Mark Reece's Blog, page 3

Review- The tattooist of Auschwitz.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This novel tells the story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz who becomes the 'tatowierer', tattooing numbers on the arms of other prisoners. Charming and enterprising, Lale takes advantage of the relative privileges of his position to smuggle food to other prisoners. He meets a woman in the camp- Gita, with whom he starts a relationship.

The book is short and fast paced, and the setting has an inherent interest, meaning that this is a book one will quickly finish. However, the writing is often flat, without memorable descriptions of the camp or the phycological state of Lale and the other prisoners. A Jewish prisoner who traded with German workers and SS officers as Lale is said to have done must have considerable charisma, but this is poorly portrayed in the book. The author often says that he is charming to women and good at persuading people, but this is never convincingly portrayed in the dialogue.

Overall, a book worth reading, but not the best fictional account of the holocaust.



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Review- 'Wuthering Heights'

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is one of my favourite books, and I've read it multiple times throughout my life, with my opinion towards it never changing.

The overwhelming importance of the love story between Heathcliff and the first Catherine is evident throughout the book, even when they are not present, but a number of other aspects of the novel elevate it to greatness.

Firstly, many of the secondary character are beautifully rendered. I'm always interested in Joseph, who is pious and constantly reads his bible, yet takes perverse pleasure in the suffering of others. I often get the impression that he wants to observe destructive behaviour to elevate his self importance. The narrator for much of the book, Ellen Dean, has a subtle influence in the way the story is told. There are many occasions throughout the book when the does not tell her master various things that go on in his household, making her more ambiguous than the straightforward servant she at first seems. Given that the story is told in a largely uninterrupted manner, her motivations are never questioned.

The emotions on display are violent and passionate, whereas the setting of the story is very insular, comprising the two households where the action takes place, and the moor between them. Nothing outside the area is ever described, and when characters leave that boundary, they seem to disappear. That gives the novel a mysterious, almost fantasy like atmosphere, and as such, it is unsurprising that references to ghosts and other supernatural phenomena abound. Moreover, casual violence is anticipated and enjoyed by a wide variety of people, often giving the impression that they are under the influence of the area in some arcane way.

However, what makes the novel is the outstanding and often startling use of language, which never seems out of place, even in the dialogue of young characters. This is of course evident in the exalted speeches of Heathcliff and Catherine, but also in casual conversation. I always remember the start of a chapter narrated by Mr Lockwood, which begins: "This September, I was invited to devastate the moors of a friend..." Wuthering Heights is a powerful book that describes lives lived with an intensity that most only occasionally glimpse, if they experience it at all.



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Review- 'Rationalism in politics and other essays'

Rationalism in Politics and other essays by Michael Oakeshott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I often enjoyed reading this book, which describes a type of idealized philosophical conservatism. It comprises a series of essays in which a number of themes predominate.

Firstly, the author might be described as a (philosophical) materialist, who believes that political doctrines are extrapolations of activity, rather than conceived a priori. Oakeshott describes modern politics are defined by ‘rationalist’ doctrines, by which he means doctrines that aim to effect change consciously sought from principles. He describes a bewildering range of doctrines as rationalist in this way, including the Beveridge report and the US constitution. By contrast, a non-rationalist conception of political doctrine would involve the acceptance of what is already taking place in practice. He gives an example of this as women’s rights. Oakeshott suggests that the term would only make sense when women already are, in a practical sense, already doing the activities that women’s rights would formally permit, rather than resulting from discussing equality in abstract terms.

In this way, Oakeshott seems to be a cultural relativist. This makes some sense, in that social change is clearly not driven by a ‘battle of ideas’. However, the implication of the doctrine seems also to suggest that conflict drives progress, which the author would be unlikely to be happy with. In the example he gives of women’s rights, women gaining de facto power only took place as a result of ‘disruptive’ behaviour that conservatives are very hostile to in practice. Moreover, I would suggest that, at least intellectually, political doctrines tend towards universalism. For example, the idea that women are incapable of voting or undertaking various types of professions, is usually defended on biological determinist grounds, rather than purely on cultural tradition. Once women in one country are afforded those rights, an example is available that tends to undercut anti-feminists everywhere.

