Caton's Blog

The Child in Time - By Ian McEwan

Tom Caton — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:10:00 +0100

The Child In Time.

When Jerome came up with this choice, I don’t think that any of us were really looking forward to it. But as Craig pointed out it was by Ian McEwan, so it couldn’t be half bad. How right he was. Even without the recent heartbreaking disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the opening chapters dealing with the kidnap of a three year old girl from a supermarket queue, was going to be harrowing. As the full impact of this event unfolds McEwan proves yet again his mastery of language, plot, and psychological tension. The ending is completely unpredictable, yet wholly believable, and comes as a kind of balm for parents and reader alike. [Tom]

This is right up there with his finest work. It may even be the best. The language, plotting, faultless understanding, and expression of the way in which the mind copes with loss, is classic McEwan. The idea of plunging the protagonist – an author of books for children - into membership of a sub-Committee of the Official Commission on Childcare which is compiling The Authorised Childcare Handbook – at the very time that he is grieving the disappearance of his daughter, is a remarkable device that could so easily have misfired, yet here works perfectly. [Craig]

I had the market flooded recently by so many books about abused childhood and children disappearing, that I thought this would be just another one. How wrong I was. For a start, it’s written in the third person. Secondly, it’s more about the impact of that disappearance than the search or the child herself. Thirdly, it operates on another plane altogether. Even though you’re observing the protagonist (thank you for that Craig) from above, McEwan still manages to get you to engage emotionally. [Jamie]

This was my choice, because I really enjoyed Saturday and Amsterdam. I was surprised at how different – yet similar – it was, and how much I was affected by it. I cried at the beginning and at the end. So will you - if you’ve got a heart. [Jerome]

Sorry guys. I found this heavy going. Probably because I was expecting it be a normal thriller. I still don’t know who did it, or why. Bit wordy too. Must be me. [Nick]

Nick. It is you! Tom

Birds Without Wings

Tom Caton — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:49:00 +0100

Predictably, this was Nick's choice. As a lover of History, I must admit that I was quite pleased when he proposed it...until I found out how long it was. That said, I enjoyed it every bit as much - possibly even more - than Captain Corelli's Mandolin. And there is a link. The keeeper of the taverna in Captain Corelli was exiled to Kephalonia in the second decade of 1900s, from a small town in southwest Turkey. As Turkish speaking Greeks, she and her family were caught up in the ethnic cleansings that marked the last days of the Ottoman Empire, and the birth of Turkey as a secular state. A small village rural idyll where Muslims and Christians, Greeks, Armenians and Turks, live side by side in harmony is the centre stage which de Bernieres uses to trace the impact of the dissolution of an empire on these simple and charming characters. If you found Captain Corelli's Mandolin hard going, you'll probably find the same with Birds Without Wings...but for different reasons. Mainly because the vast sweep of history, and the stories of his characters, don't always marry easily together. But I really enjoyed it. Here's what the rest of The Alternatives thought:

"My choice, and I don't regret it. I now understand so much more about the background to the Balkan Wars of this century, and about the ongoing problems in Turkey. And although some of the prose in the historical narrative is a bit stilted, I thought there was real poetry in the passages woven around the lives of the children and villagers of Eskibahce. Shades of Dylan Thomas!" [Nick]

"Much too long. And what was with all the proverbs and the preaching? Just tell it how it is Louis, and let me make my own mind up!" [Jamie.]

"The Decline of the Ottoman Empire; the rise of Kemal Ataturk; Gallipoli and the First World War. Brilliant. A beautiful and sad story of childhood relationships fractured by realpolitic. I loved it." Craig

"To tell you the truth, I skipped most of the historical stuff, but I fell in love -platonic of course -with Philotei The Beautiful, and Ibrahim the Mad - more erotic than platonic I confess - and was captivated by Stamos The Birdman, Mohammed The Leech Gatherer, Ali The Snowbringer, Drousala The Ugly, and the rest of them. And I particularly enjoyed the story of Rustem Bey, his wife and mistress. None of them deserved what the fates had in store. But I suppose that's the whole point? Can't wait for the film...if they can afford to make one on this scale!" [Jerome]

The Voice of the Violin

Tom Caton — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:39:00 +0100

The Alternatives Review anothe Inspector Montalbano Mystery

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Tom Caton — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 14:01:00 +0000

" I became what I am today at the age of twelve, one frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near a frozen creek. That was long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because it claws its way out. Looking back now, I realise I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years."

