The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - by John Boyne

This might be an interesting novel to read alongside 'Night'. Again, it centres on Auschwitz but takes the nine year old son of the commandant as its subject. Writing from his naive point of view is a neat way of conveying the incredulity we, perhaps, feel when we read about the holocaust and its horrors.

The focus of the novel is very narrow and it doesn't deal with the wider historical picture (except implicitly) but that gives it a poignant quality and the ending is both shocking and very sad.

A major film of the novel is currently shooting so it would be good to read it before that comes out.

On Beauty

I just finished (in a manner of speaking) 'On Beauty' by Zadie Smith.
It was extremely well written, and Smith has a real talent for getting inside the heads of her characters and articulating their thoughts very eloquently. The language was itself very beautiful, despite the sordidness of much of the plot. However, at times I found it a bit too wordy, and started switching off slightly... The action centres around a very academic group of people and they often express themselves in rather incomprehensible ways. Howard Belsey is a lecturer at Wellington university and, having cheated on his wife, he tries explaining to her, using his formal, academic language. I have real sympathy for Kiki Belsey who berates him for this; Howard frustrated and irritated me from start to finish, making it hard for me to even read the book at points, as his character irritated me too much!
owever, it was a great read. I must admit I didn't read it properly all the way to the end, as I lost patience with Howard, so I skimmed the last ten or so pages, to see what happened (I'm hanging my head in shame, no worries.).
It was, however, a very good read and I particularly enjoyed her discussion of beauty and it's place in the world today. I hope to read it again one day, when I'm more patient with fictional characters!

Night by Elie Wiesel

Night is a great book which tells the story of a young boy's imprisonment in Auschwitz. It is very short but the story is gripping. He describes, for example, the march he and the other prisoners were forced to make in graphic detail. It makes you think a lot about how brave some people can be even when things are really terrible.

Welcome

Welcome to the Clayesmore Book Blog!
The aim of the blog is to allow you to share your thoughts and ideas about books you have read and enjoyed.
Try to use the title of the book as the title of each new posting. That way, other people who have also read the book will be able to join your discussion easily.