Author: Richard C Morais
This story is for those who enjoy cooking and are interested in other cultures. The reader is invited to share in the family life of Hassan Haji. Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan Haji first experiences life through tastes and smells like spicy fish curry, the local markets, and outings with his mother involving gourmet food.
Tragedy means the family has to leave India. They emigreate to France and set up home in Lumiere, a small village in the French Alps. The Hassan’s father establishes an Indian restaurant, “Maison Mumbai” just near Mademoiselle Mallory’s French restaurant. The two restaurants battle each other for customers and prestige. Life becomes complicated when young Hassan discovers French cuisine for himself, and decides to become a French chef!
The Hundred-Foot Journey is about the gulf between different cultures and the difficulties in store for someone who wants to move beyond cultural and family expectations.
Helen Sillar
Author: Neil Gaiman
I have been struggling for a while to explain to others what genre Gaiman writes in. I very much like Neverwhere and Anansi Boys, and have been looking forward to this book, written more for teenagers. The best way I can explain what he does is to say that Gaiman writes modern “ghost stories”. Not horror stories, not “occult fantasy” but stories about people who encounter ghosts. This is certainly true for Coraline (reviewed last year).
In The Graveyard Book, a family is murdered by a mysterious figure, and only a toddler escapes. The toddler makes his way to a nearby cemetery inhabited by the homely and idiosyncratic ghosts of each person buried there. The child is adopted by a ghostly couple, and is protected by them from the murderer who is still seeking to destroy the boy.
So the child grows up and does his schoolwork with various odd and intriguing characters from various periods of English history. Bod (short for “Nobody” the name he has been given) gets into all sorts of scrapes, and challenges the ability of his slightly transparent adopted parents to keep him safe. As he enters his teen years he inevitably tries to go into the local village, with curious consequences.
This is written with Gaiman’s normal confidence and flair. I found it slightly uneven, as sometimes he seems to be writing down (given its younger teen intended audience). At other times the characters and events are delightful and the challenges Bod faces are engrossing.
I can’t see this is my favourite Neil Gaiman book, but I was glad to have read it. It is not a book whose main purpose is to be scarey, though Bod faces some scarey situations and foes. It certainly does contain a werewolf and a reformed vampire, as well as the viscious murderer we originally meet and his dark organisation. Miss this one if you find any reference to these things unpleasant, otherwise it is a good yarn from a very competent writer aimed at younger teens.
Andrew Lack
Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre
Author: Philip Reeve
“It was a dark, blustery afternoon... and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.” Welcome to a rollicking adventure yarn where sensible citizens live in mobile cities, and where the rule of law has been replaced by “kill or be killed”. This book is aimed at younger teens, and the emphasis is on adventure rather than believable science. The genre is steam punk (see also my Leviathan review) and I suspect that a suspension of realistic hard science has been accepted as normal for this genre. He has the entire city of London moving over difficult terrain at 80 kilometres an hour on caterpillar tracks!
We meet Tom, an earnest young apprentice to the all powerful Engineers guild. Tom witnesses an attack on Valentine, the heroic Explorer by an apparently deranged girl Hester. All is not what it seems, and slowly the terrible truth about Valentine and the other rulers of London comes to light. Tom is thrown out of London, and has to survive in a wilderness criss-crossed by the gouges of the mobile cities. He meets other outcasts, and survives challenges to his life and freedom.
Don’t read this if you are looking for solid and mentally stimulating science fiction. It is ultimately an adventure story placed in an “alternative future”. Like the science, Tom’s adventures are rather far fetched. Still, I was interested to see how the book would finish and skimmed through to the dramatic conclusion.
I would see this as a read for younger teens keen for “adventure on the high seas” in SciFi form. Some of the fighting is gruesome, and there are scary characters and moments, so it would not be ideal for younger students.
Andrew Lack
