The Recipient by Dean Mayes

01 May 2016 1 Comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Fiction Tags: , , , ,

Published: 1st May 2016Goodreads badge
Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Pages: 416
Format: ebook
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

Casey Schillinge is a vivacious young woman on the verge of making her mark on the world. While backpacking, she is struck down by a tropical disease and suffers cardiac failure. But at the eleventh hour, Casey receives a life-saving heart transplant – and a rare second chance to begin again.

Three years later, Casey has become a withdrawn shell of her former self: she is estranged from her loved ones, afraid of open spaces and rides the line between legitimate and criminal work. The worst of her troubles come in the form of violent night terrors; so frightening that she resorts to extreme measures to keep herself from sleeping. When she can take no more, she embarks on a desperate search for the source of her dreams. In so doing, she makes a shocking discovery surrounding the tragic fate of the donor whose heart now beats inside her chest. As she delves deeper into the mystery of her donor, she realises her dreams are not a figment of her imagination, but a real life nightmare.

Note: I was provided with a copy of this book by the author for review.

I was engaged with this story from the beginning; Mayes’ narration pulls you in slowly and nicely into Casey’s life and the life of those around her. He tells the story with a great varying style and intensity based on what’s happening which really helps to enhance what’s going on.

Set in Melbourne it was great to read about trams and St Kilda and all these familiar locations, reading stories set in Oz is never tiring. Maye’s makes it feel like any other place though, and if you aren’t familiar with Melbourne or even Australia it doesn’t affect the story because Mayes creates a vivid picture in your mind.

Each character is interesting and defined, while not everyone needed a full back story their placement in the story and Casey’s life felt natural and solid. You easily accept the people around her and take them on their face value about who they are as a person. Seeing their patience tested and their love and support for Casey fracture  brings them to life and seeing them try to cope with her demons tells you a lot about them and their different relationships. This is also added to by the occasional perspectives we’re given of people other than Casey.

These point of view changes are seamless and mostly brief. Mayes doesn’t dedicate chapters to different characters; instead he weaves tiny snippets and thoughts around Casey’s. These small brief moments of insight into other characters offer so much and offer a nice outside perspective to what she is experiencing. I really loved this because if was so cleverly done, it suited the story so well, but also because it was interesting to see the world outside of Casey’s viewpoint. Seeing Casey’s struggle, seeing her trying to cope was captivating on its own, but having it offset with thoughts and observations of those around her made it something greater, especially with her reluctance to divulge any information. Casey doesn’t know what she is dealing with, but she also doesn’t share what she’s dealing with either which adds another layer of complexity to the story. Even though we know about the nightmares in part, it’s fascinating to see it from the other side, with parents and doctors trying to break through to her and find out what’s haunting her.

I loved Casey in this, as terrible as it sounds I loved seeing her struggle and her anguish, I think Mayes tells her story so well you can’t help but admire even the bad stuff. Her isolation and her fears come across so well on the page and when she reaches breaking point it feels real and you totally get why she shuts herself down from the world. I loved so many of the characters, even with their flaws, I loved Scott’s devotion and Lionel’s patience, I loved her parents who try their best but can only do so much. It was wonderful seeing everyone grow and change together, for better and for worse.

Mayes has created a great story, it’s engaging and compelling, and there’s a strange mysteriousness about it without it straying too far from the contemporary fiction side, just the hint of the unknown. This is a great story because there’s so much filling it but not all of it’s important detail; it’s just everyday life filled with bobble head sasquatches and tense relationships with parents, but sometimes seemingly unimportant conversations can take on new meaning and it plays with what you think you know. I liked that not everything that happened was supposed to have meaning; it brings it down to earth and makes you remember not everything has an ulterior motive.

Having said that, while it doesn’t read like a mystery there is a mysterious element that needs solving. It’s a story of a woman who is trying to stop her nightmares any way she can and this is the only way she knows how. It’s easy to criticise Casey’s choices in this, especially once she starts following the clues, but when you realise that while those around her only have been dealing with this for a few weeks, she’s been tormented with this for three years so you understand why she wants to solve this, and for that you can forgive a lot of her actions.

