Season To Taste...Or How To Eat Your Husband by Natalie Young

Well my oh my hasn't this month just flown by! Already two weeks into May and I don't know where the time has gone. I have been super busy as well just to add to the chaos that is work, so apologies for the delay for the latest review. This has not been helped by reading two novels that have been pretty darn rubbish to say the least. So I shall plough forward with one that has meant my blogging standard. Also the one I am reading at the moment has been potentially one of my favourite books of all time so watch this space...

Today's review looks at Season To Taste or How To Eat Your Husband. The brutal reality of the title of the novel hits you straight in the face on the first page as we learn that Lizzie, our female protagonist, has murdered her husband. No messing about, Natalie Young gives us the story right away. In a way, you may think this may ruin the rest of the story, but it is learning about her past and the unique way she begins to dispose of his body, that is the true story here. That was for me what made it so unique, having the main event so early on and seeing the reasons why after it has happened.

Now Lizzie goes on to chop her husband up into bits and store him in the freezer. There is something so methodical to her practice, and her total disregard for the seriousness of what she is doing seems extremely robotic. She fits into the typical domestic housewife role, even creating a step- by- step list littered throughout the novel, but just with an extremely dark twist. I must warn you that there are some graphic moments during the cooking and consuming of her husband. The worst bit for me, which surprisingly was not his cock and balls, but when she eats his hand. I found myself looking down at my own hand on the train and feeling rather nauseous. People must have thought I was a right freak looking at my hand like that. I just kept picturing a chicken wing.

To be fair to Lizzie, she cooks the parts of him in possibly the tastiest ways you could maybe think of, just the only problem being its human flesh she is using. But this just adds to her methodical ways. But this endless consumption methaphor, which Young uses to highlight how Lizzie's pre- murder life was consumed by her lazy husband and dead end marriage. It is very clever, if not sometimes vomit inducing.

Another famous literary cannibal

The housewife role is added to more in a familiar setting, well familiar for me anywhere. Set in a remote cottage in leafy Surrey, where I happen to reside, I could feel myself in the places where she speaks of. This, for me, added an extra isolated dimension, just as to how much goes on behind closed doors, especially in supposedly sleepy towns. There is an mention of my home town too, holler out to Weybridge on page 49!

So if you enjoy your complicated female led books, then I highly recommend this book. Young's clever style of writing, including the brilliant how to guide, will get you in the mood for some very dark moments. Just ensure you have a strong stomach, some parts are pretty hard to read through. Just do what I did, picture a Nando's and not your own chubby, hairy hand.

Season To Taste... Or How To Eat Your Husband by Natalie Young is published by Headline books in the UK. 

Sorta Like A Rockstar by Matthew Quick

I think I'm going to have to start reading longer books, because I am just rattling through them at the moment. So here I am, already breaking my rule about doing one book a week, but only because I've got a really good book this time!

Matthew Quick's name first caught my attention from the critical acclaim that surrounded the hit film Silver Linings Playbook based on his novel of the same name. I have yet to be lucky enough to get hold of this (please charity box Gods let me find it!) but have read on of his other novels, Forgive Me Leonard Peacock. All about a boy who does that American horror and kills in his own high school. So along with depression in amongst his other novels (such delightful topics), it comes as no surprise to find in Sorta Like A Rockstar many issues including homelessness, abuse and death. Why are young adult novels always so damn depressing? I guess you only realise this as you get older. But then, they must learn.

Quick is responsible for Silver Linings Playbook. 

Set around the character of Amber, we follow her story, right from the outset where she is living in the school bus that her mother drives for a living. We immediately can connote facts about her past of course; abandonment, not knowing her father and her mother having boyfriend after boyfriend all feature. But there is something incredibly different about Amber that you don't get in these usually cliched stories. She is full of hope. And always keeps herself busy. Whether it be having debates at on old peoples' home, visiting a war veteran who writes haiku's endlessly, teaching the Vietnamese 'diva' choir by seeing diva classics or cooking tequila omelettes (sound delicious), there seems something so pure about Amber's character. And something else Quick does well to eradicate is the teenage girl chase for a boy, or a boy coming along and saving the day. There is no mention of relationships or her desire for one. It is something we need to see more of, and it is so important for girls to know relationships at such a young age is not the be all and end all.