‘Rationalism’ is described as a force that disrupts traditional arrangements of a people, their ‘heritage’. For example, Oakeshott describes the traditions of universities as being damaged by rationalist tendencies, that is, a determination to try to reorganize universities on the basis of abstract ideas, rather than by first recognizing how the institutions are currently organized, and also that how they are currently organized reflects their traditions.

This seems a striking misattribution of why institutions change. Indeed, one might suggest that Oakeshott is relying far too heavily on ‘the power of ideas’ here that he himself is critical of. Universities have changed for the worst because they have been forced to adopt to a free market model whereby academic activity is judged by how economically ‘productive’ it is, measured through dubious metrics such as how many papers academics produce, rather than a result of abstract thought. The same is true of the rest of the economy; late stage capitalism has destroyed not only numerous industries but also threatens the ability of professionals to control their working practices. For this not to be mentioned in any work of political philosophy is akin to a description of the political system of North Korea that does not mention the communist party or the military.

This is why, for all their sophistication, Oakeshott’s doctrines become silly when he talks about politics in a more concrete way. For example, at one point, he describes freedom as meaning an absence of overwhelming concentrations of power. Therefore, conservatives should avoid allowing too much power to concentrate in the hands of government, industry, or trade unions. Putting aside the obvious retort that ‘freedom’ described in this way is an abstraction of the kind that he disapproves of elsewhere, this is a type of conservatism that not only has never existed, but that could not exist.

Conservatism is about preventing too much social change, which in effect means preserving the position of people who have the most power now. Oakeshott himself says this when commenting that a ruler should uphold the rules, rather than determine ‘who gets what’. Conservative parties everywhere are heavily funded by wealthy people and corporate lobbyists because they are the most powerful groups; I know of no instance where conservatives have made it a point of policy to break-up powerful corporate interests. There was something amusing to me that the book was published by ‘Liberty Fund inc’, a US group that funds various Republican politicians in a way that shows how conservatism works in practice, which I suspect Oakeshott would consider vulgar.

Of course, Oakeshott might reply that he is only describing the ideal nature of conservatism rather than ‘actually existing conservatism’. In which case, of course, the work is an idealist one, which I think is the case.

Despite my disagreement with most of the arguments put forward, I enjoyed reading the book. The passages analyzing Hobbes were perceptive and interesting, and the essays are often beautifully written, particularly his description of politics as one in which ‘… men sail a boundless and bottomless sea’. It is a charming and inoffensive dream, which is hardly the worse thing that could be said of a work of political philosophy.



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Review- The nutcracker at the Birmingham Hippodrome 2024

I recently saw the latest iteration of The Birmingham Royal Ballet's Nutcracker, and it was up to its usual exquisite quality.

There were some minor changes to the set and costumes- this year, the backdrop in the first act matched the dress of Clara's mother- but overall, the performance was similar to previous years. Given that the ballet is such high quality, that is an endearing quality.

Carlos Acosta has made changes to several of the performances since becoming director, but seems content to leave this one unchanged- likely a wise decision.

Review- Candlekeep mysteries

Candlekeep Mysteries by Wizards of the Coast

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book, and have played through three of the stories with my D&D group. The adventures are generally well written, containing most of the relevant information a DM would need to run the game. Like most shorter stories, a wider context and setup are generally needed to introduce the adventures, but after that work is done, the stories could be played either as stand-alone adventures, or incorporated into longer campaigns. Like many D&D books, the pictures were also very good.

There were a few weaknesses, which I've also noticed with many D&D books. Firstly, there were often too many characters for the amount of plot. I cut out some of the characters when playing the stories, as some of them had very marginal relevance and would be hard for players to remember. Secondly, too many of the places to explore contained nothing of interest. This is an oddity that DMs would want to counteract, as it is bad for any story to have irrelevant elements.

I also thought that two of the stories for higher level characters had weaker plots, although that is no doubt an inherent problem for any collection.

Overall, this was a useful and fun collection of short campaign stories.



