, and they pass their time playing, walking or drinking tea.

The motley people that go through Brandham Hall is vividly described by the little magician. I have one tiny observation to make: the adults seem to be part of an amorphous mass, preoccupied only by teas and tennis and endless discussions that are pointless to Leo.

In the middle of these people, Leo feels for the first tie the class difference, and the suit he will receive from Miriam, Marcus’s sister, will be seen as a seal that the 12 year old will wear with a lot of pride; this will be the difference between Leo from home and Leo from Brandham Hall.

The old Leonard recognizes his feelings as a young man and the little “betrayals” next to his mother, forgetting to write or not recognizing anymore what he knew before his arrival to Brandham Hall.
Marcus will get down with measles and this will be the unhappy event that will make the boys grow apart. Thus, Leo will find himself alone between people who don’t care about him and who joke on his behalf. But through all of this, he grows fonder and fonder with Miriam, and he will become her postman, delivering love letters for her and Ted Burgess, an farmer from the neighbourhood.

Once Leo discovers the letters’ content, all passion and the secret games will melt. This is because he feels for the first time the buds of love for a girl who showed him interest and kindness. Thanks to this feeling, Leo continues to deliver the letters, even though he faces tough consciousness problems and even if he doesn’t know whether to be friends or reject Ted Burgess.

While the plot is pretty simple, Hartley made it through writing a special novel by concentrating in such a young person all the feelings he’s going through. It is quite interesting seeing Leo’s transformation, and the twisted feelings he’s experimenting.

More than that, The Go-Between manages to reunite a typical British middle-class life from the beginning of the 20th century, and the critical eye is a 12 year old boy from a different class.
What happens next? Will the two lovers be discovered or will Leo betray them? Well, that’s what you’re gonna find out reading The Go-between by L. P. Hartley.

Written by Cristina

This is The U.S. after the terrible 9/11 2001. All the important governmental institutions are constantly working to prevent any new terrorist attacks. An extremely important information reaches the American administration lead by Jack Rutledge. From this moment on a top secret non-orthodox solution will be adopted. These are the ingredients of a good political thriller.

Mohammed bin Mohammed is an important part of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda which must perform a transaction which implies a nuclear weapon. The fear that the weapon will point the U.S. determines the Americans to kidnap the terrorist in order to stop the transaction and find out more information. Once kidnapped, Al-Qaeda members do the impossible to save him, including a surprise attack on Manhattan on the 4th of July.

The attack takes everyone by surprise and freezes any trace of traffic, making the authorities take care of the wounded, without taking in consideration the fact that that wasn’t the terrorists’ purpose. Abdul Ali, aka Ibrahim Rahman, manages to find out where Mohammed bin Mohammed is kept, with the help of an international spy. Armed to the teeth, he does everything in his power to find the terrorist.

On the other side, the president of the U.S. is dealing with the fury caused by the attack and the impossibility of being next to his daughter, wounded in the attack; all these while the authorities which had the president’s permission to kidnap Mohammed fight mightily to keep the secret and find out more information about Al-Qaeda. However, the outflow of information causes many questions to appear.

An agent of the National Security Department, Scott Harvath, who is actually one of the main characters, involuntarily becomes the one who will thrive to find out the truth. Putting together all the pieces one by one, he uncovers Abdul Ali’s plan, trying to stop him. Helping him there is a group of marines who will stand by him until the end.

Therefore, Scott Harvath sees himself forced to look for the needle in a haystack, blindfolded, not knowing any information about the attackers or their purpose, fighting in a wasted city with a group of terrorists. So that the suspense is even more, trying to keep the whole operation a secret, the authorities also start looking for the soldier.

Despite the American soldiers’ efforts, Mohammed bin Mohammed gets away. Will he be able to close the deal and point the nuclear weapon towards the United States? I will let you discover for yourselves, because this book deserves to be enjoyed page by page. And I am sure it will pleasantly surprise you.

