Prophet song (by Paul Lynch)

(Amazon UK link)

I had no idea what to expect when I started to read ‘Prophet song’ by Paul Lynch. It was the book allocated for this month’s local reading group, and I had downloaded it on my Kindle back in May when it was on special offer for just 99 pence. I vaguely knew that it was a dystopian novel, which is not my favourite genre. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by other dystopian books such as ‘The stranding’, which I read a few months ago. 

‘Prophet song’ won the Booker prize in 2023, and the Kindle edition starts with a lot of very positive reviews. It takes several pages before the actual book begins. It opens with a woman called Eilish looking out into the dark, then finding two policemen on her doorstep, demanding to interview her husband. 

I found it very confusing because there is minimal punctuation, strange uses of words, and no paragraph endings. I wondered if this was an error in the first chapter, or perhaps a Kindle formatting problem. Apparently it was deliberate; it’s a style that continues through the whole book. It makes it all very difficult to read, particularly the total lack of quotation marks, or new lines for different speakers. Any time there was dialogue, I gave up trying to work out who was talking, and found that it didn’t seem to matter much.

It’s the kind of book I could easily have abandoned after the first chapter or two. Wading through rather pretentious prose with no punctuation is not an easy task. There are, as others in the group pointed out, some nice uses of metaphor or unusual and visual ways of expressing things. But they are hard to spot or appreciate with such a bizarre style of writing. There are other unusual uses of language that felt as if the author was talking down, refusing to use normal words. 

As for the story: I think the idea behind it was an excellent one. The author has set the characters in a dystopian, totalitarian Ireland, with situations all too similar to those experienced by many in developing countries around the world. Having heard accounts from asylum seekers and refugees from a variety of Asian and African countries, I can see that the events are entirely believable. Setting them in a European country (albeit one which has had its share of horrendous political situations in the past) is a good way of making the situations feel more realistic and personal to people living comfortable lives in the western world. 

At least, it would be a good way if the book were easier to read, and if the characters were more developed. Eilish remains the viewpoint character for most of the book, but we never really learn much about her. She has four children: Mark who is 17, Molly who is a year or two younger, Bailey who is 12, and baby Ben. Her husband Larry is a teacher, and also a keen union representative. And that’s where the tension starts: the country has been taken over by a harsh, authoritarian regime who don’t want any dissenters. 

There’s no background explaining why this government has taken over, and that didn’t matter to me, although others in the group were mildly curious. Given the writing style, it would have been hard to give any kind of flashback or back story. Everything happens in the present, with little elaboration. 

Life gets harder and harder for Eilish. Her son Mark is in danger of being conscripted into the army, so she tries to get him over the border to a new school. Mark wants to enlist as a rebel. He moves away, and we never really find out what happens to him. Eilish’s sister lives in Canada, and wants them to get out, but Eilish is determined to stay. She doesn’t believe the problems can go on forever, and she is responsible for her elderly father, who is suffering the beginnings of dementia. She is also convinced that her husband and son will return one day, and hates the thought of them finding an empty house…

Things get worse and worse. It’s a grim story, with tragedies unfolding around them. These events reflect what is happening currently in other countries, but make extremely unpleasant reading. The ending of the book is depressing, too, with a sort of desperate hope, but no real conclusion. 

Six of us met to discuss the book. One person in our reading group thought it was an excellent and moving novel. One person thought it was brilliantly written, but that some of it was horrific and disturbing. Two of us thought it was turgid and affected, and only finished it because of the potential discussion. We found skimming was easier than trying to figure out what was actually said. Two people didn’t get beyond the first couple of chapters as the writing style was so awkward, and the story too depressing.

I wouldn’t, personally, recommend it at all. But evidently I’m in the minority when I look at reviews elsewhere, and the Booker prize judges evidently thought it extremely worthwhile. So don’t take my word for it, necessarily. If you can get beyond the bizarre style, and don’t mind a book that gets increasingly more miserable, then it’s probably a worthy, if depressing read. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews

The stranding (by Kate Sawyer)

(Amazon UK link)

I hadn’t heard of Kate Sawyer, and most likely would not have chosen to read her book ‘The Stranding’, as I’m not a huge fan of dystopian fiction. But it was chosen for this month’s book club read. I downloaded it for my Kindle a few months ago, as it was on special offer, and started reading it a few days ago.

I was hooked almost immediately. There’s a prologue, with two people lying in the sand talking about ‘Before’. It’s not immediately obvious what is going on, and I went back and re-read the prologue after I’d finished the book. It made more sense then. I’m not sure why it was there at all, as it didn’t really add anything; nor did it give much of a hint as to what was coming, since that becomes clear very quickly.

