Anne Robinson

Advantages: Honest, heartfelt, self-lacerating, courageous
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit drawn out at times

...Well, it's taken ciao about a week to get back to me on being allowed to post this review so it's now a good couple of weeks since I read it but it's not the type of book that you forget as soon as you've finished reading it so it won't be a problem. As you might expect, Anne Robinson starts right at the beginning of her life. She describes her childhood in a way that makes you feel as though you actually shared it. Of course, we'd expect no less from a woman whose whole life has revolved around writing and journalism. Her mother was a shrewd business woman and tried as hard as she could to pass on all her knowledge to her children - especially Anne. She owned a chicken stall in Bootle, Liverpool and worked all hours of the day bargaining to make more money. Her mother believed so strongly that men were utterly incompetent that Anne... Read review

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Advantages: Clever and original ideas.
Disadvantages: Complex, dense language, difficult to read, most reviews much too long

...Several days ago I met with my book group to discuss our latest read, A Perfect Vacuum which was published by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) in 1971 and translated into English by Michael Kandel. I’d never heard of Lem when this book was picked but have since discovered that he is the most sold Science Fiction writer for works originally written in a non-English language. His best known work is that of ‘Solaris’ which helped make Lem the most successful Polish author ever and today his work has been translated into 42 languages. Now, I don’t read Science Fiction. I simply don’t generally like it and I couldn’t even finish The Lord of the Rings. But one of the rules of our group is to read things we usually wouldn’t and anyway I didn’t have a lot of choice Additionally, book group member, Ann, who selected this and who... Read review

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Advantages: An elegant and (for the author) short book: a good introduction to Robinson's work
Disadvantages: Some of the science won't be to everyone's taste

...This novel is set in a future space-going society on the planet Mars, and is a companion volume to Robinson's Mars Trilogy. It is narrated by three different characters, one after the other in chronological order. This has enabled Robinson to tell a story of memory, evidence and history through different perspectives, producing an intricate and gripping read. The background of deep space and the freezing, alien planet Mars, and partway through the novel the mysterious Icehenge, is skilfully conveyed, and is the context for the all-too-human behaviour and politics of the characters. Robinson doesn't sentimentalise about the consequences of war and arrogance - but he isn't pessimistic, and often his writing is interspersed with humour. Science is the Achille's heel for a lot of the Sci-fi I've encountered, and one of the reasons I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful