Thursday 1 November 2012

Read in 2012 - 35: Nights of Rain and Stars

Note: If you have missed my Cold Season Giveaway, you can still participate; just click here.

It was on Nan's blog that I first learned about Maeve Binchy's death, and Nan has also posted several reviews of her books; this one is among them. You can find her review easily, because Nan's blog is very well organised - of course, you can simply put the book title in the search bar at the top left corner of the blog and find it instantly.

"Nights of Rain and Stars" is a pleasant read without much challenge or suspense; there are no gory details, thrilling murder hunts or steaming sex scenes, but some good character studies and descriptions of places and events. While it can certainly be classified as a Summer Read, it is by no means limited to that; the book can be a good travel companion, or simply enjoyed at home after a day's work in the comfort of your favourite armchair.

The familiar concept of throwing a group of strangers together and see what happens, strangers who under normal circumstances would not have met, let alone become friends, works well here:
Five strangers (one couple, the others each on their own) happen to be at a modest taverna overlooking a harbour and small village on a Greek island, when a fire breaks out on a boat in the harbour, resulting in the death of several locals and tourists.

Watching the tragedy from afar gets the strangers and their host talking to each other, and it is through their conversations that the reader starts to know them all, and, as the story unfolds, some more people from the village are added to the cast.

The five strangers are not simply tourists on a Greek island vacation; each of them has chosen to travel in order to get away from some situation or other back home, and for each of them, the trip becomes a turning point in their lives.

They come from the US, England, Ireland and Germany, from different walks of lives and with different expectations for their future.

Decisions are taken, phone calls made and letters written; the outcome for most of the characters is not all that much of a surprise, but still interesting enough to keep wanting to read on.

Like I said, the character studies are well done - with one exception; Shane, a young Irish man who is on the island with his girlfriend is depicted a bit too black-and-white with nothing likeable about him at all. While such people probably do exist, I found his character rather one-dimensional.

A lot of how the local people go about their lives is very cliché; I have never been to Greece myself but I wonder whether people really drink raki, retsina, ouzo and coffee all the time, whether they really dance to the bouzouki at every occasion and have blue and white checked tablecloths on every table.

Maeve Binchy's writing flows at a very pleasant pace, neither too slow to get boring nor too fast for the reader to lose track of who is who and doing what.

There are two bits where a little research would have helped in getting the facts right:
At the funeral service held after the boat fire, the village children's choir sing hymns in the languages of the victims. The German hymn they choose is "Tannenbaum"  ("Oh Christmas Tree") - which is a popular Christmas song and certainly not what is sung at a funeral. And when two of the characters, a German lady and a man from the US, have the word "Reisefieber" come up in conversation, the explanation is wrongly given as it meaning "being in a panic at airports and railway stations". Reisefieber literally means "Travel fever" and refers to the "itch" to pack up and travel, to have a change of scene, of feeling unable to stay at the same place for a long time.

Don't get me wrong - I do not want to complain about the book, it is just that such details bother me, and I think they are better left out (they aren't necessary for the story itself) than being in the book and being wrong.

Overall, I liked this book well enough to give it 4 out of 5 stars on my Amazon review.

17 comments:

  1. That is very interesting about the German phrase. Details like that always bother me too.

    I've read this book, and I agree that it's a pleasant enough read, but I prefer her earlier books. Saying that, she came across as a lovely, generous person, and she will be much missed by her many fans.

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    1. Joanne, have you read "Evening Class"? One of the characters in this book reminded me very much of the main character in that book.
      I don't doubt she is much missed by her fans, and so much more by her friends and family.

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    2. Hi, yes I did read Evening Class, but my real favourite was Tara Road.

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  2. Hello Meike:
    Alas, we have never, and we have tried, been admirers of the novels of Maeve Binchy and, sadly, all that you say here does not inspire us to give her another go.

    We can well understand your mild irritation at the misuse of the German phrase and a well known carol chosen for a funeral service. This last most odd.

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    1. Hello Jane and Lance, the carol sung at the funeral was most odd indeed. As for the Reisefieber bit - I've looked it up since, and strangely enough, the offical German keeper of language (Duden, same as your Thesaurus, I suppose) says it means being nervous before the start of a trip. So, it does not mean what Maeve Binchy wrote, but it does not mean what I have been thinking all my life, either.

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  3. I've tried reading her books and can't seem to get into them, but I do agree with you that her take on Greeks seem a bit stereotypical. But then that might be what some foreign readers like when reading about other cultures... as a sort of fantasy.

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    1. You are probably right, Sonia, and she was simply catering for her readers there.

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  4. I did not know she had died. I think I've read maybe two or three of her novels (not this one) and some collection of short stories.
    For what it's worth, we have the equivalent word to Reisefieber in Swedish too - resfeber - which primarily means being nervous before starting out on a trip. (Not exactly panicking at railway stations or airports... But worrying about packing and all the last minute things and if all will go well etc.)

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    1. Monica, I have since done a bit of research myself and found that the official explanation for Reisefieber is the same as for resfeber - so I had the wrong definition in my head all my life! But it's not what Maeve Binchy wrote, either.

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  5. Not being familiar with the German phrase, I would have missed the error. But I think anyone familiar with Christmas music would realize that Tannenbaum is a strange choice for a funeral. I cannot remember reading her books.

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    1. Norma, if it had not been for the book being part of the package I took home from visiting my mother-in-law, I wouldn't have read it, either. But I don't consider it a waste of time; it simply didn't make me want to search for more of her books.

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  6. Very sad to hear that Maeve Binchy passed away. I've read a few of her books, but I have not read this one. I will admit, that while people are selecting different music at funerals, O Tannenbaum wouldn't be at the top of my list! LOL!!!

    On another note, have you read any of the Jacqueline Winspear "Maisie Dobbs" books? I love them! Some of them have won awards and others are best sellers. There are 8 or 9 books, I strongly recommend you read them in order.

    Have a lovely weekend!

    Mary

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    1. Mary, I have never heard of Jacqueline Winspear, thank you for pointing her books out to me; I am going to check if I can find them at my local library.
      You too have a lovely weekend!
      Meike.

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  7. Have you read "The Guilty One" by Lisa Ballantyne? I don't read much fiction but it seemed interesting. though I did rather see the end coming.

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    1. Hello Jenny, no, I'm afraid I have never heard of Lisa Ballantyne. That's another name I am going to check at the online catalogue of our library!

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  8. Your conversation with Jane and Lance and Dawn Treader was very interesting. I've always thought, as you did, that Reisefieber meant that itchy foot syndrome of wanting to travel.I think it must be used that way sometimes.

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    1. Kristi, when I asked RJ how he understood the word Reisefieber, he said the same - wanting to travel. Strange, isn't it, how the official definition differs to what several people, including myself, mean by it.

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