Month: December 2006

The Secret by Sophie Masson

After a mammoth adult book, I quickly turned back to the smaller, easier to read children and young adult books I have lined up in my bookshelf waiting to be read.

The first one was The Secret by Sophie Masson. First published in 1996, it felt a little aged with the main character being named Florence, but other than that I had no complaints.

The story is about acceptance and new beginnings. This was shown in a number of ways and, I felt, the topic was handled nicely in each thread. I didn’t have a sense of where the story was “acted out”, but that didn’t bother me either. My imagination was happy to fill in the gaps.

It took me two hours to read, so it will take most people less than that. Young readers will enjoy this story, as will some adults. I enjoyed learning about Polichinelle – the original puppet that is well known as Punch in the Punch and Judy act.

Recommendation: It’s a bit outdated, but still worthy of a read.

False Impression by Jeffrey Archer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

False Impression uses the 9/11 tragedy to capture the reader’s interest, but it is mainly about conspiracies in the art world – or, if you want it in simpler terms, it’s a murder mystery.

This book didn’t compare to the other book I’ve read by the same author – As The Crow Flies – but it is still a good story, set in the real world, with believable characters. At first, I felt a bit confused with all the characters (not to mention the head hopping), but the confusion settled after about six chapters. Luckily, the chapters in this book are quite short, so it isn’t as bad as it sounds.

The fact that I read the first six chapters and then put the book aside for two months didn’t help either. However, chapter seven saw the action really begin so I was drawn back into the story quickly once I started reading again.

Although I don’t know for sure if the facts stated in the book about the art world are true or not, it sounded true to me. As a reader, that’s important. However, I suspect that the author did do the necessary research and if I were to check up on any of the facts I think I’ll discover that they are correct. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn anything from these facts except Van Gogh painted a self portrait with a bandaged ear; however, it was actually the left ear which was really bandaged, not the right ear as shown in the portrait. Van Gogh used a mirror when doing the painting. I also learned that Van Gogh died by suicide.

Recommendation: If you have an opportunity to read the book, do it. I don’t think you’ll be sorry.