It’s a story with two time-lines. The first one - the ‘now’ story - follows a woman in her thirties called Ruth who spots a beached whale. She’s desperate to try to save it, and can’t understand why nobody else is around. She’s watched by a man called Nik, a photographer, who points out that throwing cupfuls of sea water won’t make any difference; the whale is dying, and she can’t save it.

And anyway, they’re all going to die, before long… 

Then the action moves back a year or so, when Ruth is having an affair with a married man called Alex. She isn’t quite sure why she’s keeping it a secret not just from her parents (who are likeable people, if somewhat over-protective) but from her closest friend Fran. She and Fran have shared everything with each other for years, and Ruth knows that, the longer she puts it off, the harder she’s going to find it. Particularly when Alex decides to leave his wife and move in with Ruth. 

And then we’re back to the beach. Ruth and Nik talk briefly, and are aware that something catastrophic is about to happen. They decide to see if they can take refuge, somehow, inside the dead whale’s mouth, and they make it just in time. It sounds horrendous, but the apocalyptic blast is worse, destroying everything in the open air. 

The action moves to and fro, alternating the past and the present, and although I thought that would be confusing, it really isn’t. Ruth is quite a self-centered person, and somewhat promiscuous too; yet she’s also mostly kind and caring, and passionate about whales. It’s not clear for some time why she’s in New Zealand at the start of the book, nor what happened to her family and friends in the UK…

It’s cleverly done, with powerful, descriptive writing that takes the reader right into the situation. The contrast between the two parts of the story is marked; it’s never made clear why this apocalypse happens, or even what it consists of. But Nik is worried about radioactivity, so it’s evidently some kind of nuclear explosion. The author doesn’t get into politics at all, reflected in Ruth’s determination to avoid news on TV or the Internet for the period when she’s still in the UK. Evidently people are concerned that something terrible is going to happen, but we never learn who the perpetrators are, or what are the reasons for it. 

The scenes as Ruth and Nik try to survive their first months after this holocaust are reminiscent of stone age stories of hunter/gatherers. However the situation is rather different: they can ‘scavenge’ from burned-out supermarkets and elsewhere. But they have to construct shelter, and try to work out how to attract any possible rescue ships or satellites. They develop all kinds of new skills, and their priorities are very different. As they reflect back on their former lives ‘before’, they inevitably have many regrets; they also grow and develop as people.

In one sense there’s not a whole lot of plot, and what there is seems very unlikely. But somehow that doesn’t matter. I liked discovering how Ruth came to be travelling across the world rather than living in the UK, surrounded by friends and an apparently caring man. And I appreciated the way that the ‘past’ story moves forward to the beginning of the ‘present’ one, although there are no real surprises or twists. 

It’s very thought-provoking, making me think about what I take for granted, and how difficult it would be to live in a world with almost nothing. And also a tad worrying, although I think (and hope!) the likelihood of this kind of gradual nuclear destruction is low. I doubt if I’ll read this again, but am very glad it was chosen and look forward to discussing it. 

There’s some ‘adult’ content, though nothing too explicit, and a bit of bad language, but I was able to gloss over it as I was so eager to keep reading.

Recommended if you like this kind of book, or are looking for something very different. It’s a very impressive debut novel. No longer on special offer for the Kindle, so the link above is to the paperback version. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews

Fahrenheit 451 (by Ray Bradbury)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve seen Ray Bradbury’s novel ‘Fahrenheit 451’ recommended on various book lists, and was aware of the rough premise of the book. It's set in a dystopian world where books are illegal, and people burn them. Apparently the title of the book is the temperature at which books start burning. However it’s not a book I would have chosen to read… until it was allocated for this month’s reading group.

I did order a copy from an online shop but the order failed to arrive and I couldn’t easily find the book locally. So I downloaded it for my Kindle. And what an interesting - and somewhat prophetic - book it turned out to be.

Guy Montag is the main protagonist, known mostly by his surname. He’s employed as a ‘fireman’, but in this world - written in 1953, set in the future - firemen don’t prevent fires. They initiate them, when anyone reports a library or hoard of books. Buildings are all fireproof, but when burning books, the rest of the contents of the house is burned too.

It’s an unthinking kind of job, one which Montag seems always to have done. He follows the same route each day, hangs out with the same guys, goes home to his wife Mildred, and goes to sleep (in a separate bed). He and Mildred appear to have almost no communication; she spends her days watching her three ‘walls’ where she watches people she cares about - today we would think of this as wall-sized flat-screen TVs, showing endless soaps. This is rather a remarkable prediction of future life for a novel written in the early days of TV when the appliances were bulky with tiny screens, and colour technology was only just beginning in the US.

