What I'm Reading Right Now

graham-norton-show-1

IMG_7501

Image

The Holding The holding is set in the small sleepy town in Dunen, County Cork, Republic of Ireland.  It's a book about a typical Irish town, where everything is peaceful and monotonous.  All is well, until a body is found in a building site, dragging up long forgotten memories and scandal.  It's a chance for the towns least respected Garda to finally show the town what he's made of.  Uncovering love triangles and concealed heartbreak, Graham Nortons book is a easy read, and gives you a gentle feel for Irish Culture. I've always loved reading, mainly American literature and romance novels.  Ironically I hate Irish Literature, this may seem extremely odd, considering I am Iris, but it has never had the same feeling or intrigued me the way American Literature does. Irish Literature was too close to home, I recognised too much of the writing as being formiluar and uninteresting.  The same principle applied for poetry.  I love English and American poetry, but when it came to reading anything written by Seamus Heaney or John Montague, I didn't attempt to enjoy or appreciate any of their beautifully orchestrated words.  Now, as I've matured, so has my taste in literature,. I’ve found a new appreciation that may be because of The Holding.

I came across the holding when I was scrolling through twitter and Graham Norton had posted about his new book.  I've always had the impression that Graham was extremely well educated, articulated and funny.  Therefore, I assumed his book would be the same.  So, I took myself off to Easons on a hunt for his book.  I read the blur, I didn't hate the story line, but I didn't love it either.  The blur didn't seem thrilling, but it did intrigue me enough to buy the book.  I think my intrigue and desire to read his book was motivated primarily by getting to know Graham Norton as a writer.  I wanted to see if his personality was reflected in his writing.

I was so intrigued about his book that I stopped reading Moby Dick and started on The Holding.  The book was quick paced and thrilling, and the familiarity of Irish Culture made me warm to the characters and the book.  The characters were stereotypical of Irish People, which was enjoyable endearing.  While reading the book I couldn't help but laugh, because the town he described so vividly, reflected my own small town in Derry.  Coming from a small town myself, I felt Graham captured the essence of small towns in Ireland, and maybe small towns universally.  Everyone knows everyone, there is historical gossip that the whole town knows.  Each town has distinctive well know characters that are involved in everything, like the car boot sales or the charity events.  It was very universal, which added a sweetness, warmth and a feeling of community.

Themes The book had some typical themes like death, deceit and love.  These are the themes that I would call the back bones of a novel.  Although it's not surprising that Graham incorporated these themes into his novels.  It takes nothing away from the likability of the book.  Especially when all my favourite books have at least one of these themes incorporated into their plot.  The book does have some darkness and deals with several serious issues including: rape, treachery and adultery.  It grabs the readers attentions, chapters ending on cliff hangers, it entices your curiosity and the book has a sense of realism.  In most fiction novels, we as readers get our ambitions fed.  We want relationships to work and lovers to end up together.  In Graham's novel we get a more realistic approach, with characters not quite getting their happy endings.   Character The Characters in the book aren't very complex and are simply written.  The majority of his Characters are very one dimential, except for the Ross sisters.  Graham adds an air of mystery to their characters which draws the reader in.  Yet, when the novel concludes I don't feel satisfied with what he has allowed us to know about these sisters.  Some readers may find this enjoyable, but I would have preferred more access to them, so that I could become more invested in their characters .  The way in which the characters were written, I don't t feel like I know them fully.  For me personally I fall in love with characters,I fell good characters are the driving force behind a plot.

Style

The style of writing is very simplistic, the language isn't complex, the syntax is basic, and he doesn't try to immerse the whole book in Irish Dialect.  It runs smoothly and I think the book would be suitable and enjoyable for young adults aged 17 and above.  The book does have some sexual references and does incorporate a rape scene.  But it isn't written in great detail and it isn't tacky or over descriptive.  

Would I recommend? Yes, the book is short sweet and engaging.  There is a very strong Irish feel to the novel, which allows to to immerse yourself into the culture of Ireland.  It doesn't over power you with all things Irish.  Graham has nicely interviewed Irish dialect, idioms and religion so that the book gives you a fell for life in Ireland.  The book was short and quick to read, it's a nice bed time read.  Graham has written a new book called, "A Keeper" due to hit stores on the 04/10/2018.  It's available to pre-order on seasons website. I look forward to reading his new book, and see how this novel differs from The Holding, and to see how Graham has developed as a writer.