There are some lovely moments throughout the novel, especially the relationship between Amber and her eventual adoptive mother Donna. Donna is the woman that she, in my opinion, should aspire to be. Quick sure does know how to great a fantastic and strong mother figure, someone that Amber never really has in her life. And their relationship feels so real, never forced. I guess that because Quick used to teach, he knows how to write in teenage talk (God I feel old writing that, and yes I'm only 21). You forget after awhile it isn't a teenager writing the book. He does it is so seemlessly.

Sorta Like A Rockstar

Another poignant moment in the book is where tragedy strikes with Amber's mother. The book literally falls apart in the middle as Amber's life does. Quick gives us mere sentences as chapters, intercut with Amber's talks with the local Vietnamese church priest where she contemplates life as anyone would in the situation. And this is where the book begins to lose some of its momentum. Her friends try to rally around her but she just rejects those who try to help. It gets extremely difficult after sometime to understand she this after awhile, and I think Quick drags this out slightly. Also the constant haiku's eventually, for me, were moments to skim read. I hate poetry (sorry guys, awful English graduate right?). But Quick manages to pull it together at the end, with a fantastic ending. We can only hope that every teenager who goes through hardship has people like Amber does to pull around her in times of need. But deep down I know that's not true. Truly heartbreaking for me.

So in a story that is full of a variety of characters, most of them old but let's face it, aren't they the ones who have the most to talk about? But Quick does something quite special with Amber by matching her to these people. The interaction between the old and the young never feels false and you always get a sense reality from Amber. Whilst the tiresome references to religion and JC get old very quickly (typical atheist me), there is plenty to keep you entertained. Yes it might be for the young adult market, but come on, the issues are so serious that we adults will have no problem enjoying a book as great as this. There are rumours of a film for this too. Cross those fingers. And them toes too.

Sorta Like A Rockstar by Matthew Quick is published by Headline books in the UK. 

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I'm beginning to think that Sunday evening might just become my weekly review post. I just get so tired during the week that I don't want to write a rubbish post and you not enjoy it (or get anything from it). But then I read so many good books I don't to get lag behind and forget. So maybe I'll just go against what I said anyway. What the hell. What are rules for! So anyway hello and welcome to today's review...

Got quite a different book for you this week compared to last weeks lovely, gory and sexually violent book, Stardust. Written by Neil Gaiman, a man who has been receiving a lot of attention for his latest novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane- watch this space, that book is currently residing in my pile of books to be read- so before I get to that to see what all the fuss is about, I decided to read another one of his older novels. Wow that was a long sentence.

I have seen the film adaptation that was released nearly 7 years ago now- where the hell is time going?! I really enjoyed the film, mainly down to the adult fairytale feeling that the film gave across. And of course I never miss a chance to watch a film starring the only woman I would ever consider, Michelle Pfeiffer. I was immediately thrown into a completely different universe, but one that I couldn't help but think was slightly familiar. Set in sunny (always is in fairytales) England, there was an extremely picturesque feeling to the whole story, especially in the village of Wall. Gaiman certainly does have a way with words.

I always enjoy a fairytale, mainly down to the themes that it deals with, that can often been of quite a violent or adult nature, but they are dressed in such a way you simply don't think of them as such. Stardust follows the character of Tristian, as he sets off into the other world that Wall sits next to. He is in search of a fallen star that he wants to get in order to get a hand in marriage. Being a demanding woman, she wants the star. In what I think is such a lovely image, the star is not an object, or a ball of gas, but is actually a woman whom has fallen out the sky. She was hit by a gem that 2 brothers, Primus and Septimus, the last two alive lords of the land, who must find the stone in order to become King. There is some great scenes involving them, mainly down to their ghostly brothers who always appear behind them in the film, and this detail is carried on the preceding novel, something Gaiman uses to a great comic advantage. This is also true of the witch who is after the star, and there are some great scenes where she forces an inn keeper to pretend they are married in order to entice the star into staying. There is something so sinister about reading the witch doing everything she can to relax the star, when we know she really wants to cut her heart right out of her.