What I found interesting in Brad Thor’s novel is that he doesn’t talk about the war in Iraq, the interaction between the two parts taking place on American territory. Besides this, Thor’s book gives relevant information concerning the governmental authorities which I didn’t know until now. What was most interesting was the reaction of the authorities in case of crisis, and the different plan of action of each national department. It’s like each institution is fighting to keep its autonomy without allowing another to find out its intentions, even though they are working towards the same goal. I think that by revealing this Brad Thor outlined a great truth about the U.S. institutions: they do not cooperate.

Brad Thor wrote Takedown in 2007 and I am glad I read it after such a short time. This is because Takedown is truly an interesting novel which captures one’s attention even from the first pages. Brad Thor knew how to graduate the intensity of the action so that the reader could sense the frustration and impotence of the characters, as well as the attackers’ rage. A really intense novel. I recommend this political thriller, a novel about the real United States, written from the perspective of a patriot who tries to remain objective.

Written by Cristina

I don’t normally get fascinated with novels for kids, the Harry Potter type. But this time I made an exception and I’ve read Tunnels, an international bestseller, written by British authors Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams.

At first sight, there can be seen a pretty simple course of actions: Will Burrows, a fourteen-year old albino shares a common passion with his father, Dr. Burrows, for archeology and excavations. Soon, Dr. Burrows finds a secret that he’s determined to reveal and his disappearance makes Will follow his dad into the depths where he will find another civilization, completely different than the one he was used to. Thus, a series of secrets that were well guarded will be revealed to Will and to his friend, Chester, his companion in this adventure.

I was barely breathing while reading this book and this is only because of the unexpected events that occur to the two boys. Moreover, the manner this novel was conceived makes every reader to truly live every moment next to the characters. I think the British authors have borrowed a little bit something from Jules Verne’s style, especially when it is about going deep down the ground. No matter what, the novel is appreciated and seems follow Harry Potter, especially that there could be a second part due for 2008 and a screening for 2010.

Curiosity made me look for information concerning Tunnels and I discovered it was promoted by editor Barry Cunningham, i.e. the same person who discovered Harry Potter phenomenon. More than that, Tunnels became the number 1 book in Great Britain and it was translated in 40 languages. Children waited a long time for this novel, but actually adults, who love this kind of literature, were to.

As a whole, I loved the novel’s architecture and I was pleased with the meticulous description of every inch of the underworld. The novel was so well written that at one point, I had the impression of really seeing before me the Eternal City and the Collony. I guess there will be a terrific movie coming up.

More than that, before getting to know so much about Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams’s novel, I was kind of disappointed for the novel doesn’t really end up. But then I found out the reason Will and Chester go to the Underworld without knowing anything about their evolution…the reason is simple: there will be a sequel.

My favorite character is Will. Besides being the most important character in Tunnels, Will suffers an obvious mutation during all the things he’s going through. We can actually say that more he evolves, deeper he can reach in the underworld, as an initiation. While at the beginning of the novel, we are faced to a rather impatient and compulsive young man, by the end he gets more calculated and perseverant.

On the same time, something made me wondering: Chester is at the very beginning a close companion to Will, but after entering the underworld, he becomes only an auxiliary. But no matter what, by the end of the novel, nobody seems to have forgotten him, not Will anyway. They will both leave together, as they did at the beginning of their adventure.

I’m pretty sure everyone will enjoy this novel and that is also because it is easy to follow. And then, who does not get fascinated with secrets and mysteries? Moreover, the idea that there could be a whole different civilization under us leads to deep feelings, similar to those when imagining there is a world above us.

The eternal search of the unknown in the underground created a new character that wins ground against Harry Potter. If you’re sick and tired of big cities and their dust, the noise, the lights and traffic jams, there is for sure a certain calm you will find in this novel. Or is it? Will there be quiet and calm or an awesome ride with the characters through extraordinary events? Thus, I am recommending you an excellent novel- Tunnels, which will keep you fascinated because you will definitely enjoy the two boys’ adventure.

Written by Cristina