But two things happen: Montag meets a young woman who has recently moved to the neighbourhood, and she asks some pointed questions. And his wife, he discovers, has taken too many sleeping pills. In the course of calling emergency medical support he starts to question his existence, the society he lives in, and why books are considered so dangerous.

That’s just the start of a story which is fast-paced, exciting, and somewhat scary. That’s not so much in the events themselves, although towards the end there’s a tense and lengthy chase that could end badly. It’s more in the author’s observations, and the idea that technology will cause people not just to ignore books, but to distrust them, and to outlaw anyone who likes to read or quote from books. The point is made that it’s not just books that have value - music, or even old films are seen as positive. But the possibility that endless, mindless entertainment could take over people’s lives is a reality in much of the west today.

Another concern that runs through the book is the threat of war. There’s no indication as to who the aggressors might be, or what form the war might take. I assume that was deliberate. We don’t hear anything about the world outside of the United States, or whether book-burning is the norm everywhere. Nor do we learn why there might be a war. But, again, it’s all too real in a world where war can erupt with very little warning, and where the threat of a nuclear holocaust is still a horrible possibility.

I’m glad I read the book. Although I doubt if I’ll read it again, I liked it rather more than the (two or three) other classic dystopian books I have read - such as ‘1984’ which I thought was very unpleasant. But despite the uncannily accurate predictions about some of today’s technology, there’s much that’s dated including inherent sexism: it’s all men who work as firemen, women who stay at home watching their wall-sized TVs and gossipping. And there’s really no character development, other than in Montag himself.

A lot of questions are left unanswered at the ending. It’s dramatic and conclusive, although it’s evidently meant to be positive, in a ‘remnant’ kind of way.More than once, the style and the thought-provoking questions raised reminded me of the very different dystopian book, published only a couple of years ago and written by my father, ‘The Finneal Solution’.

I don’t suppose I’ll read this book again, but I’m glad it was allocated to the book group, and look forward to the discussion. I thought the pace excellent, the writing good, and the concept intriguing. As a book-lover (and hoarder) myself, I was certainly in sympathy with the idea of books - or, at least, their contents - having immense importance. Definitely worth reading once.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews

The Finneal Solution (by Alan M Bold)

(Amazon UK link)

This is a bit of an unusual review, in that it’s a brand new book, only published a few days ago, but I have been reading it - or bits of it - for several years. That’s because it was written by my father, Alan M Bold. We helped him to self-publish his autobiography, ‘Scenes from the life of a lucky man’ a couple of years ago, and have just done the same for ‘The Finneal Solution’.

This is not the kind of book I would normally read. It’s a kind of medical thriller set perhaps a decade or so in the future, based in the UK. The idea is that, after the reign of the current monarch, the country decides to have an elected president rather than a royal figurehead as head of state. And the elected president is a businessman who has not previously been in politics.

That might sound like something that already happened in another, rather larger country which never had a monarch anywhere… but this president, Sir Alexander Pritchard, is a respected academic. He is very intelligent and outspoken, and everyone believes him to be ‘a man of his word’. Not everyone likes him, and some of his proposed laws are draconian. However, he insists that he respects the opinions of the people. So every new law, major or minor, is put to the public vote. Not in a time-consuming paper referendum each time, but with simple (monitored, and apparently fool-proof) clicks of mobile phones.

The main character of the book, who narrates most of the story, is a young and idealistic doctor called Maurice Barkham. He is in his thirties, already respected in his field. We first meet him on a plane, irritated because his boss has called him back from a proposed holiday on essential business. He has an enjoyable mild flirtation with one of the cabin crew, in which we learn something of his personality and background, and then he’s on his way to see the ‘Prof’ to find out what’s going on…

I knew the plot when I read the book through again last week, prior to publication. I was proof-reading, but also checking for inconsistencies and continuity errors, so I had to read it for the story as well as for the grammar and punctuation. And despite knowing what was coming, I found it gripping. The writing is good, the main characters believable and likeable. Maurice Barkham has his flaws - he likes to drink rather more than is healthy, for instance, and he’s quite impatient. But his empathy for the disadvantaged shines through; he’s a dedicated and caring doctor who would love to heal everyone.

The President wants Maurice to do something he’s not comfortable about. But he agrees, since refusal would lead to negative consequences. So he chooses what he doesn’t want for the sake of a greater good, but already the President’s glitter is starting to fade; he’s clearly not just outspoken but quite manipulative too.

