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Eights Months on Ghazzan Street by Hilary Mantel.

 I've got mixed feelings about this book. At first I thought it was just about whinging, moan and complaining. The main character Frances Shore is a bit of a pain in the neck but then I realised it was just how real person could be. It's funny in a peculiar way and written with some very dry humour.

 Hilary Mantel is a good writer and I loved the prose but the book seemed about exposing hypocrite in everyone including the main character.

It's basically about a woman who moves with her husband to the Middle East and has a hard time adjusting to the culture and restrictions. She becomes slightly obsessed with an 'empty' flat above her and suspects it's not empty but being used for something.

As the story goes on it gets more interesting and though not a 'page turner' Hilary Mantel keeps you hooked and turning pages.  It ends quite messily and not as neatly packaged as the normal trashy novel where all loose ends are tied nicely in a bow but Hilary Mantel is making a point - real life is messy.

I did get bored with Frances Shore's moaning all the time and her sense of righteousness but then in the end she was as much a 'victim' as she thought others 'victims'.
 
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Read my work on Smashword.com and I write as Bigga Day. http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bigga  

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