1800 046 240
9am - 10pm AEST, 7 days

Book Reviews


9781849838115

Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith

Reviewed by Geraldine Ash, Berkelouw Books Customer

  The investigative journalist, Tatiana Petrovna, falls to her death from a sixth floor apartment. Is this suicide or murder? After the death of the fabulously wealthy criminal, Grisha Grigorenko, cynical investigator Arkady Renko and his vodka-swilling partner, detective-sargeant... (continued)
The_goldfinch

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Just closed the last page on this book. I am a slow reader so have been immersed in Tartt's massive new novel for a long time, so long that I have begun to think about the story as passing through seasons. We start with the moving portrait of a boy, Theo Decker, experiencing the tragic... (continued)
9781743317310

Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas

Reviewed by Matt, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

In his latest novel, Christos Tsiolkas forgoes the stylish multi-perspective structure of his previous award-winning work The Slap to return to a more intimate, and indeed claustrophobic, focus on a single protagonist, much like his other novels Loaded and Dead Europe. Daniel Kelly, nickna... (continued)
Default_wp_20131006_010_childofvengeance_ai

Child of Vengeance by David Kirk

Reviewed by Richard McCarthy

    For those battle hardened historical readers who thrill to the clash of empires, where a violent past is brought alive through the imaginations of Bernard Cornwall, Conn Iggulden, C. J Sansom and other fine historical novelists, “Child of Vengeance” is another... (continued)
Eyrie_cover

Eyrie by Tim Winton

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

To read Tim Winton's new novel Eyrie is to be reminded of the author's sublime ability with language and insight into human hearts. It also reminded me that Winton is a storyteller who does not tie things up neatly but requires your engagement to distil the story. Tom Kee... (continued)
9780552778251

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

Perhaps nothing epitomises the paranoia prevalent in this book better than the family of the interrogator - he is not sure whether his parents are actually both blind (as they insist they are) or simply pretending to be blind because it is safer, in some way it allows them to see more clearly ... (continued)
9781408841266

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Colum McCann's new novel is intricate and ambitious. Mining the 19th and 20th century connections between Ireland and America, he animates the historical  context that embraces four generations of women whose stories are at the heart of the novel. The novel comprises three books. ... (continued)
9781742612133

The Good Life by Hugh Mackay

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Hugh Mackay's latest book, The Good Life, is unusual in that it is not a report back on the state of mind of the Australian community distilled from his social research. It is much more an appeal to that community to fundamentally reconsider the way they live, the aspirations they nurse an... (continued)
Default_15796700

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Reviewed by Karen, Berkelouw Books, Paddington

At its heart, this wonderful book is about finding your place in the world. Ifemelu and Obinze were young lovers who drifted apart when Ifemelu went to America to study. There she found herself having to think about race which was not something that needed consideration at home in Nigeria.... (continued)
9780857868725

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Patrick Ness, known for his Chaos Walking series as well as his beautiful graphic novel, A Monster Calls, has reworked the famous Japanese folklore tale, The Crane Wife to beautiful effect in this his latest novel.  One evening a crane falls into George Duncan’s garden with an arrow... (continued)
9781921922299

The Women in Black by Madeleine St John

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

I am just catching up with the delightfully acerbic writing of Madeleine St John. The Women in Black although first published in 1993 is a portrait of an earlier Sydney where women remain at work until they marry and have children, where husbands  drink after work with their mates (but on... (continued)
9781922070227

High Sobriety by Jill Stark

Reviewed by Kate, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

When February came around this year and I decided to give my body a break from the alcohol,  I was looking for some inspiration or encouragement and saw this book. Jill Stark is a senior journalist for The Age (Melbourne). Her specialty is health issues. She has won a journalistic awa... (continued)
9781926428352

Silent House by Orhan Pamuk

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

In Silent House, Orhan Pamuk, gives us a portrait of family whose complicated affairs mesh tragically with Turkey's history. Gathered in the house of Fatma (Grandmother), they come to enjoy a summer holiday by the sea.  Pamuk tells his story through five rotating first person narrativ... (continued)
Default_51jkloquddl.aa400

Hemingway's Boat by Paul Hendrickson

Reviewed by Erin

Newly available in a handy smaller format, Paul Hendrickson's biography is a surprisingly refreshing account of the larger-than-life Hemingway. Hemingway's 38-foot fishing boat Pilar saw the writer through the highs and lows of his career, providing material for the Nobel pri... (continued)
Default_9780522858587

Speechless by James Button

Reviewed by Jake, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Journalist and son of a former Federal Labor Minister, James Button reflects upon his time spent as Kevin Rudd’s speechwriter in the period leading up to his downfall from the height of Australian politics. More than an insight into the world of Australian politics, Button delves in... (continued)
Default_9780307718020

Confront and Conceal by David E. Sanger

Reviewed by Jake, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

New York Time’s journalist and author of The Inheritance, David E. Sanger delves into the covert world of cyber warfare, US Special Forces and espionage. Having written extensively for The Times on US National Security and Nuclear Proliferation, Sanger uses a career’s worth of cont... (continued)
Default_9780571290789

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

This book made me look at the future of our world and the consequences of climate change, how it combines with us and what choices we can decide to make to change our ways.   Dellarobia is a young girl who married her childhood sweetheart and had two children. She is bored and ... (continued)
Default_9780755364114

Underwater Dogs by Seth Casteel

Reviewed by Graziela, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

This book uses the very creative concept of taking pictures of dogs underwater as they chase their toys. Photographer Seth Casteel has put together a wonderful collection of photos, some hilarious, some adorable and some not so elegant, which are sure to entertain every doglover. There are aro... (continued)
Default_9781743311271

The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

Reviewed by Graziela, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

This is a debut novel from Swedish author Jonas Jonasson and has been a great success in Europe before being translated into English. This book capitvated me from the start, and didn't disappoint as it unfolded. The main character, Allan Karlsson, runs away from his nursing home on the... (continued)
Default_9780575081390

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Reviewed by Kate, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Best read  for me in 2012 was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Rothfuss has the art of telling a good story in which you lose yourself. It has been a long time since I have read a novel with such simple good storytelling. This poetically written story is told through the eyes of ... (continued)
http://berkelouw.com.au/book-reviews
berkelouw.com.au
crawl=CC-MAIN-2013-48
32976
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:CGBQ2IY2YRP6MU6AKDGGXDF3W3HVOHJZ
<urn:uuid:4e94b19c-1303-462f-adad-2906b0e087ee>
2013-12-13T09:24:11Z
54.252.97.8
sha1:C35SDTNAJ5G6G3DKJA5QMBMV62TKJOIO
<urn:uuid:09647d52-fd2f-4290-9190-de03375aa302>
http://berkelouw.com.au/book-reviews
length
response
<urn:uuid:0252d2d6-d7db-4ce9-b8f5-cef568995bca>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2013-48
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for Winter 2013
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf