I notice that the most popular book in Australia in 2016 is The Light We Cannot See, so I've obtained a copy to check it out. It's another WW2 book featuring children, like The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It looks like a winning formula: take a significant event in history, add vulnerable children, loss and devastation, tug at the heart strings, and count the money rolling in.
In fact, it's a pretty good book. I thought some of the writing was self-consciously 'clever' and the strategy of interspersing flashbacks distracting, but I like a book which tells the narrative in a chronological order, clearly and without too many frills. No doubt this book is written with critical acclaim and even book prizes in mind and good luck to the author for having the ability to go down that path.
Meanwhile James Patterson and Lee Child are churning out their pot-boilers and cashing-in on the vast audience for this kind of escapism.
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