ggggareth@abctales.com

Suzanne Vega is a well-known singer songwriter, and many of her lyrics are - unsurprisingly - present in this book. But what makes this book more than a light-weight stocking filler is the lyrics' positioning adjacent to her poetry. Through this comparison it is possible to view Vega's treatment of similar subject matter in two forms - in some cases poetry from a teenage Suzanne Vega is printed right next to a recent song, showing evidence that she has returned to the same subjects over and over.
As well as being a fascinating historical artifact, this book contains some fantastic prose pieces - which demonstrate that if Vega was not musical she could have had a career as a novelist. An early extract from her diary, about a chance meeting with a stranger, puts me in mind of the writing of Raymond Carver.
If I have a gripe about this book, it's that there isn't enough in it. The song lyrics, while deserving of their place, are afforded way too much space.

I loved the book, but I think I would have loved it just as much if it was half the length.

It's not often that a book changes the way you think about something - especially something so familiar. Therefore, what Peter Ho Davies has done in "The Welsh Girl" is remarkable, especially considering it's a debut novel.
It's not easy to accommodate the cosy, patriotic view of war portrayed in a thousand Hollywood blockbusters alongside this more torrid account. There is no "Great Escape" heroism here - just scared prisoners, mere boys, branded by themselves and others as cowards for surrendering; convincing themselves they would have preferred death, but secretly knowing that (given the opportunity) they would do exactly the same again.
The multi-faceted plot - a young farmer's daughter, a German prisoner and a Jewish intelligence officer - is elegantly interwoven and never descends into a complicated quagmire.
There are many parallels between the different plot strands - for example, Esther is motherless, Karsten is fatherless (despite coming from the Fatherland, he ironically muses), and both blame these losses for their feeling adrift in life; both characters feel trapped, physically and metaphorically, and both try to deal with their respective confinements as best they can.
This is a BIG book, full of BIG themes, but at its heart it's a love story. It's even tempting to view the solypsistic rape scene as an allagory of the English rape of Wales - but I won't!

Challenging, infuriating, and very funny.
McGrath is a master of the unreliable narrator.
This reads like a short story, and as a result, the narration feels a bit claustrophobic when filled out to novel length. If there is one thing I would find fault with, it's that the unreliable narration means by the end I'm still not 100% sure I know what the hell has happened. I still have more questions than answers, and I've read it 4 times!

I thought this started really well, but I found I got a bit bored as it went on. I did enjoy it, but I'm glad it wasn't any longer.
I liked the central idea of a auctioneer finding something interesting and turning amateur detective, but I struggled to believe in Rilke's motivation to carry on against the odds. If it was me I'd have given up, or just gone to the police!

Agreed!
It's like someone's taken a snapshot of everyday life in my workplace and slapped a book cover on it.

I agree with Avocatore about the diary bits, but this is a hugely enjoyable read. Collins comes across as a thoroughly likeable person.

I think historical fiction IS for me. Will I still like it?

"Struggling", to me, suggests the opposite of what you describe. What happens with those weighty tomes you get bogged down in for months (Don DeLillo, Thackery, et al). If a crap book only represents a brief period in my life then I count that as a blessing!

Just finished reading this book and, although it's very good, it's not a patch on "The Woman In Black". The trouble is, I can't work out WHY it's not as good.
The suspense and terror doesn't seem as immediate, which I think is because the action takes place over a longer period, and in numerous locations.
If anyone else has read this book and has an opinion to share, I'd be grateful.