Category Archives: Novel

“Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy” by John le Carré

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

As the later “A Most Wanted Man”, a slow-burning ascent, but different, and superior, in its significantly bathetic climax. There’s no real surprise when we see the traitor with Polyakov (a point made tellingly in the recent film), and the … Continue reading →

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“On the Road” by Jack Kerouac

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A sustained poem, genuinely great in that it combines a modern(ist) absence of overall narrative, and a concentration on the modern, young, world, with a profound literary resonance both explicit (references to e.g. Le Grand Meaulnes & Proust), and implicit, … Continue reading →

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“The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ”, by Philip Pullman

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A bit of a surprise. Some disappointingnesses: why does Pullman “explain” the miracles (e.g. the Feeding of the Five Thousand a result of sudden sharing, and the Resurrection… Well, I’ll try and get on to that later)? I did Scripture … Continue reading →

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“Spies of the Balkans” by Alan Furst

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

[SPOILER ALERT] Furst’s hero Zannis is hard-working, principled, hunky, honest, pragmatic, successful, respected by Greek and foreigner, and human, yet (significant to our final inability to fuse with him) unflawed. I think it’s the fact that he actually gets away … Continue reading →

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“Imperium”, by Robert Harris

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

Not a novel. No characterisation, just a story reasonably well told. But the crux is that Harris doesn’t appear to be trying to make me think, or to tell me anything. He is simply putting into narrative form a story … Continue reading →

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“A Most Wanted Man” by John Le Carré

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A 2009 response to the “war on terror”, set in Hamburg amidst the machinations of German, British and American intelligence services. A very good novel – exciting plot, and truly credible and sympathetic characters: makes you grab it at every … Continue reading →

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“On Chesil Beach”, by Ian McEwan

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

A meditation on Hardy, Forster and Larkin, with all McEwan’s levers in full working order: newly-weds, one called Florence [Forster], their honeymoon in Dorset ending (sort-of) tragically [Hardy], and the main tension being that pre-60s sexual repression destructively and messily … Continue reading →

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“The Go-Between” and “Where Angels Fear to Tread”

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

Leo Colston is, like Steerpike, Mole and Charles Ryder, a middle-class observer of the English aristocrat in 20th-century decline. Of the three, Mole remains a naïve observer, whereas the other two follow the contemporary developments in quantum physics by causing, … Continue reading →

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