There are surprises and twists in this that you really don’t expect and the thrill only heightens the closer you get to the end. Mayes takes us on Casey’s journey, through the before and the after and from start to finish it helps you understand her, sympathise with her, and want to help her. It’s a wonderful read and one that keeps you entertained and guessing all the way through.

You can purchase The Recipient via the following

Amazon

It’s Gonna Be May

01 May 2016 2 Comments

by Amy in News Tags:

As fun as having an entire month dedicated to Shakespeare was, my goodness it was hard work. I’m also now a bit lost in my plans, I have reviews that need writing, updates about Bingo and AWW that need posting. I feel like I’ve come back from a break and need to readjust. Not the case of course, but in a way Shakespeare and life took up so much of my time my plan to multitask blogwise has not come true. But I’m rectifying this and will be posting normally again soon. Even if I’m not that far ahead in my reading challenges I want to post an update just to start feeling on top of things again. I’ve got a new feature I finally got around to doing something about during Shakespeare Month. It’s been in my drafts forever and I finally did something with it so I’m excited about that.

I have a few books events coming up and some I need to write up so I will be posting those over the week, Star Wars Day is coming up again on Wednesday too which will be fun. May also means the Sydney Writers’ Festival so in a couple of weeks I will be heading to Sydney for another week of awesome bookish fun. Really, the more I think about it I’m not actually becoming less busy, but there’s some exciting things happening.

I’m also going to be doing a group read of the Bindarra Creek series with Jess from The Never Ending Bookshelf. You may have seen the multiple Facebook and Twitter posts about it. You’re free to join in with us, just head over to Jess’ post and leave a comment letting us know you’re interested.

So that’s May, I can’t believe it’s May but it kind of feels like May too. Winter is coming and the weather can’t make up its mind so there’s some good rainy and cool reading days to enjoy.

What’s So Special About Shakespeare?

29 Apr 2016 3 Comments

by Amy in Shakespeare 400th Tags: , , ,

“He was not of an age, but for all time!”
– Ben Jonson

It’s interesting to wonder why we’re all here discussing the death anniversary of a man who died 400 years ago, who was born more than 450 years ago and who was a playwright in London. He wasn’t by far the first playwright, nor was he the only playwright at the time, and he didn’t appear to do anything that differently than any one else at the time. But is this really the case?

Why are we still talking about Shakespeare and his plays, what makes him so fascinating to us? It is of course because his legacy of works is so incredible it’s hard not to admire the man who wrote them. The themes, the stories, the execution of these grand ideas about tragedy, love, fate, comedy, and the mystical are astonishing and timeless. You only have to see at how frequently he’s been remixed and redone in multiple forms over the centuries, across continents, everything from books to films to ballets.wpid-wp-1424525891884

He’s lasted because his words have been cemented in culture and every time you ‘break the ice’ or go on a ‘wild goose chase’ and claim ‘love is blind’ you are reminding the world of Shakespeare and keeping his legacy alive. The complexity of his characters and the creativity and drama of his plays are worth preserving and anyone who claims he’s stuffy and old just haven’t found the right way to experience his work or they just don’t realise how much of our culture revolves around Shakespeare and how he sneaks into everything we do, say, and see.

A session I went to at the Newcastle Writers’ Festival this year asked the question What Makes Shakespeare Special? The speaker broke down the numbers and tried to work out why he is so special. Looking at the number of plays written compared with his contemporaries Shakespeare contributed to and produced around 40. Is it his play count that makes him last? With others like Thomas Haywood claiming he wrote 220 plays then the answer’s no. Was it his command of the English language? At the time a farm labourer had a vocabulary of 300 words, and educated and literate person had 3-4000, Shakespeare had a vocabulary of 15000 words. As this session made mention, the Old Testament has 5600 words, and Milton has 8000.

As impressive as 15000 is, this does include each variation of word eg. cry, cries, cried. So does that count? Compared to other playwrights like Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson he seems to use more words, but he also had more plays. The argument can be made that proportionately he didn’t, if they wrote more plays they too would have more words.

Shakespeare vocabulary is average at best, so if it isn’t the words what is it? Something the speaker said that resonated with me was that it’s “what [Shakespeare] does with the words rather than any exceptional words”. Shakespeare uses familiar words but uses them to maximum effort. What had the greatest effect on a play was that these simple words contained so much meaning. An example used was in Twelfth Night: A line spoken by Sir Andrew Aguecheek is “I was adored once too.” This is a simple line but it opens up so much about Aguecheek as a character. It’s impactful, that is what makes Shakespeare special and why he’s lasted. He uses his words carefully and with intent. Even in things like his puns show that words were chosen carefully that bring out character and meaning to the greatest effect.
Shakespeare is also more varied, he wrote comedies, tragedies and histories. He covered a lot and explored so many topics and relatable themes. Even if you weren’t a Danish prince you could understand Hamlet’s struggle, and experience the drama in Taming of the Shrew. Every modern adaptation of a play shows these are lasting and still relevant issues that people face.

Shakespeare is special because of characters. This was deduced at this session and I agree. The flawed, complex characters are what make Shakespeare so endearing. He created the most unusual and most representative characters that people can relate to. His characters make grand speeches, there’s satire and chit chat, they’re frank and confessional but they can be rounded and real. There’s a great mixture. As the speaker noted, it isn’t about the high drama, it’s about ordinary interchanges.

I think it will be a long time before Shakespeare is forgotten about. I think as long as people keep reinventing his works, retelling his words, and drawing upon him for inspiration then Shakespeare will live on. He’s special in his unremarkableness in a way. He was just a playwright from Stratford and he became a superstar through history. He used his words to tell captivating plays and that’s it. Somehow in this simple act that dozens others were doing alongside him he’s become a historical figure of grand standing. It’s unexplainable and remarkable and something that may continue to mystify.

For 400 years since his death Shakespeare has continued to live on, and I have no doubt he will do so for centuries to become.

Shakespeare 400th OwlI didn’t reference anything really in this aside from that session but I’ve included a few links below, some that look at this more academically than I did, including another quick (4 minute) radio interview. They’re all interesting but I would have gone on forever trying to discuss it all and I quite liked the NWF session so it was my key focus. This is also my last Shakespeare post and the finale to my month long dedication. Thank you for going on this month long journey of Shakespeare with me. It was fun and informative for me and I hope it was for you as well. Or, if you blacklisted my blog for the past 30 days I hope you’ll come back come 1 May :D.

Links and Bits

Why do we still care about Shakespeare?

What’s so great about Shakespeare?

What makes Shakespeare so special?

To the Memory of…

28 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Amy in Shakespeare 400th Tags: , , , ,

“The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good – in spite of all the people who say he is very good.”
– Robert Graves

Ben Jonson was a close friend and fellow playwright with William Shakespeare who performed in many of his plays, and vice versa. After Shakespeare died and the First Folio was published, Jonson wrote an eighty line tribute which accompanied the 1623 edition. The poem is filled with praise and argues that, despite whatever private reservations he might have had, Jonson wanted to go on public record as one of Shakespeare’s greatest admirers. It’s a great poem and one that reminds us that in his lifetime Shakespeare had many friends and fellow actors and playwrights who knew and respected him.

