The Ghost Writer by Robert Harris

I will not lie - one of the best parts of reading this was having it narrated by Ewan McGregor in my head.

To further the truth-telling: had this not been written by Robert Harris, I would have skipped the book and gone straight to the movie, which I would only have seen (via Netflix) based on the cast. Does anyone else have a girl crush on Olivia Williams?

Here's why I would have skipped it: it's a work of political fiction. It's full of intrigue and, due to a classic Fish-Out-Of-Water device, a lot of explanation of The Way Things Work. Which is all fine and dandy if you - like the Ghost - have lived in a politics-free-bubble your entire life. I haven't. My father was in the Navy and I have seen The West Wing enough times that I can quote lines. So at times I found it tiresome.

Not tiresome at all: the basic plot. The Ghost (who is never named) steps in to take over for a previous Ghost Writer who has died in a mysterious and ominous fashion. The book is written almost as a confessional to the reader, peppered with "had I known at the time" or "little did I know..." which is nice for the purpose of foreshadowing and does help build the momentum for apex of the plot and it's ultimate resolution.


It was good. It was not very good. I am not going to tell everyone I know to read it. But it was solidly good and I didn't throw it down in exasperation even once. (If only you knew how often I do that...it explains the length of time between posts.) If you like political thrillers, pick this up. If you do not, move along to something more your cup of tea.


I can't let this go - it's not quite a spoiler, but it's more than I generally like to share: in the final chapter, the Ghost breaks the 4th wall. It's abrupt and direct and off-putting. I'm much more a fan of letting it go to the reader's imaginations...but this time Harris felt the need to tell me how to feel about it.

Oh well, I will continue to read him because overall he is a very good writer.

and here is the trailer, which I will be watching just as soon as netflix sends it to me:

Archangel, by Robert Harris

[ed: if I weren't so keen on getting these to be about 500 words every time, I would have posted four words regarding this book: Read it. Trust me.]




My only regret is that I didn’t pay attention to Nick Hornby the FIRST time he said he had the “cleverest brother in law” on the planet/ever in history/without a doubt. Because then I would have been reading these excellent works much earlier in life. As it is, I am having the uniquely wonderful experience of coming upon an addictive author late enough in his career that there is a catalogue of works already published, but not so late that there are no more forthcoming.

Archangel opens with a quote from Stalin: “Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.” (1918) When you turn the page, the stage is now in a Russian hotel room, at night, with a conversation between British Historian “Fluke” Kelso, whose focus is narrowed on Stalin, and a man, Papu Rapava, who was the bodyguard to one of Stalin’s inner-circle. The story Rapava tells focuses on the night of Stalin’s stroke, the refusal to send for doctors, and the theft of Stalin’s private notebook. The notebook had largely been regarded as myth, and as such discounted by all of Kelso’s contemporaries, who are in town with Kelso attending a symposium regarding the opening of Russia’s archives. If Rapava’s story is true, then the book is the salvation Kelso’s career needs. If Rapava’s story is true, then his life and Kelso’s are both in danger. If Rapava’s story is true, Stalinistic rule might once again come to Russia.

The next morning, after Rapava has fled the hotel, a very hungover Kelso makes his way out into modern (set in the late 1990s) Moscow to verify the story. By calling up a single contact, and speaking a single phrase over the phone lines being monitored by a government that is still paranoid, Kelso sets into motion a string of events that span Moscow and the northern woods of Russia. Harris weaves information of the way life was under Stalin seamlessly into the way life is after Stalin. Tales of torture and fear butt up against madmen whose only goal is to re-insert a Stalin Figure in the Kremlin. This is historical fiction at its best: accurate, insightful, and inspiring.

Kelso teams up with Rapava’s daughter and an American reporter named O’Brien. Together they unwind the mystery of the notebook. I know what you’re thinking: The DaVinci Code, The Boys From Brazil, and countless others have been suspenseful thrillers dealing with an historical leader who may or may not have left a legacy behind that will change the world. People will die to protect the secret just as there are those willing to die to expose it. This is true, and like those other novels I mentioned, this is well worth reading. I stayed up far beyond my body’s willingness to keep its eyes open just so I could get to that perfect ending that Harris does so well. The ending that you couldn’t exactly see coming until it was spilled across the page in front of and when you read the last word you know that it could have gone no other way. This is certainly a must read.

Pompeii by Robert Harris

This is one of those books that you pick up thinking, “yeah, I know what happens. What could this little novel possibly tell me?” And then you read the blurb on the back and the pull quotes from reviews (“terrific, gripping”...and “The blast from Vesuvius kicks ash”) and you think, “Ok, I’ll give it a shot.”

And then you’re sunk. It’s one of the densest books I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. The research Harris embarked upon before putting pen to paper is obvious. Not only are there historical figures playing main roles in the plots, but cultural, political, and historical references make it feel like it’s set now, rather than 2,000 years ago.

So yes, you know what happens. Vesuvius erupts and covers Pompeii in ash and stone, buried for centuries until it is unearthed for the tourists. But what about the people? There is the aquarius, Marcus Atillius Primus - referred to as Atillius or simply, the aquarius, called to Misenum to replace their former aquarius who has unexpectedly disappeared. There are his slaves and crew: Corax who openly hates him, the slave Polites who trusts in the guidance. There are politicians and freedmen. There is - of course - a beautiful girl, whose destiny is one that most readers cringe at.

It is two days before the eruption - the book is broken into time like this so you always know where the main event lies - and the Aqua Augusta has failed. Water in the far towns is drying up. It is - as Corax says at the book’s opening: “a fool’s errand” to try and repair it. Isn’t it? It’s an errand that takes us up and down the Neapolitan coast, introduces us to slaves, whores, politicians and social climbers. Harris describes the land in a way the evokes the senses and inspires a pilgrimage - if only to see the remains of what was once a “hustler’s town.”

The novels ends shortly after the eruption cools and the rains wash the air clean. Even though you know what happens, you know that most of these people are going to die, you keep reading because the aquarius keeps going. He is always thinking, planning, mourning. You want him to get on the ships, you want him to push through the ash, you want to give him your strength so that he can keep going.

Harris has a gift...I hesitate to use the word “magical” but there it is. Sure, Rowling can conjur up creatures you’ve never imagined and make you fall in love with them, but Harris makes you root for a civilization you know to be doomed before you even open the cover.

And not to give anything away...it ends the way it needs to end. It’s as though Harris knows that one way is too smarmy and the other too wrenching and he steers it through in a way that leaves you not quite sure until he’s ready to tell you, and then you know that it couldn’t have ended any other way.