Thus begins this exquisite and beautiful first novel. We are led straight into the scene set out so cleverly on the cover of the book. Drawn into the alley with Amir, and along with him across two continents, and as many decades, as his tale unfolds. We witness the moment in which his friendship with Hassan is rent apart in the back streets of Kabul. We feel his struggle to contain a guilt that is only exorcised when he returns to meet his nemesis, and discover the seeds of his redemption.

This is an amazing book with a historic sweep, matched by real sensitivity, truth, and humanity. We had our doubts when Craig chose this, but now it's one of those books that has gone straight onto the shelf marked: Brilliant! Do not Swap, Keep for ever, and Read again.'

Introducing - The Alternatives

Tom Caton — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 13:41:00 +0000

The Alternatives

Each month we guys – yes, despite Caton’s regular efforts to persuade us otherwise, this is still a male bastion, something that Kate may well be changing in the near future - take it in turns to choose a book. Having read it, we then submit questions to focus the discussion at our monthly meeting. Part of the fun is working out who goes with which question. That’s boy’s for you!

Rather than introduce ourselves through boring old CVs, Jamie suggested we give you a taste of our last set of questions about Sophie’s World. This was Jerome’s choice. I still think he was just trying to wind us up. It worked.

“True to form, Nick had omitted the names beside each question. Caton enjoyed identifying the author of each, although it was becoming increasingly predictable. The first, he decided, was definitely Nick’s own teaser.

‘Consider the relationship between fifty year old Alberto and fourteen year old Sophie? Is there a sub text here which owes more to ’ Lolita’ than to Socrates?’

Only an established teacher would open with ‘Consider’. It was typical of Nick to assume that the rest of them would be happy to respond to an examination task.

The second question that read: ‘How does Gaarder compare with Umberto Ecco?’ would be Craig Lloyd’s. Craig was one of the three – Nick, Jamie and himself - who played for the Didsbury Beaver’s football team, and by far the most widely read. As an English teacher Nick tended to read with one eye on his role. Lots of fiction and mainly recent and modern classics. Craig, on the other hand, had an amazingly eclectic taste and of the five of them could be relied on to propose some of the most interesting and unusual reads. Caton found the remaining two: ‘Why has Jostein Gaarder used the device of a book within a book…within a book?’ and ‘Which Philosophy best represents you…and why?’ less easy to decipher. Eventually he decided that the first was Jamie aspiring to match Nick’s inquisitorial style, while the second was typical of Jerome’s mischievous probing of the psyche of this random group of men brought together through the most tenuous of connections.

The remaining question was his own, ‘How does the author keep what could have been a really boring book moving along?’ As always, he felt dissatisfied with his offering. Somehow it lacked inventiveness, and depth, but at least it would get them talking about the book itself.

Caton normally enjoyed his sessions with the Alternatives. Not least, because paradoxically they all had so much, and so little, in common. They were united by their status as unattached male city dwellers on the cusp of middle age. On the other hand – and this was the real plus – none of them worked in the same occupation. Above all, he was the only policeman. Apart from the books, their conversation spanned beer, sport, food, television and films, even art sometimes, and… women, except in Jerome’s case although, perversely, he seemed more knowledgeable about women than the rest of them put together. All of this, and a little intellectual stimulation, more often than not made for a decent night out. These days it was about as good as it got. “

[Extract from The Cleansing - Caton’s last case.]

So That’s us. Hope you find our choices interesting, one way or another. If you are ever in Manchester pop in. http://tomcaton.com