TRANSCRIPTION by Kate Atkinson

It disappoints me to say that I was a little disappointed with the wonderful Kate Atkinson's latest novel. I think she is a master writer, both in her storytelling and in her craft of writing. Over the years I have read all her books, and immersed in her characters, deeply involved in their lives, adventures, good times and bad. This - ho hum. I felt dislocated from the lead character, a young woman called Juliet Armstrong. There was nothing wrong with her or unlikeable, I just could not get that usual feeling of character love that this writer normally creates in the reader.

Such a promising story line. Juliet is 18 years old in 1940, no father, her mother recently deceased, no siblings. All alone in the world, and so ripe for the picking by MI5 to become a spy of sorts in the ongoing hunt for fascists and Nazi supporters in wartime London. Does she even feel fully engaged in the process? At 18 maybe not - naive, trusting, unsure of her purpose in the world. This is all a bit of an adventure and a lark. She is responsible for transcribing - typing - voice recordings of meetings between an MI5 agent masquerading as a Nazi and fascist sympathisers. All fairly inane one would think, but of course part of a much bigger picture. Her fellow spies are interesting and unusual people as one would expect in this type of work, Juliet trying to find her place amongst them. One day things go horribly wrong, and Juliet's spying career - for now- is over.

The second half of the story begins 10 years later. Juliet is now working for the BBC, a producer for children's radio programmes. But she is still involved in the spying game; it seems once they have you, you are never free. People from 1940 begin popping up again around London, strange messages are left for her at reception, she suspects she is being followed. How much of the past is going to come back to haunt her? Like all good spy stories there are twists and surprises, and this one was unexpected.

So what was the problem with this? I think it comes down to a lack of tension. A good spy/espionage story has tension and conflict within the characters - why are they doing what they are doing. Their personal lives are often in a bit of a mess and yet other than Juliet we learn nothing about the lives or inner workings of her fellow spies. There is no lingering sense of fear or danger despite the feeling that the reader knows something is going to happen. One review I have read sums the characters up as dull and uninteresting, and I totally agree. There is also to much moving back and forth between 1940 and 1950, not confusing, just simply too much. I always go back to John Le Carre as the master writer of spy/espionage stories and this comes nowhere close.


17 comments:

  1. transcription Hey checkout Go Transcribe they convert audio to text in minutes. Signup with my link to get a free hour

    ReplyDelete
  2. Offering Cheap windows VPS with license windows server 2016/2019 OS. Buy RDP with full admin access
    Cheap RDP

    ReplyDelete
  3. Juice Wrld Store Hope you are going to love Juice Wrld Merch products at the official Juice Wrld Store. In his short time on the planet, Juice Wrld has experienced some dark days. JuiceWrld proved to be a talented and enthusiastic man who soon passed away. But he was able to turn his grief into success with his songs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Graph game can be said to be a very popular mini-game. "Gorilla", famous for strong eating verification in Private Toto, opened a page to reveal only two major graph game sites carefully selected. These graph sites have been tested in detail, and security issues and safety issues have also been carefully checked. We would like to share the pleasure of recommending Bustabit, a professional graph game that has passed all such processes with a perfect score, 그래프게임

    ReplyDelete
  5. If you are curious about the best online casinos, you can follow Gorilla's verification. Head straight to the world of betting you are craving for Gorillas, who are informed with information about all casino sites without hiding. No more failures Stop now! To the 100% successful casino betting site! 인터넷카지노

    ReplyDelete
  6. sexdates
    Heiße Österreicherinnen und erotische Kontakte in ganz Austria finden sich mit Hilfe einer tabulosen Community ganz einfach. Auch in deiner Stadt suchen heiße Singles und tabulose Menschen spannende Kontakte, die nicht abgeneigt sind einen OneNight Stand zu erleben. Für ein erotisches Abenteuer muss man nicht in Wien wohnen. Bei der Dating Börse findest du schnell dank des PLZ Filters heiße Singles und hemmungslose Menschen aus deinem Umfeld. Aber auch nach sexuellen Neigungen und Vorfreuden kannst du dir dein Sextreffen organisieren und planen. Immerhin geht es bei uns nicht nur um die große Liebe. Machen wir uns nichts vor, viele heiße Singles sind glücklich und einfach nur auf der Suche nach einem erotischen Abend. Ein Treffen zum Ficken und Spaß haben! Selbstverständlich kannst du

    ReplyDelete
  7. GACORQQ adalah situs slot gacor online terbaik dengan tingkat kemenangan tertinggi dan memiliki reputasi baik di Indonesia. Kami agen slot memberikan berbagai macam jenis permainan slot online dari bermacam macam provider dari berbagai negara. Tersedia sampai 31 provider slot online yang disediakan di situs judi online.Kami sudah berdiri sejak lama melayani perjudian online di Indonesia, sudah memiliki kapasitas dan merupakan situs slot paling bonafit di Indonesia.

    ReplyDelete
  8. TAKTIK88 Kini, dunia bet telah berubah drastis. Siapa yang perlu pergi ke Las Vegas, jika hanya dengan berada di rumah, Anda sudah bisa merasakan serunya bermain judi? Dengan memiliki akun di TAKTIK88, Anda mendapatkan akses ke situs bet slot online terlengkap di Indonesia dengan sekali klik. Tak perlu repot-repot, kemudahan akses yang diberikan benar-benar memudahkan; tanpa membutuhkan VPN pun Anda bisa langsung bermain. Bagi Anda, peminat bet slot online gacor, kini dapat merasakan pengalaman optimal bermain di situs gacor taktik88 tanpa hambatan. Apalagi, dengan perkembangan teknologi yang semakin canggih, Anda bisa memainkannya melalui berbagai perangkat, mulai dari smartphone, PC, hingga tablet, asalkan Anda memiliki koneksi internet berkualitas. Sangat praktis, bukan?

    ReplyDelete