Book Review: DUNBAR by Edward St. Aubyn

Dunbar

Dunbar is an old man, a former mogul, who retired and gave up his valuable shares as well as his seat on the board of trustees of his global empire. He is now in a retirement home, although a luxurious one, kept sedated, and is rendered literally helpless by his two greedy and conniving daughters. His third, a more sympathetic daughter, eventually comes to his rescue.The book is by Edward St. Aubyn, published October 24, 2017 by Hogarth.

Hogarth Press has been publishing books based on Shakespearean plays. Dunbar is based on the King Lear story. In this retelling of the King Lear play, we watch as the eighty-year -old Dunbar, now old, forgetful, and scattered, escapes from his retirement home with the help of his friend Peter, who plays the part of the unlucky Fool. Dunbar hides on the cold and snowy countryside as his daughters send people out to find him, to imprison him in an Austrian sanatorium or asylum, while they plunder his legacy and take it over finally for their own. The third and more sympathetic daughter, Florence, finds her father but the other daughters plot their revenge.

The book, set in modern times, follows King Lear quite closely. How the author adapts it to today is ingenious and the storytelling and characters remain compelling. The book concentrates on Dunbar's awakening to the beauty of the natural world, his  realization of the former cruel treatment of his daughter Florence, and to a late joy in the things in life that he finds are really meaningful. 

Five stars for an excellent reimagining of Shakespeare's play. 

Book beginning:

"We're off our meds," whispered Dunbar.

"We're off our meds/We're off our heads,"sang Peter, "we're out of our beds/ and we're off our meds!

Yesterday," he continued in a conspiratorial whisper, "We were drooling into the lapels of our terry cloth dressing gowns, but now we're off out meds! We've spat them out; we've tranquilized the aspidistras. If those fresh lilies you get sent each day..."

"When I think where they come from," growled Dunbar.

"Steady, old man."

Page 56:

Wrapped in his fur-collared overcoat, Dunbar was impervious to these meteorological threats and, as he extracted the Swiss credit card from his wallet, he seemed to enter into a kind of trance. 

I hope to read other books in the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

First Chapter: Death in the Stacks by Jenn McKinlay

Death in the Stacks #8: Library Lover's Mystery by Jenn McKinlay, November 17, 2017, courtesy of Berkley Books
... the library's big fund-raiser leaves director Lindsey Norris booked for trouble and suspicion of foul play

First chapter:
September in New England was about as perfect a season as there was on earth. The days became cooler, pumpkins ripened and colorful leaves decorated the trees like they were getting ready for a party, the last colorful gala before winter.

Lindsey Norris, director of the Briar Creek Public Library, rode her bike into work, enjoying the crisp snap to the air and the fresh smell of the briny sea as it rolled in for high tide....

 Based on the first paragraph, would you keep reading? 

I have followed the author's Library Lover's Mystery series, and enjoyed the setting and the characters. Here is my review of the second book in the series, if you are curious - Due or Die review, 

MEME: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon

Sunday Salon: The Paris Secret by Karen Swan, a review

What are you reading this week? Note: my review below may contain spoilers. 

I finished The Paris Secret by Karen Swan, November 14, 2017, courtesy of William Morrow. 
The setting reminds me of two other novels, The Paris Apartment.  and The Velvet Hours. This one, however, is not based on the true life story of the Paris apartment abandoned for seventy years and found later on to contain art, paintings, and other valuables.

In this novel, inspired by the true story but with fictional characters, fine arts expert, Flora, of London, travels to Paris to a newly discovered abandoned apartment that had been closed since over seventy years ago. She and her employer discover valuable paintings and artifacts within and plan to catalogue, valuate, and finally sell the pieces, per the request of the owners, the Vermeil family. But because of Flora's research into provenance of the paintings, which include a Renoir, the Vermeils discover unsavoury truths about their family's role during WWII, possibly as collaborators of the Reich in divesting condemned Jews of their artwork.

The novel brings up this part of WWII history that has been portrayed in books and movies - valuable art plundered and slowly being rediscovered by some of their true owners or their heirs.

I gave this a five for the ingenuous plot using true history. The added romance in the story only enhanced a good reading experience. 

Thanks to a free 30-day trial Amazon Prime membership, I have borrowed a few ebooks that I hope to read before they have to be returned : 

When I'm Gone

The Writer

 Coming Clean

When I'm Gone is a thriller, as is The Writer.
Coming Clean is a memoir by a woman whose father was an extreme hoarder. I'm finding this one quite interesting. 

I also borrowed this hard cover from the library, a novel based on Shakespeare's King Lear:

Dunbar

Dunbar is an old man, a former mogul, who retired and gave up his shares as well as his seat on the board of trustees of his empire. He is now in a retirement home, although a luxury one, kept sedated, and is rendered literally helpless by his two greedy and conniving daughters. His third, a more sympathetic daughter, evidently comes to the rescue. I only hope the book doesn't end the way King Lear did - in tragedy.  The book is by Edward St. Aubyn, published October 24, 2017 by Hogarth. 