Now, being 21, you may think my memory may be very sharp, but alas you would be mistaken. But I have to say I was quite impressed in noticing differences between the book and novel, something that alas (I love that word) always must occur. But I think the book wins out on all the alternatives that the film presented. This is more than evident in the witch's final scene, where an old witch, who is also after the star in order to recapture her youth, lets the star go when she eventually gives her heart to Tristian. This means her heart, which needs to be cut out before something like this occurs in order for it to give her the youth back, wouldn't work Gaiman's version is so much better and so less the stereotypical Hollywood ending where the evil is stamped out by the goodies. She simply just leaves them to live their lives in the novel, something so different it was a joy to read.

Does the film of 2007 film adaptation fair better? 

Another book vs film difference, where the book wins out, is seeing Tristian and his starry bride getting to travel and see the world that they will eventually reign first hand before taking over from Tristian's mother as rulers. They just seemed so down to earth, as much as a fallen star can be, that we can only hope for leaders like them in this world. And for people who actually know and have seen what the hell they are talking about.

Gaiman is truly a master of words, he truly drew me into his faitytale world, but not letting the picturesque setting take away from the fascinating characters or the adult tones that burst through. A truly adult fairytale, that anyone will enjoy, Gaiman puts to the forefront a world that anyone would want to be part of. Don't let the film put you off, there are moments that work so much better, are so less cliched, all in the end making a great little read. And the book is quite thin, slip it in your bag for your holidays! I look forward to reading more of his books, as well as the TV adaptation of his novel American Gods.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman is published by Headline in the UK. 

The Invention Of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Now life has been rather busy for the past few weeks. Not that that has stopped me from reading plenty of books mind... I have just become incredibly lazy with writing reviews. But I'm catching up now. So I've already shattered any illusions you may have that I have read a book a day as I will be uploading quite a few reviews this week. I am ashamed for getting so behind! Ahh life...


Last year I read Sue Monk Kidd's first novel The Secret Life Of Bees and thoroughly enjoyed it. The huge best seller was a thrilling look into black oppression in the 1960s and Kidd continues to look at black oppression in her latest novel The Invention Of Wings. We are transported back to the beginning of the 1800s, when slavery was rife in the USA in many areas. Told through a dual narrative from the two main characters, Sarah Gimké, daughter of rich family who own many slaves, and Handful or Hetty, a slave of equal age. Kidd uses this to give us both sides of the story, the guilt that Sarah begins to feel about how er family are slave owners, and Handful's traumatic accounts of slavery from a first hand point of view. Handful is presented to Sarah as a gift on her 10th birthday, immediately bringing to the forefront the sheer ownership that the white population of the time took.

Now this year has seen more spotlight heaped onto the issue of slavery as the success of the film 12 Years A Slave has highlighted the importance of telling these tales of slavery still is. Steve McQueen has said many a time how there are millions still in slavery conditions, a shocking fact that needs to be dealt with radically and quickly. And novels such as Kidd's are equally just as important at reminding everyone of the horrors of slavery, ensuring we never forger how badly we have treated others in the past.

The novel itself is split into different time periods, as we track the two girls growing up, growing closer and growing into women. It was extremely readable but it may have been interesting to hear from some of the other characters in the novel. There are some voices that need a little more detailing, not avoiding the danger of telling a story through just two opinions. There are so many characters that intrigue through Sarah and Handful's narratives that would have been just as fascinating to hear from. Whether it be Handful's runaway mother, constantly stealing things from the white household, or Denmark Vesey, a free slave leading the revolution, or even Sarah's stern mother. So many horrid events occur throughout the novel, whippings, hangings and even something I had never come across before, tying a slave's leg to their neck behind them, choking them if they dare to move. These need the voices of the people who suffered them. Although it is traumatic enough from Handful and Sarah, a little more perspective would have added to it. However, there are some extremely saddening moments from Handful, especially her delight at how much she is commercially valued at by her owner. It should never be how much someone is worth to be sold to make them happy.

Aside from this, I cannot fault this novel. It is certainly a page turner and doesn't get caught up in unnecessary details. The skips in time help to keep it fresh throughout as well, as we get to learn what we have missed in the time that has passed. The thing that I loved about the novel was how it eradicated any stereotype that women did nothing at the time to put a stop to the the evil that was happening around them, much like Patsy from 12 Years A Slave. And imagine my delight when I discovered at the end of the novel, Kidd telling in her author notes that Sarah Gimké was a real- life abolitionist. I don't know where my own stereotype  of this comes from, seeing men argue over whether slavery was right or wrong, as if there ever should have been a question.

