Just finished reading #34

A week in December - Sebastian Faulks

I have never read Birdsong, the novel most of us associate Seb Faulks with but have been meaning to for about 20 years.  Instead I read his latest.  Set in London over one week in December 2007 it is one of those delicious books that has a whole range of stories (7) running through it that you know are going to collide somewhere but you are not entirely sure how.  We are a bit sure as almost everyone is linked through a dinner party guest list of a Tory party chap and his wife, Sophie.  I thought this was a little bit on the obvious side and perhaps a little transparent.  It seemed rushed at the end which made me think it was a bit contrived.  I really enjoyed the stories that intertwined - John Veals the hedge fund owner who I despised throughout the entire book and wanted to see get his just desserts but didn't was everything you would expect from a man in the cit;   Hassan the young man in search of heaven through a suicide bombing was interesting and likable and  I really enjoyed Jenni the Underground train driver and Farooq the pickle maker and so on.  I think all of the stories could be interesting in their own right.  I read the review of this in the Guardian and wondered if their reviewer and I had read the same book.  I always chuckle when that happens as it confirms my beleif that I am not a great reader although I just love it.   This book was a good meaty read although not quite the book I think Sebastian might have been aiming for.