oliviatamccue

It almost brings more drama to this detective story with the twist J K Rowling disguises her book under the name of Robert Galbraith.

When Robert Galbraith is discovered to be J K Rowling (the author of Harry Potter), the book attracts many times more the audience.   Another evidence how the fame and track record can bring to the table.  Could any readers have discovered the mystery of the author?  Well, it is of the same style, of mature technique, of strong and different characters, and of the style to create a climax at the end.  For me, the identify of the author would be safe if it has not been revealed on newspaper.

The plot starts with the death of a super-model Lula who was adopted by a rich family.  She falls from the balcony of her luxurious apartment and is dead on the scene.  Her history of mental instability, drug issue, relationship problem, together with implied incompetence of the police, rule the death as a suicide.  Just when the case turns cool in the eyes of paparazzi, John Bristow, Lula’s brother, brings the case to a private investigator, Cormoran Strike.

After losing a leg in Afghanistan and a recent broke-up from his pretty and rich girlfriend, Strike is scraping by with one client and credits are many.  As Strike and his new temp, Robin, take up the investigation, twists and turns, together with another death, are abundant before the real murderer is tracked down at the very last.  Along the way,  Strike meets up  different characters and uses brilliant skills to get these people to reveal their secrets – the rich and the poor, the simple and the sophisticated personality, the bright and dark sides.

The book is not short of characters in the glittering heights of society – luxurious, comfortable life, snobbishness in full display with stupidity and darkness. Tansy, the only witness of the Lula’s falling and insistence of a murder, is widely reported as a woman of stupidity and drug issue.  She is filing a divorce with her famous director husband.  Is she really stupid, can the witness be trusted?   Tansy’s sister Ursula, wife of a lawyer firm partner, has her own affair with Lula’s unlikeable uncle.   Then comes the celebrities – the actor Evan and fiancé of Lula, the rap singer Deeby, the designer Guy and his model.

There are characters who live meagerly.   Lula’s biological mother Marlene, with a super-model as her daughter, lives with more greed than guiltiness of leaving her daughter to an adopted family.  Lula’s unusual friend, Rochelle, is mentally unstable, and in a poor social circle, and has enjoyed the intermittent glamorous display of Lula’s life.  Why they would be looked upon as friends, the real reason unfolds towards the end.

Plus the middle class – the security guard Wilson, the temp Robin and her fiancé Matthew.   Robin, Strike’s temp, is among the best –  simple, happy, caring and smart.

Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) has once again told a very good story and shares her personal observation of the lives of many, in vastly different social circles.

I look forward to the sequel and the continual partnership of Cormoran and Robin.

Moonwalking with Einstein: the Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer.

Technology enables companies to offer free storage to store stuff, last I heard, up to 1 TB per user.  “Is there such a capacity for humans to remember everything?”    More importantly, can our brain retrieve the information?

This is a true story of a journalist in his journey into the finals of US Memory Championships.  In the championships, among many things, it tests the ability to remember names, numbers, people, cards using variety of techniques such as memory palace, intensive reading.  The true story covers a variety of memory techniques; and enriched by a parallel documentation of the history of memory management from internal to external media; intertwined with the stories of a few unusual human beings.

This is a story of “what one could achieve with commitment” and “the history of memory management”.

The author provides content and flavor; and tells the story in both a personal and professional manner.  He turns a seemingly dry topic into a very enjoyable read.   Not to mention that the reader grasps a few useful techniques to remember better.

If you are looking for a good read, or ways to reverse your perception of failing memory, check this out, and I hope you would enjoy the read as much as I do.

I was recently working on a program involving partners who conduct businesses in different languages, different styles, different processes with different quality standards.   “A tale of two cities” came in my mind – for whatever conflict is in modern business, it seems petty when it came to what happened in the story that took place in London and Paris in the epoch of French Revolution.

With a powerful opening of the book –

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . .

It is a novel of human nature, of romance, and of French revolution.  The novel was written in 1850s. I read the version first published in 1906 and was last reprinted in 1979 by Everyman’s library.   In this computer era with constant refresh of technology, the novel stands the test of time and has been a joy to read and probably read again.

The novel depicts the brutality and peasants oppression of French aristocracy in the years leading up to the French revolution, with the subsequent revenge of similar, if not greater scale, towards the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution.

The story centers round several protagonists.   Dr. Manette, a respectable man of his profession and of humanity, imprisoned for years in prison of Bastille, for committing no crime, other than reporting a crime of an aristocrat.  His loving daughter, Miss Manette, who grows up in the absence of his father, has a natural bondage with Dr. Manette, as he escaped to London.

Defarge, the wine shop owner, becomes a man of significance leading up to Bastille attack and the French revolution.   His wife, with life-long resentment towards the aristocrats, turns into a woman of brutality in her indiscriminate revenge towards the fallen French class.

Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, from Paris and London respectively, brought together in fate and common love for Miss Manette.  Darnay is a French aristocrat, who could not stand the unfairness of the society, moved to London to start a life of teaching profession.  He is a victim to the revolution despite his virtuous nature and was sentenced to beheading.  Carton, an English barrister, of unparallel talent, lives an ill-spent life out of habit.  Carton decides to redeem his life out of his unrequited love for Darney’s wife (Miss Manette).  He disguises himself as Darnay and replaces him in prison on the day of the execution.

The novel is rich of human bondage, from the struggle of Dr. Manette in the historical moments, his forgiveness of Darnay’s identity, the unbreakable father-daughter bondage, to the romantic love between Darnay and Miss Manette.

The novel ends with the ultimate redemption of  Carton in his sacrifice for the well beings of Manette and Darnay – “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known”.

It is no doubt an impressive novel.  Each read would give a deeper appreciation of the author, better understanding of the characters, and newer discovery of what may have missed.