Sarah Gimké- remember that name folks

So whilst Sue Monk Kidd may have done good in again not letting us forget about the horrors of slavery, for me she has made me learn about the life of Sarah Gimké, and helped to make me that little less ignorant. It is important that historical figures such as Sarah are more commonly known because I have never heard of her before reading this novel. Kidd so well merges the historical fact with her own flowing fiction, something that is rare to find in today's world. I can only hope a film is made to bring Sarah's story to an even greater audience.

Another review tomorrow folks!


The Invention Of Wings is published by Headline books in the UK. 

Maid Of The Mist: The Myth, The Mob and The Mozzarella by Colin Bateman

Apologies for the delay. I have been rather lazy this week and only jut got around to actually finishing a book, very rare for me to take more than a week to read one! Unless it is huge. With many, many pages. Or tiny, tiny print. I'm like an old woman. Anyway, back to the review.

So this week I read a book by a man who has recently become one of my favourite authors. Colin Bateman, or Bateman as he mostly goes by, is famous for writing the book that spawned Murphy's Law. He has written a load of books which I am slowly working my way through ever since reading one of his novels called The Prisoner Of Nurse Brenda. I nearly wet myself several times on the train it was so funny. Believe me, that wouldn't be a good look. Although I guess most commuters wouldn't even notice. Many have that vacant 'get me off this train' look. Dammit, got distracted. ANYWAY.

Maid Of The Mist. Beautiful cover designs.

As I was saying, I have read many of his novels and have found them all mostly hilarious. There are a couple of them that have been a bit hit and miss, but mostly they have been fantastic. Colin Bateman has a fantastic way with words. I have never read an author so brilliant at comic timing, as well as using his sarcastic tone to fine effect, even when the situation really doesn't call for it. There have been a couple of times I have had to suppress a laugh, which again, is not something I want to be seen doing on the train...

The first thing that always strikes me about his books is the wonderful cover artwork that can be found on the latest editions from the publishers. Credit to James Edgar. I've put a few more of his beautiful covers below for you all to marvel at (and then go and read them okay they are all engrossing reads).

Some more great artwork by James Edgar

So once you've stopped staring at the covers, you get through to the book, the one being in question Maid Of The Mist. The book centres on Frank Corrigan, an ex- Irish policeman who has moved to Niagra, the town not the waterfall before you ask, to lead a quieter life. Cue the opposite of this taking effect. Most of Bateman's books that I have read so far feature tragic male leads, mostly Irish, with plenty of mention of the Troubles throughout. This continues, and although if you read a few of his books in succession, these themes could get old, you would be surprised how each time a new angle is drawn upon it.

Typical Bateman, the novel is full of hilarious one liners in times that do not call for it. One of my absolute favourites is (prepare for crudeness) "Katharine had her top off and Pongo's cock in her mouth'. Utterly brilliant. The plot centres around Frank's investigation of a woman falling over the falls and surviving, going onto believe that she is a Native American princess of old local fables. On the way, we meet many fascinating characters, something that Bateman is always consistent at. From the faded rock star Pongo to the nosy journalist Madeline, Bateman always writes characters that intrigue, not just through their stories but through the fantastically written dialogue that flows better than the currently flooded Thames.

Corrigan must tackle an international drug ring that he believes is masquerading as a conference that has rolled into town. As is typical for Bateman, the main character is constantly hindered by both the good and bad throughout. This does not relent in Maid Of The Mist. Along on the way, Frank meets characters from Bateman's past novels although you wouldn't know it if you hadn't read them. Bateman so subtly interweaves them into the plot that I almost missed them. But it was a great touch. And it made me think just how many good books he has produced, as well as the fact that his characters left such an impression on me that I remembered them during cameos.

So Maid Of The Mist is just another brilliant book that I can cross off my Bateman list. I am waiting for one book of his that I do not enjoy at all. I don't want him to think that I am some sort of stalker. I have literally read at least 10 of his books in the past 4 months. Maid Of The Mist is full of everything that Bateman, for me, is an artist at. Memorable characters, undeniable wit, violent undertones and presenting contemporary  issues (Ireland and journalism especially) all mixed in with bringing down crime, not often in the best way. A brilliant mix if you ask me. READ, READ READ.

I highly recommend some of his other novels: I Predict A Riot, The Prisoner Of Nurse Brenda, Empire State. Some of my favourites of his.

Maid Of The Mist is published by Headline in the UK. Available online and in stores today. 

The Silent Wife by A.S.A Harrison

I usually try to stay clear of books by authors who have initials in their names. There is just something about them that I find so pretentious. Of course, like everything in life, there are exceptions to this rule, J.K Rowling being one of them (just so you know The Casual Vacancy is in the pile to be read). So one day, I can't remember how far back now, I picked by The Silent Wife. The cover just reeked that this was one of those thrillers for the female audience The almost silhouette of the woman on the cover indicated this heavily, but as I said in my first post, I'm not one to judge a book by a cover. This myth was further undone by reading the blurb on the back of the book, stating how the book was told through both the male and female voice in a relationship. There was something about it that made me add it to the bottom of the never ending pile.

Judge a book by its cover?

Once it surfaced at the top of the stack of books, I couldn't wait to pick it up. I did a little research on it before I began, like I do with most of the books. Not to ruin it just to say, I'm not one of those idiots who reads the last page first. It was merely to gain some background knowledge on the general feel for the book by the critics, as well as the back catalogue of the author. I was saddened to learn how the author had sadly passed away and that the book that was rattling about in my bag was the only fiction book that she had ever had published. With the knowledge of this, it helped me to be able to enjoy it more, knowing that this would be all I would get.

Harrison leaps straight into the drama on the first page, immediately setting out how the not so silent wife of the book title will turn out to be a killer. This already gives us an impending sense of dread from chapter one that just keeps building and building. The constant switch of voice from chapter to chapter, that slowly details each brick that falls from Todd and Jodi's marriage, whilst nothing original, truly allows us to see how each character thinks and acts as the disaster continues.

Harrison's background of psychology shines through Jodi, as we see her pick apart her own decisions and her family background that has led to her current coldness and sterile nature. I was not surprised to see that Nicole Kidman is in the running to play Jodi in a feature film. She has the perfect icy qualities that Harrison instills in Jodi. And boy does she do it with vigour.

Nicole Kidman is in line to play Jodi

Something that is quite rare within fiction is where an author doesn't allow us to sympathise with a character but Harrison achieves it with such style you barely notice it. The deep psychological prowess in her writing draws you in and it is hard to stop turning the pages. It is hard to appreciate Todd's weakness for alcohol, sex and stubbornness, or Jodi's obliviousness to Todd's actions or how her life has fallen into an almost Groundhog Day- like routine are both hard to appreciate. There is an attempt by Harrison to push Jodi into the psychopathic female, especially where Jodi spikes Todd's drink with sleeping pills, but this is quickly retracted when Jodi immediately regrets it. And something else rare that Harrison achieves is to only use Jodi and Todd's viewpoints throughout. Never do we hear from Natasha, Todd's clingy (and stereotypical bunny boiler) mistress. We only hear Jodi or Todd's opinion of what is said by others. This just adds more to the deeply psychological feeling throughout, and that what the split has done to both of them is the only thing that matters.

The sense of dread continues until the very last page of the novel, but Harrison is sure not to go overboard. I think the most terrifying and deeply psychological feeling of the whole book is the lack of action. It is simply the thoughts and actions of the two in the relationship, in the end the only two opinions matter that come to the make or break moments in a relationship. There is a very real feeling throughout the writing, you can almost feel yourself in the situation. This sense of a lack of action is not something to fault the novel though, it keeps it real.

One downside to the novel is Todd's eventual demise. It all goes off a little too smoothly for my liking. But then anything more dramatic would only take away from Harrison's understated and devastating psychological writing.

A.S.A Harrison

Overall, this was a fantastic read. From the constant switch of viewpoint taking us deeper and deeper into the minds of our two main characters, to the immediate and never-let-you-go style of sense of impending doom for both of them, it just never relents. The only thing I could think by the end of the book was how sad I was that Harrison never got to see the critical praise that The Silent Wife met on release, on top of the fact she will never have another book. To know that I won't be writing another review of one of her novels on here is a great shame. But she left us with a novel that is so dark and so darn understated that it makes it so darn real, she can rest in peace knowing she wrote good in this sometimes dark and depressing world.

Until the last page turns... xoxo

The Silent Wife is published by Headline in the UK, available now online and in stores.