It’s not a long book but there’s plenty of action, including a couple of quite shocking scenes, narrated in the third person, which I found quite disturbing the first time I read them. Yet they’re necessary for the storyline, as an extra viewpoint. These scenes mean that this would be rated ‘15’ at least if it were a film, possibly even 18 (depending on how it was done). There’s also a low-key romance, and a couple of ‘adult’ scenes, but they don’t have any gratuitous detail.

Perhaps I’m biased but I liked the book very much. Some of the medical jargon went a little over my head; but as my father was a consultant doctor himself before retiring, I'm sure the medical aspects are realistic. There are rather more descriptive passages than I would choose, too - mostly about what people are wearing, or what they are eating and drinking at the time - but I gather that's not uncommon in this genre.

Much more importantly, though, 'The Finneal Solution' contains much that is thought-provoking. Can ‘democracy’ ever be truly democratic? How far might a president or other leader go in trying to persuade people to follow their beliefs and ideas? How do we balance the economic good of society with the need to support and help those who need the most health care and other support….? These questions aren’t answered; but they are hightly relevant to today’s society, currently in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

Due to postal restrictions the paperback edition of the book can be some weeks in delivery from Amazon, but there’s also a Kindle edition, which was free for the first week week and now available inexpensively.

Definitely recommended, if you want something a little different.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews

Nicolae (by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins)

(Amazon UK link)

'Nicolae' is a novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. It's the third in the 'Left Behind' series, about the people left behind after the Rapture.

In this book, the Tribulation Force (people who became Christians after the rapture) are beginning to work together. Meanwhile, the world gets going on unpleasant events in the final seven years before the Apocalypse.

A romantic thread is included, as the young man Buck tires to woo his friend Chloë. They ask some important questions about whether a romantic relationship is a good idea in such fraught times.

Prophecy and fiction are well-mixed in another exciting episode.  Unfortunately, at times it's rather too fast-moving for my tastes, and I wish the characters were more well-rounded.

Recommended, in a low-key way. But it's best to have read the first and second books ('Left Behind' and 'Tribulation Force') beforehand. The style of this series is basically that of dystopian thrillers, with some interpretation of Christian doctrine thrown in.

Tribulation Force (by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins)

(Amazon UK link)

'Tribulation Force' is a Christian dystopian thriller by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, second in the 'Left Behind' series.

This book really needs to be read as a sequel to 'Left Behind', the first in the series, in which the 'Rapture' happened, taking all Christians straight to heaven.

However, there are now some new believers who came to faith after the Rapture. In this book, they gradually learn to trust each other. But they also begin to realise just what they are up against in the final seven years before the apocalypse. The antichrist is clearly revealed, too, as a charming, plausible, yet cold-blooded world leader.

This book is exciting and almost believable, as a possible interpretation of some of the Biblical prophecies. However, I found the characters to be a little flat. That was disappointing, as I had hoped to find more depth to the ones introduced in the first book.

Still, it's not a bad book. If you enjoyed the first one, then in my opinion this is worth reading too.

Left behind (by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins)

(Amazon UK link)

'Left behind' is a Christian dystopian thriller by the American writers Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

This is the first novel in the 'Left Behind' series. It's a fictional account of people left behind on earth after the Rapture, and follows one strand of belief, based on the rather limited things stated in the Bible on this topic.

This novel is fast-moving and rather scary believable. It introduces an interesting mixture of people although none of them are particularly well-developed as characters.

Bereaved people make commitments to God in this book. Then they prepare to undertake the most difficult and traumatic years of their lives. Theology and preaching are cleverly interwoven with the plot, although they could be skimmed by those who prefer to see this as a straightforward fictional thriller.

Recommended, on the whole. I look forward to reading more of this series, although I doubt if I'll re-read this any time soon.

Brave new world (by Aldous Huxley)

(Amazon UK link)

'Brave new world' is a classic science fiction novel by the early 20th century writer Aldous Huxley. It's in the genre now known as 'dystopian'. It's one I felt I 'ought' to read, although I kept putting it off. It's not comfortable bedtime reading.

'Brave new world' describes the author's imagined world five hundred years in the future. In this new world, all babies are born in test-tubes. People are completely conditioned to various careers, and free thinking is strongly discouraged.

However, a few people feel that there must be more to life than structured work, scheduled play and the 'soma' tablets that remove all unpleasant emotions. John, a 'savage' from a so-called uncivilised part of the world, is brought into London where he eventually sees it for what it is.

There is some unexpected satirical humour in this book. There is also a shocking ending. I would say it is definitely worth reading once, but I doubt if I will read it again.