Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. This week I’ve selected three from the last pages of my Kindle (meaning they’ve been there for years!) – I have no idea how I came across any of them.
Dublinesque by Enrique Vila-Matas
Summary: A retired literary agent pulls together a bunch of authors and they visit graves in Dublin that have literary significance. He’s also being shadowed by a mysterious man who looks exactly like Samuel Beckett.
I’m thinking: No.
From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón
Summary: Iceland, 1635. A healer has been condemned to exile for heretical conduct. On a barren island, he recalls his exorcism of a walking corpse; the massacre of Basque whalers at the hands of local villagers; and the deaths of his children.
I’m thinking: No. I’m sure this is well written but it’s not my cup of tea.
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
Summary: Hans, a Dutch banker, finds himself marooned among the strange occupants of a hotel in New York. He meets a charismatic Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, who introduces him to the ‘vibrant New York subculture of cricket’.
I’m thinking: No. There’s an interesting hook to start but I suspect at its heart, it’s a middle-age-man talking about cricket…
I enjoyed Netherland when I read it but now couldn’t tell you much about it. Not much help!
I read the sample and it was okay. Then I checked Goodreads and the main comment was ‘too much cricket’. I don’t mind cricket but I’m not reading novels about it (my limit was the fab cricket scene in Jasper Jones).
I love Sjon’s writing but I’ve not read this one and it sounds brutal. I’m not surprised you decided no. I’ll give it a try when I feel up to all that death and destruction!
So where should I start with Sjon?
The Blue Fox is really beautiful and strange. That was the first of his I read and I was so struck by it.