This week's book reviews in brief
Nothing sells books like controversy, and Nutting struck gold with her first novel, Tampa, which has been banned by several shops in the US due to its sexual content.
The central character is Celeste Price, who could have any man, but is only interested in 14-year-old boys, so trains as an eighth-grade teacher. The sexual content is ramped — Nutting says to challenge perceptions. The novel is inspired by Florida teacher, Debra Lafave, who, aged 23, had an affair with a 14-year-old pupil. Lafave avoided jail, perhaps because she was a woman — and a pretty one. Can a woman, a beauty, be a predator? Does society fail to see underage boys as victims? These are the themes that Nutting, who went to school with Lafave, explores, but Celeste has no redeeming qualities and the sex-talk grows dull quickly. The suggestive cover adds to the impression the book is about selling sex.
Twins Viola and Isolte have a seemingly idyllic childhood — albeit one blighted by the chaos that travels in the wake of their mother, who has taken them from a commune to a cottage in the Suffolk forests in the hope of a more normal life. We meet them in 1987, when Isolte is slaving away as a magazine journalist and is in a flourishing relationship, while Viola is wasting away, hospitalised for anorexia.
In a series of flashbacks, we slowly learn how their meeting of another set of twins, John and Michael, would come to trigger tragic events.
Isolte revisits Suffolk in a bid to seek closure and help heal the wounds that led to her sister’s illness.
Sarginson brings to life the almost tangible bond between twins, and the competitiveness that divides them. Despite the hazy summer days of their youth, a sense of darkness lingers throughout.
A slow-burner, but Sarginson mostly succeeds in sustaining the mystery — though the shift between past and present can jar.
The second book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Tinkers, Enon centres around Charlie Crosby, grandson of George, the main character from Harding’s first novel.
We meet Charlie in the year following the death of his only daughter, Kate, in a cycling accident in the village he grew up in and adores — Enon.
In the aftermath of her death, Charlie’s marriage breaks down and as his grief spirals out of control he develops a drug addiction. He becomes a hermit and spends his nights wandering the village and burgling people’s houses, causing much of the village to hate him and destroying the place he once loved.
This is a harrowing tale and a painfully honest representation of mourning the loss of a loved one. It is well balanced. Not by any means a book to lift the spirits, but a compulsive read.
In Ostrich, Edinburgh festival playwright Matt Greene tells the story of Alex, a 13-year-old schoolboy who is juggling homework with regular epileptic seizures.
On top of that, there’s also the possibility that his parents might be splitting up, suspicions brought about by the observations of his first female friend Chloe (a platonic relationship), whose own parents divorced.
When Alex isn’t in hospital having a scan or experiencing yet another seizure, he spends his time playing detective with Chloe. The pair’s aim is to work out whether his mum is aware of her husband’s sordid secret, and if she is simply hiding her knowledge in order to protect her unwell son.
But as Alex follows his friend’s lead and delves deeper into his parents’ personal affairs, things are not as they seem. The only flaw with Ostrich is that sometimes Alex’s inner thoughts stray off an original point.
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