Weatherwise, there is quite a bit of rain this weekend, and more on the way with stormy conditions tonight, Sunday. 

Keep warm and safe, everyone! And don't forget to turn back your clocks one hour!

Visit The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date, and Mailbox Monday..

Book Beginning: Written in Blood by Layton Green

Written in Blood, courtesy of author Layton Green
Publication: November 7, 2017, Seventh Street Books
Detective Joe -Preach- Everson, a prison chaplain turned police officer, tracks a literate killer of a bookstore owner in North Carolina. 

Book beginning:

The body was lying face up on a sheepskin rug, the top of the head caved in like a squashed plum, Detective Joe "Preach" Everson kneeled to view the corpse. To him, the splayed limbs suggested an uninhibited fall, rather than a careful arrangement of the body.  

Which didn't fit with the two miniature crosses, one wood and one copper, placed side by side on the slain man's chest.

Page 56:
"Just Damian, please. Grown men don't need to call each other by their last names."
The author delivered the soft rebuke with a smile. 

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

First Chapter: Edgar and Lucy by Victor Lodato

Edgar and Lucy by Victor Lodato, March 7, 2017, St. Martin's Press

"...a stunning examination of family love and betrayal. 

Eight-year-old Edgar Fini remembers nothing of the accident people still whisper about. He only knows that his father is gone, his mother has a limp, and his grandmother believes in ghosts ."

First chapter:

Chanel No. 5

Having a life meant having a story. Even at eight, Edgar knew this.

What he didn't know was his own beginning. Newborn brains were mushy. If you wanted to know how your life had started, you had to get this information from other people. 

But what if these people were liars?  

"I kept falling asleep," said Lucy. She was speaking of Edgar's birth. The boy liked this particular story, and so he made sure to roll his head in feigned boredom....

Review: "Wonder-filled and magisterial...Lodato's skill as a poet manifests itself on every page, delighting with such elegant similes and incisive descriptions…His skill as a playwright shines in every piece of dialogue…And his skill as a fiction writer displays itself in his virtuoso command of point of view. The book pushes the boundaries of beauty." - Chicago Tribune

Based on the opening of the book and the book description, would you continue reading? 

MEME: Every Tuesday Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book you are reading or will be reading soon

Sunday Salon: A Review and New Books

A review of City of Lies: Counterfeit Lady #1 by Victoria Thompson, November 7, 2017, courtesy of Berkley.

City of Lies is a new series by the author, with a most unusual main character, Elizabeth Miles, a con artist in a family of cons led by her father, whom she refers to as the Old Man. The book is set in Washington DC in the 1920s during the time that women, suffragists, were marching for the right to vote.

Elizabeth is pursued through the streets by a "mark," Oscar Thornton, an unscrupulous man who has just found out he has been conned by Elizabeth and her brother. She escapes the thugs by blending in with a group of marching suffragists, pretending to be one of them. She makes friends with well-to-do women in the movement, who want Elizabeth to stay with them in the city.  From the safety of her new friend Anna's home, Elizabeth hatches a plot to escape the scrutiny of Thornton, who is bent of vengeance.

The plot was unusual and also very informative about the history of the suffragist movement and the extent women went to in order to finally be heard. Elizabeth is a dare devil  heroine that I was willing to root for. The characters, setting, and history all make this an excellent new mystery.  My objective rating: 5.

My current read is a new arrival: The Paris Secret by Karen Swan, November 14, 2017, courtesy of William Morrow. The setting reminds me of another novel, The Paris Apartment. Fine arts expert, Flora, of London, travels to Paris to an apartment that has been closed since the war, over seventy years ago. She and her employer discover valuable paintings and artifacts. I have only just begun the book, but the art world has always been a fascinating subject.

Another new historical novel is on my list this week:

The Fire by Night by Teresa Messineo, October 3, 2017, courtesy of William Morrow Paperbacks,
is a debut novel about two American nurses who served in different countries during WWII - France and the Pacific.

I have borrowed The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne, and hope to get to this new thriller as well.

What are you reading this week?
Visit The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date, and Mailbox Monday..

Book Beginning: Solar Bones by Mike McCormack

Solar Bones by Mike McCormack, September 12, 2017, galley courtesy of Soho Press. This book is a Man Booker Prize 2017 nominee. 

On All Souls Day, the late Marcus Conway returns home. Solar Bones captures in a single relentless sentence the life and death of this rural Irish engineer, and his place in the globally interconnected 21st century. (publisher)

Book beginning:

the bell
  the bell as
  hearing the bell as
        hearing the bell as standing here
        the bell being heard standing here
        hearing it ring through the grey light of this
        morning, noon or night
        god knows
        this gray day standing here and 
        listening to this bell in the middle of the day, the middle of
the day bell, the Angelus bell in the middle of the day, ringing out
through the gray light
         to here 
          standing in the kitchen 
          hearing this bell 


It will be very interesting reading this. I think I'd read it as a poem, one long sentence, a new experience. Other book awards for Solar Bones:

Longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize
Winner of the Goldsmiths Prize
Winner of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year
An Irish Times Book Club Choice

Meme: visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.