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Review- empire of the ants

Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The narrative of this novel is split between the family and associates of entomologist Edmond Wells, who are trying to understand his recent death, and a number of ants in a colony, told from their perspective, who are trying to understand a 'secret weapon' used by their enemies.

Although the book's structure had a lot of potential, there were a lot of problems with the execution. Firstly, the human characters were poorly written, constantly acting in ways that are entirely implausible. For example, there is an instance where several people have gone missing in a cellar, presumed dead, including several police officers, and the police respond by putting a sign over the cellar warning against entering it. They are apparently happy to do nothing further about the situation and also allow the house to remain occupied(!) Wells is apparently a scientist, but devotes his time writing an encyclopedia containing mystical passages, which his colleagues are very interesting in finding/stealing, for no obvious reason.

The ant passages are better written and tell a story that is compelling enough to get the end of the book, but the ant characters are highly anthropomorphized, with psychologies and motivations including subterfuge that ultimately makes the book very silly, and demonstrate a lack of imagination. Admittedly, it would be difficult to write from the perspective of an ant, requiring a form of narration that does not depend on inner monologue (for example). Instead, the ants in the book are little humans who live in a close knit society and have a strong sense of smell.

Of course, stories can be told from the perspective of anthropomorphized non-human animals to make a satirical point. However, the main theme of this book is that ants have a social structure that has equal worth to that of human societies. This makes the complete lack of effort to imagine the world from the perspective of ants to be both incongruous and unsatisfying. This problem becomes most acute at the conclusion of the book, when humans and ants communicate with each other. The ants are revealed to have the same concepts as humans about the world, meaning that humans can chat with them in the same way that a human would talk to another human who spoke a different language. At this point, the central theme of the novel has been lost, to be replaced with a vague and trite message about being nice to other species. This is a shame, as the original idea was good enough to deserve an intelligence treatment.



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Short story publication

My short story 'identity' has been published in The Interpreter's House magazine:

https://theinterpretershouse.org/

Review- The last house on Needless Street

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The last house on Needless Street tells the story of a missing girl from a number of perspectives, including her sister, Dee, and Ted, a man who Dee believes kidnapped her. The perspectives switch at each chapter, sometimes re-telling the same events.

There are some memorable moments and descriptions in the novel, such as the scenes described by Olivia, Ted's cat, who pushes a bible off a table every day to read whichever passage the book falls open on. The novel is well written, although I found some of the characters more interesting than others. I was often waiting for Dee's sections, which pushed the story on more quickly.

Although I often liked the book, a lot of the plot was told in exposition, particularly after the central plot twist was revealed. This damaged the pacing and made the ending feel unsatisfactory. I also thought that the twist seemed contrived around the need to maintain plot mystery. This meant that I thought the novel was better during its earlier sections, although it remained readable throughout.



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Review- Birmingham Royal Ballet's 'Luna'

I recently saw Birmingham Royal Ballet's 'Luna' at the Hippodrome. The performance was split into six scenes, all loosely themed around environmentalism and feminism.

Although not to the same standard as a full length ballet, there were some memorable sequences. My favourite was 'learning to dream big', in which five girls read after being sent to bed. The books turn fluorescent and illuminate various possible futures for the girls, highlighting the value of education.

Inevitably in a performance structured in this way, there were some weaker parts; in particular, I thought that some of the songs tended towards the crass ('we want the sea, we don't want excuses').

In addition to some major performers such as Celine Gittens and Rosanna Ely, some of the sequences featured a number of children, which made for an interesting contrast.

There are no bad performances by the Birmingham Royal Ballet; I'd recommend this performance, like all the others.

Review- The eye of the bedlam bride

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm still enjoying this series, although I thought this entry was weaker than some of the previous books. The descriptions of the card mechanics were too long and not very interesting, whereas the meta plot, which is fundamental to driving the series, seemed underdeveloped, with new characters and events introduced in an epilogue that felt as if they should have been central to the story. I wonder whether the latter books of the series would have worked better if the narrative had switched between the dungeon dwellers and alien characters.

The word 'atop' is overused in an amusing way. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the next book in the series.



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