To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare
By Ben Jonson
To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;
While I confess thy writings to be such
As neither man nor muse can praise too much;
‘Tis true, and all men’s suffrage. But these ways
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise;
For seeliest ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but echoes right;
Or blind affection, which doth ne’er advance
The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance;
Or crafty malice might pretend this praise,
And think to ruin, where it seem’d to raise.
These are, as some infamous bawd or whore
Should praise a matron; what could hurt her more?
But thou art proof against them, and indeed,
Above th‘ ill fortune of them, or the need.
I therefore will begin. Soul of the age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further, to make thee a room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still while thy book doth live
And we have wits to read and praise to give.
That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses,
I mean with great, but disproportion’d Muses,
For if I thought my judgment were of years,
I should commit thee surely with thy peers,
And tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine,
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe’s mighty line.
And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,
From thence to honour thee, I would not seek
For names; but call forth thund’ring Aeschylus,
Euripides and Sophocles to us;
Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,
To life again, to hear thy buskin tread,
And shake a stage; or, when thy socks were on,
Leave thee alone for the comparison
Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.
Tri’umph, my Britain, thou hast one to show
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm!
Nature herself was proud of his designs
And joy’d to wear the dressing of his lines,
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit.
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please,
But antiquated and deserted lie,
As they were not of Nature’s family.
Yet must I not give Nature all: thy art,
My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet’s matter nature be,
His art doth give the fashion; and, that he
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat,
(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat
Upon the Muses’ anvil; turn the same
(And himself with it) that he thinks to frame,
Or, for the laurel, he may gain a scorn;
For a good poet’s made, as well as born;
And such wert thou. Look how the father’s face
Lives in his issue, even so the race
Of Shakespeare’s mind and manners brightly shines
In his well-turned, and true-filed lines;
In each of which he seems to shake a lance,
As brandish’d at the eyes of ignorance.
Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appear,
And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,
That so did take Eliza and our James!
But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere
Advanc’d, and made a constellation there!
Shine forth, thou star of poets, and with rage
Or influence, chide or cheer the drooping stage;
Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourn’d like night,
And despairs day, but for thy volume’s light.

Even More Shakespeare Facts!

27 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Amy in Shakespeare 400th Tags: , , , ,

“But my God, how beautiful Shakespeare is, who else is as mysterious as he is; his language and method are like a brush trembling with excitement and ecstasy.”
– Vincent van Gogh

welcome-shakespeare-quiz-and-activitiesAs my  Shakespeare Month is drawing to a close it’s time for the final installment of Shakespeare Fun Facts. All my sources are included below and there are still so many more I didn’t include! If you look hard enough there is so much to discover.

1. According to Shakespeare professor Louis Marder, “Shakespeare was so facile in employing words that he was able to use over 7,000 of them – more than occur in the whole King James Version of the Bible – only once and never again.”

2. Some scholars have maintained that Shakespeare did not write the plays attributed to him, with at least fifty writers having been suggested as the “real” author. However, the evidence for Shakespeare’s having written the plays is very strong.

3. The American President Abraham Lincoln was a great lover of Shakespeare’s plays and frequently recited from them to his friends. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth was a famous Shakespearean actor.

4. ‘William Shakespeare’ is an anagram of ‘I am a weakish speller’.

5. The first ever amateur performance of a Shakespeare play took place in 1623. A handwritten manuscript survives of an adaptation of the two parts of Henry IV, which was performed by a household in Pluckley in Kent. Sir Edward Dering, the amateur theatre enthusiast who commissioned it was the first person we know of to buy a First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays when it hit the bookstalls in 1623.

6. In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain describes how two swindlers posing as English actors on their way down the Mississippi stage a night of Shakespeare in the court house of a one-horse town in Arkansas. When the audience drift away before the end, one of them declares: “Arkansas lunkheads couldn’t come up to Shakespeare! “

7. Shakespeare followed the Gold Rush west in the 1840s. There are stories of pioneer companies of actors playing among the ore-rich gulches, to mining camps full of desperados and sharpers of all nations.

8. Fellow playwright Ben Jonson called Shakespeare ‘Our Star of Poets’: “Take him and cut him out in little stars/And he will make the face of heaven so fine,/ That all the world will be in love with night”. And though there are satellites named after Shakespeare characters, there is no star named after Shakespeare himself.

9. The most popular name from a Shakespeare play used today is Olivia. He was also the first to use this spelling.

10. Shakespeare took phrases from other languages. For instance, ‘fat paunches make lean pates’ from Love’s Labour’s Lost was originally a Greek and Latin proverb by St Jerome.

11. The word ‘love’ appears 2,191 times in the complete works

12. Legend has it that at the tender age of eleven, William watched the pageantry associated with Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Kenilworth Castle near Stratford and later recreated this scene many times in his plays.

13. Unlike most famous artists of his time, the Bard did not die in poverty. When he died, his will contained several large holdings of land.

14. Shakespeare has been credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with introducing almost 3,000 words to the English language.

Sources

Absolute Shakespeare

No Sweat Shakespeare

The Telegraph

British Council

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