Interesting and entertaining in a voyeuristic way, but also a bit trashy. It is anecdotal rather than being researched properly, but even so, some of the anecdotes can be illuminating.

The author is a journalist who has clearly cobbled together many articles into one book. I’m pleased I haven’t added to his paycheck by actually buying the book.

This is the worst book I have read in ages. Perhaps I ought to be honest here and say that I only read about 70 pages out of 410. However I think that was enough.

I have read several of Peter Biddlecombe’s other books and really enjoyed them. His line is that you haven’t really travelled until you have travelled on business, something that I can relate to. He’s also travelled to some very interesting places on business, like French-speaking Africa, and has a way of telling the reader about places through anecdotes, wry observations and recounting his conversations with the locals. In one book he actually writes about two places I know well, Auckland and Sydney. I enjoyed his humorous angle on both places, and could follow his wanderings around both cities easily through his descriptions, although he rarely names a street or other landmark.

After these other books, I was looking forward to this one, but it turned out to be a major disappointment.

First, there were the inaccuracies – Boisie, Idaho; antelope in Montana; Park Brothers, the makers of Monopoly; and Pennsylvania being on the confederate side in the Civil War, to name a few (and remember I only read 20% of the book). There are also spelling and grammar errors. A good editor who knew the topic should have spotted these.

The major problem was the whole concept of the book. He has tried to link all the states into a burger theme, by labelling them as parts of or types of burger. This is a contrivance that comes across as forced, and simply doesn’t work.

Worse still, because he is trying to fit all 50 states into one book (as opposed to about 20 places in his other books), it gives him less space in which to do what he does well. There are far fewer conversations with locals to illuminate some quirky local habit, less time spent observing and drawing a verbal picture to set the scene for a reader. Instead we have a garbled description of many places and events, with some heavy-handed attempts at humour that sound like one-liners from a failed stand-up comedian. Overall it is embarrasingly bad for an author who has previously published some very engaging and enjoyable books.

I would have liked to give this book a zero star rating, but the All Consuming software wouldn’t let me.

The main character is Faith Zanetti, a foreign correspondent posted to Jerusalem, and I found her human and engaging. As the tagline said “Courage without equal, truth without bullshit, vodka without tonic.” I was ready to be entertained.

Faith was also a person who could believably encounter crime in the course of her job, and talk to a wide range of people in pursuit of asolution. I’ve never been to Israel, but the descriptions of it seemed realistic enough from what I’ve heard of it.

The big downside of this book is that the baddies are too obvious. I guessed the whodunnits very early on, and it was rather tedious ploughing through 200 odd pages to have this confirmed.

I think this is the author’s first crime novel, so maybe she’ll get better with plotting in future books. There is potential here, just not realised satisfactorily.

The Inheritance of Loss covers a wide territory – different countries, the past and the present (with the future being hinted at), and the social, religious and ethnic diversity within India itself. Initially this is rather daunting. I wondered where the book was going, although I really loved the the atmospheric description of the decaying house and suspected this signalled what was to come.

This book grew on me as the story developed and the threads began to draw together. The major themes in this book seem to be -

Migration, both between India and other countries, and also within India. None of the major characters is actually a native of the part of India the book is set in, so there is this sense of not belonging, of being an outsider.

Disillusionment – the young start off being optimistic and idealistic (Sai, Biju and Gyan) while the old people (the judge, the cook) have lost whatever hopes they once had.

The impact of history on the individual – not only is the story set in a time of political upheaval, the changing shape of India from before independence to the present day has affected the destiny of the main characters.

Loss – the main characters have all lost close family members. This explains many of their emotions and actions.

All the above may seem slightly depressing and rather heavy going. However I really enjoyed this book, because of the way the story portrays the characters’ lives against the backdrop of recent history, and because of the absolutely wonderful descriptive passages. These evoke the atmosphere of the place, linking in the emotions of the main characters at the same time.

I consider The Inheritance of Loss definitely worth reading. In fact I’m planning to read it again as I think I probably missed a lot the first time around because there is so much in the book.

I really enjoyed Monica Ali’s first book Brick Lane, so I had high expectations which this book unfortunately did not meet.

The problem was the plot, or lack of it. There were threads and fragments of stories, and some of the characters’ lives do intertwine a little bit, so I kept expecting that at some point everything would connect and cohere, but this never happened. The party at the end seemed a lame attempt to tie all the threads together, but it didn’t do so effectively. The story is also told through the viewpoints of various characters, which adds to the disjointed effect.

There is still a lot to like about Alentejo Blue. There are some very well-drawn characters, who are well-described not just through their words and thoughts, but also through various incidents they are involved in and other characters’ reaction to them. Those who stood out the most for me were Vasco, Stanton and the Potts family. Ali’s descriptions of the Portuguese countryside are beautiful, and she captures the mood of small-town life very well.

What I liked most was the theme of people being dissatisfied with their lives and dreaming of other places. The English look for happiness in Portugal, the Portuguese look for happiness elsewhere, be it England, America, France or Venezuela. Generally their dreams are not realised, but the reader can really sense the yearning through Ali’s words.

Overall, the book was OK, but not wonderful.

but not wonderful. Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer were excellent, and did a great job with a script that was a little too far-fetched. The action keeps the film moving, although towards the end I felt it flagged a little. The aerial scenes are stunning, and the interiors are full of atmosphere, so the movie looks good. Good looks and good acting just can’t save a weak story however.

Because I saw this movie on a Tuesday, it only cost $6 to see in a cinema. If I’d paid full price, I think I would have been disappointed. I would say, wait for the video. It’s an ok way to spend a cold afternoon.